Ann: It is a devastating topic. Everyone always gets cross and silly.
Selina: And they go on overstating their cases until it becomes an auction of folly.
Lady Emily: It is extraordinary how exacerbating subjects of world importance can be. After an hour of Ninian, I find myself getting frenzied about Smyrna.
Ann: Pro-Turk or pro-Greek?
Lady Emily: I forget which. It depends on the other person.
Selina: Yes. When we are with the vicar, who calls the Turks infidels, we are pro-Turk; and when we are with Ninian, who calls the Turks gentlemen, we are pro-Greek.
Ann: It sounds so tiring.
Selina: It is. But agreeing with Ninian or the vicar does no good. It doesn’t stop them.
Ann: You must make Ninian show you his map of the water power of Austria-Hungary, showing that it must remain an Empire.
Lady Emily: Ninian always proves everything by diagrams and statistics.