t^t<^e^e^<<i^t<5^i^c^t<^^

AMANULLAH

did not evade the attention of the British Minister in
Kabul. It was there, between two friends, that Sir
Francis made Amanullah promise that he would behave
himself in London,

" You will not be late in England," said Sir Francis.

" I will not be late."

He was not. But he did not grieve unduly for the
reflection on King Fuad and the might of martial
Egypt,

The golden Riviera did not hold him for long. He
was preparing for the assault on Paris, Berlin, and
London. And on the 25th of January he drove to the
Quai d'Orsay between the pennants of the cavalry,
was welcomed by the President, M. Doumergue, and
watched from his window while the cheering crowds
swarmed round his temporary home. Surely his life's
dream had come true at that moment. . . .

He flung another £1000 to the poor of Paris. The
English journalists were concocting adjectives to do
justice to Queen Souriya's beauty, now unveiled, and
the almost hysterical Parisians pondered on the strange
fact that her name was nearly identical with their word
for a smile- . * . Paris provided a really French
welcome.

Even the scares inseparable from a Royal visit were
not forgotten. It was said that the King had cut himself
shaving, and true enough he appeared with his face
bandaged. The terrors of the West. But he still
smiled, amused the crowds by his unconventionally,
and entered into the gay life of the streets with the zest
of a boy*

From Paris, while the Press was being ecstatic about
the forthcoming Royal procession in London, he went
to Berlin, where he became an Honorary Doctor of the
Technical College. " My students must come here too,"

104