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Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making
Series Editors: Richard J. Estes · Joseph Sirgy

el-Sayed el-Aswad

The Quality of Life

and Policy Issues
among the Middle
East and North
African Countries
Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making

Series editors
Richard J. Estes, School of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA, USA
Joseph Sirgy, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA
This series creates a dialogue between well-being scholars and well-being public
policy makers.
Well-being theory, research and practice are essentially interdisciplinary in
nature and embrace contributions from all disciplines within the social sciences.
With the exception of leading economists, the policy relevant contributions of
social scientists are widely scattered and lack the coherence and integration needed
to more effectively inform the actions of policy makers.
Contributions in the series focus on one more of the following four aspects of
well-being and public policy:
– Discussions of the public policy and well-being focused on particular nations
and worldwide regions
– Discussions of the public policy and well-being in specialized sectors of policy
making such as health, education, work, social welfare, housing, transportation,
use of leisure time
– Discussions of public policy and well-being associated with particular popula-
tion groups such as women, children and youth, the aged, persons with dis-
abilities and vulnerable populations
– Special topics in well-being and public policy such as technology and
well-being, terrorism and well-being, infrastructure and well-being.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15692

el-Sayed el-Aswad

The Quality of Life

and Policy Issues
among the Middle East
and North African Countries

123
el-Sayed el-Aswad
Independent Scholar
Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA

ISSN 2522-5367 ISSN 2522-5375 (electronic)

Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making
ISBN 978-3-030-00325-8 ISBN 978-3-030-00326-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00326-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018954621

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to the people of the
Middle East and North Africa region, people
living at the grassroots in this region, and to
those in the region who are fighting to
enhance their quality of life, happiness, and
well-being.
Preface

The Middle East and North Africa region, including the Gulf States (hereafter the
MENA region), is made up of countries that have received considerable attention
by scholars and the media, especially since the terrorist events of September 11,
2001 directed at the United States (el-Aswad 2013), the financial crisis of 2008 that
resulted in a sharp downturn in the economies of financially advanced countries, the
Arab Spring of 2011 that impacted the political and social well-being of people
throughout the MENA region (el-Aswad 2016), and the current and ongoing wars
being fought in Syria and Yemen with their profoundly negative impact on the
well-being of people in the predominately Islamic countries of North Africa and
West Asia.
The book, first of the Springer book series of Human Well-Being Research and
Policy Making, is a timely work in that it addresses quality of life in the 21 nations
of the Middle East and North Africa Region by focusing on multiple policy
dimensions of well-being, including economy, health, education, technology, and
social welfare among other objective as well as subjective dimensions of quality of
life and well-being. The study deals with culturally, socioeconomically, demo-
graphically, and politically diverse countries that make up the MENA region. By
broadly addressing the social realities that characterize the MENA countries, the
research reported in this monograph seeks to delineate cross-cultural similarities and
differences by extensively and comparatively focusing on six of the region’s most
influential countries—Egypt, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Tunisia, and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), selected specifically to highlight the diversity found in the region.
This monograph reflects a holistic approach to the analysis of a wide range of
policy frameworks that currently are in place in the MENA region. The monograph
also identifies the major drivers of governmental and private sector approaches to
well-being policy development that impact directly on the quality of life of the more
than 381 million people living in the region—approximately 6% of the world’s total
population. The approach to policy development analysis adopted in this mono-
graph is intended to both advance our understanding of the nature of well-being
policy development under the conditions of the considerable political turbulence
that exists in the region and, at the same time, suggests with broad brush strokes the

vii
viii Preface

dimensions of a more coherent policy framework designed to enhance the quality of

life of the people that are living in a defined geographic area and are loosely joined
together through a shared faith—in this case, predominately Islam and its teachings
(Estes and Tiliouine 2016; Tiliouine and Estes 2016).
Further, the policy analysis approach adopted in the monograph assigns priority
to the enhanced well-being of people and their development as the central focus of
policy development in the region and its neighbors more broadly. Thus, and as
viewed from the author’s perspective,
At the center of well-being is a deep sense of peace, personal satisfaction, and happiness
within ourselves and in our relationships with others. All four of these states of being—
peace, personal satisfaction, happiness, and well-being—are outcomes achieved through a
combination of personal reflection and interpersonal exchanges. They also are associated
with the often-complex interplay of the social, political, economic, religious, ideological,
and other forces that surround us (Estes 2017: 3).

This monograph demonstrates the special appeal and significance of such interre-
lated topics as quality of life, well-being, and policy issues.

About the Book

The book contains six chapters: Chap. 1, Introduction and Chap. 2, Methodology
present the main approach, which is to address well-being and policy issues from
multiple lenses. Chapter 3, Historical Background, delineates briefly and in broad
terms the successes, challenges, quality of life, and overall human development
experienced by the MENA region from ancient to present times. This chapter
provides a rationale for identifying 21 countries as comprising the MENA region as
well as for focusing on 6 selected countries, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Tunisia, Turkey,
and the UAE, for the purpose of extensive comparative inquiries. In addition, the
chapter provides an account of the region’s core geographic, demographic, and
political features as well as its overall human development achievements, particu-
larly in the domains of economy, health, and education. Other key characteristics
of the MENA region in terms of culture, religion, ideology, minority relationships,
technological developments, and militarization are provided. Within this historical
context, the chapter addresses external and internal factors along with religious and
ideological orientations impacting the quality of life in the MENA region.
Chapter 4, Indicators of Quality Of Life and Well-Being in the MENA Region:
A Comparative Analysis, focuses on the quality of life and well-being issues in the
selected MENA countries (Egypt, Iran, Israel, Tunisia, Turkey, and the UAE). This
chapter applies multiple objective and subjective indicators to assess multiple
dimensions of well-being including health, education, economy, work force,
communication, technology, human rights, happiness, religious freedom, tolerance,
political terror, corruption, and freedom of expression, to mention a few. This
chapter presents a comparative analysis focusing on indicators of equity and
Preface ix

inequality in differing domains of human development and well-being or ill-being.

In addition, the chapter concludes that despite the variations in quality of life across
the MENA region, there is a cross-cultural similarity or a common pattern of
well-being related mainly to the progress made in the multiple dimensions of
people’s lives. In brief, although indicators of freedom of expression, religious
tolerance, and happiness are still low in the MENA countries, they have achieved
remarkable progress in overall human development, particularly in the domains of
health care, education, economy, and technology.
Chapter 5, Key Drivers of Well-being and Policy Issues in the MENA Region,
investigates the staging of drivers of well-being and social–public policies in the
MENA region. The essential thesis or objective of this inquiry is to show to what
extent the drivers, indicators, and outcomes of well-being help the policy makers
generate sociocultural plans and public policies aimed at improving the quality of
life of people living in the MENA region. This study provides an assessment of the
relative role of economic and noneconomic drivers such as health, education,
economy, demography, political stability, security, technology, and culture in
shaping policy priorities and the policy options available to the MENA region. The
chapter addresses the most critical challenging factors hindering social–public
policies from improving the quality of life in the MENA region. This research
underscores that, although the ordinary people in the MENA region work diligently
to improve their standards of living, the major challenges facing them relate mostly
to incapacitated governments and inept political systems. The chapter, however,
proposes that a better understanding of the drivers and determinants of well-being
in the MENA region will provide relevant considerations concerning policy issues
in that region.
Chapter 6, Conclusions, provides the most important findings of the research and
recommendations to authorities and policy makers interested in the promotion of
well-being and quality of life in the MENA countries. Put simply, this chapter
accentuates the fact that well-being research can help policy makers target public
services in effective manners and guide national and regional authorities in imple-
menting social policies adequately and productively toward advancing people’s
lives.

