mother entreated me to renounce the idea of going to England, and to calm her I was wicked enough to make some evasive promises, which to me meant nothing. CHAPTER XIV. A SPY IN A PUBLIC BATH. The Turkish bath--Some of its features--Great number of baths in Constantinople--Women's baths and a proverb--Evening parties at the bath--I encounter a spy in a bath--He is well informed about me--I am alarmed--I appeal to an Englishman for help in escaping--The 'cursed country.' WHEN I came back to Constantinople I decided to lead a more or less retired life, so that I might if possible avoid becoming a prey to the victim-hunting Palace spies. A year passed without fresh alarms, and meanwhile no easy opportunity of leaving the country presented itself. I was just beginning to feel satisfied that my caution was rendering any such disagreeable change in my career unnecessary when one night I was alarmed to discover that a spy was actually at work plotting my ruin. This happened in a Turkish bath. Before relating how this occurred, I will describe our baths. The Turkish baths are much favoured in England, and perhaps there may be some among the readers of this book who may like to know something about the baths in Turkey. "Is the Turkish bath known in Turkey?" This curious question is not infrequently put to travellers from the East by English people. It is true that there is not much resemblance between the external appearance and management of the so-called Turkish bath in England and those of the hammam in Turkey. Outwardly the hammam usually presents something of the appearance of a domed sepulchral edifice. Of the little domes or cupolas which rise from its roof, that in the middle is the highest, and is set with many small windows for the purpose of lighting the bath. The massive walls that form the sides of the hammam have no windows, as it is thought that if the walls were pierced the outside air would penetrate into the interior and cause variations in the evenness of temperature which it is held desirable to maintain. The interior thus often becomes very dose, as ventilation is very slow, being only through the opening by passers to and fro of the double doors of the passage which leads to the cool entrance-hall. Every now and then attendants burn frankincense in the interior of the bath with the idea of purifying the air. The great warm hall under the central dome has generally three large niches, two on each side and one in front, as well as two little chambers. Each of these niches and chambers has a roof in the shape of a half-hemisphere, which contains a few tiny glass apertures, and which is joined to the central dome roof. In all these niches and chambers there are, according to the size of the bath, one, two, or three marble basins, which are fixed to the low part of the wall, each basin being provided with hot and cold water taps. Round these basins people sit on marble or wooden seats, which