" "No," said Sir William, "he has just left me." Thinking he was
rather senile, she concluded that he did not understand, and bawled
into his ear for the third time, "I am Mrs. Burton, not Captain Burton,
just arrived from London, and am on my way to join my husband at
Trieste." "I know all that," he said impatiently. "You had better come
with me in my gondola; I am just going to the _Morocco_ now, a ship that
will sail for Trieste." Isabel said, "Certainly"; and much puzzled, got
into the gondola, and went on board. As soon as she got down to the
ships saloon, lo! there was her husband writing at a table. "Halloo!"
he said; "what the devil are you doing here?" "Halloo!" she said; "what
are _you_ doing here?" And then they began to explain. It turned out
that neither of them had received the other's telegrams or letters.
A few days later they crossed over to Trieste. The Vice-Consul and the
Consular Chaplain came on board to greet them, but otherwise they arrived
at Trieste without ceremony; in fact, so unconventional was their method
of arrival, that it was rumoured in the select circles of the town that
"Captain Burton, the new Consul, and Mrs. Burton took up their quarters
at the Hotel de la Ville, he walking along with his gamecock under his
arm, and she with her bull-terrier under hers." It was felt that they
must be a very odd couple, and they were looked at rather askance. This
distrust was probably reciprocated, for at first both Isabel and her
husband felt like fish out of water, and did not like Trieste at all.
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