Bloomfield Hills, USA el-Sayed el-Aswad

References

el-Aswad, el-S. (2013). Images of Muslims in Western scholarship and media after 9/11. Digest of
Middle East Studies, 22 (1), 39–56.
el-Aswad, el-S. (2016). State, Nation and Islamism in contemporary Egypt: An anthropological
perspective. Urban Anthropology, 45 (1–2), 63–92.
Estes, R. J. (2017). The search for well-being: From ancient to modern times. In R. J. Estes & M.
J. Sirgy (Eds.), The Pursuit of Human Well-Being: The Untold Global History (pp. 3–30).
Dordrecht, NL: Springer.
x Preface

Estes, R. J., & Tiliouine, H. (2016). Social development trends in the Fertile Crescent region:
Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. In H. Tiliouine & R. J. Estes (Eds.), The state of social
progress of Islamic societies: Social, economic, political, and ideological challenges
(pp. 179–210). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Tiliouine, H., & Estes, R. J. (2016) Social development in North African countries: Achievements
and current challenges. In H. Tiliouine & R. J. Estes (Eds.), The State of social progress of
Islamic societies: Social, economic, political, and ideological challenges (pp. 109–136). Cham,
Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Acknowledgements

Serving tenure at universities in the United States, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United
Arab Emirates has given me the opportunity to advance cross-cultural perspectives
that I used in this study. I hope the reader finds reading this book as enriching an
experience as I have had through investigating patterns of quality of life and
well-being of the people of the Middle East and North Africa.
This book would not have been written without the invitation, endorsement, and
inspiration of Richard J. Estes and M. Joseph Sirgy, editors of the Springer book
series of Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making. The comments and
feedback of Richard J. Estes and M. Joseph Sirgy as well as of anonymous peer
viewers and scholars have enriched and deepened the scholarly discussion of the
book.
I would like to thank David Walker for preparing the graphics and figures to
underscore the complicated and multidimensional data of the research. Many thanks
go to Pamela Fried for providing careful copy editing of the book.
I also thank my family for the great support and unique ways in which they
contributed during the production of this monograph. My wife, Mariam, provided
editorial assistance. My son, Kareem, helped me prepare a portion of the statistics.
My son, Amir, aided in fashioning the map of the MENA region by using Adobe
Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.
I am grateful to the editorial team at Springer International Publisher with special
thanks to Esther Otten, Eric Schmitt, Thomas Hempfling, Hendrikje Tuerlings,
Almitra Ghosh, and Prashanth Ravichandran for their administrative assistance for
this work.

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan With appreciation,

July 2018 el-Sayed el-Aswad

xi
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 The Middle East and North Africa Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.4 Overall Human Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5 Brief History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.5.1 The Quality of Life in the Ancient MENA Region . . . . . . 21
3.5.2 The Quality of Life in the Medieval Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.5.3 The Quality of Life in Modern History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.6 Well-Being and Challenges Since 1950 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.6.1 External Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.6.2 Internal Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.6.3 Militarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.7 Quality of Life: Religion and Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4 Indicators of Quality of Life and Well-Being in the Middle
East and North African Region: A Comparative Analysis . . . . . . . . 45
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 Quality of Life in the Middle East and North Africa . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.1 Quality of Life in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.2 Quality of Life in the Islamic Republic of Iran . . . . . . . . . 53

xiii
xiv Contents

4.2.3 Quality of Life in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.2.4 Quality of Life in Tunisia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.2.5 Quality of Life in Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.2.6 Quality of Life in the United Arab Emirates . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3 Comparative Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3.1 Happiness and Human Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.3.2 Inequality Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5 Key Drivers of Well-Being and Policy Issues in the Middle
East and North Africa Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.2 Brief History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.3 Key Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.3.1 Key Drivers in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.3.2 Key Drivers in Iran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.3.3 Key Drivers in Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.3.4 Key Drivers in Tunisia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.3.5 Key Drivers in Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.3.6 Key Drivers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) . . . . . . . . 115
5.4 Human Rights and Religious Tolerance: A Comparative
Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.5 Information Communication Technology in the Middle
East and North Africa Region: A Comparative Analysis . . . . . . . . 120
5.6 Social Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1.1 Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.1.2 Quality of Life and Well-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.1.3 Social Policy: Governmental and Non-governmental
Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
About the Author

Prof. el-Sayed el-Aswad, Ph.D. received his doctorate in anthropology from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught at Wayne State University
(USA), Tanta University (Egypt), Bahrain University, and United Arab Emirates
University (UAEU). He achieved the CHSS-UAEU Award for excellence in sci-
entific research publication for the 2013–2014 academic year. He served as
Chairperson of the Sociology Departments at both the UAEU and Tanta University
as well as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Horizons in Humanities and Social
Sciences: An International Refereed Journal (UAEU). He has published widely in
both Arabic and English and is the author of Muslim Worldviews and Everyday
Lives (AltaMira Press, 2012), Religion and Folk Cosmology: Scenarios of the
Visible and Invisible in Rural Egypt (Praeger Press, 2002; translated into Arabic in
2005) and The Folk House: An Anthropological Study of Folk Architecture and
Traditional Culture of the Emirates Society (al-Bait al-Sha‘bi) (UAE University
Press, 1996).
He has been awarded fellowships from various institutes including the Fulbright
Program, the Ford Foundation, the Egyptian government, and the United Arab
Emirates University. He is a member of Editorial Advisory Boards of the Digest of
Middle East Studies (DOMES), Muslims in Global Societies Series, Tabsir: Insight
on Islam and the Middle East, and CyberOrient (Online Journal of the Middle). He
is a member of the American Anthropological Association, the Middle Eastern
Studies of North America, the American Academy of Religion, and the
International Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies
(WOCMES). He has published eight books, over eighty papers in peer-reviewed
and indexed journals, and over 30 book reviews.

xv
Abbreviations and Acronyms

DIAC Dubai International Academic City

DKV Dubai Knowledge Village
FGH Financing Global Health
FH Freedom House
GCC Gulf Co-operation Council
GDP Gross domestic product
GFP Global Firepower Index
GMI Global Militarization Index
HAAD Health Authority Abu Dhabi
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IHME Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
ILO International Labor Organization
ILS Internet Live Stats
IMF International Monetary Fund
IT Information technology
IWS Internet World Stats
MENA Middle East and North Africa
NGO Non-governmental organization
OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
PPP Purchasing Power Parity; Public–Private Partnership
SDGs United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
SGI Sustainable Governance Indicators
SPI Social Progress Index
UN United Nations
UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework
UNDP United Nation Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

xvii
xviii Abbreviations and Acronyms

UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social

WB World Bank
WDA World Data Atlas
WEF World Economic Forum
WFP World Food Programme
WHO World Health Organization
List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Life expectancy in selected Middle Eastern and North African
countries, 2000–2015 UAE = United Arab Emirates (Data from
United Nations Development Programme 2002, 2016b) . . . . . . . . 20
Fig. 3.2 Gross domestic product per capita in the first and the eleventh
centuries (international Geary-Khamis dollars) MENA =
Middle East and North America (Data from Maddison
2003, 2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Fig. 3.3 Life expectancy at birth (Syria and Libya) (Data from Human
Development Reports [United Nations Development
Programme 2003, 2016a]). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Fig. 3.4 Militarization in Middle East and North Africa region
UAE = United Arab Emirates (Data from Global Firepower
Index 2017; Bonn International Center for
Conversion—Global Militarization Index—2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Fig. 3.5 How Muslims, Christians, and Jews view and rate each other.
(Pew Research Center states that due to an administrative
error, ratings of Christians in the Palestinian territories are not
shown and in predominantly Muslim countries, figures are for
Muslims only) (Data from Pew Research Center 2011) . . . . . . . 40
Fig. 4.1 Human Development Index of Egypt, 1990–2015. (Data from
the Human Development Report [United Nations
Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Fig. 4.2 Indicators of health in Egypt, 1990–2015. (Data from the
Human Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2002, 2016b] and World Health Organization
[2016a, 2017]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Fig. 4.3 Ranking of happiness in the Middle Eastern and North Africa
region, 2015. (Data from the Human Development Report
2016 [United Nations Development Programme 2016b]) . . . . . . 51

xix
xx List of Figures

Fig. 4.4 Happiness in selected countries of the Middle East and North
Africa, 2015–2016. (Data from the World Happiness Report
[Helliwell et al. 2016]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53
Fig. 4.5 Human Development Index of Iran, 1990–2015. (Data from
the Human Development Report [United Nations
Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 55
Fig. 4.6 Health well-being in Iran, 1990–2015. (Data from the Human
Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2016a] and the World Health Organization,
2016a, 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 56
Fig. 4.7 Change in happiness between 2015 and 2016 UAE = United
Arab Emirates. (Data from the Human Development Report
2016 [United Nations Development Programme 2016b]) . . . . .. 58
Fig. 4.8 Human Development Index of Israel, 1990–2015.
(Data from the Human Development Report [United
Nations Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . .. 59
Fig. 4.9 Health well-being in Israel, 1990–2015. (Data from the Human
Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2016b] and the World Health Organization, 2016c,
2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60
Fig. 4.10 Human Development Index of Tunisia, 1990–2015. (Data
extracted from Human Development Report [United Nations
Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 62
Fig. 4.11 Health well-being in Tunisia, 1990–2015. (Data from the
Human Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2016a; World Health Organization, 2016c,
2017]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 63
Fig. 4.12 Human Development Index of Turkey, 1990–2015.
(Data from the Human Development Report [United
Nations Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . .. 65
Fig. 4.13 Health well-being in Turkey, 1990–2015. (Data from the
Human Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2016a; World Health Organization, 2016e,
2017]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 66
Fig. 4.14 Human Development Index of the United Arab Emirates,
1990–2015. (Data from the Human Development Report
[United Nations Development Programme 1992, 2016b]) . . . . .. 69
Fig. 4.15 Health well-being in the United Arab Emirates, 1990–2015.
(Data from the Human Development Report [United Nations
Development Programme 2016a] and the World Health
Organization, 2016f, 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
List of Figures xxi

