"Madame Mysterious, who owns dozens of these low shows in Cairo." 

 "Isn't that the woman who used to buy and sell wives to the rich effendis and gippy pashas?" 

 "The same. That old Pasha down near Alex is one of her patrons. He's a proper old rascal. Do you know that he has got women in his harem who have been educated in some of our greatest schools in England?" 

 "Not English women, surely?" 

 "No. Gippy girls, daughters of rich fellows." 

 "And why shouldn't he?" interjected an old gippy warrior who defended the customs of the East.  "We have no right to force our Western morals down an Oriental's throat. It is easy to be a moralist in a freezing climate like ours. The snow makes for virtue; the sun always warps morality. The harem is as ancient as the sun. And the harem will remain. It's no good of you fellows hoping to alter it. And, after all, the Oriental is, at least, honest. He has a harem, the world knows he has a harem. He is not ashamed of the fact. But what of our Mayfair bloods, who have their secret 'wives,' and who hunt everybody else's wife. The Oriental is straight about it—we Westerners are hypocritical." 

 "I offer no defence of the harem," said a doctor, "but I've found it a mighty interesting place when visiting there in a professional capacity. Do you fellows know that I have met some of the most intellectual women there. Strange to say, they like the life. And, after all, they are well cared for. They have money—heaps of it—beautiful clothes, lovely rooms, servants, carriages, and motors. They see everything, they do almost everything, and since the revolution in Turkey they have had greater freedom. Why, they travel abroad now without their eunuchs. What more does a woman want? Money, clothes and comfort are everything to an Easterner. In my humble opinion there is no virtue in an eastern climate. There can never be." 

 "We've got off the track altogether," said the father of this discussion.  "I am liberal-minded so far as the Egyptians are concerned. In their own way they are virtuous. And I agree that it is ridiculous to suggest that we should interfere with any of their social or religious arrangements. But this riot has again proved to us that Cairo is a pretty rotten show. We ought to clean it up, and we shall do so after the war. It will pay us. Let us make Cairo a cleaner and more charming place. It means health and business to the community. 

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