(2 of 2)
Disturbed over the bad name Sad Sam Sary was giving Cambodia, the government back in Pnompenh, which is in the control of Sary's rivals, whipped off a note of its own, retracting Sary's protest to the Foreign Office as "null and void," and noting: "The government considers that the infliction of corporal punishment on a maid, which is an offense under Cambodian law, is unworthy and incompatible with the functions of a representative abroad of the Head of State." Ambassador Sary wired back: "I maintain my protest and won't let my country be insulted."
The Cambodian government accused him of "grave disobedience," ordered his recall, and issued a public explanation in Pnompenh that "Sam Sary, helped by his wife, savagely beat his pregnant concubine." Complained Political Rival Sim Var: "Not only does he beat his concubine, but he tells the British press that this is customary in Cambodia, and now the British think we are a country of savages."
As Sary went back home to crawl on his knees before Cambodia's statuesque queen, a 35-year-old London barrister named John Averill—who was guided, he said, by a special vision from his Egyptian spirit, Ra-Men-Ra—stepped forward to rescue the governess in distress. He proposed and promptly married Iv Eng Seng. Averill is an ardent member of the "School of Universal Philosophy and Healing." whose credo is no smoking, no meat eating, and no sex.