Thereupon the Sultan expressed a wish that Dr. Hepworth and myself should come up to the Palace and be received by him. After duly considering the matter, we replied jointly that, as His Majesty had asked us to render a service to truth and justice by our investigations in his Asiatic dominions, we thought it best to leave Constantinople without seeing him; for, if we were received in audience, it would get known and might be construed into our having only acted as his agents—a surmise which would certainly discount the value of Dr. Hepworth’s impartial account of our experiences. The Sultan seemed to recognize the force of our contention, for he sent us a kindly message embodying his best wishes for our journey, and expressing the hope that we might some day come again to Constantinople. In order once for all to dispose of the idle rumours which were current at the time, I may add that neither Dr. Hepworth nor myself accepted any memento or present whatsoever from the Sultan. A decoration which His Majesty subsequently sent to Paris for Mrs. Hepworth was returned through the proprietor of the _New York Herald_. Before leaving I received the following letter from Munir Pasha: PALAIS IMPÉRIAL DE YILDIZ, CABINET DU GRAND MAÎTRE DES CÉRÉMONIES. “CHER MONSIEUR WHITMAN, “Je vous envoie par le porteur une lettre que j’ai écrite à l’adresse de Monsieur Gordon Bennett, et qui est relative à votre récent voyage en Anatolie. “En vous priant de vouloir bien faire parvenir cette missive à sa destination, je me plais à vous dire combien je me félicite des relations personnelles que j’ai eu l’honneur d’avoir avec vous, et à vous assurer du bon souvenir que je garderai de ces relations. “Votre dévoué, “MUNIR.” LUNDI, _12 Janvier 1898_.