Their house was furnished with every English comfort. It was difficult to believe that we were so many days from a railroad.
"That piano cost us a great deal of trouble," said the Vice-Consul. "It was brought here in two parts, and on mules."
"It is wonderful how it could have survived the journey," said the lady. Going to the instrument, she sounded the notes, which were very fairly in tune. "The Turkish ladies are so astonished with the piano," she continued. "They will sit for hours and listen to me playing."
I now started with the Consul to pay a visit to the Pacha. We arrived in a large courtyard, which was badly paved with loose stones. At one end there were some steps which led to the official residence. The courtyard was thronged with people who had been summoned to hear the telegram read about the new Constitution; men in uniform, beggars, people with petitions in their hands, all swearing and jostling each other, as my companion and myself with difficulty made our way up the stairs. We were at once admitted into the audience-room. I found the Pacha, a tall, good-looking man of middle age, engaged in placing his seal upon a number of documents which an official was handing to him. He received us courteously, and proposed that we should accompany him to the court below, and listen to the proclamation of the Sultan's telegram.
The Pacha then introduced me to his son, a young man about twenty; he spoke French fluently and without any perceptible accent, having been educated by a French tutor.
"We have only one cannon in Angora," he remarked, "and it is to be fired 101 times. We are a little afraid that it may not be able to stand the ordeal."
"Yes," said his father, "we have only one cannon, but we have sent 25,000 men to the war. We do not require any cannons," he added. "Our own people are quiet enough. The Russians will not find it a very easy matter to reach Angora."
We descended the steps; on reaching the courtyard, the clerk—a wonderful old gentleman in a green dressing-gown, and with a wheezy voice—called for silence.
The Pacha then announced that the Sultan had been pleased to grant more liberties to his people, and that the present autocratic form of government was to be replaced by a Constitution. The Imaum, or priest, here said "Amin," equivalent to our Amen; and the Vice-Consul put on his cap with the gilt peak, which he had taken off during the ceremony.
The Pacha's son now invited me to visit his rooms, which were a suite of apartments separate from those occupied by his father. I found his book-shelves well stored with scientific French works, and, to my surprise, discovered that the young Bey was not only remarkably well educated for a Turk, but was much better informed than nine Englishmen out of ten who have been to a public school, and have taken their degree at the university.