PROCURING THE IRADE 



was impossible. So when I came in, and they 

 asked me if I had the Irade with me, I took it 

 from my pocket with some pride. Then came 

 the usual fall. After Gargiulo had read it, 

 he said it meant nothing; that he was afraid 

 we had come a long journey for our health and 

 into a poor country. He declared the "Irade" 

 was simply a letter from the Ambassador at 

 Washington, who could not write Irades. He 

 added that during his forty years at the Em- 

 bassy he had never heard of such a permit be- 

 ing granted to a Government, not to speak of 

 an individual; he hoped that it was official, 

 and said he would take the paper to the Palace 

 and find out its authenticity. 



Of course you can see what my sleep was 

 that night. I had been in bed five minutes, per- 

 haps, when my first dream was that I had met 

 Mr. Gargiulo the next morning; that he had 

 come to me as politely as possible and told me 

 that the Sultan had no remembrance of any 

 such correspondence; that he was indeed very 

 sorry that I had been misled in coming so far 

 from home at such an awkward time of the year. 

 The next dream was similar, and so, after an 

 awful night, I was up at daylight, peevish. 



However, on meeting Mr. Gargiulo at about 



