148 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



to be precise — I received while sitting at breakfast 

 the following, sent in by hand : 



" ' British Agency, Caieo, 



'"February 10, 1903. 



" 'Dear Sir, — Instead of writing, I should be 

 very happy to answer your letter verbally, if you 

 would kindly call on me. I shall be free at 11.45 

 this morning, if that would suit you. 



*' ' Very faithfully yours, 



" ' Cromer.' 



" Thus had Lord Cromer attended to his own cor- 

 respondence almost before I was out of bed. It 

 is a bit of an eye-opener, when one reflects that 

 he has for twenty-odd years been the hardest- 

 worked man in Egypt. Needless to say, I went 

 at the time appointed, and, what is more, I was 

 not kept waiting more than five minutes before 

 being received. It would not be right to go into 

 any details here, but I may say that I obtained 

 from his lordship all the information I wanted 

 and was treated with the greatest kindness and 

 courtesy. I mention the incident, not for one 

 moment as a personal one, but as throwing such 

 a strong searchlight on the way business is done 

 here as compared with the cold, repellent attitude 

 of our home departments. How many of the 

 finest inventions have been lost to England by the 



