French And Oriental Love In A Harem - French and Oriental Love in a Harem Part 32
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French and Oriental Love in a Harem Part 32

"May I inquire, sir, whether you are provided with a formal warrant authorizing you to employ force to take this young lady away, according to her mother's wish?"

"I have the judge's order!" exclaimed Madame Murrah with vehemence.

"Excuse me, excuse me," continued my uncle, "but let us avoid all confusion! Be so kind, if you please, madam, as to permit the commissary to answer my question. We are anxious to observe the respect which we owe to his office."

I felt done for. How could we resist the law? My poor Kondje cast despairing looks at me.

"Madame Murrah being a foreigner, sir," answered the officer of the law, "as you appear to understand, my only instructions are to accompany her, and, in the event of opposition being made to her rights, to draw up a report in order to enable her to bring an action against you in a court of justice."

"Ah!" continued my uncle. "Well, then, sir! you may proceed, if you please, to take down our replies. In the first place, then, the young lady formally declines to return to her mother."

"That's false!" said the Circassian. "She is my daughter, and belongs only to me! She will obey me, for she knows that I shall curse her if----"

"Let us be quite calm, if you please, and have no useless words!"

replied my uncle. "It is your daughter's turn to reply.--Ask her, sir."

The commissary then addressed himself to Kondje-Gul, repeating the question. I saw her turn pale and hesitate, terror-stricken by her mother's looks.

"Do you want to leave me, then?" I said to her passionately.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed. Then turning towards the commissary, she added in a firm voice: "I do not wish to go with my mother, sir."

At this the Circassian rose up in a fury.

Kondje-Gul fell on her knees before her, supplicating her with tears, in piteous tones.

In my alarm I rushed forward.

"Get her out of the room; take her away!" my uncle said to me sharply.

My poor Kondje-Gul resisted, so I took her up in my arms and carried her out. At the door I found Fanny, who had come up, and I left my darling in her care.

Madame Murrah darted forward to follow her daughter, but my uncle had seized her by the wrist, and forcing her down again, said to her in Turkish:

"We have not finished; and if you stir, beware!"

"Sir," exclaimed the Circassian, addressing the officer of the law, "you see how violently they are treating me, and how they are threatening me!"

All this had taken place so quickly that the commissary hardly had time to intervene with a gesture. Onesime and Rupert were strolling about outside the window.

"Excuse me for having sent this child out, sir," continued my uncle; "but you are, I believe, sufficiently acquainted already with her decision. Moreover, she is there to reply afresh to you, if you desire to question her alone, secure from all influence and pressure. It remains for me to speak now upon a subject which she ought not to hear mentioned. After her refusal to follow her mother, which she has just given so clearly, be so good as to add on your report that I also refuse very emphatically to give her up to her."

"You have no right to rob me of my daughter," exclaimed the Circassian, who was nearly delirious with rage.

"That is just the point we are about to discuss," replied my uncle.

"Firstly, then, allow me to introduce myself to you, sir," he continued, quite calmly; "and to explain my position and rights in this matter. My name is _The Late_ Barbassou, ex-General and Pasha in the service of His Majesty the Sultan--ranks which entitle me to the privileges of a Turkish subject."

The commissary smiled and nodded to him, thus indicating that the name of Barbassou-Pasha was already known to him.

"As a consequence of these rights, sir," continued my uncle, "my private transactions cannot come before the French courts; so that this affair must be settled entirely between Madame Murrah and myself. I should even add, while expressing to you my regrets for the inconvenience which it is causing you, that it is I who have brought about this very necessary interview. I presented myself twice at Madame Murrah's house in Paris, with the object of bringing this stupid business to a conclusion. For reasons, no doubt, which you are already in a position to estimate, she refused to see me. I arranged, therefore, that she should be informed yesterday that her daughter was concealed in this house; and I came here at once myself, in order to have the pleasure of meeting the lady. There you have the whole story."

"I refused to see you," said Kondje-Gul's mother, "simply because I do not know you! And I ask the judge to order the restitution of my daughter, which the Ambassador of our Sultan supports me in demanding. I have his order to this effect."

Here the commissary intervened, and, addressing my uncle, whose imperturbable composure quite astounded me, said gravely:

"Would you oblige me, sir, by stating your motive for refusing to give up this young lady to her mother? According to our laws, as you are aware, this is a circumstance which, notwithstanding the purely voluntary character of my mandate, I am bound to enter in my report."

"Certainly, sir," replied my uncle, "your request is a very proper one, and I will at once reply to it, as I would have done in the presence of the consul of His Excellency the Turkish Ambassador, were it not that Madame Murrah has strong motives for avoiding such an explanation before him, between good Mussulmans like herself and me."

"I understand you," continued the commissary, suppressing another smile at this declaration of Barbassou-Pasha.

"Sir," added my uncle, "I have the advantage of being a Mahometan; and according to the special customs of my country, with which you are acquainted, this lady sold me her daughter by a straightforward and honourable contract, sanctioned by our usages, recognized and supported by our laws: these laws formally enjoin me to protect her, and to maintain her always in a position corresponding with my own rank and fortune, while they forbid me ever to abandon her. Under the same contract this lady duly received her 'gift' or legitimate remuneration, which had been estimated, fixed, and agreed to by her. Therefore, as you will perceive, sir," he added, "no discussion in this case would ever be listened to by an Ottoman tribunal, and Madame Murrah's suit would be ignominiously dismissed."

"We are in France," said Madame Murrah, "and my daughter has become free!"

"To conclude, sir," continued my uncle, without taking any notice of this objection, "this lady and I are both subjects of His Majesty the Sultan. Ours is simply a private dispute between fellow-Turks, coming entirely under the jurisdiction of our national tribunals, and is one in which your French courts, as you will understand, have no authority to interfere."

"You are not my daughter's husband!" exclaimed the Circassian; "she does not belong to you any longer, for you have given her to your nephew, a Giaour, an infidel!"

"Quite true, madam!" replied my uncle. "But," he continued, "these are details in a private dispute, with which this gentleman is not concerned. And I fancy he has by this time obtained sufficient information."

"Certainly, sir," said the officer of the law, rising from his seat. "I have taken down your replies, and my mission is accomplished."

Barbassou-Pasha, upon this conclusion, saluted him in his most dignified manner and conducted him out with every polite attention.

The Circassian, exasperated beyond measure, had not moved: rage was depicted on her whole countenance, and she looked like one determined to fight it out to the bitter end.

"I must insist upon speaking to my daughter," she said passionately, "and then we shall see!"

Just as he caught these words, my uncle came in, leading my poor Kondje-Gul by the hand.

"Come, you silly old fool," he said to Madame Murrah, changing his tone quite suddenly, "you can see now that there is nothing left to you but to submit. Swallow all your stupid threats! You will make a good thing out of it all the same--for I give your daughter in marriage to my nephew!"

I thought I must have misunderstood him.

"Uncle!" I exclaimed, "what did you say?"

"Why, you rascal, I see that I must give her to you, since you love each other so consumedly!"

Kondje-Gul could not repress a scream of joy. We both threw ourselves into my uncle's arms at the same time.

"Yes," he said, "what a jolly couple they look! But it was your aunt Eudoxia who led me at last to play this card! Here I am nicely balked of all my fine schemes!"

"Oh!" exclaimed Kondje-Gul, "we will love each other so much!"

"Well, well! There, they're quite smothering me! May the good God bless you! go along. But now we shall have to come to an understanding with this excellent mother; for according to these infernal French laws, which complicate everything, her consent is necessary for your marriage."

"I certainly shall not give it," said Madame Murrah furiously.