It is also written that when he entered Constantinople and saw the damage his soldiers had done - the buildings they had defaced, the churches they had defiled, and the citizens they had slain - he wept for the beautiful city. From this time he allowed a number of churches to function and gave many advantages to the Byzantine inhabitants.'
"'He also enslaved more than fifty thousand of them,' Helen put in dryly.
'Don't forget about that.'
"Turgut gave her an admiring smile. 'Madam, you are too much for me. But I meant only to demonstrate that our sultans were not monsters. Once they had conquered an area, they were often rather lenient, for those times. It was just the conquering that was not so delightfully done.' He pointed to the far wall of the archive. 'There is His Gloriousness Mehmed himself, if you would like to greet him.' I went to look, although Helen stood stubbornly where she was. The framed reproduction - apparently a cheap copy of a watercolor - showed a solid, seated man in a white-and-red turban. He was fair skinned and delicately bearded, with calligraphic eyebrows and hazel eyes. He held a single rose up to his great hooked nose, sniffing it and gazing off into the distance. He looked to me more like a Sufi mystic than a ruthless conqueror.
"'It's a rather surprising image,' I said.
"'Yes. He was a devoted patron of the arts and architecture, and he built many lovely buildings here.' Turgut tapped his chin with a large finger. 'Well, my friends, what do you think of this account Selim Aksoy has discovered?'
"'It's interesting,' I said politely, 'but I can't see how it helps us find the tomb.'
"'I can't see that either,' Turgut admitted. 'However, I note a certain similarity here between this passage and the fragment of a letter I read to you this morning. The disturbances in the tomb at Snagov, whatever they were, occurred in the same year - 1477. We know already that that is the year after Vlad Dracula died, and that it was a group of monks who were so concerned about something at Snagov. Couldn't these have been the same monks, or some group connected with Snagov?'
"'Possibly,' I admitted, 'but that is conjecture. This account says only that the monks were from the Carpathians. The Carpathians must have been full of monasteries in that era. How could we be sure they were from the monastery at Snagov? Helen, what do you think?'
"I must have caught her by surprise, because I found she was looking directly at me with a kind of wistfulness I had never seen in her face before. The impression vanished immediately, however, and I thought I might have imagined it, or that perhaps she was remembering her mother and our imminent trip to Hungary. Wherever her thoughts had been, she rallied at once. 'Yes, there were many monasteries in the Carpathians. Paul is right - we cannot connect the two groups without more information.'
"I thought Turgut looked disappointed, and he began to say something, but just then we were interrupted by a wheezing gasp. It was Mr. Erozan, still resting on Turgut's jacket on the floor. 'He's fainted!' Turgut cried. 'Here we are chatting like magpies - ' He held the garlic to his friend's nose again, and the man spluttered and revived a little. 'Quick, we must take him home. Professor, madam, help me. We will call a taxicab and carry him to my apartment. My wife and I can care for him there. Selim will stay here with the archive - it must open very soon.' He gave Aksoy a few rapid orders in Turkish.
"Then Turgut and I lifted the pale, weak man from the floor, propped him between us, and carried him carefully through the back door. Helen followed with Turgut's jacket, we passed through the alley, and a moment later we were out in the morning sunlight. When it struck Mr. Erozan's face, he cringed, shrank against my shoulder, and held one hand up to his eyes as if warding off a blow."
Part Two Chapter 36
The night I spent in that farmhouse in Boulois, with Barley on the other side of the room, was one of the most wakeful I had ever known. We settled down at nine or so, since there wasn't much to do there except listen to the chickens and watch the light fade over the sagging barns. To my amazement, there was no electricity on the farm