ago. Those fellows do
not part with jewelry unless they need money. It is a pretty thing, too,
and would attract the attention of any foreigner."

"How can you manage to watch Marchetto so closely as to get a sight of
the man?"

"Bribe the Jew in the next shop; or, still better, pay a hamal to spend
his time in the neighborhood. The man probably comes once a week on a
certain day. Keep the watch. The next time he comes it will be gone, but
Marchetto will not have been paid for it and will refuse to pay the
Lala. There will inevitably be a hubbub and a noise over it. The hamal
can easily find out the name of the negro, who is probably well known in
the bazaar."

"But suppose that I am right, and it is already paid for?" I objected.

"It is very unlikely. I know these people better than you do. At all
events, we will put the hamal there to watch for the row. If it does not
come off in a month, I will begin to think you are right."

Gregorios is a true Oriental. He possesses the inborn instinct of the
bazaar.

XIII.

That night I went in search of Paul, and found him standing silent and
alone in the corner of a drawing-room at one of the embassies. There was
a great reception and a dance, and all the diplomats had turned out
officially to see that portion of the native Pera society which is
invited on such occasions.

There is a brilliancy about such affairs in Constantinople which is
hardly rivaled elsewhere. The display of jewels is something wonderful,
for the great Fanariote families are still rich, in spite of the
devastations of the late war, and the light of their hereditary diamonds
and pearls is not hidden under a bushel. There is beauty, too, of the
Oriental and Western kind, and plenty of it. The black eyes and
transparently white complexions of the Greek ladies, their raven hair
and heavy brows, their magnificent calm and their languid attitudes,
contrast strangely with the fair women of many countries, whose
husbands, or fathers, or brothers, or uncles are attached to the
different embassies. The uniforms, too, are often superb, and the
display of decorations is amazing. The conversation is an enlargement on
the ordinary idea of Babel, for almost every known language is spoken
within the limits of the ball-room.

I found Paul alone, with an abstracted expression on his face, as he
stood aside from the crowd, unnoticed in his corner.

"My dear fellow," I said, "I believe I may congratulate