Fig. 4.16 Happiness and Human Development Index of selected

countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa, 2015,
UAE = United Arab Emirates. (Data from the Human
Development Report 2016 [United Nations Development
Programme 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 72
Fig. 4.17 Happiness and gross domestic product per capita in selected
Middle Countries, 2015 UAE = United Arab Emirates. (Data
from the Human Development Report 2016 [United Nations
Development Programme 2016b]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 73
Fig. 4.18 Gender Development Index in the countries of the Middle East
and North Africa. (Data from the Human Development Report
[United Nations Development Programme 2016a]) . . . . . . . . . .. 75
Fig. 4.19 Inequality-adjusted Human Development Indexes for 5
countries. Due to a lack of relevant data, the IHDI has not been
calculated for the United Arab Emirates. (Data from the
Human Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2016a]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 76
Fig. 5.1 Health spending by source in the Middle East and North Africa
Region, 2014–2015 (Data from Financing Global Health 2016;
World Bank 2018a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 84
Fig. 5.2 Public-government health expenditure (% of GDP) and
annualized rate change in selected MENA countries (Data
extracted from World bank 2018a; Financing Global Health
2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 86
Fig. 5.3 Physician density in selected MENA countries, 1990–2015
(Data extracted from Financing Global Health 2016; World
Bank 2018a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 88
Fig. 5.4 Drinking water and sanitation in the selected Middle East
and North Africa countries, 1990–2015 (Data from Financing
Global Health 2016; World Bank 2018a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 88
Fig. 5.5 Public expenditure (percent of gross domestic product) and
average cost per student primary (US$) in selected Middle East
and North Africa countries (Data from Financing Global
Health 2016; World Bank 2018a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 91
Fig. 5.6 Classroom size and pupil-teacher ratio in selected Middle East
and North Africa countries (Data from Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development 2015a, b; UNESCO
2018a, b; UNICEF 2016a, b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 92
Fig. 5.7 Internet access and quality of education in selected Middle
East and North Africa countries (Data from Internet Live Stats
2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 92
Fig. 5.8 Global Competitiveness Index, ranking of six Middle East and
North Africa countries 2016–2017 UAE = United Arab
Emirates (Data from World Economic Forum 2017) . . . . . . . .. 93
xxii List of Figures

Fig. 5.9 Selected indicators of policy making and governance in the

Middle East and North Africa region, 2015–2016 UAE =
United Arab Emirates (Data from World Economic Forum
2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94
Fig. 5.10 Indicator of government debt in the Middle East and North
Africa region, 2015–2016 UAE = United Arab Emirates
(Data from World Economic Forum 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94
Fig. 5.11 Religious tolerance and freedom of religion in selected Middle
East and North Africa countries UAE = United Arab Emirates
(Data from Social Progress Index 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 96
Fig. 5.12 Freedom of expression, political rights, and corruption in
selected Middle East and North Africa countries
UAE = United Arab Emirates (Data from Social Progress
Index 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 96
Fig. 5.13 Internet users in the Middle East and North Africa region,
2000–2015 (Data from Internet Live Stats 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
List of Tables

Table 2.1 Indicators of well-being: Minimum and Maximum

(Data from United Nation Development Index 2016). . . . . . . .. 9
Table 2.2 Human development index, countries of the Middle East and
North Africa, 2015 (Data from United Nations Development
Programme 2016). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9
Table 3.1 Human Development Index of the countries of the Middle
East and North Africa, 2000 (Data from the Human
Development Report [United Nations Development
Programme 2002]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18
Table 3.2 The modern history of events affecting well-being of selected
countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Central
Intelligence Agency 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25
Table 4.1 Ranking of Happiness in the MENA region, 2015 (Data
extracted from World Happiness Report [Helliwell et al.
2016]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 52
Table 4.2 Ranking of Happiness in the MENA region, 2016 (Data from
World Happiness Report [Helliwell et al. 2016]) . . . . . . . . . . .. 54
Table 5.1 Health spending by source in the Middle East and North
Africa region, 2014–2015 (Data from World Bank 2018a and
Financing Global Health 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
Table 5.2 Drivers of health in the Middle East and North Africa Region
(Data from the Central Intelligence Agency 2018; UNDP
2016a; World Bank 2018a, b, c, d; World Health Organization
2016, 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 87
Table 5.3 Drivers of education and global rank in the Middle East and
North Africa Region (Data from the UNDP 2016a; UNESCO
2018a, b; World Economic Forum 2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 90

xxiii
xxiv List of Tables

Table 5.4 Networked readiness index of information and

communications technology in the Middle East and North
Africa Region (Global Rank out of 139 Countries), 2015
(Data extracted from the Global Information Technology
Report 2016 [World Economic Forum 2016]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Table 5.5 Human rights and religious tolerance in selected Middle East
and North Africa Countries (Data from Social Progress Index
2017) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Chapter 1
Introduction

Abstract This chapter provides a brief review of scholarly literature examining

quality of life and well-being policy, globally and regionally. It also addresses core
objectives and key questions related to well-being and policy issues in the MENA
region.

Keywords Quality of life · Well-being · Social-public policy

Human development

Quality of life indicates “well-being” as well as the entire scale of human experiences,
states, perceptions, and domains of thought concerning standards of “the good life.”
It also involves judgments of the value placed on the experiences of communities
regarding satisfaction with life across typical aspects of daily living such as health,
income, education, work, family, and leisure (Massam 2002; Peter and Machin 2015;
Theofilou 2013). This monograph identifies important indicators and measurements
of progress in people’s economic, health, and educational development as a whole. It
also investigates the systems of social and public policies implemented in the MENA
region impacting economic, health, and educational well-being.
Well-being policy is welfarist in the sense that it presumes that well-being and the
creation of opportunities for the pursuit of happiness should be among the concerns
of policy makers (Haybron and Tiberius 2015; Helliwell et al. 2016). Research on
regional well-being can assist policy makers in directing their efforts toward identi-
fying the most effective policies that reap positive outcomes that lead people toward
better lives. In this context, the concepts of well-being and welfare are used here
interchangeably. Academic researchers as well as policy makers engaged in analyz-
ing and promoting well-being and quality of life in the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) region are likely to appreciate this work. In addition, this book would be
suitable not only for use in university classrooms (undergraduate and graduate levels)
but also in seminar activities. It is most likely that scholars and teachers of the world
and Middle East studies would choose the book for their courses because it deals
with contemporary MENA countries from cross-cultural perspectives. It is expected
that local, national, and regional authorities in the MENA region can use information

