I well remember the day and the hour of our meeting. Always deeply
interested in Imperial questions, and especially in the Egyptian
problem, I determined, in the year 1896, to pay a visit to Egypt. Like
most young men of my day, I admired Lord Cromer and his work, but I had
no special cult for him. Naturally, however, I took out letters of
introduction, for until the end of his occupation of the post of Consul
General, he was "Egypt." One of these was from my chief, Mr. Hutton, one
from my uncle, Sir Richard Strachey, and another, if I remember rightly,
from another uncle, Sir John Strachey; the two uncles had been
colleagues of Lord Cromer's on the Indian Council. Directly I arrived in
Cairo, I left my card and my letters of introduction in the usual way,
and expected, after a decent delay, to be asked to pay a semiofficial
visit at the Agency. Instead, Lord Cromer acted with his characteristic
promptitude. Early on the morning of the day after I had left my letters
of introduction and my own and my wife's cards, there came one of the
beautifully dressed Syces from the Agency with an invitation to lunch
with the Cromers that day. We went and to our great delight found them
alone.
Pages:
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523