"It's a great pity we interfered at all," said a Cairo dignitary that night.
"Why?" inquired his friend.
"They would have burned the whole dirty place down, and that would have been the greatest blessing to Cairo."
"Then you don't blame them?"
"No. I think Cairo has been cursed with the vilest creatures God ever made. Yes, I admit, the Capitulations have hitherto tied our hands. Thank Heaven Egypt is now a Protectorate. We can clean out these filthy dens after the war."
"Yes, it is a queer hole, but East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," chipped in another member of the club. "It's a wonder they didn't kill that fellow Hassein."
"Who's he?"
"A rotter who dresses as a woman and runs a crowd of white slaves. And, by Jove! he looks like a woman too—all scented and faked."
"Oh, he's a law-abiding merchant of sin," said a gippy officer. "There's a worse person than he here."
"Who's that?"