Page:A child of the Orient (IA childoforient00vakarich).pdf/170

 desire took possession of me to re-read that history, chapter by chapter, then cross over to Stamboul and find the actual places mentioned.

This was not so easy to accomplish as one might think; for I had to reckon with the elders, who would have a thousand and one objections to my going over to the Turkish city. I went immediately to my mother, and without any preamble—which I knew to be the best way, in order to take her breath away—told her of my project, speaking of it casually as if it were as simple as drinking a glass of water.

She gave me the puzzled look with which she often regarded my little person. I believe that every time I came before her she wondered anew how I happened to be her child; for she was tall and beautiful, and very conventional in her desires, and I was small and elfish, and my desires were usually for things she could not imagine any person wanting. After I had finished speaking, she replied quietly:

"What you ask is out of the question; for we have no one, you know, who can waste so much time every week accompanying you."

"I don't want anyone," I replied. "I would much rather go alone."

The puzzled expression in her eyes deepened. "Go alone—over there? But I have never been there alone in all my life."

"I know that, mamma, but you know per