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 CHAPTER VI

BRITISH CHIVALRY!—BRAVE WOMEN A NUISANCE!

"Women are so absurdly brave," said a charming British official, "that is why they are such a nuisance."

He was seated at a small, improvised and over-*crowded bureau in one of the few remaining houses on the Smyrna Quay. He had just sufficient of a Scotch accent to make one see that he would stand no non-*sense—an asset, surely, in his position. Yet the obvious and zealous concern for his own countrywoman proved that, however carefully the calm exterior of the Scot may hide his feelings, his heart beats strong and true. He is no less proud, too, of his "women" than any citizen of the States!

But this able and active young man, master of any emergency at a crisis, could not accept my point of view about the Nationalist Turk. That, certainly, was not his fault, for who is there to interpret this "new" people to him? He only knows that, for the first time, Turks have dared to express themselves, and—like brave women—are becoming a great nuisance! Under the good Hamid, these lazy people were easy enough to manage. "Turkey for the Turks!" What a monstrous notion! Yet one feels, nay knows, that he has plenty of intelligence, will face facts, and learn to accept the inevitable.

Meanwhile, I, for my part, am throwing a most unwelcome additional weight upon his already over-*burdened shoulders. He is clearly annoyed at my having come so far, and, in his place, who would not have felt the same?

But, unfortunately for him, he knows very well