Free A Dead Man in Athens by Michael Pearce Page B

bayonets pointing, were out in force. At the gates to the house French military uniforms mingled with English naval uniforms and there was an unusually businesslike air.
    Inside the house there were cavasses everywhere. Seymour captured one and asked if he could speak to Orhan Eser, the Acting-Vizier’s assistant. A cavass went off but did not return. After some time Seymour collared another cavass, but with the same result. In the end he went to the kitchen, which was about the only place where there seemed to be people, and people he could talk to without going through intermediaries.
    In the kitchen everyone was scurrying around except for the small girl, Chloe, who was standing by the door anxiously chewing her fingers. Someone put a huge tray of dishes into her arms and she rushed off. Other servants came in and collected trays. Breakfast, it appeared, was being served late this morning.
    One of the servants stopped for a moment near Seymour and he took the chance to ask what was going on.
    ‘Haven’t you heard? The Sultan’s been poisoned!’
    Poisoned! He seized one of the cavasses and demanded to be taken to the Sultan’s apartments.
    Outside the large, ornate doors a crowd of people were waiting: picturesquely dressed guards, dark-suited officials and a group of elderly men whom Seymour guessed to be doctors. Among them was Dr Metaxas. He caught Seymour’s eye and came across.
    ‘Again!’ he said, and shrugged his shoulders.
    ‘Again?’
    ‘We’ve been here before.’
    ‘He’s not . . . dying, then?’
    ‘Unfortunately not,’ said Dr Metaxas.
    Someone called him and he went back to the doctors. A little later they went through the large doors.
    Seymour saw Orhan Eser.
    ‘Can I be of use?’
    Orhan Eser considered.
    ‘Possibly,’ he said. ‘Wait here.’
    He disappeared.
    ‘It looks as if it’s real this time,’ said someone in the crowd.
    ‘It will be one day,’ said another.
    Orhan Eser came back.
    ‘You are to see Abd-es-Salaam,’ he said. ‘Only he can’t see you just now. Please wait.’
    Seymour waited. After a while the crowd thinned out. The officials went away. The doctors were all inside. Eventually only the guards were left.
    There was little he could do here. He went back to the kitchen.
    The little girl was still standing by the door, still chewing her fingers.
    ‘Hello!’ he said. ‘Are you Chloe?’
    She gave him a frightened look.
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she said, almost inaudibly. She was so young that she wasn’t wearing a veil. Or perhaps she wasn’t a Muslim.
    ‘You’ve been taking the food to the harem, have you?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Perhaps I’ll come with you the next time you go. I want to speak to the eunuchs.’
    ‘They’re having their breakfast.’
    ‘Oh. Right.’
    She hesitated, and then seemed to pluck up her courage.
    ‘I have to go back to fetch the dishes,’ she confided.
    ‘Perhaps I’ll come with you then and you can show me where it is.’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    He smiled at her encouragingly.
    ‘You’re a local girl, are you?’
    ‘Yes, sir.’ And then, after a moment: ‘I live up in the mountains. We have a farm there.’
    ‘Oh, yes.’ Then a thought struck him. ‘You’re not anything to do with Ari, the milkman, are you?’
    ‘His niece.’
    ‘And you’ve come to work here?’
    ‘Had to. There’s nothing up in the mountains.’
    ‘Do you like it here?’
    She thought.
    ‘It’s very big.’
    ‘And are they nice to you?’
    ‘Amina beats me sometimes.’
    ‘She’s hard on you, is she?’
    ‘She’s an old devil!’ she said, with sudden energy.
    ‘What about the eunuchs?’
    ‘They’re all right. Usually. They don’t pay much attention to me.’ Then, after a moment, confidingly: ‘They’re a bit odd.’
    ‘And what about the ladies of the harem?’
    ‘I don’t see much of them. I usually stop at the door. But the Lady Irina was nice to me.’
    ‘Oh? When was that?’
    ‘There was a dish. And it was chipped. And the