n who feared
neither danger nor responsibility, and bore a charmed life, and Gordon
was at once sent on a fruitless mission to Abyssinia. On his return he
carried out the intention that he had formed for some time, and placed
his resignation in the hands of the khedive. Well he knew that the
Egyptian government cared nothing for the reforms he had made, or the
slave-trade that he had broken. They never supported any of his
measures, and he felt assured that in a few months the state of things
would be as bad as ever.

Sick at heart and worn out in body, he came home early in 1880, having
paused on his way to see Rome. Once in London it was the old story.
Invitations rained on him, only to be refused. To escape from them he
rushed off to Lausanne for peace. But peace and Gordon had little to do
with each other, and he soon received an urgent request from the
ministers of Cape Colony to allow himself to be appointed commander of
the colonial forces. This, however, Gordon refused at once. The war with
the Zulus was only just over, and Gordon, who on all questions involving
the well-being of nations, was very keen-sighted, may well have noted
signs of unrest throughout the whole of South Africa. His health had
been severely tried by all he had gone through, and he needed rest
before he could take active employment.

So he returned to England, and in May, much to everyone's surprise,
accepted the post of secretary to the new viceroy of India, lord Ripon.
But no sooner had the viceregal party reached Bombay than Gordon found
that the work he had to do was not the sort he was suited for. Not
because he thought that anything was beneath his dignity--the man who
had cleaned his own gun and cooked his own food in the Soudan was never
likely to feel that--but his career, as he ought to have known before,
had unfitted him to cope with the minute details bound up with Indian
life, and the immense importance given to the distinctions of caste.
Therefore four days after the ship reached Bombay he resigned,
expressing his regrets for the mistake he had made, and thanking lord
Ripon most warmly for the kindness shown him. His passage money and all
the expenses to which his appointment had put the new government--for
the Liberals had lately come into power--he instantly repaid.

* * * * *

Two days later he received a telegram from sir Robert Hart, director of
the customs in China, begging him to take t