Longworth had only arrived that day for dinner, and the two friends were
now exchanging their experience since they had parted some eight months
before at the second cataract of the Nile.

"And so, Pracontal, you never got one of my letters?"

"Not one,--on my honor. Indeed, if it were not that I learned by a
chance meeting with a party of English tourists at Cannes that they had
met you at Cairo, I 'd have begun to suspect you had taken a plunge into
the Nile, or into Mohammedom, for which latter you were showing some
disposition, you remember, when we parted."

"True enough; and if one was sure never to turn westward again,
there are many things in favor of the turban. It is the most sublime
conception of egotism possible to imagine."

"Egotism is a mistake, _mon cher_," said the other; "a man's own heart,
make it as comfortable as he may, is too small an apartment to live in.
I do not say this in any grand benevolent spirit. There 's no humbug of
philanthropy in the opinion."

"Of that I 'm fully assured," said Longworth, with a gravity which made
the other laugh.

"No," continued he, still laughing. "I want a larger field, a wider
hunting-ground for my diversion than my own nature."

"A disciple, in fact, of your great model, Louis Napoleon. You incline
to annexations. By the way, how fares it with your new projects? Have
you seen the lawyer I gave you the letter to?"

"Yes. I stayed eight days in town to confer with him. I heard from him
this very day."

"Well, what says he?"

"His letter is a very savage one. He is angry with me for having come
here at all; and particularly angry because I have broken my leg, and
can't come away."

"What does he think of your case, however?"

"He thinks it manageable. He says--as of course I knew he would
say--that it demands most cautious treatment and great acuteness. There
are blanks, historical blanks, to be filled up; links to connect, and
such like, which will demand some time and some money. I have told him
I have an inexhaustible supply of the one, but for the other I am
occasionally slightly pinched."

"It promises well, however?"

"Most hopefully. And when once I have proved myself--not always so easy
as it seems--the son of my father, I am to go over and see him again in
consultation."

"Kelson is a man of station and character, and if he undertakes your
cause it is in itself a strong guarantee of its goodness."

"Why, these men take all that is o