Evening star., 1924-05-04

TE five days 1 stepped from the
Orient express at Stamboul. An
official advanced-Ekrem Bey. He
had an automobile. In a few minutes
] caught my first glimpse of the pail
ace II lay beside the blue Rosporus.
an immense structure of marble and
stucco, dazZllngly white. A colossal
wall shut it off from the street for a
quarter of a mile.
Instead of spacious lawns and gar
dens behind the inner wall I found
yard with turkeys and chickens and
sheep. Scattered about were groups
of negroes. They were the tallest,
longest, leanest looking men / have
ever seen. In their black frock coats
and red fezzes they looked curiously
as though they had been put into a
stretching machine and pulled out. 1t
did not occur to nc that I was look
ing upon the eunuchs. those tradi-
tional guardians of the harem, with
out whom that dying institution could
never have existed. They looked Gu
riously at me. In time their curiosity
turned TO resentment. I was the only
woman in the harem over whom they
had no control.
Twenty minutes on the threshold of
a new experience may seem a long
time. I had been sitting for what l
thought was an hour, in a splenddly
gilded and ornate stateroom on the
first floor of Abdul Medjid's palace,
when the door suddenly opened and
Ekrem Bey announced that her high
ness the princess was ready to re-
ceivc me.
Ekrem Bey paused in kind of awe
before a door, then opened it a few
inches. Through the crack he hastily
said = few words in Turkish. and,
motioning me to enter. he bolted. l
was on the threshold of the haremlik.
j was in no mans land-no man, that
is TO say, except the prince himself.
Beside long green baize table
stood large lady, silent, statuesque
and alone. She was robed entirely in
white. over her head was a broad
embroidered white silk scarf, reach
ing to her feet. Ii fitted so closely
round her face that what there was
to be seen looked oval and narrow.
Her cheeks were pale, her nose
curved. and her eyes rather remark
able greenish color. She did not fit
my preconceived idea of eastern roy
atty. Yet she might be.
We talked awkwardly. Two little
girls shyly entered. She introduced
them as her daughter and her niece.
I realized that ! was in the presence
of her imperial highness.
The little princess might have been
any pretty little girl of ten anywhere.
She was dressed in a sailor suit and
her eyes, large and round and blue,
were full of questions.
:: x I; ).
TORMALITIES over, I was led to a
i short, dark passage opening into
a narrow, lofty, gloomy chamber
facing north. Some mistake? Surely
the English housekeeper would have
prepared a. room suitable for fell
low countrywoman. Almost no light
Denetrated through the windows.
They were double windows and the
outer pane was of frosted glass. Be-
vond this was a closely woven wood
en- lattice. I did not know that this
was the unmistakable sign of the
Maremlik; the grille that shuts the
women from the outside gaze.
With signs I tried to make the
children understand that I wanted
TO see the English housekeeper. They
scampered away and left me to take
stock of the room. I found a stop
PEERLESS basin, wateriess tap and
a sheetless bed. Heavy red plush
curtains hung at the windows and.
above, festoons of fringed red plush.
Then in a burst of courage I de-
Eided to look for the housekeeper