his speech to the
Khanum. The preparations within did not take so long as he had expected,
for scarcely ten minutes had elapsed when Selim returned.

"Buyurun," said the negro, shortly. The word is the universal formula in
Turkey for "walk in," "sit down," "make yourself comfortable," "help
yourself."

Balsamides glanced at me, as we both rose from our seats, and I saw that
he was perfectly calm and confident. A moment later I was alone.

Gregorios followed Selim into the hall; then, passing under the heavy
curtain and through a door which the Lala opened on the other side, he
found himself within the precincts of the harem, in a wide vestibule not
unlike the one he had just quitted, though more brilliantly lighted, and
furnished with low divans covered with pale blue satin. There was no one
to be seen, however, and Balsamides followed the negro, who entered a
door on the right-hand side, at the end of the hall. They passed through
a narrow passage, entirely hung with rose-colored silk and matted, but
devoid of furniture, and then Selim raised a curtain and admitted
Gregorios to the presence of the sick lady.

The apartment was vast and brilliantly illuminated with lamps. Huge
mirrors in gilt frames of the fashion of the last century filled the
panels from the ceiling to the wainscoting. In the corners, and in every
available space between the larger ones, small mirrors bearing branches
of lights were hung, and groups of lamps were suspended from the
ceiling. The whole effect was as though the room had been lighted for a
ball. The Khanum had always loved lights, and feeling her sight dimmed
by illness she had ordered every lamp in the house to be lighted,
producing a fictitious daylight, and perhaps in some measure the
exhilaration which daylight brings with it.

The floor of the hall was of highly polished wood, and the everlasting
divans of disagreeable magenta satin, so dear to the modern Turkish
woman, lined the walls on three sides. At the upper end, however, a dais
was raised about a foot from the floor. Here rich Sine and Giordes
carpets were spread, and a broad divan extended across the whole width
of the apartment, covered with silk of a very delicate hue, such as in
the last century was called "bloom" in England. The long stiff cushions,
of the same material, leaned stiffly against the wall at the back of the
low seat, in an even row. Several dwarf tables, of the inlaid sort,
stood within arm's-length of