Don't think I don't admire your pluck; I do. In all my experience I never met a woman ready for greater risk; but we value you too much to let you go."
It was a wearisome line of attack. I could so much more easily have dealt with violence from a would-be dictator. I tried again, hoping to silence a busy man.
"Please imagine you are an American," I suggested, "and that time is money."
"Time is not money when a woman's life is at stake. Forgive me, your courage—which I shall never forget—is immense, but you are not a sportsman!"
"What do you mean?"
"It is not fair to us—Englishmen! What will the Turks think of us, allowing it? They will have a mighty poor opinion of British chivalry. And we do not deserve it! Would they let one of their women do such a thing? We, too, protect our women!"
I was losing ground, at least that appeal hurt; but I could not yield.
"You need not worry," I replied, with more unconcern than I could really feel at the moment. "I will see that they understand. They do know how England cares for her women; but they know me, what a determined customer I am. They will not blame you."
He played his last card, bashfully indeed, but with a grim resolve that won my respect.
"Dear lady, I have no wish to be personal, but you have driven me to it. You are not—ugly enough to undertake this journey. . . . Go and see the British Navy you love so much. We will look after the Turks, and you too. Come and see them when we have finished with them."
I saw that I must not only be firm, but I must speak, and speak plainly. "If any harm comes of it," I said, seriously enough, God knows, "it will be my own fault. The Turk respects women who respect themselves. Ten years ago I went to Asia Minor, with a military escort, the only woman; but I was absolutely safe all the time, everywhere."
