Omar for his affection towards me.  How much easier it is to instil the bad part of religion than the good; it is really a curious phenomenon in so young a child.  She waits capitally at table, and can do most things, but she won’t move if the fancy takes her except when ordered, and spends her time on the terrace.  One thing is that the life is dull for a child, and I think she will be happier in a larger, more bustling house.  I don’t know whether, after the fearful example of Mrs. B., I can venture to travel up the Nile with such a seducteur as our dear Mr. Thayer.  What do you think?  Will gray hairs on my side and mutual bad lungs guarantee our international virtue; or will someone ask the Pater when he means to divorce me?  Would it be considered that Yankeedoodle had ‘stuck a feather in his cap’ by leading a British matron and grandmother astray?

December 2, 1863:  Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon.  CAIRO, December 2, 1863.

Dearest Alick,

It is beginning to be cold here, and I only await the results of my inquiries about possible houses at Thebes to hire a boat and depart.  Yesterday I saw a camel go through the eye of a needle—­i.e., the low arched door of an enclosure; he must kneel and bow his head to creep through—­and thus the rich man must humble himself.  See how a false translation spoils a good metaphor, and turns a familiar simile into a ferociously communist sentiment.  I expect Henry and Janet here in four or five days when her ancle allows her to travel.  If I get a house at Thebes, I will only hire a boat up and dismiss it, and trust to Allah for my return.  There are rumours of troubles at Jeddah, and a sort of expectation of fighting somewhere next spring; even here people are buying arms to a great extent, I think the gunsmiths’ bazaar looks unusually lively.  I do look forward to next November and your coming here; I know you would donkey-ride all day in a state of ecstasy.  I never saw so good a servant as Omar and such a nice creature, so pleasant and good.  When I hear and see what other people spend here in travelling and in living, and what bother they have, I say:  ’May God favour Omar and his descendants.’

I stayed in bed yesterday for a cold, and my next-door neighbour, a Coptic merchant, kept me awake all night by auditing his accounts with his clerk.  How would you like to chant your rows of figures?  He had just bought lots of cotton, and I had to get into my door on Monday over a camel’s back, the street being filled with bales.

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