I racked my brains but no one came to mind, so she reminded me of her letters from Jebail. She’d written of an archaeology student, a British undergraduate who planned to tramp around the Middle East alone, photographing crusader castles for his thesis. He and Lillie had become great friends as he studied practical Arabic with her colleague at the mission school—a young Christian lady whose name was Fareedah el-Akle.

“Neddy’s grammar wasn’t strong, but his memory was excellent and he absorbed Arabic vocabulary very quickly,” Lillie recalled. After her return to the United States in 1914, she and Neddy had exchanged letters, the most remarkable of which was his request that she purchase for him a Colt .45 automatic pistol, which he meant to carry into combat. “Handguns are difficult to obtain in England,” he wrote in explanation.

“We lost track of him after that,” Lillie told me, “but he not only survived the war, he’s become a hero! We called him Ned, but his name is really Thomas Edward Lawrence. Lawrence, Agnes,” Lillie repeated, exasperated. “Doesn’t that ring any bells?”

Frankly, it didn’t, not then. In those days Colonel Lawrence was just on the cusp of the international celebrity that would soon be his. And in any case, I was distracted by how expensive this telephone call would be; Lillie never seemed to worry about things like that.

“There’s a sort of Chautauqua lecture about him at the Palace on Thursday evening,” she said. “We’ll swing by to pick you up—”

“Lillie, no! Friday is a school day. I can’t—”

“Oh, Agnes, you must come. It’ll be wonderful!”

Lillie had a way of saying wonderful. Her tone carried the thrill of the word, its element of marvel and surprise.