I distributed their lands, their houses, and their goods amongst my followers, and from that moment I could call the town of Tepelen my own." A less ambitious man might perhaps have remained satisfied with such a result.

But Ali did not look upon the suzerainty of a canton as a final object, but only as a means to an end; and he had not made himself master of Tepelen to limit himself to a petty state, but to employ it as a base of operations.
He had allied himself to Ali of Argyro-Castron to get rid of his enemies; once free from them, he began to plot against his supplanter.
He forgot neither his vindictive projects nor his ambitious schemes.

As prudent in execution as bold in design, he took good care not to openly attack a man stronger than himself, and gained by stratagem what he could not obtain by violence.

The honest and straightforward character of his brother-in-law afforded an easy success to his perfidy.

He began by endeavouring to suborn his sister Chainitza, and several times proposed to her to poison her husband; but she, who dearly loved the pacha, who was a kind husband and to whom she had borne two children, repulsed his suggestions with horror, and threatened, if he persisted, to denounce him.