{"product_id":"2940013773653","title":"The Insane Root","description":"In the Abarian Embassy in London, Isàdas Pacha lay sick unto death. He\u003cbr\u003ewas an old man, and upon several previous occasions when he had been\u003cbr\u003estricken by illness it was thought that he could not recover.\u003cbr\u003eNevertheless, when newspapers and Cabinets were speculating upon his\u003cbr\u003eprobable successor, he had invariably risen up from his bed and had\u003cbr\u003eagain handled the reins, continuing to transact the duties of\u003cbr\u003eAmbassador to the Court of St James's entrusted to him by his Imperial\u003cbr\u003emaster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was greatly in the favour of his Emperor, and was, after his own\u003cbr\u003efashion, a power in the courts of Europe. Though it was said, and\u003cbr\u003eindeed with truth, that most of the business of the Chancellery was\u003cbr\u003ecarried on by his clever, fascinating and ambitious first secretary,\u003cbr\u003eCaspar Ruel Bey, it was the brain of Isàdas Pacha which inspired\u003cbr\u003edespatches, the hand of Isàdas Pacha--that shrivelled, forceful hand--\u003cbr\u003ewhich gave the last decisive touch to the helm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIsàdas Pacha was old and had lived an unholy life. He had loved many\u003cbr\u003ewomen--the prey of some, the tyrant of others--had drunk much wine,\u003cbr\u003ehad gambled and fought and rollicked, had nourished revenge upon the\u003cbr\u003efruit of diabolical knowledge, had strange byways of intrigue, vice\u003cbr\u003eand of wisdom where was little good and much evil. He had, in fact, to\u003cbr\u003equote an austere London surgeon who attended him, violated every law\u003cbr\u003eof health, morals and religion, and was a standing disproof of the\u003cbr\u003epower of those laws. For his marvellous vitality and his commanding\u003cbr\u003eintellect had brought him successfully through a varied career, to\u003cbr\u003ewhat now-at its close, seemed the very zenith of influence and\u003cbr\u003epopularity. Nor were the influence and popularity undeserved. He had\u003cbr\u003ebeen a faithful servant to an effete and demoralised civilisation--a\u003cbr\u003estate which from its geographical position was at that time one of the\u003cbr\u003echief factors in Christian and Mahometan policy. He had done his\u003cbr\u003ecountry's work--not always righteous--in many lands, and had felt the\u003cbr\u003epulse-beats of many nations. He had the wile of the East and the\u003cbr\u003ecommon sense of the West, and was consulted by both in hours of crisis\u003cbr\u003eand difficulty. The decorations heaped upon him had been genuinely\u003cbr\u003ewon, and only a week before his illness, the last and crowning order\u003cbr\u003eof merit---the highest gift in his sovereign's power to bestow--had\u003cbr\u003ebeen sent him with an autograph letter from that sovereign, by whom he\u003cbr\u003ewas both loved and trusted. The ideal of an autocratic sovereignty was\u003cbr\u003ethe ideal to which Isàdas Pacha clung. It had ruled his actions; and'\u003cbr\u003ethe glittering jewel which represented it, was now placed by his\u003cbr\u003edesire, at the foot of his bed, and solaced his dying hours. Thus, a\u003cbr\u003estrong and lasting devotion had been inspired in him by the original\u003cbr\u003eof an oil painting--the portrait of a man with regular, refined\u003cbr\u003efeatures, dark haunting eyes, and an expression of the most profound\u003cbr\u003emelancholy, the most utter satiety to be seen on human countenance--\u003cbr\u003ewhich hung at the end of the long suite of reception rooms in the\u003cbr\u003eEmbassy, its frame surmounted by the jewelled and gilded insignia of\u003cbr\u003eEastern monarchy. This was the portrait of his most sacred Majesty,\u003cbr\u003eAbdullulah Zobeir, Emperor of Abaria.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was in obedience to this devotion that Isàdas Pacha, when taken ill\u003cbr\u003eat a watering-place to which his doctors recommended him, had desired\u003cbr\u003ethat he should be brought back to London in order that he might die\u003cbr\u003eunder the Imperial flag.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe floated limply over the grey roof and straight unlovely walls of\u003cbr\u003ethe Embassy. There was scarcely a breath of wind in the heavy,\u003cbr\u003eexhausted London atmosphere--the atmosphere of a London August.\u003cbr\u003eCertainly it was only the first week in August and Parliament was not\u003cbr\u003eup, and there was a stream of smart carriages drawing up in front of\u003cbr\u003ethe corner house of that dull, old--fashioned London square, one patch\u003cbr\u003eof which had been for so long a piece of Abarian territory. From the\u003cbr\u003ecarriages tired footmen alighted, and cards were left and inquiries\u003cbr\u003ewere made. In some cases the answers to the inquiries were brought out\u003cbr\u003eand repeated to beautifully-dressed ladies, past their youth maybe--\u003cbr\u003eladies whom presumably the Pacha had loved or admired. The Pacha was\u003cbr\u003ewitty and amusing, while his position was such that women still liked\u003cbr\u003eto be admired, even loved, by him, though he was not very far from\u003cbr\u003eeighty. In other instances the inquiries were evidently merely\u003cbr\u003eperfunctory--official tributes to his diplomatic status.e","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083172724976,"sku":"2940013773653","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013773653_p0.jpg?v=1763590085","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013773653","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}