Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters
Page 36
to Mary Doyle
Touie has improved a good deal in general health during the summer—but I cannot flatter myself that there has been much change in the lung. I feel that this is a critical step, abandoning the high Alp treatment, but I have thought much about it and taken advice & we act for the best.
A sheaf of cuttings about Stark Munro yesterday, Daily News, Telegraph, Daily Graphic, Speaker, Globe, Inquirer, Star, Glasgow Herald, Sheffield &c. On the whole quite remarkably good. Much warmer than I had anticipated. The Speaker particularly enthusiastic. I must send you the whole sheaf. Some dislike the religion & like the incident—some dislike the incident & go for the religion, but I always fetch ’em with one or [the] other barrel.
Privately, though, he was not that optimistic about Touie’s condition, telling his friend Stratton Boulnois that ‘it will take at least two more winters to set her right. What an infernal microbe it is! Surely science will find some way of destroying it. How absurd that we who can kill the tiger should be defied by this venomous little atom.’
to Mary Doyle CAUX, SWITZERLAND, SEPTEMBER 29, 1895
Many thanks for your pleasant letter. I shall leave here on Tuesday and reach 23 Oakley Street Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
Better send that MS back with a line to say that I am out of England. It is worth while being out of England sometimes.
I should like to see you if it were only to chat over my coming Napoleonic novel. I think you could help me greatly in getting the best period of his career.
Are you very keen about translating Brigadier Gerard? For if not it is time that I (or Watt) made arrangements. I want if I can to have it come out simultaneously in England, America, Paris, & Berlin. It is more cosmopolitan than anything I have done.
A Frenchman here tells me that my feuilletons which have been running in Le Temps have excited much attention in France—which is pleasant if true.
Racheté is good up to the Beresina & poor beyond. Many thanks! Have also been reading Pierre et Jean—Maupassant. The preface is far the best part of it.
I shall fix the Hindhead matter all right when I come over. My thoughts all turn now towards my Napoleonic time.
to Mary Doyle CAUX, OCTOBER 25, 1895
I am very glad that Innes has expressed his views so clearly. Of course I at once telegraphed to him to effect the exchange at once, and I shall write to him. The expense is nothing compared to the supreme importance of getting him upon the right rails from the outset. He is getting £50 now, and when Ida marries I shall be inclined to transfer the other £50 to him which will give him a sufficient allowance. The other expences I shall meet as they come due. The outfit, I suppose, will be the most formidable. I am very glad that it occurred to me to go into the matter. Who knows whence the prompting may have come?
The weather is very wet but Touie is in excellent form. We leave here on Nov 6th and the children about the same time.
They left Switzerland even sooner, arriving in Cairo shortly after the letter above to winter in Egypt’s dry air. It was a touchy time to be there, for the Sudan was in the hands of the Dervishes who had killed General Charles George ‘Chinese’ Gordon at Khartoum in 1885, and the frontier had grown dangerous. British authority had governed since 1882, when Conan Doyle had watched the troop transports steam out of Portsmouth. It was British policy to withdraw when Egypt could conduct its own affairs; but though ‘the wicked old Pashas look upon us as the eighth and worst of the plagues of Egypt,’ Conan Doyle told James Payn, Egypt still needed the protection that British soldiers provided.
to Mary Doyle MENA HOUSE HOTEL, CAIRO, NOVEMBER 2, 1895
Lottie and I ascended the pyramid this evening and saw the sunset. On one side the green Delta of the Nile, still shining with scattered pools from the subsiding river, the minarets of Cairo in the distance, many scattered mudcoloured villages, lines of camels slouching from one to the other—on the other side the huge grey plain & rolling hillocks of the Sahara which extends from here straight to the Atlantic, 3000 miles. Far away other groups of pyramids were dimly visible, beneath us were the two small ones & the Sphinx, but over the whole vast view no sign of life on the desert side. We could dimly see how the Nile winds away to the South.
Touie seems very much improved, bearing out my views as to the effect which dry heat would have upon her.
Several friends have looked us up—a Mrs Sykes, née Miss MacDonald sister of Mrs Jimmy Ryan, married to a dragoon in the Cairo garrison. Also Stallard, Innes’ friend. Major Wingate is also friendly.
Now, adieu, dear! I’m tired all over from bounding up & down that pyramid. Every step is as high as an ordinary table & there are hundreds of them. It is quite a job getting up. And my riding tires me also—but I improve.