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1

el-S. el-Aswad, The Quality of Life and Policy Issues among the Middle East
and North African Countries, Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00326-5_1
2 1 Introduction

regarding the drivers and indicators of well-being from the findings of this study as
an integrating guide to their future plans and actions in the field of public services.
For over four decades the scholarly literature addressing quality of life and well-
being worldwide has been extensive (Brixi et al. 2015; Diener 1984; Diener et al.
2003; Diener et al. 2010; Estes 1993, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2015; Estes and Sirgy 2017;
Estes et al. 2017; Galloway 2006; Glatzer et al. 2015; Huppert and Cooper 2014;
Kwon 2005; Lammy and Tyler 2014; McGillivray and Clarke 2007; Michalos 2004,
2014; Oishi 2010; Roy 2010; Sirgy 1998, 2011; Sirgy et al. 2017). In addition to
the significant contributions to the scholarship of development and well-being in the
MENA region (el-Aswad 2017; Estes and Tiliouine 2014; Jawad 2015; Karshenas
and Moghadam 2006, 2009; Moghadam and Karshenas 2006; Silva et al. 2012;
Tiliouine and Estes 2016; Tiliouine and Meziane 2017), this monograph presents
new grounds for cross-cultural inquiries regarding quality of life and policy issues
among countries of that region.
This book examines the roles of state institutions, international development agen-
cies, religious and sectarian-based community services, non-governmental organi-
zations and private sectors in improving the quality of life in the respective countries
being studied. The research uses indicators and data from economic, health, and edu-
cation among other resources, including the Human Development Index, to capture
both positive and negative states of the quality of life in the MENA region. In other
words, finance, health, and education are considered to be among the most important
aggregate measures in the assessment of well-being. With regard to economic well-
being, the study addresses economic recourses and living standards by comparing the
gross domestic product per capita of different counties (United Nations Development
Programme 2016). Concerning health well-being, the study relies on and compares
key health indicators such as life expectancy at birth, occurrences of diseases, and
incidences of infant and maternal mortality rates among countries. Regarding edu-
cational well-being, the inquiry uses indicators such as expected years of schooling,
adult literacy, and gross enrollment in basic, secondary, and tertiary school levels.
This book provides policy analysts and decision makers with otherwise hard to
obtain data and information concerning a wide array of development experiences
needed to identify policy issues and outcomes at the local, regional, national, and
international levels. The objectives of the monograph can be summarized as follows:
1. To present a critical review of the scope of the changing quality of life in MENA
countries with respect to economic, health, and educational and, where appro-
priate, technological and environmental well-being.
2. To examine the systems of social and public policies implemented in the MENA
countries impacting economic, health, and educational well-being.
3. To analyze the positive and negative aspects of well-being policy enacted in the
MENA region in terms of the three dimensions.
This monograph is critical to understanding the place MENA countries now
occupy in the world. It identifies significant drivers of human well-being of the people
in the MENA region. The book explores the interrelationships among the transition
outcomes (i.e., economic, health, and educational progress) and the many drivers or
1 Introduction 3

factors influencing such outcomes—socioeconomic, cultural, demographic, techno-

logical, institutional, and political factors.
Specifically, this book seeks to answer the following questions:
What is the historical context of the quality of life and policy issues among the MENA
countries?

What are the present circumstances concerning the quality of life and policy issues
within the MENA region?

What are the core indicators of quality of life and well-being in the MENA region?

What are the major drivers of human well-being successes in the MENA countries
being studied?

To what extent do social and public policies improve the quality of life among the
people of the MENA countries?

What are the practical goals and lessons that can be achieved from contemporary
practices of policy issues in the MENA region?

What types of additional policy initiatives are needed to bring peace and harmony to
the region and, thus, open new pathways for attaining progressively higher levels of
well-being for all the countries in the MENA region?

References

Brixi, H., Ellen, L., & Woolcock, M. (2015). Trust, voice, and incentives. Washington DC: World
Bank Publications.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542–575.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emo-
tional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 403–425.
Diener, E., Kahneman, D., & Helliwell, J. (2010). International differences in well-being. Oxford
UK: Oxford University Press.
el-Aswad, el-S. (2017). Well-being in the Arab world: An anthropological perspective. Paper pre-
sented at the International Conference on Social and Related Sciences, 4–8 Oct. Side-Antalya,
Turkey.
Estes, R. J. (1993). Toward sustainable development: From theory to praxis. Social Development
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Estes, R. J. (2007). Advancing quality of life in a turbulent world. Dordrecht: Springer.
Estes, R. J. (2010). The world social situation: Development challenges at the outset of a new
century. Social Indicators Research, 98, 363–402.
Estes, R. J. (2012). Economies in transition: Continuing challenges to quality of life. In K. Land,
A. C. Michalos, & M. J. Sirgy (Eds.), Handbook of social indicators and quality of life research
(pp. 433–457). Dordrecht: Springer.
Estes, R. J. (2015). Global change and quality of life indicators. In F. Maggino (Ed.), A life devoted
to quality of life (pp. 173–193). Dordrecht: Springer.
Estes, R. J., & Sirgy, M. J. (2017). The pursuit of human well-being: The untold global history.
Dordrecht: Springer.
4 1 Introduction

Estes, R. J., & Tiliouine, H. (2014). Islamic development trends: From collective wishes to concerted
actions. Social Indicators Research, 116, 67–114.
Estes, R. J., et al. (2017). Well-being in Canada and the United States. In R. J. Estes & M. J. Sirgy
(Eds.), The pursuit of human well-being (pp. 257–299). Dordrecht: Springer.
Galloway, S. (2006). Quality of life and well-being: Measuring the benefits of culture and sport:
Literature review. Scottish Executive Social Research, 12, 3–93.
Glatzer, W., et al. (2015). Global handbook of well-being and quality of life. New York: Springer.
Haybron, D., & Tiberius, V. (2015). Well-being policy: What standard of well-being? Journal of
the American Philosophical Association, 1(4), 712–733.
Helliwell, J., Huang, H., & Wang, S. (2016). World Happiness Report 2016, Update (Vol. I). New
York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/
happiness-report/2016/HR-V1Ch2_web.pdf.
Huppert, F. A., & Cooper, C. L. (2014). Interventions and policies to enhance wellbeing: A complete
reference guide (Vol. VI). Chichester: Wiley.
Jawad, R. (2015). Social protection and social policy systems in the MENA region: Emerging trends.
New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. http://www.un.org/esa/
socdev/csocd/2016/RJawad-MENA.pdf.
Karshenas, M., & Moghadam, V. M. (2006). Social policy in the Middle East: Introduction and
overview. In M. Karshenas & V. M. Moghadam (Eds.), Social policy in the Middle East: Economic,
political, and gender dynamics (pp. 1–30). Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan/United Nations
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Karshenas, M., & Moghadam, V. M. (2009). Bringing social policy back in: A look at the Middle
East and North Africa. International Journal of Social Welfare, 18(1), 52–61.
Kwon, H. J. (2005). The developmental welfare state and policy reforms in East Asia. Basingstoke:
Palgrave-Macmillan.
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mentary group on wellbeing economics. Retrieved from New economics foundations. http://b.3c
dn.net/nefoundation/ccdf9782b6d8700f7c_lcm6i2ed7.pdf.
Massam, B. H. (2002). Quality of life: Public planning and private living. Progress in Planning,
58, 141–227. http://www.tlu.ee/~arro/Happy%20Space%20EKA%202014/quality%20of%20lif
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McGillivray, M., & Clarke, M. (2007). Human well-being: Concepts and measures. In M.
McGillivray & M. Clarke (Eds.), Understanding human well-being (pp. 3–16). Tokyo: United
Nations University Press.
Michalos, A. C. (2004). Social indicators research and health-related quality of life research. Social
Indicators Research, 65(1), 27–72. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025592219390.
Michalos, A. C. (2014). Encyclopedia of well-being and quality of life research. Dordrecht: Springer.
Moghadam, V. M., & Karshenas, M. (2006). Social policy in the middle east: Economic, political,
and gender dynamics. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan/United Nations Research Institute for
Social Development.
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(Eds.), International differences in well-being (pp. 34–69). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Peter, F., & Machin, D. (2015). Quality of life. Hoboken: Wiley.
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ledge.
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nets in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington: World Bank. Retrieved from http://citese
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Sirgy, M. J., Estes, R. J., & Selian, A. N. (2017). How we measure well-being: The data behind the
history of well-being. In R. J. Estes & M. J. Sirgy (Eds.), The pursuit of human well-being: The
untold global history (pp. 135–160). Dordrecht: Springer.
Theofilou, P. (2013). Quality of life: Definition and measurement. Europe’s Journal of Psychology,
9(1), 150–162.
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and current challenges. In H. Tiliouine & R. J. Estes (Eds.), The state of social progress of
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drecht: Springer.
Tiliouine, H., & Meziane, M. (2017). The history of well-being in the Middle East and North Africa
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hdr.undp.org/en/indicators/137506.
Chapter 2
Methodology

Abstract The thrust of this chapter is to designate a holistic construct using inter-
disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. In addition to scholarly literature, the
study uses information collected from the world’s largest data collection agencies to
analyze a variety of objective and subjective indicators of well-being in the MENA
region.

