'I have never seen the lady,' said I, doubtfully; 'is she beautiful?'
The Yuze Bashi knit his brows, for this was approaching forbidden ground; but he answered,
'Beautiful as a Houri, and young—so young that I might be her father; so you must watch over her and guard her as if she was concealed by the seven blessed doors of the Prophet Zacharias.'
'So I am to be the guardian of a Turkish harem—what next?' thought I.
'You have still doubts,' said Hussein, with increasing irritation. 'Listen to me; when I was in the castle of Selyvria, my subaltern, afterwards the Cole-agassi Mohammed Saïd, was suddenly ordered to join the train of artillery then embarking for the Crimea, and it was on peril of his head that he loitered for a moment, after receiving the summons of the Seraskier. Here was just such a dilemma as mine; but he came to me, saying,
'Hussein, you must be unto me as my brother; my purse, my wife, and my household, I leave in your safe keeping.'
'You have my word of honour,' said I.
'It is unnecessary,' said he, 'for I believe in you.' And so he sailed for the Euxine.
'For three months I had charge of his young and pretty wife. I never saw her; but my servants by turns watched the house, allowing none to enter—none at least but Ali Pasha, who paid me a hundred piastres for every visit; so you see I was very strict, and daily sent my grandfather, who was a decrepit old man, to ask if she required anything.'
'And the subaltern Mohammed Saïd?'