Wagner, the Wehr-Wolf

by George W. M. Reynolds

The more attentively Alessandro listened, the less reserved became those who were instructed to undermine his fidelity toward his master, the Florentine Envoy. They represented to him how Christians, who had abjured their creed and embraced the Moslem faith, had risen to the highest offices, even to the post of grand vizier, or prime minister of the empire. Alessandro was completely master of his emotions; he had not studied for some years in the school of diplomacy without learning how to render the expression of his countenance such as at any moment to belie the real state of his feelings. He did not, therefore, suffer the spies and agents of the reis-effendi to perceive how deep an impression their words had made upon him; but he said and looked enough to convince them that the topics of their discourse would receive the most serious consideration at his hands. His mind was already made up to accept the overtures thus made to him; but he affected to hesitate, for he saw that his services were ardently longed for, and he resolved to drive as advantageous a bargain as possible.

He was one afternoon lounging through the principal bezestein or bazaar, when he was struck by the elegant form, imposing air, and rich apparel of a lady who rode slowly along upon a mule, attended by four female slaves on foot. The outlines of her figure shaped the most admirable symmetry he had ever beheld; and though her countenance was concealed by a thick veil, in accordance with the custom of the East, yet he seemed to have been impressed with an instinctive conviction that the face beneath that invidious covering was eminently beautiful. Moreover, the eyes whose glances flashed through the two holes which were formed in the veil so as to permit the enjoyment of the faculty of sight, were gloriously brilliant, yet black as jet. Once, too, when the lady raised her delicate white hand, sparkling with jewels, to arrange the folds of that hated veil, Alessandro caught a rapid, evanescent glimpse of a neck as white as snow.

The little procession stopped at the door of a merchant’s shop in the bazaar; the slaves assisted the lady to dismount, and she entered the warehouse, followed by her dependents, the mule being left in charge of one of the numerous porters who thronged in the bezestein.

Alessandro lingered near the door, and he beheld the merchant displaying various pieces of rich brocade before the eyes of the lady, who, however, scrupulously retained the dense veil over her countenance. Having made her purchases, which were taken charge of by one of the slaves, the lady came forth again; and Alessandro, forgetting that his lingering near now amounted to almost an act of rudeness, was chained to the spot, lost in admiration of her elegant gesture, her graceful yet dignified carriage, and the exquisite contour of her perfect shape. Her feet and ankles, appearing beneath the full trousers, that were gathered in just at the commencement of the swell of the leg, were small and beautifully shaped; and so light was her tread, that she scarcely seemed to touch the ground on which she walked.

As the lady issued from the door of the merchant’s shop, she cast a rapid but inquiring look toward Alessandro, though whether in anger or curiosity he was unable to determine, for the eyes only could he see, and it was impossible for him to read the meaning of the glances they sent forth, when unassisted by a view of the general expression worn by her countenance at the same time.

Accident, however, favored him far more than he could have possibly anticipated. At the very moment when the lady’s head was turned toward him, she tripped over the cordage of a bale of goods that had shortly before been opened beneath the painted awning over the front of the shop, and she would have fallen had not Alessandro sprung forward and caught her in his arms.

She uttered a faint scream, for her veil had shifted aside from its proper position; and her countenance was thus revealed to a man, and that man evidently by his dress a Christian!

Instantly recovering her self-possession, she readjusted her veil, gave a gentle but graceful inclination of the head toward Alessandro, mounted her mule by the assistance of the slaves, and rode away at a somewhat hasty pace. Alessandro stood gazing after her until she turned the angle of the nearest street, and it struck him that her glance was for an instant cast rapidly back toward him, ere she disappeared from his view.

And no wonder that he stood thus rooted to the spot, following her with his eyes; for the countenance which accident had revealed to him was already impressed upon his heart. It was one of those lovely Georgian faces, oval in shape, and with a complexion formed of milk and roses, which have at all times been prized in the East, as the very perfection of female beauty; a face which, without intellectual expression, possesses an ineffable witchery, and all the charms calculated to fascinate the beholder. The eyes were black as jet, the hair of a dark auburn, and luxuriantly rich in its massive beauty; the lips were of bright vermilion, and between them were two rows of pearl, small and even. The forehead was high and broad, and white as marble, with the delicate blue veins visible through the transparent complexion.

Alessandro was ravished as he reflected on the wondrous beauty thus for a moment revealed to him, but his raptures speedily changed to positive grief when he thought how improbable it was that this fair creature would ever cross his path again. He entered the warehouse, made a small purchase, and inquired casually of the Turkish merchant if he knew who the lady was. The reply was in the negative, but the merchant informed Alessandro that he had no doubt the lady was of some rank, from the profound respect with which her slaves treated her, and from the readiness with which she paid the prices demanded of her for the goods she had purchased, Turkish ladies generally being notorious for their disposition to drive a hard bargain with traders.