a child; one of the few remaining decorations General Gordon had made for his brave fellows at Kartoum, and a couple of dollars used by him just before all his silver had vanished, and he was forced to issue notes; a little silver cross which a French soldier took from a dead Russian's breast in the Crimea—its owner bought it from the Frenchman. Lord Wolseley is a great admirer of Pitt—here is a medallion of the famous Pitt Club. But his hero is Nelson; to him he is the truest patriot England has ever seen; anything associated with the great naval commander's name he buys. When the statue to Lord Nelson was erected in Sackville-street, Dublin, the fifteen committee men wore a medallion of Nelson, surmounted by a gold anchor; this little case contains one, picked up in an old curiosity shop. A gold cigarette-case, with a horseshoe in rubies, came from the Duchess of Edinburgh; a curl of the hair of the Duke of Wellington is set in a pin, and I tried some of the snuff, for curiosity's sake, once belonging to the great Napoleon—but years have robbed it of its pungency.
Arab bringing Lord Wolseley Gordon's letter.
In a little gilt frame is one of the Government notes, issued in 1884 by Gordon in Kartoum, when all his money was gone. It is torn, and in Lord Wolseley's handwriting the following may be read on the back:—
"This is one of the notes issued by General Gordon in Kartoum. It is for ten piasters (about 1s. 8d.). It was found in the steamer in which Colonel Stewart was wounded, in September, '84, just before he was murdered. Korti, February, 1885."
Possibly the most interesting of all the treasures is in the same frame. It is the last letter General Gordon ever wrote. Lord Wolseley had several missives from that brave man. Two days before Kartoum fell one was received which said: "Kartoum all right, can hold out for ever." Then came the last, still cheering—Gordon trusted to the last—"Kartoum all right. 14, 12, 84. C. E. Gordon." It was brought to Lord Wolseley at Korti, by an Arab messenger, rolled up in the hem of his clothing.
Gordon's last letter.
A frame of similar pattern contains two letters, one of which is of remarkable interest. On Lord Wolseley's return from Egypt he was banqueted by the Queen at Balmoral. Her Majesty proposed the great soldier's health.
"When my husband returned," Lady Wolseley said, as we looked at the framed letters together, "I asked him what the Queen said. He positively could not remember! I wrote to Lady Ely, who was present at the banquet, asking her if she could possibly recollect, and if if she would kindly write it down. It seems Lady Ely showed my letter to the Queen, and Her Majesty graciously wrote out the words herself."
The Queen wrote on the familiar buff-coloured paper:—
"Balmoral,
"Oct. 30, 1882.
"I wish to propose the health of Sir Garnet Wolseley and the brave troops he commanded in Egypt, and to congratulate him on his glorious and well-deserved success.
"V. R. I."
The dining-room opens from the drawing-room, and leads out on a green lawn. Its walls are a delicate blending of salmon and yellow, and the ceiling is supported by
