“How then,” said he, “has that impossibility—an Englishwoman in Angora—become possible?” “Your Government,” I answered, “has made it possible. As you have no one else here from my country, I have given myself this mission.... An old friend of the Turks, a woman who loves her own country! Can she not do _something_ for that peace between us, which is a supreme necessity to both? That is why I am here.” * * * * * I do not forget that Turks were our “enemies” in the war. But they came back, beaten to the dust—and penitent. Then was the moment for us to have made our own terms. In that mood Turkey would have accepted—anything, but the _one thing_ we imposed on her—the Greeks at Smyrna! That policy of sheer folly has transformed the veneration of her people into fear and distrust, if not hate. Unjustly and unreasonably as we have behaved towards our old ally, we were not, indeed, alone in this mischievous exalting of Greek aggressions. Dare we not now own our mistake? We are great enough, and strong enough, to be generous, to mend our ways! To-day, surely, it is the duty of English patriots to pour oil on the troubled waters, to explain to Turkey what _can_ be explained, and to paint our countrymen, at least, less “black” than they have been made to seem by our rivals’ pen! Lausanne Palace Hotel, Lausanne, _January, 1923_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS FOREWORD PAGE An Englishwoman in Angora ix List of Illustrations xv CHAPTER I On Board the _Pierre Loti_—Turkey’s Debt 17 to Loti’s Magic Pen CHAPTER II Turkey and Tolerance—A Friendship Wasted 22 CHAPTER III Malta: the Name I was to Hear Throughout 29 Anatolia CHAPTER IV Athens—“We Have Loved Helen; Must We 36 Divorce Her?” CHAPTER V Smyrna: a Picture of Desolation 43 CHAPTER VI British Chivalry!—Brave Women a 54 Nuisance! CHAPTER VII Smyrna—God’s Work—The Exquisite 60 Sunset—Man’s Work—War CHAPTER VIII Emotions and Impressions—“On the 71 Way”—Nowhere to House the Poor People CHAPTER IX More Impressions-“Sitting Amidst an Army 79 of Supposed Savage Fanatics, Debating the Greatness of God”