t^t^C^C^C^t^C^^C^Cc^C^

AMANULLAH

world had gazed at her features. She had rid herself of
the purdah clothes, shown the hidden beauty of her eyes
unashamedly to the public, and travelled among a foreign
people with her beauty uncovered.

The story was not altogether believed. Indeed, it was
incredible. Such things could not be, even under the
ruling of Amanullah. The travellers were lying again*
And there was surely enough cause for worry in Afghan-
istan these days without this new threat to religion and
national precedent.

The hint in his speech, however, did not go entirely
unnoticed. Sir Francis Humphrys noted it. Stark, the
Russian, noted it. The more intimate of his ministerial
friends noted it. Perhaps for the first time a stir of
apprehension passed over the first Parliament.

But Amanullah passed on. With fine inspiring voice
and words, he tried to lift the delegates out of their
unhappy ignorance. His words were calculated to in-
spire. They succeeded in creating an atmosphere of
wonder—and not a little fear. He finished the speech,
and the meeting sat silent save for the polite and re-
strained applause of the foreign delegates. The band,
tactful this time, crashed out with the bars of the
National Anthem.

So far as I know, there were no more speeches in that
first and last Parliament. The populace was too stunned
still for speech-making. No man, clapped into trousers
and a hat for the first time in his life, would feel in the
mood for oratory. No man, wrenched from his village
in the hills, shaved against the orders of the Koran, his
feet laced into tight boots, would feel at his ease for
eloquence. " Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking'
and to boots ..." he might begin, with truth. But
humour was not then in the heart of the Afghan Member
of Parliament. His soul was sick and filled with a great

176