"The freedom of women?"
"The 'seclusion' comes from Byzantium. M. Kemal will change that, if only he does not himself make a foolish marriage."
"How do you mean—foolish?"
"A princess. We attribute Enver's downfall to his having married a princess. He then required money to maintain his 'royal' position; we do not inquire from whence it came! If M. Kemal Pasha follows his example we shall lose faith in his democracy."
"And a foreigner?"
"That is almost as bad. The helpmeet of our choice for him should be one who would help the country to progress along Eastern lines, not Western. Rather a peasant than a foreigner or a princess."
"I hope he may find one with the intelligence of Halidé Hanoum, and with her womanly charm. To me she seems wholly delightful. She can advance, and remain a woman, as our Anglo-Saxon reformers have seldom done."
"We shall see; but you must make no mistake. You imagine that women 'do not count' in the East, yet I assure you a foolish marriage for M. Kemal Pasha would be a national disaster."
"I wish you were not so much against British rule."
"I must face facts. You have been doing strange things here for the last twenty-three years. We do not object to you because you are rulers, but to the way in which you now rule. In Islam all the faiths co-operate. Israel has its place, and we venerate Christ no less than our Prophet. It is the same in England itself, yet the very men whom you receive in your London drawing-rooms are spoken of in Egypt and India as 'natives.'"
"Neither can I understand that." I agreed.
"No, you would not; but, if you really want to know the truth, we are discouraged and hurt. How can your Empire accept your ex-Premier's pro-Greek campaign after his glorious speeches in support of democracy?"
