"
"It would break more hearts than yours," Grim retorted. "There are
millions looking to you for leadership. Leave me out of it. Leave
Lawrence out of it, and all the other non-Moslems who have done their
bit for you. Leave most of these Syrians out of it; for they're simply
politicians making use of you--a mess of breeds and creeds so mixed and
corrupted that they don't know which end up they stand! If the Syrians
had guts they'd have rallied so hard to you long ago that no outsider
would have had a chance."
"What do you mean? What are you proposing?" Feisul asked quietly.
"Baghdad is your place, not Damascus!"
"But here I am in Damascus," Feisul retorted; and for the first time
there was a note of impatience in his voice. "I came here at the
request of the Allies, on the strength of their promises. I did not ask
to be king. I would rather not be. Let any man be ruler whom the Arabs
choose, and I will work for him loyally. But the Arabs chose me and the
Allies consented. It was only after they had won their war with our
help that the French began raising objections and, the British deserted
me. It is too late to talk of Baghdad now.
Pages:
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194