also aiding Lansdale in his Philippine travels was a characteristic fairly typical of the American abroad: a certain cheerful guilelessness, an uncomplicated amiability built on the belief that, so long as one is friendly with strangers, that treatment will be reciprocated. While a Briton abroad might suspect he is loathed, and a Frenchman knows full well that he is, the very idea is so alien to many Americans as to never cross their mind. Ironically, the sheer innocence of this outlook can be quite endearing and, thus, self-fulfilling.
