class="charc">Mrs. Appleby.

Did you know?

Violet.

I thought it looked very like it, you know, only it was so improbable. Then came an invitation from a woman I only just knew for the next week-end, and she said Arthur would be there. Then my heart really did begin to go pit-a-pat. I took the letter in to my sister and sat on her bed and we talked it over. "Does he mean to propose to me," I said, "or does he not?" And my sister said: "I can't imagine what he sees in you. Will you accept him if he does?" she asked. "Oh, no," I said. "Good heavens, why he's twenty years older than I am!" But of course I meant to all the time. I shouldn't have cared if he was a hundred, he was the most wonderful man I'd ever known.

Mrs. Appleby.

And did he propose to you that week-end, when he'd practically only seen you once before?

Violet.

I got down in the afternoon and he was there already. As soon as I swallowed a cup of tea he said: "Come out for a walk." Well, I'd have loved a second cup, but I didn't like to say so, so I went. But we had a second tea in a cottage half an hour later, and we were engaged then.

Appleby.

Sir Arthur is coming in one moment. He is talking to one of his secretaries.

Violet.

Really, it's too bad of them not to leave him alone even when he's snatching a mouthful of food.

Osman Pasha.

Vous permettez que j'apporte ma cigarette, chère Madame.

Violet.

Of course. Come and sit here, Pasha.

Appleby.

I wanted to tell his Excellency how interested I am in his proposal to found a technical college in Cairo, but I can't speak French.

Violet.

Oh, but his Excellency understands English perfectly, and I believe really he talks it as well as I do, only he won't.

Osman Pasha.

Madame, je ne comprends l'anglais que quand vous le parlez, et tout galant homme sait ce que dit une jolie femme.

Anne.

[Translating for the Applebys.] He says he only understands English when Lady Little speaks it, and every nice man understands what a pretty woman says.

Violet.

No one pays me such charming compliments as you do. You know I'm learning Arabic.

Osman Pasha.

C'est une bien belle langue, et vous, madame, vous avez autant d'intelligence que de beauté.

Violet.

I have a Copt who comes to me every day. And I practise a little with your brother, Anne.

Anne.

[To Mrs. Appleby.] My brother is one of Sir Arthur's secretaries. I expect it was he that Mr. Appleby left with Sir Arthur.

Violet.

If it is I shall scold him. He knows quite well that he has no right to come and bother Arthur when he's in the bosom of his family. But they say he's a wonderful Arabic scholar.

Osman Pasha.

Vous parlez de M. Parry? Je n'ai jamais connu un Anglais qui avait une telle facilité.

Anne.

He says he's never known an Englishman who speaks so well as Ronny.

Violet.

It's a fearfully difficult language. Sometimes my head seems to get tied up in knots.

[Two Saises come in, one with a salver on which are coffee cups and the other bearing a small tray on which is a silver vessel containing Turkish coffee. They go round giving coffee to the various people, then wait in silence. When Sir Arthur comes in they give him his coffee and go out.]

Anne.

It's wonderful of you to persevere.

Violet.

Oh, you know, Ronny's very encouraging. He says I'm really getting on. I want so badly to be able to talk. You can't think how enthusiastic I am about Egypt. I love it.

Osman Pasha.

Pas plus que l'Égypte vous aime, Madame.

Violet.

When we landed at Alexandria and I saw that blue sky and that coloured, gesticulating crowd, my heart leapt. I knew I was going to be happy. And every day I've loved Egypt more. I love its antiquities, I love the desert and the streets of Cairo and those dear little villages by the Nile. I never knew there was such beauty in the world. I thought you only read of romance in books; I didn't know there was a country where it sat by the side of a well under the palm-trees, as though it were at home.

Osman Pasha.

Vous êtes charmante, madame. C'est un bien beau pays. Il n'a besoin que d'une chose pour qu'on puisse y vivre.

Anne.

[Translating.] It's a beautiful country. It only wants one thing to make it livable. And what is that, your Excellency?

Osman Pasha.

La liberté.

Appleby.

Liberty?

[Arthur has come in when first Violet begins to speak of Egypt and he listens to her enthusiasm with an indulgent smile. At the Pasha's remark he comes forward. Arthur Little is a man of forty-five, alert, young in manner, very intelligent, with the urbanity, self-assurance, tact, and resourcefulness of the experienced diplomatist. Nothing escapes him, but he does not often show how much he notices.]

Arthur.

Egypt has the liberty to do well, your Excellency. Does it need the liberty to do ill before it loses the inclination to do it?

Violet.

[To Mrs. Appleby.] I hope you don't mind Turkish coffee?

Mrs. Appleby.

Oh, no, I like it.

Violet.

I'm so glad. I think it perfectly delicious.

Arthur.

You have in my wife an enthusiastic admirer of this country, Pasha.

Osman Pasha.

J'en suis ravi.

Arthur.

I've told Ronny to come in and have a cup of coffee. [To Anne.] I thought you'd like to say how d'you do to him.

Anne.

Are you very busy to-day?

Arthur.

We're always