Add the quasi-impossibility of obtaining a bath; the
uncleanliness of the offices; the hard narrowness of the sofas;
the small basins, or rather bowls, and the tiny towels like
napkins; the clamorous pets of the small fry, cats and dogs; the
crowding of second-class passengers on the quarter-deck; and the
noise of the Armenian lady beating her maid, who objected to the
process in truly dreadful language: throw in an engine which,
despite the efforts of her energetic English engineer, Mr.
Wilkinson, managed only nine instead of eleven and a half knots
an hour; an ugly north-easter off Cape Matapan, bringing tropical
downfalls of rain; and a muggy Scirocco off Istria, when we
breathed almost as much water as air: and I think that the short
entry in my journal, "horridly uncomfortable," was to a certain
extent justified by the conduct of the poor Austria. Yet the
Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's boasts a dividend of seven per cent. She
shall see no more of my money: until she mend her ways I shall
prefer the Genoese Rubattino.

But, as the Persian poet has it, In niz bug'zared--"Even these
things pass away." At Corfu we were cheered by once more meeting
Sir Charles Sebright, who looked hale and hearty as of yore. When
we reached Trieste, his Excellency Baron Pino von Friendenthall,
accompanied by the most amiable of "better halves," came off in
his galley, happily unconscious of typhus; and carried us away
without the usual troubles and delays of landing in harbour
bumboats. Friendly faces smiled a welcome; and, after an absence
of some seven months, I found myself once more in the good town
which has given us a home during the last five years.