I  have  constantly  wished  to  get  away  to  Egypt  and  to
Mount  Sinai  and  to  Jerusalem,  but  I  am  deterred  by  the
thought  that  I  can  get  to  any  of  these  places  in  a  week.  I
should  like  it  to  take  at  least  six  months,  travelling  slowly
through  France  and  Italy,  and  arriving  gradually,  so  as
to  be  two  years  away.  As  this  is  impossible  I  stay  on  in
North  End  Grove.  The  garden  here  is  a  constant  pleasure


138  Trouble  about  Siam  [1893

to  me,  because  I  say  to  myself,  my  neighbours  are  calculat-
ing how  much  it  is  worth  a  foot  for  building.'  And  so  on
and  so  on,  always  with  a  delightful  humour  and  a  voice  of
sweetest  calibre.  The  drawing  meanwhile  got  rapidly
finished,  though  it  seemed  as  if  he  had  done  nothing  but
talk.  It  was  a  lovely  sketch  in  red  chalk.  [This  drawing
was  to  have  been  given  to  Judith,  but  somehow  it  never
reached  her,  and  must  have  been  sold,  we  think,  with  the
rest  of  his  drawings  after  his  death.  We  have  been  unable
to  trace  it.]  He  was  very  complimentary  about  Judith,  and
was  quite  affectionate  to  me  at  parting.  This  put  us  in
good  spirits,  and  we  rushed  away  down  to  Crabbet,  Judith's
London  season  being  over.  She  tells  me  she  has  enjoyed
it  immensely.
"  \st  July. — Crabbet.  Annual  meeting  of  the  Crabbet
Club.  We  sat  down  over  twenty  to  dinner,  and  did  not
leave  the  table  till  half-past  one.  The  members  present
were :

George  Curzon.  Hubert  Howard.
George  Leveson  Gore.  Godfrey  Webb.
George  Wyndham.  Percy  Wyndham.
George  Peel  (the  4  Georges)    Loulou  Harcourt.
Morpeth.  Theodore  Fry.
Mark  Napier.  Theobald  Mathew.
Harry  Cust.  Charles  Laprimaudaye,

Charles  Gatty.  and  Lawrence  Currie.
