hrew the wretched creature the tiny coin he
asked, and they turned away. But his face was very white, and Hermione's
eyes were filled with tears.

XXII.

A few days later the Carvels were installed for the summer in one of the
many large houses on the Buyukdere quay, which are usually let to any
one who will hire them. These dwellings are mostly the property of
Armenians and Greeks who lost heavily during the war, and whose
diminished fortunes no longer allow them to live in their former state.
They are vast wooden buildings for the most part, having a huge hall on
each floor, from which smaller rooms open on two sides; large windows in
front afford a view of the Bosphorus, and at the back the balconies are
connected with the gardens by flights of wooden steps. In one of these,
not far from the Russian embassy, the Carvels took up their abode, and
John expressed himself extremely well satisfied with his choice and with
his bargain. In the course of their stay in Pera, the family had
contrived to collect a considerable quantity of Oriental carpets and
other objects, some good, some utterly worthless in themselves, but
useful in filling up the immense rooms of the house. Chrysophrasia
seemed to find the East sympathetic to her nerves, and was certainly
more in her element in Constantinople than in Brompton or Carvel Place.
Strange to say, she was the one of the family who best understood the
Turks and their ways. In contact with a semi-barbarous people, she
developed an amount of common sense and keen intelligence which I had
never suspected her of possessing.

As for me, I had gone up to Buyukdere one day, and had then and there
changed my mind in regard to my departure. The roses were in full bloom,
and everything looked so unusually attractive, that I could not resist
the temptation of spending the summer in the place. A few years ago,
when I thought of traveling, I set out without hesitation, and went to
the ends of the earth. I suppose I am growing old, for I begin to
dislike perpetual motion. The little kiosk on the hill, at the top of a
beautiful garden, was very tempting, too, and after a few hours'
consideration I hired it for the season, with that fine disregard for
consequences which one learns in the East. The only furniture in the
place was an iron bedstead and an old divan. There was not a chair, not
a bit of matting; not so much as an earthen pot in the kitchen, nor a
deal table in the sitting-ro