He could not help her.
Nobody could!
What must be must be!
That was the fatalism of the East and she must accept it for herself.
*
Afterwards Yamina could hardly remember her first sight of the magnificent white marble gateway of the Dolmabahçe Palace.
She was to learn later that it represented a mixture of Turkish and European architecture and that to the Sultan it was everything that was modern and desirable.
The vast pile covering a great acreage of land, with the Bosporus flowing on one side and backed by verdant parks and hills, was a Fairy-like edifice compared with the dark, gloomy and ancient Seraglio.
Two enormous wings were attached to the corps-de-logis and, before the broad white steps leading from the front of the Palace to the water’s edge, a Royal Caïque waited, read
