IS8 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



roy received me with, great affection, speaking to me of 

 his early days, of how I had sometimes taken his part 

 when his father was very severe upon him, of the per- 

 secution to which he had been subjected during the 

 reign of Abbas Pasha, and, lastly, of his desire to do 

 what was right and make Egypt prosperous. I con- 

 gratulated him on his intentions, adding that if 

 Providence had intrusted the most absolute govern- 

 ment on earth to a prince who had in his youth 

 received a most thorough education, and who later 

 in life had been severely tried by fortune, it was 

 for a great purpose, and that he would, I was con- 

 vinced, justify his mission. 



" We discussed the forthcoming military excursion 

 into the desert, and it was arranged that I should join 

 the party without having to make any preparations of 

 my own. 



" When I returned to my pavilion at eleven in the 

 evening I found all my staff of servants drawn up in 

 the same order as before ; and the chef showed me a 

 very luxuriantly laid- out table, decorated with flowers, 

 and with several covers laid. He said that orders had 

 been given for the table to be served in the same way 

 both morning and evening. I told him that I should 

 only avail myself of this of a morning, and that I 

 intended to go to my bedroom. Two footmen came 

 forward to help me mount the staircase, which was 

 brilliantly illuminated. Just for once I allowed them 

 to do so, with all due gravity, as became the friend of 