Life in Cairo’s British colony was colourful, with Lottie writing home rapturously about one of the many balls she attended, given by the British officers of the ‘Gippy army’:
It was perfect! All these military balls are given in the Casino of Ghesireh Palace. The ball room itself is splendid and the big sittingout room like a scene in a fairy pantomime, fountains & coloured lights, lovely screens & oriental rugs palms, bamboos & all sorts of beautiful plants compose a lovely picture. At the Gippy ball the gardens were all illuminated & one side of the place was thrown open so that one could step straight out onto the terraces. It was a beautiful sight with all the pretty dresses & smart uniforms—needless to say I danced every dance I always do and was very sorry when the end came.
Major F. Reginald Wingate was a suggestive acquaintance, for he was Director of Military Intelligence in Cairo—‘the man’, Conan Doyle noted privately, ‘who knows more about the true inwardness of the Soudan and its movements than anyone alive.’ The turmoil fascinated Conan Doyle: ‘an epic,’ he called it, ‘this whole history of the rise of a fanatical Mohammedan state upon the upper waters of the Nile.’ Things had been simmering for some time; they were now beginning to come to a boil.
to Mary Doyle CAIRO, NOVEMBER 27, 1895
Touie seems much better for the change & we are all settling down to our new life very comfortably. It is a charming hotel & the air is splendid. I go for a ride every morning—of all things on this earth the last I should ever have prophesied is that I should ride on the Sahara desert upon an Arab stallion. Yet so it is.
There is plenty to do—golf, tennis, riding, billiards, with the dissipation of Cairo in the background, so don’t picture us as castaways at all. I do hope that I may before long get my teeth into my new book. But it wont bear forcing & after all I have lots of time.
Blackwood the publisher is here & we had a long ride together this morning. A very nice fellow. I had met him before. We go up the Nile on Dec 31st & return Jan 27. During that time we really shall be cut off from papers letters & everything. I think it will be a splendid excursion. I confess that Modern Egypt interests me more than Ancient. So interested am I that I seriously think of writing a popular history of the place from the time of Arabi’s rebellion. It really beats any fiction.
to Mary Doyle CAIRO, DECEMBER 10, 1895
I suppose this will reach you about the time of the happy event.* Give my (our) love to them both—if they are not already gone. May all good be with them!
I have sprained my back pulling up a horse—you remember the kind of thing I had after influenza, so I am confined to a sofa & likely to remain there for a week or so. I am duly Alcock-plastered & all I want now is time. I am annoyed for I was getting on pretty well with my riding.
I have begun my Napoleonic book & done 2 short chapters but I cant tell yet whether it will do well or not.
Smith Elder accepted Rodney Stone at £4000, so it is as well that I refused their original offer. That with £1500 serial rights and £1000 or so in America brings that book up to nearly £7000 which is, I think, very good. Especially as I wrote the Brigadier Gerard in the same year. I do hope my Napoleonic one will work out decently.
This place seems to suit Touie remark
ably well, both her chest & her rheumatism are better. I told you, I think, that the Blackwoods are here, the Edinburgh publishers.
To see Upper Egypt and Nubia for himself, he booked passage on a Cook’s excursion boat up the Nile for him and Touie:
to Amy Hoare CAIRO, DECEMBER 30, 1895
I am afraid that all our friends at Birmingham, and in England generally, will think that we have forgotten them at Xmas but the fact is that the cards which we specially ordered from Parkins & Gotto have never turned up & so we have been left in the lurch.
I don’t know how permanent it may be but there is no question that Touie has had much benefit here. We shall stay here a couple of months after our return from the Nile so I have great hopes that she may be much stronger before we leave.
It is, as you may think, very strange to live right in the shadow of the Great Pyramid and to see its jagged edge intersecting your window every time you glance up. You can’t think what a new impression the East is—so absolutely harmonious & unlike anything one has seen before. We were all immensely struck by it. There is no doubt that the English have done more for the country than ever the Pharaohs did—it is wonderful to see what a handful of men has effected in 13 years. It is such good work that one has not the heart to wish them away, and yet from a wide point of view our presence is both a breach of faith and a political blunder. We are doing good undoubtedly, but England’s virtues seem to cause more trouble than any other country’s vices. She’s a good fussy old granny who is always spanking someone into good behaviour.
