THE SUEZ CANAL. 45 But M. de Lesseps succeeded where anybody else would have failed ; and, apart from his fame, it seemed no improbable supposition that the marriage on both sides was at the time one of genuine affection. A suitor so bright, a manner so charming, a look of such intense vitality, may well have captivated the fancy of a young girl. All day long and every day he was hard at work making arrangements for the opening, interrupted at every moment, pestered by callers, deluged with letters and telegrams ; and yet he found time to ride in the desert, to entertain his visitors, and to make love to his sweetheart. He talked very frankly and good-humouredly of the difficulties he had encounteredjud surmounted in the course of his career, and|made no secret of the extent to which he and his Company had profited by the blind dislike of England, so prevaleht then 'as now throughout the Continent, especially in France. He was fond of telling a story, how he once received a letter from a Frenchman in some out-of-the-way part of the world, enclosing an application for shares in his tunnel through Sweden. He declined to accept the money accompanying the application, on the ground that his Company was not making a tunnel, but a canal, and that the scene of their operations was not Sweden, but Egypt. In reply, his correspondent wrote to say his application held good, as it was a matter of absolute indifference to him what the project was or where it was located, Potirmc que ca embHe les Anglais, How far he shared this sentiment