Men like you, Halil, never live long, and I
don't want to survive you. You will see me die, if see you can; and when
you die, your child will be doubly an orphan."
With such words did he trouble them. They were always relieved when, at
last, he would creep into a corner and fall asleep from sheer weariness,
for his anxiety made him more and more somnolent as he grew older.
But again the door opened, and there entered the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda, the
guardian of the ladies of the Seraglio, accompanied by two slave-girls
carrying a splendid porcelain pitcher, which they deposited at the sick
woman's bed with this humble salutation:
"The Sultana Valide greets thee and sends thee this sherbet!" The
Sultana Valide, or Dowager, used only to send special messages to the
Sultan's favourite wives when they lay in child-bed; this, therefore,
was a great distinction for the wife of Halil Patrona--or a great
humiliation for the Sultana.
And a great humiliation it certainly was for the latter.
It was by the command of Sultan Mahmud that the Sultana had sent the
sherbet.
"You see," said Halil, "the great ones of the earth kiss the dust off
your feet. There are slaves besides those in the bazaars, and the first
become the last. Rejoice in the present, my princess, and catch Fortune
on the wing."
"Fortune, Halil," said his wife with a mournful smile, "is like the eels
of the Bosphorus, it slips from your grasp just as you fancy you hold it
fast.
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