"This time, at least, I have something important to begin with. (Important to me, I mean, Excellency: my life and death are equally insignificant in your eyes. You view me as I view the small fly at present entangled in the hairs on the back of my left hand.) I mean the arrival of the Englishman. Important because he came today, because with his arrival came a glimpse of my death; because I felt then some linking of our destinies." (Basil Pascali, Section 1, page 10.)

"That is the big difference between our two countries," Mister Bowles said. "Our policy, British policy, is shaped by ideals. We protested at the Armenian massacres for instance. We lost trade as a result, of course. Germany said nothing. In fact, at the height of the atrocities, your Kaiser sent the Sultan an intimate birthday present, a signed photograph of himself." (Anthony Bowles, Section...