By this plan we escape the bore of housekeeping, and are relieved from
the curse of domesticity, which we both hate. At dinner we hear the
news if any, take our coffee, cigarettes, and _kirsch_ outside the hotel,
then go home and read ourselves to sleep, and to-morrow _da capo_.'"
This summer, while at Gorizia, Isabel saw again the Comte de Chambord
(Henri V. of France) and the Comtesse. She had been received by them
at Venice before her marriage, and they remembered her and sent for her.
They were staying at Gorizia with a small Court. Isabel had an audience
of them twice, and they desired that she should dine with them. She had
to explain that she had nothing but a travelling-dress; but they waived
that objection, and allowed her to "come as she was." This incident
will seem a small thing to many; but it was a great thing to Isabel,
for like many members of old English Catholic families, she was a strong
Legitimist, and she appreciated the kindness which was shown to her by
this king and queen _de jure_ with their shadowy Court and handful of
faithful followers, more than if they had come into their own and
received her royally at the Tuileries.
A little later Burton took it into his head to make an expedition to
Midian in Arabia. Many years before, in his Arab days, Burton had come
upon this golden land (though at that time he thought little of gold
and much of reputation); and a quarter of a century later, seeing Egypt
suffering from lack of the precious metal, and knowing that Midian
belonged to Egypt, he asked leave of the Foreign Office to go to Cairo,
where he imparted his views on the subject of the wealth of the mines
of Midian to Khedive Ismail.
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