But the Imaum, meanwhile, was not idle. He had aroused the neighbourhood—he had raised the cry of sacrilege—he had bruited abroad the dishonour of the Moslem—and ere long a Turkish guard was on the track of the young Greek. But no trace of him could be discovered; and the fair and frail Hanoum was removed to the harem of one of her husband’s relatives, where her every look and action were subjected to the most rigorous observance, before the faintest hope had been entertained of securing her miserable lover.
Three wretched days were past, and on the morning of the fourth the pangs of hunger became too mighty for the youth to support. He stole from his concealment, he looked around him, and he was alone! He ventured a few paces forward; rich fruits were pendent from the branches of the tall trees beneath which he moved, and he seized them with avidity; but, as he raised; his hand a second time to the laden boughs, he heard near him the deep breathing of one who wept—He glared towards the spot whence the sound came, and his heart melted within him—it was his mother—the guardian of his youth—the friend of his manhood—the mourner over his blighted hopes. He rushed towards her—he murmured her name—and for a moment the parent and the child forgot all save each other! It was the watchful love of the mother which first awoke to fear: and in a few seconds the secret of her son was confided to her, and she was comparatively happy. She could steal to his hiding-place at midnight; she could ensure him against hunger; she could hear his voice, and convince herself that he yet lived; and with this conviction she hurried from his side, and bade him wait patiently yet a few hours, when she would bring him food.
The young Greek stole back to his hiding-place, and slept—The sleep of the wretched is heavy—slow to come, and weighed down with wild and bitter dreams; and thus slumbered the criminal. The night was yet dark when he awoke, and heard footsteps, and then he doubted not that his watchful parent was indeed come to solace the moments of his trembling solitude. Had he paused an instant, and afforded time for the perfect waking of all his senses, he would have discovered at once that the sounds of many feet were on the earth; but he had already passed several days without cause of alarm, and his past safety betrayed him into a false feeling of security.
The unhappy youth had not wandered beyond the spacious gardens of his home, which, rising the height behind the house, were divided into terraces, along whose whole extent had been placed avenues of orange and lemon trees, planted in immense vases of red clay. Several of these, in which the plants had failed or perished, had been reversed to protect them from the weather; and one of them, dragged in the first paroxysm of terror to the mouth of an exhausted well, had served to screen the culprit from the gaze of his pursuers. But on this night, when by some extraordinary fatality, he forgot for an instant the caution which had hitherto been his protection, he clambered to the mouth of the pit as he heard the coming footsteps, and, pushing aside the vase, sprang out upon the path.
The moonlight fell on him as he emerged from his concealment, pale, and haggard; his dark locks dank with the heavy atmosphere of his hiding-place, and his frame weakened by exhaustion. As he gained his feet and looked around him, his arms fell listlessly at his sides, and his head drooped upon his breast—He had no longer either strength or energy to wrestle with his fate; and he put his hands into the grasp of the armed men among whom he stood, and suffered himself to be led away from the home of his boyhood, and the clasp of his shrieking mother, with the docility of a child.
The trial followed close upon the discovery of the lover. There was no hope for the wretched pair! Against them appeared the Imaum, stern, uncompromising, and circumstantial—the outraged husband, wrought to madness by the memory of his dishonour; and callous as marble—the faith which had been disgraced—society which had been scandalized. For them there were none to plead, save the grey-haired and widowed mother who wept and knelt to save her only son; but who asked his life in mercy, and not in justice. Did their youth sue for them? Did the soft loveliness of the guilty wife, or the manly beauty of the lover, raise them up advocates? Alas! these were their direst condemnation; and thus it only remained for them to die!
It was at this period that my friend, the ——, first became connected with the affair. The family of the condemned woman, knowing his influence with the government, flung themselves at his feet, and implored his interference. They expatiated on the beauty of the misguided Fatma—on the personal qualifications of him by whose love she had fallen—they left no theme untouched; and he became deeply interested in her fate, and resolved that while a hope remained he would not abandon her cause. But he was fated to plead in vain; the crime had increased in the country; every Turkish breast heaved high with indignation; my friend urged, supplicated, and besought unheeded; and at length found himself unable to adduce another argument in her behalf.
When reluctantly convinced of the fact, he discovered that through his exertions to save her life, his feelings had become so deeply enthralled by the idea of the miserable woman, that he resolved to endeavour to see her ere she died; and he was startled by the ready acquiescence that followed his request, as well as by the terms in which it was couched. “We shall visit her at midnight, to acquaint her officially with the result of the trial;“ was the answer; “and should you think proper you may accompany us; for you will have no future opportunity of indulging your curiosity.”
Under these circumstances he did not hesitate; and a few minutes before midnight he was at the door of the harem in which she had resided since her removal from her husband’s house. The officers of justice followed almost immediately: and it struck him as they passed the threshold, that they were in greater number than so simple an errand appeared to exact; but as he instantly remembered that others might feel the same curiosity as himself, and profit by the same means of gratifying it, he did not dwell upon the circumstance.
All was hushed in the harem; and the fall of their unslippered feet awoke no echo on the matted floors. One solitary slave awaited them at the head of the stairs, and he moved slowly before the party with a small lamp in his hand, to the apartment of the condemned woman.