In October Burton was suddenly ordered by the Foreign Office to go to
Ghazzeh in Syria in search of Professor Palmer, their old friend and
travelling companion, who was lost in the desert. There was then a
chance of his being still alive, though the bodies of his companions
had been found. Burton's knowledge of the Bedawin and Sinai country
was of course specially valuable in such a quest. He started at once.
After he had left Isabel went into retreat at the Convent della Osolini
at Gorzia. The following were among her reflections at this period[4]:
"In retreat at last. I have so long felt the want of one. My life
seems to be like an express train, every day bringing fresh things
which _must_ be done. I am goaded on by time and circumstances, and
God, my first beginning and last end, is always put off, thrust out of
the way, to make place for the unimportant, and gets served last and
badly. This cannot continue. What friend would have such long-enduring
patience with me? None! Certainly less a king! far less a husband!
How then? Shall God be kept waiting until nobody else wants me? How
ashamed and miserable I feel! How my heart twinges at the thought of
my ingratitude, and the poor return I make for such favours and graces
as I have received! God has called me into retreat once more, perhaps
for the last time. He has created an unexpected opportunity for me,
since my husband has been sent to look for poor Palmer's body.
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