brother, she sailed away with her little babe in her arms. As she turned smiling on us from the big gateway, I could not resist blowing a kiss to the child-*like and pathetic figure she made—for all the world like a schoolgirl and her doll!
Towards evening, as we were preparing to leave our host, I caught sight of a few tears rolling down his cheeks. Like an Englishman, he quickly brushed them aside, and turned to me with a smile.
What had I said, or done? We had been skating on thin ice all the time. I would never deliberately hurt anyone's feelings, but I cannot resist a joke, and, in a foreign language, there is danger of misunderstanding.
I found a chance of asking the cheik to tell me frankly if I had unwittingly given any offence, for which I would be only too eager to tender my sincere regret and apology. But he explained: Our host's brother-in-law had died during the night, and, not wishing to disturb our entertainment, his wife had bravely set out alone to attend the funeral.
So even the most intimate domestic sorrow was not permitted to interrupt our enjoyment; the intrusion, as it must be felt, of an unknown woman from an enemy land!
I have never met, even in Turkey, such a fine spirit of hospitality. My tears could not be kept back. Here was a mere lad heaping coals of fire on my head. Again and again the words sternly echoed in my brain: "These things should never have been."
