Ibrahim had for years been treated by Soliman more as a brother than as a
dependent, which, in spite of his Grand Viziership, he was in fact. They
lived in the very closest communion, taking their meals together, and even
sleeping in the same room, Soliman, a man of high intelligence himself, and
a ruler who kept in touch with all the happenings which arose in his
immense dominions, desiring always to have at hand the man whom he loved;
from whom, with his amazing grip of political problems and endless
fertility of resource, he was certain of sympathy and sound advice. But in
an oriental despotism there are other forces at work besides those of _la
haute politique_, and Ibrahim had one deadly enemy who was sworn to compass
his destruction. The Sultana Roxalana was the light of the harem of the
Grand Turk. This supremely beautiful woman, originally a Russian slave, was
the object of the most passionate devotion on the part of Soliman; but she
was as ambitious as she was lovely, and brooked no rival in the affections
of Soliman, be that person man, woman, or child. In her hands the master of
millions, the despot whose nod was death, became a submissive slave; the
undisciplined passions of this headstrong woman swept aside from her path
all those whom she suspected of sharing her influence, in no matter how
remote a fashion. At her dictation had Soliman caused to be murdered his
son Mustafa, a youth of the brightest promise, because, in his intelligence
and his winning ways he threatened to eclipse Selim, the son of Roxalana
herself.
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