for keeping us,
in England.

"The question is, what should I do here? There will be plenty of
openings, for men who can speak the native language, as labour
overseers. The contractors for food for the army will want men of that
sort; and as I know several of them, through my work in the port and
being in Partridge's house, I have no doubt I could get employment that
way, and carry on very well till trade is open again, and obtain then a
good deal better berth than they would offer me. No doubt, one could
get employment in the transport or commissariat of the army, when it
comes out. That will be a thing to think seriously of.

"My objections to that are personal ones. In the first place, it would
lead to nothing when the affair is over. In the second place, I should
be certain to meet men I knew at Harrow, or at the University, or since
then; and I own that I should shrink from that. As Gregory Hilliard, I
don't mind carrying a parcel or helping to load a dray; but I should
not like, as Gregory Hartley, to be known to be doing that sort of
thing. Personally I feel not the smallest humiliation in doing so, but
I don't think it would be fair to Geoffrey. I should not like it
myself, if I were an earl, for fellows who knew him to be able to say
that my brother was knocking about in Egypt as an interpreter, or mule
driver, or something of that sort. That certainly has to be taken into
consideration.

"It is not likely that I should get any sort of berth that an officer
would be appointed to, for every officer in the army, whose regiment is
not coming out here, will be rushing to the War Office to apply for any
sort of appointment that would enable him to come out to the war.

"Again, it is almost certain that, when this business is over--and I
don't suppose it will last long, after we get an army out here--a fresh
Egyptian force will be raised. You may be sure that the greater portion
of our troops will be hurried back, as soon as it is over; and that, as
the present Egyptian army will be altogether smashed up, it will be
absolutely necessary that there should be a force, of some kind or
other, that can put a stop to this Mahdi fellow's doings. He has
overrun half the Soudan, and inflicted serious defeats on the Egyptian
troops there. He has captured a considerable portion of Kordofan; and,
of course, it is owing to his insurrection that those rows have
occurred down at the Red Sea, where our men have been fighting.