Keywords Methodology · Well-being indicators · Human development index

2.1 Introduction

The analysis used in this monograph is based on the social development research
paradigms that place people at the center of development (Estes 1993; Lammy and
Tyler 2014; Tiliouine and Estes 2016). “Sustainable development practice consists
of development-focused interventions that seek to promote and enhance the social,
political, and economic well-being of people” (Estes 1993: 12). It is to be noted that
individuals from different cultures both view well-being and make life satisfaction
judgments differently (Oishi 2010). However, the study concentrates on three con-
stituents of the populations focused on in this book. First is the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region itself. Second are the six countries within the MENA
region selected for further analysis. Third is the global or international context within
which both the MENA region as a whole and each of the selected countries are com-
paratively related. There is a need for the integration of local, national, regional, and
global approaches.
What distinguishes this book is its strategy of addressing well-being and policy
issues from multiple perspectives. Likewise, one of the distinctive features of this
approach to quality of life and well-being is its interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
approaches, including social policy, development studies, public health, psychology,
anthropology, history, art history, ecology, cultural geography, political science, and
sociology, to mention a few (el-Aswad 2006). The simple reason for this tactic is
that the study of well-being involves multiple objective and subjective measures

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 7

el-S. el-Aswad, The Quality of Life and Policy Issues among the Middle East
and North African Countries, Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00326-5_2
8 2 Methodology

or indicators of well-being as well as multifaceted and intertwined dimensions of

economic, health, educational, social, cultural, political, and personal happiness and
satisfaction factors, among other dimensions.
In addition to scholarly work, the study uses information and global measures
collected from the world’s largest data collection and reporting agencies such as
the Human Development Index (HDI), the United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, the Social Progress Index, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
the Freedom House, the Institute for Economics and Peace, particularly the Global
Peace Index, the Vision of Humanity, the Gallup Poll (Gallup Organization), the
Global Competitiveness Index (of the World Economic Forum), the Pew Research
Center, the Global Militarization Index, the World Values Survey, and the Global
Firepower Index. Literature on the scholarship of well-being has confirmed that
composite indicators, such as the HDI, among other international indices, have been
designed to challenge the hegemony of one factor or indicator such as income as
the sole representative measure of human well-being (el-Aswad 2017; Huppert and
Cooper 2014; McGillivray and Clarke 2007; Peter and Machin 2015; Silva et al.
2012; Sirgy 2011; Sirgy et al. 2017).

2.2 Framework

Human development needs comprise a hierarchy of basic and growth needs. Health,
safety, and economic needs are essential for human survival. Social, esteem, actual-
ization, knowledge, and aesthetics, related to human flourishing, are growth needs
(Sirgy et al. 2017). The study applies the HDI, which is a composite index measuring
average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health (life
expectancy at birth), knowledge (education, including expected years of schooling
and mean years of schooling), and economy (based on gross national income per
capita in US dollars) (Table 2.1). The HDI “was created to emphasize that people
and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development
of a country, not economic growth alone” (United Nations Development Programme
2016: 6).
The United Nation Development Programme explains the reasons behind the
minimum and maximum values for each indicator. For “life expectancy,” for example,
the minimum of 20 years is based on the historical evidence that no country in the 20th
century had a life expectancy of less than 20 years. For education, the justification for
the minimum of 0 years is based on the fact that societies can subsist without formal
education. The maximum of 18 years for expected years of schooling is equivalent to
achieving a master’s degree in most countries, whereas the maximum of 15 years for
mean years of schooling is the projected maximum of this specific indicator for 2025.
For gross national income per capita, the low minimum value of $100 is justified by
the considerable amount of unmeasured subsistence and nonmarket production in
economies close to the minimum, not attained in the official data. The maximum of
$75,000 per capita is justified based on scholarly inquiries that indicate there is no
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Then aunt took him upstairs to his room, and I was left alone with
Jack, who looked rather out of humour.

"How different from the dry-as-dust old professor we expected!" I

said to him. "He looks quite young."

"He says he is thirty-two," replied Jack. "I don't call that exactly
juvenile."

"It may not seem so to eighteen," I responded loftily.

"I shall be nineteen in July," said Jack hastily, "and you are only a
few months older, so there, Nan."

"I am aware of the fact," I said calmly, "and I consider myself quite
old enough. We were not discussing my age but Professor
Faulkner's."

"He does not like to be called Professor Faulkner," said Jack. "He
told me so."

"Did he?" I said. "That is rather sensible of him. He seems very

nice."

"Oh, of course, you'll think him so," said Jack impatiently. "Girls are
always taken with a fellow who gives himself airs like that."

"Airs like what?" I asked, but Jack vouchsafed no reply, and aunt
coming downstairs the next moment, he at once said that he must be
off. She detained him while she told him about the Americans, a
piece of news which seemed to cheer him somewhat. Then she
reminded him that he and his father were to dine with us on the
following evening, and he departed.

"Oh, auntie, how different from what we expected!" I said, as soon as

we were alone in the drawing-room. "He is not in the least like the
Vicar."
"Very different from what you expected," she retorted. "He is so
pleased with his room, Nan. He says he feels that he has come to a
haven of rest."

"How nice of him!" I said. "You like him, do you not, Auntie?"

"Yes," she said decidedly. "I feel sure that we shall find him easy to
get on with, and I am not often mistaken in first impressions."

Our guest did not join us till the dinner-gong sounded. When he
entered the dining-room I was glad that I had taken pains with my
toilet, for he was carefully dressed, and a little cluster of my
primroses adorned his dinner-jacket. He saw my eyes rest on them,
and said with a smile:

"You cannot think how pleased I was to find some primroses in my

room. It is years since I plucked an English primrose."

"You will be able to do so here," said my aunt; "they are coming out
in our woods, and will be plentiful in a week or two."

"I am so glad to hear it," he said simply. "They will be a delight to

me."

"Then you are not like the immortal Peter Bell?" I said, speaking my
thought almost involuntarily.

"By no means," he said, smiling, "since all the joys of my childhood

seem to live again for me when I see a primrose."

We got on marvellously well together on that first evening. Aunt and I

found him such an interesting companion that we almost forgot how
recent our acquaintance was. He talked a good deal about his life in
India, and it was evident that he had relinquished his work there with
great reluctance. He had met with sundry adventures there, too, of
which he spoke in the simplest fashion, but which showed me he
was a man of fine courage and a good sportsman. I thought that
Jack would like him better when he came to know more about him.
He made very light of the health failure which had brought him home.
It was the result of the warm, moist climate of the place of his
sojourn. He had got the better of the feverish attacks which had
prostrated him. What he lacked now was nervous strength, and that
he believed the fresh air and repose of the country would soon
restore.

When he said this, Aunt Patty explained that I too was suffering from
nervous exhaustion, and, rather to my vexation, told the story of my
disappointment. But as I met his look of perfect comprehension and
sympathy, I felt that I did not mind in the least.

"Ah, Miss Nan, don't I know what that meant for you!" he said. It was
strange how from the first he fell into the way of addressing me as
"Miss Nan," just as if he had known me all my life. And stranger still it
was that, though I was rather wont to stand on my dignity, I felt no
inclination to resent his thus dispensing with ceremony.

"It did seem hard at first," I murmured, "but now I don't mind."

"I know," he said. "It went sorely against the grain with me when I
found that I must resign my post at the college, and go back to
England. My students were very dear to me, and I hoped that I was
impressing some of them for good. But there was no alternative—if I
would go on living. So you and I have the same duty before us at
present—to lay up a fresh store of energy."

"I have found it an easy duty so far," I said cheerfully.

"Indeed, in this fair home, with the spring unfolding about us, and all
the lovely summer to come, it promises to be a delightful one," was
his ready response.

So a bond of mutual comprehension was at once established

between me and Alan Faulkner.

Aunt Patty got on with him equally well, and I could see by the way in
which he listened to her and deferred to her that he felt the attraction
of her unaffected goodness and kindness.

Nor was the Vicar less pleased when he made the acquaintance of
our guest on the following evening. He found an affinity with the
Professor at once, and showed a desire to monopolise his attention;
but whenever, as we sat at the table, their talk threatened to become
too abstruse, Mr. Faulkner would seek, by some explanatory word, to
draw me and aunt into it, or would try to divert it into a more ordinary
channel. How deep they plunged, or how far back in human history
they went after we left them to themselves, I cannot say. Their
conversation soon wearied Jack, for within five minutes, he joined us
in the drawing-room.

