You are an Arabian; it will do for
the desert. Self-respect, too, is a superstition of past centuries, an
affair of the Crusades. It is not suited to these times; it is much
too arrogant, too self-conceited, too egotistical. No one is important
enough to have self-respect. Don't you see?'
'You boast of being a prince inferior to none in the antiquity of your
lineage, and, as far as the mere fact is concerned, you are justified
in your boast. I cannot comprehend how one who feels this pride should
deign to do anything that is not princely.'
'A prince!' exclaimed Fakredeen. 'Princes go for nothing now, without
a loan. Get me a loan, and then you turn the prince into a government.
That's the thing.'
'You will never get a loan till you are Emir of Lebanon,' said the lady.
'And you have shown me to-day that the only chance you have is failing
you, for, after all, Paris was your hope. What has crossed you?'
'In the first place,' said Fakredeen, 'what can the French do? After
having let the Egyptians be driven out, fortunately for me, for their
expulsion ruined my uncle, the French will never take the initiative in
Syria. All that I wanted of them was, that they should not oppose Riza
Pasha in his nomination of me. But to secure his success a finer move
was necessary.
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