Page:Englishwomaninan00elli.pdf/341

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

drifting towards the false "sentiment" that has been broadcasted to uphold the Greeks?

On the anniversary of the In-Eunus, I dined with Ismet Pasha. When he refused dates I told him that, "so long as he kept the 'dates' of his victories, he needed no others." "I left Constantinople with nothing," he answered. "I returned the head of the Army." Turkey gives every man his chance.

So far as possible, I am dividing my time between British and Turks; and no one can say that either gives more time or "hard labour" to their responsibilities, than the other. It is not possible, certainly, for any visitor to interrupt Lord Curzon, he seems to be working all the time.

There is one figure we all watch carefully at the Conference. I once compared the face of M. Venizelos to an Apostle! Now he hovers round the British Delegation like a bird of ill-omen, for some inexplicable reason still mesmerising our diplomatists, carrying trouble wherever he goes. Djavid Bey laughs to remind me of how proud I had once been to pour out tea for them both!

One naturally feels great interest in Melle Stanciof, as the first woman diplomatist, and her personality repays study. Tall and thin, with the large eyes of the Oriental, she is very able, speaks English without an accent, and loves her work. I repeated to her the dogma that to be twenty-one is an essential qualification for a diplomat; but she is twenty-seven, and only laughed at the idea.

Sir Wm. Tyrell, Permanent Head of the British Foreign Office, with all his Irish charm and wit, is as clever as Machievelli. He delights in calling himself "Chief of the Underlings"; but men like Mr. Forbes Adam and Mr. Harold Nicholson were experienced