This much leaked
out afterwards, as such things will leak out, and then the Sultana took
Soliman into her chamber and gazed up into his eyes. The man was stunned by
the immensity of the calamity which had befallen him and his kingdom, but
his manhood availed him not against the wiles of this Circe. Ibrahim had
been foully done to death in his own palace, and this woman clinging so
lovingly around his neck now was the murderess. The heart's blood of his
best friend was coagulating on the threshold of his own apartment when he
forgave her by whom his murder had been accomplished. This was the
vengeance of Roxalana, and who shall say that it was not complete?
The Ottoman Empire was the poorer by the loss of its greatest man, the
jealousy of the Sultana was assuaged, the despot who had permitted this
unavenged murder was still on the throne, thrall to the woman who had first
murdered his son and then his friend and minister. But the deed carried
with it the evil consequences which were only too likely to occur when so
capable a head of the State was removed at so critical a time. Renewed
strife was in the air, and endless squabbles between Venice and the Porte
were taking place. With these we have no concern, but, in addition to other
complaints, there were loud and continuous ones concerning the corsairs.
Venice, "The Bride of the Sea," had neither rest nor peace; the pirates
swarmed in Corfu, in Zante, in Candia, in Cephalonia, and the plunder and
murder of the subjects of the Republic was the theme of perpetual
representations to the Sultan.
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