Jack was in rather a perverse mood.

"I suppose that is the sort of chap the governor would like me to be,"
he growled, "able to jaw on learned subjects in that conceited
fashion."

"Then I am afraid he will be disappointed," I said severely; "for even

if you succeed in passing your exam, you will never be in the least
like Mr. Faulkner."

"I am exceedingly glad to hear it!" he said with a disagreeable laugh.

It was so odd of Jack to take such a dislike to the Professor. I never

saw the least trace of conceit in his bearing, and he showed the
utmost consideration for Jack. I was vexed with the boy for being so
unreasonable; but it was of no use my saying anything—he only
grew worse.

For my part the more I saw of Alan Faulkner, the better I liked him. I
was glad we had time to get well acquainted with him before any
other guests arrived. For aunt's sake I was, of course, glad, but
otherwise I could have regretted that the Americans were coming on
the morrow.
 CHAPTER VII
THE AMERICANS

MR. JOSIAH DICKS and his daughter arrived on the following day,
just as we were about to sit down to luncheon. They drove in a fly
from Chelmsford and brought with them a goodly array of trunks and
valises, though they presently explained that this represented but a
fraction of their luggage.

He was a tall, thin, cadaverous-looking man, and had the yellow,

parchment-like complexion with which I had credited Professor
Faulkner; but his restless movements and keen, alert glances
showed him to be very much alive. His forehead was bald, save for a
wisp of hair which stood up on it in such a manner as to give him
somewhat the appearance of a cockatoo. His daughter was a tall,
slight, smart-looking girl. Her face was rather pasty in its colouring;
but the sharp, piquant features were not devoid of charm. She wore
a most remarkable hat, with so many wings sticking out of it that one
shuddered to think how many small birds had been slaughtered for
the gratification of her vanity. I could not admire it, yet it was of a
style that suited her. She was a striking figure as she entered the
house wearing a long, drab travelling coat with gilt buttons, and a
magnificent boa of Russian sable, with a muff of the same fur,
depending from her neck by a gold chain.

"So this is 'Gay Bowers!'" she said in a high, thin voice with the
unmistakable enunciation of an American as she looked about her,
frankly observant, "and really it is as pretty as its name. I call this old
hall perfectly lovely."
"It's real antique, this," said her father, speaking with a still more
striking accent, "that staircase now—"

But here my aunt's advance cut short his words.

"Mr. Dicks, I believe?" she said.

"Right you are, ma'am," he replied; "you see Josiah Dicks of

Indianapolis, and this is my daughter, Pollie—or, as she prefers to be
called, Paulina. We've come, as I wrote you we should, and I hope
you can take us in."

"I have some vacant rooms which I shall be happy to show you,"
said Aunt Patty, "but we were just going to lunch; will you not sit
down with us, and we can discuss business matters later."

"I guess that will suit us excellently, eh! What say you, Pollie?" was
his response. "The fact is, we left our hotel soon after ten, and the
fresh country air on the way hither has given a decided edge to our
appetites."

I took Miss Dicks to my room to refresh herself after the journey. She
sniffed with her pretty little nose as we went up the staircase, and
said, "How deliciously fresh it smells here! I hate the smell of
London, don't you? Are there many people staying in the house?"

"Why, no," I said, rather embarrassed by the question. "You see it is

a new thing for us to have boarders at 'Gay Bowers,' and at present
there are only ourselves and Mr. Faulkner."

She laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, to be sure, and I

thought there would be twenty at least! I looked forward to music and
dancing in the evening!"

I felt inclined to laugh too, but I answered gravely, "Then I am afraid

our home will hardly suit you, for it is small, as you see, and we
could never accommodate more than half the number you name."
"I see," she said with a little pout. "Well, I must make the best of it
now, I suppose. I like the look of the lady, Mrs.—what is her name?"

"Mrs. Lucas," I said; "she is my aunt."

"Oh!" Thereupon she turned and looked at me from head to foot with
a thoroughness which let slip no detail of my appearance. My colour
rose, yet I gave her credit for intending no insolence by her cool
survey.

A moment later, as she removed her hat with her eyes on the mirror,
I took the opportunity to observe her more closely. Her hair was a
pale brown and fairly plentiful. It presented an arrangement of poufs
and combs, and tortoiseshell ornaments, which was quite novel to
me. I found it more extraordinary than beautiful, though when I got
used to the style I saw that it suited her.

The travellers had acquired the art of quickly making themselves at

home. As we took our luncheon they spoke and acted as if "Gay
Bowers" belonged to them. More than once I saw Aunt Patty flush
with resentment at what she evidently considered an impertinence.
But she had the good sense to hide her annoyance.

Cook, knowing that strangers were expected, had risen to the

occasion and sent up some very dainty dishes. Josiah Dicks did
ample justice to her excellent pastry, although he assured us he was
a martyr to dyspepsia.

When luncheon was over, aunt offered to show our visitors the
rooms she could give them. As they followed her from the room,
Miss Dicks turned and said to me in a very audible undertone, "How
very good-looking he is!" She jerked her head towards the window
where Alan Faulkner stood playing with Sweep. It was extraordinary
how that dog had taken to him. Ever since my arrival I had sought in
vain to coax her into accompanying me on my walks. She had
always preferred to wander alone about uncle's favourite haunts, or
to crouch disconsolately on the mat outside his former sanctum; but
now she was ready to follow Mr. Faulkner anywhere.
"Oh, hush!" I responded in a whisper to Miss Dicks's remark. "He
may hear you."

"Would it matter if he did?" she returned coolly. "Men like to be told

that they are good-looking."

"That may be," I replied; "but it is a taste I should not care to gratify."

She laughed.

"Pollie Dicks," called her father from the staircase, "are you coming
to choose your room?"

"He means to stay," she said to me with a sagacious nod, "and I've
no objection."

When she came downstairs a little later, Aunt Patty told me that Miss
Dicks had chosen the room on the left of mine. It was a large room,
commanding the front of the house. Her father had had to content
himself with a smaller room at the back.

"He seems much pleased with the place," said my aunt, "but his
daughter is evidently afraid of finding it dull."

"Do you like them, auntie?" I asked.

An odd smile crossed her face.

"They are mortals," she said. "I don't quite know what to make of
them, but I mean to like them, Nan. I cannot afford to quarrel with my
bread and butter."

"Still, I do think that they might have behaved a little more like
'guests' at luncheon," I said. "Mr. Dicks asked for 'crackers' just as if
he were in an hotel."

"I must confess that I felt rather riled for a moment," said my aunt;
"but I am sure he did not mean to annoy me. They are evidently
used to hotel life, and they cannot guess, nor do I wish that they
should, how it feels to me to receive strangers thus into my home.
My common-sense tells me that I must not allow myself to be over-
sensitive. I only hope Mr. Faulkner will like them."

"He seems to like them," I said.

Indeed I had been astonished to see the friendly interest in the

newcomers which he displayed, and the readiness with which he
talked to them.

The following day was Easter Sunday, and for once the weather was
all that one could wish it to be upon that day. It was not exactly
warm, but the sun shone brightly, and there was a delicious,
indescribable feeling of spring in the air. The trees were budding,
and the hedges breaking into leaf. Every day now showed some
fresh sign of spring's advance.

We all went to church in the morning. Mr. Dicks was struck with the
venerable beauty of our church, but he was severe in his criticism of
the service and the sermon. He had no patience with the defects of
our choir, and certainly their singing was very rural. He was anxious
to impress us with the superior order of things to be found in
America.

Jack joined us after the service, and we all, with the exception of my
aunt, took a short walk before luncheon. Mr. Dicks explained that he
was not fond of walking, but that his doctor had advised him to walk
several miles every day. His daughter frankly said that she hated it,
and certainly the smart pointed shoes she wore appeared ill adapted
to our country roads. I saw Mr. Faulkner looking at them, and
wondered whether he were admiring, or merely struck, as I was, with
their unsuitability.

"Pollie is fond of cycling," said Mr. Dicks, looking at me. "Do you
cycle?"

"I can," I said, "but unfortunately I have no bicycle of my own. I use

my sister's sometimes when I am at home."
"That is a pity," he said. "Pollie's machine will be sent down to-
morrow. It would be nice if you could ride with her."

"Do you cycle?" asked Miss Dicks, turning to Mr. Faulkner.

