"There, take it!" said he.
The Aga was astonished, but presently he understood and took the tulip.
"Then they want the Kapudan Pasha."
The Sultan cut off the handsomest of the tulips.
"There you have it," said he.
"They further demand the banishment of the Chief Mufti."
The Sultan tore up the third tulip by the roots and cast it from him.
"There it is."
"And the Grand Vizier they want also."
The last tulip Achmed threw violently to the ground, pot and all, and
then he covered his face.
"Ask no more, thou seest I have surrendered everything."
Then he gave him his signet-ring in which his name was engraved, and the
Kizlar-Aga stamped the document therewith, and then handed back the
signet-ring to the Sultan.
The Grand Vizier, meanwhile, was walking backwards and forwards in the
garden of the Seraglio. The Kizlar-Aga came there in search of him, and
with him were the envoys of Halil Patrona, Suleiman, whom he had made
Reis-Effendi, Orli, and Sulali. Elhaj Beshir approached him in their
presence, and kissing the document signed by the Sultan, handed it to
him.
Damad Ibrahim pressed the writing to his forehead and his lips, and,
after carefully reading it through, handed it back again, and taking
from his finger the great seal of the Empire gave it to the Kizlar-Aga.
"May he who comes after me be wiser and happier than I have been," said
he. "Greet the Sultan from me once more. And as for you, tell Halil
Patrona that you have seen the door of the Hall of the Executioners
close behind the back of Damad Ibrahim.
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