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The little cabins communicating with the large saloons were in reality intended to accomodate the ladies of the kapitan-pasha's harem; but Ibrahim did not turn them to a similar use, because it was contrary to Ottoman usage for the Princess Aischa, being the sultan's sister, to accompany her husband on any expedition; and he had received so menacing a warning in the fate of Calanthe not to provoke the jealousy of Aischa or the vengeance of her mother, the Sultana Valida, that he had brought none of the ladies of his own harem with him.
It was therefore to her mother and her brother that the beautiful Aischa proceeded; and when she was alone with them in the Valida's apartment, and removed her veil, they immediately noticed that she had been weeping. Upon being questioned relative to the cause of her sorrow, she burst into an agony of tears, and was for some time unable to reply.
But might not that unknown lady and the beauteous Aischa be one and the same person? The unknown was evidently the mistress of an influence almost illimitable; and was it not natural to conceive that she, then, must be the sister of the sultan? Again, the sultan had many sisters; and the one who had exerted her interest for Ibrahim, might not be the Princess Aischa, who was now promised to him!
The fervor of such a love soon cooled with satiety: and those female slaves whom he had at first procured as indispensable appendages to his rank and station, were not long in becoming the sources of new pleasure and voluptuous enjoyment. Aischa beheld his increasing indifference, and strove to bind him to her by representing all she had done for him.
Moreover, see that thou revealest not to the Princess Aischa the incident of the night, nor the nature of the threats which send thee back repentant to her arms." And, with these words, the slave glided hastily from the room, leaving the grand vizier a prey to feelings of ineffable horror. His punishment on earth had begun and he knew it. What had his ambition gained?
"Not so," replied the grand vizier; "for at the very time when I first beheld thee in the Bezestein, certain offers had been secretly conveyed to me from the reis-effendi." "In whose service you would have lingered as a mere subordinate for long, long years," returned Aischa. "It was I who urged you on.
And if, at the same instant of his crushed spirit and wounded pride, there were a balm found to soothe the racking fibers of his heart, the anodyne consisted in the tender love which Aischa manifested toward him, and the touching sincerity with which she assured him of her complete forgiveness.
Having married a sister of the sultan, he was not permitted a plurality of wives; but he purchased the most beauteous slaves for his harem, and plunged headlong into a vortex of dissipation and pleasure. For some weeks he had manifested the most ardent and impassioned attachment toward Aischa, who, during that period, was happy in the belief that she alone possessed his heart.
But not on your highness would the effects of your infidelity to the Princess Aischa fall. No, my lord I have no authority to harm you. Had your highness succeeded in your purpose ere now, the bow-string would have forever stifled the breath in the body of that deaf and dumb Christian lady; and her corpse would have been thrown forth from these windows into the sea.
"Ibrahim must not be openly disgraced: the effects of his punishment would redound on our beloved Aischa. No rather intrust this affair to me; and fear not that I shall fail in compelling this haughty pasha to return to the arms of his wife ay, and implore her pardon for his late neglect."
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