At last, after many weeks, the Governor sent
her a slip of paper saying, "The _Senaar_ is in sight." It was the ship
by which Burton returned. She went on board to welcome him, and found
him looking very ill and tired. The Khedive sent a special train to
meet him on his return from Midian, and the Burtons went at once to
Cairo, where they were received with great _eclat_.
From Cairo the Burtons went back to Trieste, or rather to Opcina, for
a brief rest, and then proceeded to London. From London they went to
Dublin, where they joined the annual meeting of the British
Association. Burton delivered several lectures, and Isabel was busy
writing her _A. E. I._ (_Arabia, Egypt, and India_). From Dublin they
returned to London, which they made their headquarters for some time,
breaking their stay in town by many country visits. The most memorable
of these was a visit to Lord and Lady Salisbury at Hatfield, where they
again met Lord Beaconsfield, who, strange to say, though he had much in
common with the Burtons--notably a love of the East and mysticism, and
had a liking for them, and for Isabel especially, with whom he was wont
to discuss her favourite _Tancred_, his book--never did anything for
them, though he must have known better than most men how Burton was
thrown away at a place like Trieste. Perhaps Burton's strong anti-
Semitic views had something to do with the neglect.
It was during this stay in London that the Burtons attended a meeting
on spiritualism, at which Burton read a paper.
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