Page 36 - Life of Gertrude Bell

24 GERTRUDE BELL
Spain: ‘That old scoundrel Pigottl—peace be to his ashes!
What apes the Times people have been. Fancy building a Palace
of Justice with Pigott for a foundation stone ... I never could sec
myself that Mr Parnell’s private character had much bearing on
the Union.’
Her audacious approach to the male-dominated world in
which she moved found another expression in her retort to a
foreign statesman who was discussing weighty matters of
European politics with Sir Frank Lascelles. To the dismay of
her hostess she told him: T1 me semble, Monsieur, que vous
n’avez pas saisi l’esprit du peuple allemand.’ Her stepmother,
commenting many years later, observed: ‘There is no doubt
that ... it was a mistake for Gertrude to proffer her opinions,
much less her criticisms, to her superiors in age and experi­
ence.’
She did not neglect the social side of her visit. ‘I can’t attempt
to tell you whom I danced with for it was impossible to remember
them all... ’ At a concert she shared a box with Uncle Frank and
the two boys opposite that of Rumania’s poet Queen Elizabeth,
who was better known by her literary name of Carmen Sylva.
And the highlight of the stay was a charity ball at which the
Queen went over to Mary Lascelles and Gertrude and had a long
talk with them. She finally presented Gertrude with ten francs
and sent her to buy tombola tickets. ‘I drew nothing but blanks.
But wasn’t it sweet of her?’
She spent nearly four months altogether in Bucharest before
leaving for Constantinople. Even at the last moment the leisured
party put off its departure. On April 20th she wrote to her father:
‘We have put off our going to Constantinople till Saturday, for
the weather has become deliciously warm again and we are all
going down to Sinaia tomorrow. Last night Mr Chirol, Uncle
Frank, Billy and I went to see one of the great midnight services ... ’
There followed one of those descriptive essays that were to flow
more frequently from Gertrude’s pen as the years went by.

The whole sight of the church crowded with people carrying
lighted tapers, the splendidly dressed priests, the smell of
incense and the curious ceremonies was rather interesting but
it gave me a disagreeable impression I think. It was so extra­
ordinarily undevout; the people stopped in the middle of a sign
of the cross to gossip with their neighbours and the very