An Englishwoman in Angora
ON BOARD THE "PIERRE LOTI"—TURKEY'S DEBT TO LOTI'S MAGIC PEN
Over a sea as smooth as ice, the sun shining brightly
most of the way, the Messageries Maritimes steamer
Pierre Loti is carrying us to Smyrna. Ten years ago,
to a beaten Turkey (unable, it was supposed, to face
an enemy for years to come), I had taken the same trip.
And now, despite the prophets, I am returning to a
victorious people; doubly victorious, since all the
odds were against them.
"That is the kind of story I love," I remarked to the sympathetic captain and his daughter, with whom I generally lunched as guest in their own cabin. They, indeed, were particularly interested in my adventure, for they knew the Near East well, and this was to be their last visit. Because he had just reached the age limit of those who 'go down to the sea in ships,' though it was only when you caught the word 'papa' upon his daughter's lips that anyone would suspect the fact.
So they are blessed who marry young!
"It seems strange," I told him one morning, "to be here—on board the Pierre Loti, and surely a presage of good luck, since his books have done so much to increase and widen my inborn sympathies with the East."
Still more strange it proved; since the captain himself had named the ship for his admiration of the great French writer and in memory of personal friendship between them. A rare literary association for
