was shorter.

"My dear Geoffrey,

"I am going up, with General Hicks, to the Soudan. If you receive this
letter, it will be because I have died there. I leave behind me my wife,
and a boy. I know that, at present, you are scarcely likely to be able
to do much for them, pecuniarily; but as you will someday--possibly not
a very distant one--inherit the title and estate, you will then be able
to do so, without hurting yourself.

"We have never seen much of each other. You left school before I began
it, and you left Oxford two years before I went up to Cambridge. You
have never been at home much, since; and I was two years in Egypt, and
have now been about the same time, here. I charge my wife to send you
this, and I trust that, for my sake, you will help her. She does not
think of returning to England. Life is not expensive, in this country.
Even an allowance of a hundred a year would enable her to remain here.
If you can afford double that, do so for my sake; but, at any rate, I
feel that I can rely upon you to do at least that much, when you come
into the title. Had I lived, I should never have troubled anyone at
home; but as I shall be no longer able to earn a living for her and the
boy, I trust that you will not think it out of the way for me to ask
for what would have been a very small younger brother's allowance, had
I remained at home."

The letter to his sisters was in a different strain.

"My dear Flossie and Janet,

"I am quite sure that you, like myself, felt deeply grieved over our
separation; and I can guess that you will have done what you could,
with our father, to bring about a reconciliation. When you receive
this, dears, I shall have gone. I am about to start on an expedition
that is certain to be dangerous, and which may be fatal; and I have
left this with my wife, to send you if she has sure news of my death. I
have had hard times. I see my way now, and I hope that I shall, ere
long, receive a good official appointment, out here. Still, it is as
well to prepare for the worst; and if you receive this letter, the
worst has come. As I have only just begun to rise again in the world, I
have been able to make no provision for my wife. I know that you liked
her, and that you would by no means have disapproved of the step I
took. If our father has not come into the title, when you receive this,
your pocket money will be only sufficient for your own wants; therefore
I am not asking for help in that way,