74 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. Ill 



voyage at Eodu, which is the terminus of the railway, 

 about 150 miles from Cairo. 



We had an unusually quick journey, as I was little 

 more than a month away from Cairo, and as my 

 companions made themselves very agreeable, it was very 

 pleasant. I was not particularly well at first, but by 

 degrees the utter rest of this " always afternoon " sort of 

 life did its work, and I am as well and vigorous now as 

 ever I was in my life. 



I should have been home within a fortnight of the 

 time I had originally fixed. This would have been ample 

 time to have enabled me to fulfil all the engagements I 

 had made before starting ; and Donnelly had given me to 

 understand that " My Lords " would not trouble their 

 heads about my stretching my official leave. Nevertheless 

 I was very glad to find the official extension (which was 

 the effect of my wife's and your and Bence Jones's friendly 

 conspiracy) awaiting me at Cairo. A rapid journey home 

 vid Brindisi might have rattled my brains back into the 

 colloid state in which they were when I left England. 

 Looking back through the past six months I begin to see 

 that I have had a narrow escape from a bad breakdown, 

 and I am full of good resolutions. 



As the first-fruit of these you see that I have given 

 up the School Board, and I mean to keep clear of all that 

 semi -political work hereafter. I see that Sandon (whom 

 I met at Alexandria) and Miller have followed my 

 example, and that Lord Lawrence is likely to go. What 

 a skedaddle ! 



It seems very hard to escape, however. Since my 

 arrival here, on taking up the Times I saw a paragraph 

 about the Lord Rectorship of St. Andrews. After 

 enumerating a lot of candidates for that honour, the 

 paragraph concluded, " But we understand that at present 

 Professor Huxley has the best chance." It is really too 

 bad if any one has been making use of my name without 

 my permission. But I don't know what to do about it. 



