Lady Eldridge was very much annoyed when she found that we were not going with her to Cairo. She told Sir William that it was simple madness, on his part, to take a delicate girl like Evelyn to Jerusalem; but Sir William only smiled, and said it was Evelyn's wish as well as his own, and he thought that, if Lady Eldridge made further inquiries, she would find that in the winter months the climate of Jerusalem was all that could be desired.
I had a talk with the stewardess that morning, and I was so glad to find that the poor woman knew where to turn for comfort and for help. She was a real Christian, and, in simple faith, she had trusted her children to God's care, and she felt sure that He would watch over them till she was able to be with them again. She had left them with her brother and his wife, and her thoughts seemed to be constantly with her little absent treasures. I was so glad that I had spoken to her, for she thanked me very much, and told me that the few words I had said to her in the storm had been a great comfort to her, and had made her ashamed of herself for being afraid.
At length we arrived at Alexandria, and very much enjoyed the sight which met our eyes—the intensely white city, the blue water in the harbour—the pilot, with a dark hood over his head, arriving in his little boat, and coming on board the steamer; and then the countless other boats, filled with clamorous Arabs, who were contending with one another to secure the largest number of passengers to row to shore. It was very curious to watch them fighting like wild beasts for their prey, and looking so picturesque in their various costumes that it was impossible to feel angry with them.
After much pushing, and quarrelling, and scuffling, and shouting had been gone through, we found ourselves in the same boat with Mr. Stanley, who had taken us all, Lady Eldridge included, under his care, and had bargained on our behalf in Arabic, and made, after much difficulty, a fair agreement with the boatman as to the price he would charge for his boat.
We stayed one night in Alexandria at the hotel, but we did not see much of the city, for we were too tired and worn out with the voyage to go out, and were glad to rest quietly until it was time to go on board the ship which was to take us to Jaffa, and which started early the next day. We left Lady Eldridge in the hotel, and were not sorry to say good-bye to her.
It was a small old-fashioned vessel which was to take us the rest of the way, very dirty and forlorn, and very different from the comfortable steamer of the Peninsular and Oriental Company which we had just left; but the sea was calm, so we felt as if we could thankfully bear any amount of discomfort.
We were the only first-class passengers on board, but a large party of travellers were to join us at Port Said, and they had already engaged their cabins.
We stayed on deck until quite late that evening, walking up and down, looking at the sun setting over the sea, and talking of all that was before us. Sir William had numberless questions to ask about Jerusalem, and Mr. Stanley was well able to answer them all, for only two years before he had spent a whole winter in Jerusalem that he might sketch some of the many places of interest in the city and its neighbourhood; and he promised, at Sir William's request, to let us see his sketches some day.
