“Sallie for the heroine, of course--she can act and she can sing. Nancy Fazackerly can’t act and can’t sing, but she’s going to play the accompaniments for all the songs. They suggested Martyn for the hero and Patch for the villain--dressed as a Turk. I don’t know what other parts they’ll put in, but apparently the whole thing is perfectly elastic and can be added to or taken away from as desired. It’s all to be Eastern dress, more or less--as being easy to arrange. And they’re very keen to have Mrs. Harter to sing the ‘Bulbul Ameer’ song. It’s the keynote of the whole thing, that song.” “What does Claire say?” “She says they may do as they like, but she doesn’t care for the idea very much. For one thing, she thinks Mrs. Harter--Diamond Ellison--will feel out of her element.” “I wonder. After all, she’s been for years in Cairo, and must have met all sorts of people. And I’m convinced that she’s intelligent, Miles, and probably very adaptive. Martyn says that she’s an exceptional person altogether.” “Does he know her?” “No. But both my children tell me that they are natural psychologists of a high order.” We laughed and then Mary said: “I sometimes wonder if it’s a mistake to have let their critical faculties--Sallie’s especially--develop quite unchecked. She finds people more interesting than anything else, but it’s all so very impersonal and analytical.” “You might divide humanity into those who put people first, those who put things first, and those who put ideas first.” “Which do you put first, Miles?” (Claire would have said, “Which do I put first?”) “People, of course. So do you. But it’s the people who put things first who are in the majority. In the ultimate issue, they weigh what Mr. Wemmick called portable property--things like houses, and furniture, and money--against the personal relations, and the portable property counts most.” “I know. They are called practical people because they would never postpone a business appointment on account of a child’s birthday party. The birthday party would have to be postponed. And what about the ones who put ideas first?” Of course, Mary knew as well as I did--or better--what about them. But she also knew that I like long, wandering, impersonal discussions of the kind that I can indulge in with no one else. I smiled at her, just to show that I knew quite well how she was humoring me. “The people who put ideas first are, I think fortunately, in a very small minority. Religious enthusiasts, of course--and perhaps the few people who really are thorough-going, matter-of-fact conventionalists.” “You are thinking of the Kendals,” said Mary unerringly. I admitted that she was right.