The Winslow mail., 1909-12-11
A SUBLIME
S u NJ MO N S
A Story Of Turkey and the Sultan

innocence or all WrOng-dOing but with
out avail. He had begged for time to
put his affairs in order, to write a few
notes to friends, to communicate with
the ambassador or with the consul. to
send a telegram. No, all he was to do
! was to go with the guards who had
taken him directly to the prison and
locked him up with no hint of why or
wherefore.
lie could not so much as guess why
he was there. But then there had
been others. He remembered them
well Montinet. the oriental scholar
who had lived in peace for years and
suddenly had been summoned to be
seen no more among his friends nor
even heard of by them. There was
Salons who never had returned from
the ride he started ont upon one after
noon. though his household waited
days and weeks and months. Then
there was MoreHi, the musician, and
little Grigo, whom every one had
loved, whose life had all JOY and mer-
rIment, but who had vanished like the
others as though changed to air.
Now his turn had come. and why?
He could think Of nothing whatever
that could have offended anyone hold
/ ing authority in Stamboul
With his elbows on the rough table
| before him. he looked back to the day
whom first he saw the Thespian Bos-
! phorus. He had come for a months
holiday, and the magic scenery. with
its infinity of panoramas. had be-
witched him. The one month had
| heightened into 12, and the artist in
him had been supremely happy. As a
| physician, too, he had been attract
! ed by Stamboul, but from very diff
ferent reason than that which had at
! tracted the artist, namely, the City's
+ filth. Where there was so much filth
there must be diseases, probably
strange diseases that western Europe
know nothing of. He had stayed on
| account of this filth, and his reward
had been ample, as medals and diplo.
mas in his quarters showed
The literature of the east had been
another charm to hold him. He had
delighted in it and had translated
much. He also had put some western
stories into Arabic, and had won dis
| tinction by SO doing.
But it was all done now. His lab
oratory work. his pictures, his studies
and translations were of the time that
has been. He should never see his
manuscripts or be in his beloved
in Ia
whom he had been thinking of had
come to the end. He might have
known it, He had been a fool-but
why? Why? Why? He asked, him.
self with sort of madness over again
and again. why? Why should it be?
What had he done? Was he not use
full? Had he not done good? Had he
not saved lives? He had He had
| saved many lives. He had taught the
people how they might save them
selves when diseases came. He had
been the friend of all, and had never
so much as thought of politics or ut
tered word about the state
He pressed his hands to his head
and tried once more to think, staring
Then the door of the cell opened anL
an officer came in.
you are DR.. Jani?" he inquired
Il am, but"
"You have been translating a story
from the French. which has been run
ming as a serial in the Weekly Cres-
cent?"
Il have been translating a story
from the French, romance, in which
there is not one word that could give
offense, not word that"
AS before he was interrupted.
II am commanded by the sultan"
said the officer, that you are TO re,
main here until the translation is fin
ished. His majesty desires to read
the remainder of the story Immediate
ly. Whatever you may require for
the task will be brought here with the
greatest possible dispatch"
And so it happened that all was not
over for DR.. Jani. Indeed, so eager
was the sublime porte to have the
story that he dispensed with the for
mality of having the story written out,
anu Hdu TIE QOClOI DIOuSUt JuIO MS
study, where the translation was fin
ished orally. The sultan had many
questions to ask the doctor read
aloud, which the man of medicine. be-
ing learned in the literatures both of
the east and of the west. and being,
furthermore, an artist. was able to an
swer and to illustrate in a way that
gave the sultan the liveliest satisfac-
tiOn.
Instead, therefore of never seeing
his STAN boul home again, the doctor
returned there on the second day after
his arrest wearing an especial deco
ration and driving in royal carriage
with an escort. But he was not quite
himself again for many weeks,