p. 2

2

The hostess received us in a large drawing room, furnished in oriental taste, but displaying Western influence. The walls were outlined in rows of divans covered with yellow and striped red satin, and European chairs covered with the same material were scattered about. The walls were hung with embroideries and tapestries and beautiful rugs covered the floor. The lady herself must have been a 'ravishing beauty' in her youth and even now at forty five was an exceedingly handsome woman. Her little, tapering hands would have enchanted an artist. She was clad in European dress and her manners were gentle, well-bred, self possessed. She might have stepped from a New York parlor into a suffrage meeting and no observer would have discovered anything unusual about her. It was difficult to think of her as an Arab. I asked through the interpreter, for she spoke Arabic only, if there was any movement...