but I am going to try the effect of a little mild excitement by joining
the demonstrating fleets at Alexandria. For a month past I have been
idling here; and curiously enough, the first person I stumbled upon in
the Chiaja Gardens was Mr Adolphus Plumper--our railway companion on the
only journey I ever had the happiness to take with you, and who seated
himself by my side on a bench to which I had resorted for a quiet cigar.
As there are few foreigners here at this season, we have been thrown
almost daily together, and I have been quite delighted to find how very
much superior he is to what I thought he _looked_ when you honoured me by
pointing out our resemblance. I ought to speak highly of him, for he
saved my life. I took him a cruise in my yacht, and the gig in which we
were landing one day was upset in some breakers. I had been stunned, and
should have been drowned had he not come to the rescue; and I really feel
that for this and some other reasons which I will explain when we meet, I
owe him a debt of gratitude that I can never hope to repay. Although he
is too retiring by nature to say so, I could see, when I made some
laughing allusions to the occasion of our first meeting, that he would be
glad to continue to make the acquaintance of Lord and Lady Gules--in
other words, to continue the political discussion he then commenced with
you. Singular to state, he is an admirer of Congreve and all that
school, so I am sure you will have plenty of topics in common. Mr
Plumper has made an enormous fortune as a contractor, and now chiefly
occupies himself with works of charity and benevolence. One of his
special hobbies is the introduction of the aesthetic principle into
_Kindergartens_. I have given him a hint not to introduce his vulgar
friend Flamm--pardon me the expression, though he is a Radical. I have
given Plumper a few lines to Lady Gules. Please do all you can to
overcome the prejudice against him which both she and Lord Gules are sure
to entertain; and believe me, yours faithfully,