British Embassy, Therapia. Saturday Dearest Father. You are really a perfect angel! when I got your letter about the Mesopotamian business I could scarcely believe you could have found time to do so much. Your interviews with Sir Edwards and Sir E.C. [Ernest Cassel] ought to have advanced things and you struck just at the right time, for there does not seem to me to be any reason why the country should not now settle down. The only rock ahead is the Cretan business; I do pray that that may adjust itself without disturbances. The Turks would fight and though they would certainly win, they can't afford a war, not even a victory. And I fear that at the first sign of hostilities there would be massacres of the Greeks in the Asiatic provinces. They are behaving there with inconceivable folly, buying arms wholesale (the Greeks, I mean) and being incredibly provocative. It is most amusing here. The Lowthers are delightful, both of them. When I arrived on Thursday they were dining out and had arranged that I should dine with the secretaries, Mr Hohler whom I had met in Cairo, dear little Mr Mouncey, Mr Ramsay, a cousin of my Baghdad host, and another. It was most pleasant. Yesterday the Grand Vizier, Hussein Hilmi Pasha, came to lunch, a very agreeable, intelligent Turk talking excellent French. Lady L. and I went to the polo ground after tea where we met various ambassadors, some of whom I knew already. In the evening there was a big dinner party. The French 1st secretary took me in; he is a friend of Saloman Reinach and very agreeable. He told me that Khethar [Ukhaydir] has been published, but only in a very summary fashion, by a Frenchman in the Gazette des Beaux Arts, two months ago. So I shall not have the honour of discovery though I gather I shall still be able to lay claim to being the first person who brought back all the plans. It is rather funny, isn't it, that a fashion in discovering Khethar should have set in this year! Lots of people came in after dinner, I played Bridge part of the evening and held all the cards in the pack. Today the Khedive lunches here; tomorrow I believe we are going to have tea with Admiral Gamble on the flagship. Monday I shall go back to C'ple [Istanbul (Copnstantinople); I hope to see Professor van Milligen that day and on Tuesday I lunch with Hamdi Beg. I am also to see Sir Adam. I went to the Chamber on Wednesday afternoon with a friend of mine who is a member of the Committee. He is one of my many friends in exile; I have seen him year after year at Konia [Konya (Iconium)], eating his heart out. Now he is as pleased as Punch, though he realizes very fully the difficulties that lie ahead. I have seen him several times and have had immense talks with him. It has been very interesting to get exactly the point of view of the Committee. Hugh Poynter came to see me in the morning and I dined with them that night. It is a much more successful ménage than that of Ambrose. She is a very gushing lady; I should find her rather exhausting in the long run. She was more cordial than words can say and sent you many messages. On Thursday morning Mr Graves and I went to Yildiz Kiosk and walked all over the gardens. It is a dreary place, laid out without any skill, the trees so planted that they hide all the views, the ponds full of green oily water. At every corner there are menageries, some now empty, some still inhabited by small unhappy animals of the genus badger (I can't describe them more nearly) and dishevelled birds. The palaces are closed to the public, though the kiosks are open. These are filled with incredible furniture and still more remarkable pictures. In one I saw an advertisement of a German factory solemnly framed and hung up on the wall; in another there was an allegorical piece representing a Turkish and a German soldier embracing on top of a monument, the base of which was piled with wreaths of manifestly artificial flowers. Through the gates file bullock carts loaded with pink and green satin covered armchairs, dilapidated wire jardinières and jimcrack cupboards, journeying mournfully to the second hand furniture dealers. In the Harem garden we found a little restaurant, so we sat down by the dirty pond on which the Sultan's ladies used to be rowed about by black slaves and had lunch, and if anyone had told me two years ago that I should be lunching that day in Yildiz Harem, I should have set him down for a lunatic. So you see it is all being wonderfully amusing as usual and that is why I shall not be back till Saturday. I shall go to Vienna [Wien] by the Orient of [sic] Wed. and thence via Ostend [Oostende]. I think my train gets in about 5 - do you think I could still manage to come straight down to the Tyrrells? I don't want to spend Sunday in London, especially with you so close. Ever your affectionate daughter Gertrude. I wd come straight on if you would send someone to the station to meet me with directions from you as to how I should proceed.