"I have not ridden since I came back from India," he said.

"Did you ride there?" she asked.

"Yes; I often rode with my students," he said. "In the province where I
was living the roads were as smooth and level as a billiard-table, so
that riding was delightful."

"Then I don't wonder that you have not ridden since," Jack said.

"Are the roads very bad about here?" she asked, glancing at him.
"You ride, of course?"

"They are not so bad," he replied, "but I don't say they would
compare favourably with a billiard-table."

"You will ride with me, won't you?" she said to him with a fascinating
smile.

"With pleasure," he responded, adding loyally, "and we'll hire a

machine at Chelmsford, so that Miss Nan can accompany us."

"And you will come, too, will you not?" she said, turning towards
Professor Faulkner.

I did not hear his reply, for at that moment Mr. Dicks addressed a
question to me; but it struck me that she was rather a forward young
woman.

Two days later a consignment of trunks arrived for Miss Dicks. She
had already displayed such a variety of pretty and fashionable
changes of attire that I wondered how many more clothes she had.
Judging by the size of her trunks she might have had a different
gown for each day of the year.
She appeared delighted to receive her luggage, and spent the
greater part of the next day in her room, engaged in unpacking the
boxes. Late in the afternoon I was going upstairs when I heard a
voice calling, "Nan, Nan!" Glancing upwards, I saw Miss Dicks
standing at the door of her room. I had not given her permission to
address me by my Christian name, and it would not have occurred to
me to call her "Pollie." But this was only another instance of the
inimitable coolness with which she made herself at home with us all.
I could only conclude that her free and easy bearing was typically
American, and endeavour to reconcile myself to it with as good a
grace as possible.

"Do come here, Nan, and look at my things," she cried as she saw
me.

As I entered her room I exclaimed at the sight it presented. Bed,

sofa, table, chairs, and even the floor were littered with all kinds of
choice and pretty things, making the place look like a bazaar. There
were mosaics and marbles from Italy, Roman lamps, conchas,
cameos, exquisite bits of Venetian glass, corals and tortoise-shells
from Naples, silk blankets from Como, and olive-wood boxes from
Bellagio. But it is vain to attempt to name all the things that met my
eyes. I think there were specimens of the arts and manufactures of
every place which she and her father had visited.

"Oh, how lovely!" I exclaimed. "But what will you do with all these
things? Are you going to open a shop?"

"Not exactly," she said with a laugh. "I am going to take them back to
America with me. Some are for myself, and some for my friends.
Father wanted me not to unpack them till we got them home, but I
felt that I must look and see if they were all safe."

For the next half-hour I had nothing to do but admire. There were
little boxes packed with small and rare ornaments, which she opened
one by one to show me the contents. I felt sure now that Josiah
Dicks must be a millionaire. It was a delight to me to see so many
pretty things, and their possessor seemed to enjoy my appreciation
of them.

"Aunt Maria begged me to buy everything I wanted. She said, 'Now

don't come home and say "I wish I had bought this, that, or the
other." Get all that pleases you while you are there,'" Miss Dicks
explained.

"You seem to have obeyed her most thoroughly," I remarked. "Does

your aunt live with you at home?"

"Yes, I have no mother, you know," she said. "She died when I was a
child. She nursed my little brother through scarlet fever. He died, and
then she took it and died."

She told me this in the most matter-of-fact way; but somehow I felt
differently towards her after she said that. I was feeling rather
envious of the girl who had carte blanche to spend money so
lavishly, and wondering what Olive and Peggy would say when they
heard of it, but now I felt that, though we girls had so few of the
things that money could buy, yet, as long as we had father and
mother and one another, we were richer than Paulina Dicks.

When I had looked at everything, she startled me by saying:

"Now I want you to choose something for yourself."

My colour rose as I replied by saying hurriedly:

"Oh, no, I cannot do that!"

"Why not?" she asked, surveying me with frank surprise. "When you
see that I have such heaps of things? I can never make use of them
all myself." But I still decidedly declined.

"Take this coral necklace," she said. "You were admiring it, and it
would look pretty on the black frock you wear of an evening. Why,
what is the matter with you? Are you proud? I believe you are, for
you never call me by my name, although I call you 'Nan.'"

"I will call you whatever you please," I said, "but I cannot accept any
of your pretty things, for you did not buy them for me."

"No, because I did not know you when I bought them; but I meant to
give a good many away. Oh, very well, Miss Darracott, I see you do
not mean to be friendly with Paulina Dicks!"

So in the end I had to yield, and accepted a little brooch of Florentine

mosaic, which I have to this day. And I promised that I would call her
Paulina.

"Paulina Adelaide is my name," she said. "No one calls me Pollie

except my father. And one other person," she added, as an
afterthought.

Presently she asked me if I thought Mrs. Lucas would like to see her
collection of pretty things. I said I was sure that she would, and ran
to call my aunt. When aunt came, Paulina exhibited everything
afresh, and described in an amusing fashion how she had made
some of her purchases. The dressing-bell rang ere aunt had seen
everything. Then their owner plaintively observed that she did not
know how she should get them all into their boxes again. Unpacking
was much easier than packing, she feared. Thereupon aunt and I
pledged ourselves to help her after dinner, with the result that we
were busy in her room till nearly midnight.

Paulina came to the dinner-table wearing a set of quaint cameo

ornaments, which excited Mr. Faulkner's attention. It appeared that
he knew something of cameos. He had passed through Italy on his
way home from India, and he and the Americans were soon
comparing their experiences of Vesuvius, Sorrento, and Capri, or
discussing the sights of Rome.

I listened in silence, feeling out of it all and rather discontented as I

compared Paulina's exquisitely-made Parisian frock with my own
homely white blouse. I must have looked bored when suddenly I
became aware that Alan Faulkner was observing me with a keen,
penetrating glance that seemed to read my very thoughts.

"We are wearying Miss Nan with our traveller's talk," he said. "She
has yet to learn the fascination of Italy. But the time will come, Miss
Nan."

"Never!" I said almost bitterly. "I see not the least chance of such
good fortune for me, and therefore I will not let my mind dwell on the
delights of travel!"

The look of wonder and regret with which Alan Faulkner regarded
me made me instantly ashamed of the morose manner in which I
had responded to his kindly remark. I heartily wished that I could
recall my words, or remove the impression they had created.

"Whatever he may think of Pollie Dicks," I said to myself as we rose

from the table, "he cannot help seeing that she is more good-natured
than I am."

CHAPTER VIII
A PRINCELY GIFT

"IS Miss Nan here?" asked Mr. Dicks, opening the door of the
drawing-room, where I had been pouring out tea for Aunt Patty and
such of her guests as liked the fragrant beverage. Josiah Dicks
never drank tea; his daughter took it with a slice of lemon in Russian
fashion.

"Yes, I am here," I responded. "What can I do for you, Mr. Dicks?"

"Just come this way, young lady, that is all," he said. "I have
something to show you."

As I rose and went towards him, I saw a look of amusement on Alan

Faulkner's face. Our eyes met, and we smiled at each other as I
passed him. He and I got a little quiet fun sometimes out of the
Americans. I could not help thinking that he wanted to come too and
see whatever Mr. Dicks had to show me.

It was a lovely day towards the end of April, the first really warm day
we had had. The hall door was open. Signing to me to follow him,
Josiah Dicks led the way to the back of the house, where was the
tool-house in which Pollie's bicycle was kept. She had already taken
one or two rides with Jack Upsher, but there had been some little
difficulty in hiring a bicycle for me, and I had not yet had a ride with
her.

As I approached the tool-house I saw Paulina within, flushed with

sundry exertions. She had just removed the last wrapping from a
brand-new machine.

"What!" I exclaimed. "Another bicycle! What can you want with two?"
Her beautiful machine had already moved me to admiration, if not to
envy, and here she was with another first-class one!

"Pollie does not want two, but I guess you can do with one," said Mr.
Dicks. "This is yours, Miss Nan."

I think I was never so taken aback in my life. I did not know what to
say. It seemed impossible that I could accept so valuable a gift from
one who was almost a stranger; yet I could see that both Josiah
Dicks and his daughter would be dreadfully hurt if I refused it. I knew
too that he did not like the idea of Paulina's riding about the country
alone, and that this was his way of securing a companion for her. I
tried to say that I would regard it as a loan; but that would not do. I
had to accept it. I had heard mother say that it sometimes takes
more grace to receive a gift than to bestow one, and I felt the truth of
the words now. I fear I expressed my thanks very awkwardly, yet I
was truly grateful in spite of my overwhelming sense of obligation.

