The Veiled Lady | Page 2

estimation;
and I must say in mine, when I look back over an acquaintance
covering many years and remember how completely my bank account
was at his disposal and how little of its contents he appropriated.
And yet, were I required to hold up my hand in open court, I would
have to affirm that Joe, whatever his other strains might be, was, after
all, ninety-nine per cent. Levantine--which is another way of saying
that he is part of every nationality about him.

As to his honesty and loyalty, is he not the chosen dragoman of kings
and princes when they journey into far distant lands (he speaks seven
languages and many tribal dialects), and is he not today wearing in his
buttonhole the ribbon of the order of the Mejidieh, bestowed upon him
by his Imperial Highness the Sultan, in reward for his ability and
faithfulness?
I must admit that I myself have been his debtor-- not once, but many
times. It was this same quick- sighted, quick-witted Levantine who
lifted me from my sketching stool and stood me on my feet in the plaza
of the Hippodrome one morning just in time to prevent my being
trodden under foot by six Turks carrying the body of their friend to the
cemetery-- in time, too, to save me from the unforgivable sin among
Orientals, of want of reverence for their dead. I had heard the tramp of
the pall-bearers, and supposing it to be that of the Turkish patrol, had
kept at work. They were prowling everywhere, day and night, and
during those days they passed every ten minutes--nine soldiers in
charge of an officer of police--all owing to the fact that some five
thousand Armenians, anxious to establish a new form of government,
had been wiped out of existence only the week before.
Once on my feet (Joe accomplished his purpose with the help of my
suspenders) and the situation clear, I had sense enough left to uncover
my head and stand in an attitude of profound reverence until the
procession had passed. I can see them now--the coffin wrapped in a
camel's-hair shawl, the dead man's fez and turban resting on top. Then I
replaced my hat and finished the last of the six minarets of the mosque
gleaming like opals in the soft light of the morning.
This act of courtesy, due so little to my own initiative, and so largely to
Joe's, gained for me many friends in and about the mosque--not only
those of the dead man, one of whom rowed a caique, but among the
priests who formed the funeral cortege--a fact unknown to me until Joe
imparted it. "Turk-man say you good man, effendi," was the way he put
it. "You stoop over yourselluf humble for their dead."
On another occasion Joe again stood by my side when, with hat off and
with body in a half kotow, I sat before the Pasha, who was acting chief
of police after that stormy Armenian week--it was over really in five
days.
"Most High Potentate," Joe began, translating my plain Anglo-Saxon

"Please, sir," into Eastern hyperbolics, "I again seek your Excellency's
presence to make my obeisance and to crave your permission to
transfer to cheap paper some of the glories of this City of Turquoise
and Ivory. This, if your Highness will deign to remember, is not the
first time I have trespassed. Twice before have I prostrated myself, and
twice has your Sublimity granted my request."
"These be troublous times," puffed his Swarthiness through his
mustache, his tobacco-stained fingers meanwhile rolling a cigarette; a
dark-skinned, heavily-bearded Oriental, this Pasha, with an eye that
burned holes in you. "You should await a more peaceful season, effendi,
for your art."
"On account of the Armenians, your Excellency?" I ventured to inquire
with a smile.
"Yes." This, in translation by Joe, came with a whistling sound, like the
escaping steam of a radiator.
"But why should I fear these disturbers of the peace, your Supreme
Highness? The Turk is my friend, and has been for years. They know
me and my pure and unblemished life. They also know by this time that
I have been one of the chosen few among nations who have enjoyed
your Highness's confidence, and to whom you have given protection."
Here my spine took the form of a horseshoe curve-- Moorish pattern.
"As to these dogs of Armenians" (this last was Joe's, given with a growl
to show his deep detestation of the race--part of his own, if he would
but acknowledge it), "your Excellency will look out for them." He
WAS looking out for them at the rate of one hundred a day and no
questions asked or answered so far as the poor fellows were concerned.
At this the distinguished Oriental