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Updated: May 23, 2025
To be with thee, great Ibrahim, will I abandon my country, friends ay, and even creed, shouldst thou demand that concession; for in thee and in thee only are all my hopes of happiness now centered!" "And those hopes shall not be disappointed, dearest Calanthe!" exclaimed Ibrahim, clasping her in his arms.
Plant life here was exceedingly beautiful and interesting, especially high up in the mountains, palms, pandanus, cycads, crotons, acalyphas, loranths, aroids, freycinetias, ferns and orchids being strongly represented, and among the latter may be mentioned a fine orange dendrobium and a pink calanthe. I found in flower a celebrated creeper, which Ratu Lala had told me to look out for.
But there are Cymbidiums arching long sprays of green and chocolate; thickets of Dendrobe set with flowers beyond counting ivory and rose and purple and orange; scarlet Anthuriums: huge clumps of Phajus and evergreen Calanthe, with a score of spikes rising from their broad leaves; Cypripediums of quaint form and striking half-tones of colour; Oncidiums which droop their slender garlands a yard long, golden yellow and spotted, purple and white a hundred tints.
She removed her veil; and Ibrahim fixed his eager eyes upon the countenance thus disclosed to him; but he was immediately struck by the marvelous resemblance existing between his page Constantine, and the charming Calanthe.
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.
Indeed, since the violent death of Calanthe the harem had been maintained at Constantinople rather as an appendage of high rank than as a source of sensual enjoyment.
"You will proceed alone to Italy," continued Ibrahim; "and on your arrival in Florence, you will adopt a modest and reserved mode of life, so that no unpleasant queries may arise as to your object in visiting the republic." Demetrius turned a rapidly inquiring glance upon Calanthe, who hastened to observe that she did not fear being left unprotected in the city of Constantinople.
But at the Temple Show this year Norman C. Cookson, Esq., exhibited Catt. William Murray, offspring of Catt. Mendellii × Catt. Lawrenceana, a lovely flower which gained a first class certificate. It was only four years old. The quickest record as yet is Calanthe Alexanderii, with which Mr. Cookson won a first-class certificate of the Royal Horticultural Society.
Remember, my lord, the fate of Calanthe, the sister of your dependent Demetrius, she who was torn from your arms, and whose beauteous form became food for the fishes of the Bosporus."
The impassioned language of the grand vizier was suddenly interrupted by the opening of the door, and three black slaves glided into the anteroom half crouching as they stole along and fixing on the beauteous Calanthe eyes, the dark pupils of which seemed to glare horribly from the whites in which they were set.
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