228 THE STORY OF THE KHEDIVATE.

/They were, for the, most part, quick, intelligent lads, who profited by their foreign training. Tewfik, on the other hand, had none of these advantages.

He was not allowed to travel abroad ; he was brought up mainly by Mahometan instructors and was little known to the frequenters of the Vice-regal Court in the days of Ismail's pomp and glory. Moreover, even if his tastes had not led him to prefer a retired life, spent in the cultivation of his estates, his father's love of absolute power was incompatible with is heir's playing any prominent part in public affairs. Towards his other children, Ismail was an affectionate parent ; towards Tewfik, he was the reverse. Tewfik was the only personage in Egypt of whom I ever heard Ismail speak disparagingly during his exile. Indeed, between the two men, so different in character, there could not well have been any genuine sympathy.

But for the accident that Tewfik was the heir to the throne, he would have passed his life in obscurity. Happily, his reluctance to put himself forward had inspired his father with confidence in his never being likely to take part in any of those palace conspiracies, which are such common incidents in the annals of Oriental Courts. I should doubt this confidence having been reciprocated. The first time I ever met Tewfik was at a ball given by Ismail Pasha at the Gesireh palace, shortly after the establishment of the Responsible Ministry. I was known then in Egypt, in as far as I was known at all, as being an intimate friend and associate of