a piece of meat given her by a traveller; she put it in the
oven and went out. During her absence her husband came in and smelt it,
and as it was just the time of the _eshe_ (first prayers one hour after
sunset), he ran up to the hill outside the village, and began to chaunt
forth the _tekbeer_ with all his might--_Allah akbar_, _Allah akbar_,
etc. etc., till the people ran to see what was the matter. 'Why, to-day
is Bairam,' says he. 'Where is thy witness, O man?' 'The meat in the
oven--the meat in the oven.'

February 15, 1866: Mrs. Austin

_To Mrs. Austin_.

LUXOR,
_February_ 15, 1866.

DEAREST MUTTER,

I have only time for a short letter to say that the cold weather is over
and that I continue to improve, not very fast, but still very sensibly.

My young Frenchman turns out to be a M. Brune _grand prix de Rome_, an
architect, and is a very nice fellow indeed, and a thorough gentleman.
His odd awkward manner proved to be mere vexation at finding himself
quartered _nolens volens_ on a stranger, and a woman; but we have made
great friends, and I have made him quite happy by telling him that he
shall pay his share of the food. He was going to hurry off from shyness
though he had begun a work here by which I fancy he hopes to get _Kudos_.
I see he is poor and very properly proud. He goes out to the temple at
sunrise, and returns to dinner at dark, and works well, and his drawings
are very clever. In short, I am as much obliged to the French Consul for
sending me such an intelligent man as I was vexed at first. An _homme
serieux_ with an absorbing pursuit is always good company in the long
run. Moreover M. Brune behaves like a perfect gentleman in every way.
So _tout est pour le mieux_.

I am sorry to say that Marie has become so excessively bored,
dissatisfied, and, she says, ill, that I am going to send her back rather
than be worried so--and _damit hats eine ende_ of European maids. Of
course an ignorant girl _must_ be bored to death here--a land of no
amusements and no flirtation _is_ unbearable. I shall borrow a slave of
a friend here, an old black woman who is quite able and more than willing
to serve me, and when I go down to Cairo I will get either a ci-devant
slave or an elderly Arab woman. Dr. Patterson strongly advised me to do
so last ye