ed Therese Laurella, in an audible
voice to her sister, across the broad form of the ever-smiling Madame
Picholoroni. 'Tis such a relief after our dreadful turbans.'

'And his costume, so becoming! I wonder how any civilised being can
wear the sort of things we see about us. 'Tis really altogether like a
wardrobe of the Comedie.'

'Well, Sophonisbe,' said the sensible Moses Laurella, 'I admire the
Franks very much; they have many qualities which I could wish our
Levantines shared; but I confess that I do not think that their strong
point is their costume.'

'Oh, my dear uncle!' said Therese; 'look at that beautiful white cravat.
What have we like it? So simple, so distinguished! Such good taste! And
then the boots. Think of our dreadful slippers! powdered with pearls
and all sorts of trash of that kind, by the side of that lovely French
polish.'

'He must be terribly _ennuye_ here,' said Therese to Sophonisbe, with a
look of the initiated.

'Indeed, I should think so: no balls, not an opera; I quite pity him.
What could have induced him to come here?'

'I should think he must be attached to some one,' said Therese: 'he
looks unhappy.'

'There is not a person near him with whom he can have an idea in
common.'

'Except Mr. Hillel Besso,' said Therese. 'He appears to be quite
enlightened. I spoke to him a little before dinner. He has been a winter
at Pera, and went to all the balls.'

'Lord Palmerston understood the Eastern question to a certain degree,'
said Mr. Consul-General Laurella; 'but, had I been in the service of
the Queen of England, I could have told him some things;' and he
mysteriously paused.

'I cannot endure this eternal chatter about Palmerston,' said the Emir,
rather pettishly. 'Are there no other statesmen in the world besides
Palmerston? And what should he know about the Eastern question, who
never was in the East?'

'Ah, noble Emir, these are questions of the high diplomacy. They cannot
be treated unless by the cabinets which have traditions.'

'I could settle the Eastern question in a month, if I were disposed,'
said Fakredeen.

Mr. Consul-General Laurella smiled superciliously, and then said, 'But
the question is, what is the Eastern question?'

'For my part,' said Hillel Besso, in a most epigrammatic manner, 'I do
not see the use of settling anything.'

'The Eastern question is, who shall govern the Mediterranean?' said the
Emir. 'There are only two powers who can do it: Egypt a