he ostentatiously kissed poor
Hermione, as though to reassert her protectorate, and to show that
Hermione's safety was due entirely to her aunt Chrysophrasia's exertions
on her behalf.

Paul would have been willing to go to his mother once again before
parting, but Cutter thought it better not to let him do so, as his
presence irritated her beyond measure. Hermione looked as though she
would have said something, but seemed to think better of it. At last we
drove away from the old place in the chilly February afternoon, and I
confess that for a moment I half repented of my sudden resolution to go
to the East. But in a few minutes the old longing for some active
occupation came back, and though I thought gratefully of John Carvel's
friendly ways and pleasant conversation, I found myself looking forward
to the sight of the crowded bazaars and the solemn Turks, smelling
already the indescribable atmosphere of the Levant, and enjoying the
prospect almost as keenly as when I first set my face eastwards, many
years ago.

These were the circumstances which brought me back to Constantinople
last year. If, in telling my story, I have dwelt long upon what happened
in England, I must beg you to remember that it is one thing to construct
a drama with all possible regard for the unities and no regard whatever
for probability, whereas it is quite another to tell the story of a
man's life, or even of those years which have been to him the most
important part of it.

XII.

It was not an easy matter to make Balsamides Bey take a fancy to Paul,
for he was, and still is, a man full of prejudice, if also full of wit.
In his well-shaped head resides an intelligence of no mean order, and
the lines graven in his pale face express thought and study, while
suggesting also an extreme love of sarcasm and a caustic, incredulous
humor. His large and deep-set blue eyes seem to look at things only to
criticise them, never to enjoy them, and his arched eyebrows bristle
like defenses set up between the world with its interests on the one
side and the inner man Balsamides on the other. Though he wears a heavy
brown mustache, it is easy to see that underneath it his thin lips curl
scornfully, and are drawn down at the extremities of his mouth. He is
very scrupulous in his appearance, whether he wears the uniform of a
Sultan's adjutant, or the morning dress of an ordinary man of the world,
or the official evening coat of the Turks, made like t