k too much about seeing you and Maurice next winter
for fear I should be disappointed. If I am too sick and wretched I can
hardly wish you to come because I know what a nuisance it is to be with
one always coughing and panting, and unable to do like other people. But
if I pick up tolerably this summer I shall indeed be glad to see you and
him once more.

This house is falling sadly to decay, which produces snakes and
scorpions. I sent for the _hawee_ (snake-catcher) who caught a snake,
but who can't conjure the scorpions out of their holes. One of my fat
turkeys has just fallen a victim, and I am in constant fear for little
Bob, only he is always in Omar's arms. I think I described to you the
festival of Sheykh Gibrieel: the dinner, and the poets who improvised;
this year I had a fine piece of declamation in my honour. A real
calamity is the loss of our good Maohn, Seleem Effendi. The Mudir hailed
him from his steamer to go to Keneh directly, with no further notice. We
hoped some good luck for him, and so it would have been to a Turk. He is
made overseer over the poor people at the railway work, and only gets two
pounds five shillings per month additional, he has to keep a horse and a
donkey, and to buy them and to hire a sais, and he does _not_ know how to
squeeze the fellaheen. It is true 'however close you skin an onion, a
clever man can always peel it again,' which means that even the poorest
devils at the works can be beaten into giving a little more; but our dear
Seleem, God bless him, will be ruined and made miserable by his
promotion. I had a very woeful letter from him yesterday.

May 15, 1867: Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

_To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon_.

LUXOR,
_May_ 15, 1867.

DEAREST ALICK,

All the Christendom of Upper Egypt is in a state of excitement, owing to
the arrival of the Patriarch of Cairo, who is now in Luxor. My
neighbour, Mikaeel, entertains him, and Omar has been busily decorating
his house and arranging the illumination of his garden, and to-day is
gone to cook the confectionery, he being looked upon as the person best
acquainted with the customs of the great. Last night the Patriarch sent
for me, and I went to kiss his hand, but I won't go again. It was a very
droll caricature of the thunders of the Vatican. Poor Mikaeel h