In the nar­ra­tive set in 1872, Arthur is in Con­stan­tino­ple, anx­ious­ly await­ing a fir­man that will grant him pas­sage to Nin­eveh. Days pass with lit­tle news, caus­ing a sense of ner­vous ten­sion that col­ors his every action. One evening, he’s sum­moned by clerks and a drago­man who insists he should seek diver­sion after being large­ly cooped up. Despite his ini­tial reluc­tance, he is swept into an unex­pect­ed night out­ing.

Soon, Arthur finds him­self in a lav­ish house with ornate decor and trays full of del­i­ca­cies. The drago­man reveals that it’s an estab­lish­ment meant to offer an authen­tic Ori­en­tal expe­ri­ence. How­ev­er, Arthur feels uncom­fort­able and trou­bled by past mem­o­ries asso­ci­at­ed with such places. Just as he con­tem­plates leav­ing, a woman enters, under­stood to be the madam of the house. Despite Arthur’s protests, the atmos­phere shifts dra­mat­i­cal­ly when music fills the room, played by three women, one of whom cap­ti­vates him with her beau­ty and a qanun, a tra­di­tion­al musi­cal instru­ment.

As the night unfolds, Arthur suc­cumbs to the charm of the music, momen­tar­i­ly escap­ing his wor­ries. The moment of calm is shat­tered by the alarm­ing sound of a crowd out­side — a fire has bro­ken out in the neigh­bor­hood. Pan­ic ensues as guests attempt to flee from the blaz­ing infer­no engulf­ing Pera, lead­ing to the destruc­tion of thou­sands of homes. Amid the chaos, Arthur rush­es back to retrieve the qanun, which sym­bol­izes a moment of beau­ty amidst tur­bu­lence.

After­wards, Arthur seeks refuge and assis­tance at the embassy, only to learn of dev­as­tat­ing news from the ambas­sador regard­ing his mother’s pass­ing. Unable to process the heavy loss and in despair, he ques­tions the cir­cum­stances sur­round­ing her death. Despite the ambassador’s offer to arrange his return to Eng­land, Arthur resolves to con­tin­ue his jour­ney to Nin­eveh, deter­mined to forge ahead despite the weight of per­son­al tragedy.

The imagery through­out cap­tures the vibran­cy and dan­ger of Con­stan­tino­ple, the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of art and music, and the fleet­ing nature of life and home. The chap­ter ends with Arthur in deep intro­spec­tion about his life’s mean­ing and the loss he faces, sig­ni­fy­ing a turn­ing point in his jour­ney.