VI HAMLET AND THE GATHERING OF THE STORM CLOUDS 92 VII THE STORM APPROACHES 103 VIII THE STORM BREAKS 111 IX LIFE AND DEATH 132 X WHY? 147 XI ABDUL HAMID'S LAST DAY 156 XII THE YOUNG TURKS AND THE TOY FLEET 162 XIII A NEW LIFE 172 XIV OFF TO EGYPT 183 THE RED RUGS OF TARSUS HALF WAY THROUGH THE FIRST YEAR _Tarsus, Turkey-in-Asia, December second, Nineteen-Eight._ MOTHER DEAR: My first married birthday! I am twenty-six years old. It is twenty-six weeks since The Day. I have been counting up the different places at which we stopped on the way from New York to Tarsus. This is the twenty-sixth abode we have occupied in the twenty-six weeks. Isn't that a coincidence? You are smiling and saying that it is just like honeymooners to notice it at all. Wish you could sit beside me near our big log fire in the bedroom. The fireplace is made of solid stone, and in it we burn whole logs. When the wind is blowing a certain direction, puffs come down the chimney and the smoke nearly chokes me. It is good for us that this is only an occasional happening. Herbert insists solemnly that the smoke of a wood fire is good for the eyes. Even with his eyes smarting and half-shut, I can see him twinkle and know that he is teasing. I am training myself to look after every little detail in the care of our rooms. In the morning I put all "ingoodorder." Chips are picked up and thrown into the woodbox. Tumblers and mirror polished, every corner dusted. No meals for me to think about: for the mission family eats in the college dining-room. Each of the three young couples in this house has what Mother Christie calls a house boy. That means a student who is making his own way. Ours is a Greek about sixteen years old, whose tuition we pay. He gives us two hours' work each day. Socrates makes our fires, puts the saddles on our horses, brings water, and goes to the market to fetch oranges (of which I eat an inordinate number). A fire is made under a huge kettle, like my grandmother's apple-butter boiler, and hot water is obtained in this way for our baths. If we want a bath at night, Socrates starts the fire at supper-time, and brings us the water during the little recess he has between two evening study hours. He keeps my bottle of alcohol filled with the pure grape spirits people make here. I get an _oke_ at a time (a quart is about four cups, isn't it? Well, an _oke_ is about five). I have a basket for big Jaffa oranges and another for mandarines.