French and Oriental Love in a Harem | Page 3

closely
and mysteriously veiled. They were taking a walk, accompanied by an
old fellow of singular aspect, clothed in a long robe with a tarbouch on
his head, who greatly excited my curiosity. My uncle told me that this
was His Excellency, Mohammed-Azis, one of his friends at
Constantinople, whom he had taken in with his family after they had
undergone persecution at the hands of the Sultan. He lodged him in
another little château adjoining Férouzat, in order that they might be
able to live more comfortably in Turkish style: those young persons
were two of his daughters.
After that year, I never again stayed in Provence: for my uncle, having
settled in China and Japan, was absent five years, and my only relations
with him were through his banker at Paris, with whom I enjoyed that
solid and unlimited credit which you envied so much, and of which I
availed myself with such easy grace and in such a superbly reckless
spirit.
You remember that I received a few months ago a letter announcing
this sudden misfortune, and requesting my immediate presence at
Férouzat, to remove the seals and open the will: my poor uncle had
died in Abyssinia.
Well, the day after my arrival, I had only just got up, when Féraudet,
the notary, was announced. He came in, literally armed with documents.
I did not want to act like a greedy heir, but rather to put off for a few
days all the most material questions; my notary, however, informed me
that "there were certain clauses in the will which demanded an
immediate examination." My uncle had charged me, he said, with
numerous trusts and legacies "for the benefit of his god-children and of
other parties living a long distance off." All this was uttered in a
mournful tone suited to the occasion, and at the same time with the
manner of a person aware that he was the bearer of an extraordinary

document, and preparing me for its effect. Finally he opened the will,
which was worded as follows:
"Château de Férouzat, ... 18..
"I, the undersigned, Claude-Anatole-Gratien Barbassou, Count of
Monteclaro, do hereby declare that I elect and designate as my
universal legatee and the sole inheritor of my property: of all my real
and personal estate, and all that I am entitled to of every description
soever, such as ..., &c.: my nephew Jérôme André de Peyrade, the son
of my sister: And I hereby command him to discharge the following
legacies:
"To my much-beloved wife and legitimate spouse, Lia Rachel
Euphrosine Ben-Lévy, milliner, of Constantinople, and dwelling there
in the suburb of Péra, First, a sum of four thousand five hundred francs,
which I have agreed by contract to pay her; Second, my house at Péra,
in which she dwells, with all the appendages and appurtenances thereof;
and Third, a sum of twelve thousand francs, to be distributed by her, as
it may please her, among the different children whom she has by me.
"Likewise, to my much-beloved wife and legitimate spouse, Sophia
Eudoxia, Countess of Monteclaro (whose maiden name is De Cornalis),
dwelling at Corfu: First, a sum of five hundred thousand francs, which I
have agreed by contract to pay her; Second, the clock and the Dresden
china, which stand on my mantle-piece; Third, 'The Virgin,' by
Perugino, in my drawing-room at Férouzat.
"Likewise, to my much-beloved wife and legitimate spouse, Marie
Gretchen Van Cloth, dwelling at Amsterdam: First, a sum of twenty
thousand francs, which I have agreed by contract to pay her; Second, a
sum of sixty thousand francs, to be distributed by her, as it may please
her, among the different children whom she has by me; Third, my
dinner-service in Delph, known as No. 3; Fourth, a barrel-organ, set
with four of Haydn's symphonies.
"Likewise, to my much-beloved wife and legitimate spouse, Marie
Louise Antoinette Cora de La Pescade, dwelling at Les Grands

Palmiers (Ile Bourbon), my plantation upon which she lives, including
the annexes of Le Grand Morne.
"Likewise, to my much-beloved wife and legitimate spouse, Anita
Josepha Christina de Postero, dwelling at Cadiz: First, a sum of twelve
thousand francs; which I have agreed by contract to pay her; Second,
my pardon for her little adventure with my lieutenant Jean Bonaffé."
If some very precise person should seek to insinuate his criticisms upon
my uncle's matrimonial principles, my reply would be that
Barbassou-Pasha was a Turk and a Mussulman, and that consequently
he can only be praised for having so faithfully obeyed the Laws of the
Prophet--laws which permitted him to indulge in all this hymeneal
luxury without in the least degree outraging the social proprieties--and
for having in this matter piously fulfilled a religious duty, which his
premature death alone, so far as we can