I am afraid
too we are low in the estimation of the people of the West, and likely
to remain so.
"Your good Christmas wishes reached us long after the New Year; but
we had a very pleasant Christmas at Malta with many of our old naval
friends, and we spent our New Year's Day at a little port in Elba.
What a charming island it is! Small, no doubt; but not a bad prison
for an Emperor if he had books and papers and some powers of self-
control. Coming up to Nice we had very heavy weather; but the yacht
behaved well, and it was certainly pleasanter at sea with a strong
easterly wind than on shore.
"There is to be a great Candahar debate in the Lords to-night. Lord
Lytton speaks remarkably well--as an old debater would--and great
interest is felt in the event. All the same Candahar will be given
up; and some time hence, if we have soldiers left, we shall probably
have to fight our way back again to it.
"Pray give our united kind regards to Captain Burton. I shall be so
glad to hear any news if anything transpires at Trieste.
"Yours very sincerely,
"W. H. SMITH."
NOTES:
1. Speech at the British National Association of Spiritualists,
December 13, 1878.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE SHADOWS LENGTHEN. (1887-1885).
O tired heart!
God Knows,
Not you nor I.
The next four or five years were comparatively uneventful.
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