"You must try it," cried Paulina eagerly. "Let us take it round to the
front of the house, and I'll mount you."

In a few minutes I was riding up and down the short drive before the
house. Mr. Faulkner caught sight of me from the drawing-room
window, and he and aunt came out to see what it meant. Aunt Patty
was as much astonished as I was by Josiah Dicks's munificence; but
she had more presence of mind and thanked him very warmly for his
kindness to me.

"That's all right," he said; "you've no need to thank me. It's just as it
should be. I like to see young people enjoy themselves. They'll never
be young but once."

Meanwhile Mr. Faulkner had been quietly examining my machine,

and he told me, in an aside, that it had all the latest improvements,
and was one of the best he had ever seen.

Certainly I found it an easy one to ride, and after a little practice I

began to feel as if it were part of myself. It was too late for us to do
much that day; but Paulina got out her machine, and we rode as far
as the village. As we passed the Vicarage we caught sight of Jack in
the garden. He shouted as he saw me spinning by, and I had to halt
and show him my delightful gift. He seemed almost as pleased as I
was. We arranged forthwith to ride with him on the following
afternoon. After dinner, I managed to get away by myself for a time,
and wrote a long letter to mother, for I felt that I must tell her about
my present.

It would not be easy to say how much enjoyment I derived from Mr.
Dicks's gift. As long as the weather continued fair, Paulina and I rode
every day. Jack accompanied us as often as he could, and was
sorely tempted to curtail the time he devoted to his studies. Then
one morning, Mr. Faulkner went to London by an early train, and
when he came back in the evening he brought a bicycle with him.
After that he too was often our companion. If we rode out a party of
four, Jack always elected to ride beside me, while Paulina seemed
equally bent on securing Mr. Faulkner as her escort, so that I had
little opportunity of talking with him. This vexed me somewhat, for
Alan Faulkner had generally interesting things to tell one, whereas
Jack's never-ceasing flow of small talk was apt to become a trifle
wearisome. We had some delightful rides and visited most of the
picturesque villages or fine old churches within twenty miles of "Gay
Bowers." But after Miss Cottrell came to stay with us, I was less free
to scour the country.

Colonel Hyde and Miss Cottrell arrived about the same time, when
spring was merging into summer, and we fondly hoped that cold
winds were over. There was no other connection between these two
individuals. The Colonel was an old friend of Mr. Upsher's. He was
Jack's godfather, and being a widower and childless, the chief
attraction "Gay Bowers" had for him was that it was so near
Greentree Vicarage.

Miss Cottrell might have been fifty. She informed Aunt Patty that she
was thirty-nine, and my aunt charitably believed her, though she
certainly looked much older. She was fond of the country, and her
coming was simply the result of seeing our advertisement. She
furnished aunt with references to persons of good social standing,
yet somehow she always struck us as not being exactly a
gentlewoman. She said she had been a governess for many years, a
fact which perhaps accounted for her worn and faded appearance,
but had taught only in the "best families." As she occasionally let fall
an "h" or made a slip in grammar, we came to the conclusion that the
"best families" known to her had not a high standard of education.
She was fond of talking of a certain Lady Mowbray, with whom she
had lived in closest intimacy for many years. "Dear Lady Mowbray"
was quoted on every possible occasion, till we grew rather weary of
her name, and longed to suggest that she should be left to rest in her
grave in peace. We knew she was dead, for Miss Cottrell had
spoken of the "handsome legacy" which this friend had left her. This
sum of money, together with some property she had inherited from
an uncle, had rendered it unnecessary for her longer to "take a
situation," a consummation for which she seemed devoutly thankful.

Yet Miss Cottrell was by no means of an indolent nature. She prided

herself on her active habits, and was especially fond of gardening.
Her love for this pursuit brought her into collision with old Hobbes,
our gardener. He could not forgive her for presuming to instruct him
on certain points, and when she offered to help him, he well-nigh
resigned his post. In order to secure peace between them, aunt had
to make over to her a tiny plot of ground, where she could grow what
she liked, and make what experiments she pleased, Hobbes being
strictly forbidden to interfere with it. The scorn with which he
regarded her attempts at horticulture was sublime.

Unfortunately, though fond of exercise, Miss Cottrell did not care for
solitary walks, and I often felt it incumbent on me to be her
companion. Her society was far from agreeable to me. It was
wonderful how little we had in common. Although she had been a
governess, she seemed absolutely without literary tastes, and even
devoid of all ideas that were not petty and trivial. Every attempt to
hold an intelligent conversation with her brought me face to face with
a dead wall.

All she cared for was to dwell on personal details of her own life or
the lives of others. She had an insatiable curiosity, and was for ever
asking me questions concerning my aunt or her guests, or my own
home life, which I could not or would not answer. Her love of gossip
led her to visit daily the one small shop the village could boast, and
marvellous were the tales she brought us from thence. She was
ready to talk to any one and every one whom she might encounter.
She was fond of visiting the cottagers, and they appreciated her
visits, for she listened attentively to the most garrulous, and told
them what to do for their rheumatism or cramp, and how to treat the
ailments of their children. I must say she was very kind-hearted; her
good nature and her love of flowers were her redeeming qualities.

She professed to admire the Vicar's preaching, and she often found
cause to visit the Vicarage. She paid both the Vicar and his friend
the Colonel more attention than they could appreciate. And the worst
of it was that she was slower to take a hint than any one I had ever
known. How Aunt Patty bore with her irritating ways I cannot tell.
Miss Cottrell certainly put a severe strain upon the politeness and
forbearance of her hostess. She was not a bad sort of woman, but
only insufferably vulgar, tactless and ill-bred.

Paulina made fun of her, yet neither she nor her father seemed to
object to Miss Cottrell's cross-questioning, or to shun her society; but
Colonel Hyde and Professor Faulkner would make their escape from
the drawing-room whenever it was possible, if that lady entered it.
Aunt confessed to me that she longed to dismiss this unwelcome
guest, but had no sufficient excuse.

She had not been with us very long when Josiah Dicks had an attack
of illness. Miss Cottrell, having wrung from me the statement that I
believed him to be a millionaire, evinced the utmost interest in the
American. She annoyed me very much by saying that she could see
that Professor Faulkner was looking after his money by courting
Paulina. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It was, of course,
possible that Alan Faulkner might be attracted by Paulina, but he
was not the man to woo her for the sake of her father's wealth. But it
was absurd of me to mind what such a one as Miss Cottrell said.

Though he was very far from well, Mr. Dicks would not stay in his
room, but hung about the house looking the colour of one of the
sovereigns he spent so lavishly. Miss Cottrell was full of sympathy
for him. She suggested various remedies, which he tried one after
another, while he rejected Aunt Patty's sensible advice that he
should send for a medical man from Chelmsford.

Miss Cottrell's solicitude contrasted oddly with Paulina's apparent

indifference. When she came downstairs the next morning she was
wearing a hat, and carried a coat over her arm, and she said quite
calmly as she took her place at the breakfast-table:

"Poppa says he is worse. He has been in awful pain all night, and
has not slept a wink. He thinks he is dying."

"My dear," ejaculated Aunt Patty, "I am distressed to hear it. And are
you going for the doctor?"

"Oh, no," said Paulina, opening her eyes widely. "He isn't dying, you
know. I am going to London."

"On his account—to get him medicine perhaps?" suggested my aunt

anxiously.

Paulina glanced across the table with amusement in her eyes.

"I am going to London to have a new gown fitted," she said, "and to
do some shopping."

"But, my dear Miss Dicks, what will your father do without you? Is it
well that you should leave him alone all day when he is suffering
so?"

My aunt looked amazed as she put these queries.

"Oh, he says now that he will see a doctor," Paulina replied. "I can
call and tell him to come if he lives near the station. I should do
Poppa no good by staying at home. He has had these attacks
before, and they will take their course. I knew he would be ill when I
saw him eating that salmon."

"But would you not like to see the doctor yourself?" aunt said.
"Cannot you put off going to London for a day or two?"

"That would inconvenience Madame Hortense," Paulina said gravely.

"No, I had better keep my appointment. I know you will look after
Poppa, Mrs. Lucas, and you will help her, will you not, Miss Cottrell?"