I fell off a horse in honour of Xmas and got a kick over the eye so I am all stitches and sticking plaster, which looks as if I had been keeping the festive season. I find this a most enervating country as far as work goes, and my bundle of foolscap is as blank as when I arrived. We have some hopes of taking a furnished house in some hilly part of the Chalk Counties (Hindhead perhaps) for the summer if Touie continues to flourish. It would be pleasant to breath the English country air once more.
Atrip up the Nile was reasonably safe, he said later in his memoirs, for ‘on the water one was secure from all the chances of Fate. At the same time,’ he allowed, ‘I thought that the managers of these tours took undue risks,’ telling of one occasion ‘when I found myself on the rock of Abousir with a drove of helpless tourists, male and female, nothing whatever between us and the tribesmen, and a river between us and the nearest troops.’
His diary entry for January 16, 1896, however, described the situation in crisper terms. ‘If I were a Dervish general,’ he wrote, ‘I would undertake to carry off a Cook’s excursion party with the greatest ease.’ This germ of an idea led to a novel called The Tragedy of the Korosko, about the fate of a party of tourists that fall into Dervish hands.
to Mary Doyle COOK’S NILE STEAMBOAT SERVICES, ASSIOUT, JANUARY 23, 1896
We are rapidly descending the river & we shall be back at the Mena House after this eventful sally in about 3 days or so. Our journey has been a great success. I had some qualms about taking Touie, for those who knew best described it as madness, however she returns better than she started, thanks to ceaseless vigilance & her own admirable self restraint.
My impressions are so many & so strong that it is vain to try & put them in a little note like this. Lottie tells me that she sent you a good big budget and you will get some idea of what we have done from it. Egypt is interesting but Nubia (that is between the two Cataracts) is far more wonderful & striking. I think I will write a little paper about it.
There goes the bell! I must run & dress for dinner.
Dressed & there is still 5 minutes so I continue. I dont know whether you saw my letter about America in the Times Jan 7th. They gave it big print. I have had many favourable comments upon it in the provincial press & several private letters from English & Americans. I hope it may lead to something. I thought the Authors appeal was a little wordy & florid but still I would not of course refuse to sign it.*
What wars & rumours of wars are in the air! All will come right, I think, and we shall be the better for the breeze. Of course Jameson &c has knocked our mining shares down flat.† But dont bother about that for the stuff is there & they will all come up again. Meantime if you wish I will pay you 5 per cent on whatever capital you have invested through me, the same to be deducted by me when profits come in. I am away from my books at present so I cant quite see how it would work out but if you would like it we can arrange it so.
I have had to cancel my long Napoleon contract for I found that it was hopeless to do it in Egypt. Perhaps I may manage a shorter book. I shall try.
I am very glad in view of the sudden fall in prices that I did not actually start the building at Hindhead. I think we may rent a house there for the summer & see how it suits us all. I dont want to be premature. I wonder if the Strand is being sent to you with Rodney Stone. If not mind you write & have it sent. Order a set of copies also in my name for the mother.
I have a good diary of our Nile voyage & also a fine set of photos so we shall have something to remember it by.
‘Wars and rumours of war’ intrigued him enough to send The Speaker in London a report about a murderous Dervish raid upon a defenceless village in Nubia, which appeared in February of 1896. This ‘waste of 200 miles between the outposts of the Dervish power and the rich lands of Egypt’ was vulnerable, he said, for the camel corps stationed near the frontier could avenge but not prevent such raids, and the complete success of this one made all fear that it would be the first of many unless drastic steps were taken. ‘We are confronted,’ he concluded, ‘with the alternative of making serious war or lasting peace before we leave the country.’
to Mary Doyle CAIRO, FEBRUARY 5, 1896
Our plans are by no means clear for the spring and summer. The Cholera here makes it likely that Italy will have quarantine which would be fatal to our visit. We must wait & see.
I have done no good in writing here but I have been at work at a play which I design for John Hare & which I really think may turn out to be pretty good. It is founded on Payn’s novel of ‘Halves’. I have one act done and it has a part which will suit him down to the ground.*
The Dervishes are on the war path and the river above Assouan is officially closed to all tourists so we have only just been in time to see Nubia. We enjoy your charming & peaceful letters very much. I suppose we shall end by settling in the country too. I think a summer at Hindhead would be an excellent test both of the place and of the country life.
Goodbye, dearest. I want to see an English hedgerow again. The shadow of death lies over this country. But Touie has certainly had benefit.
to Mary Doyle CAIRO, MARCH 3, 1896
I have ordered berths for the 29th from Ismailia to Naples, so we ought to be there from April 2nd onwards. If we find that it suits Touie we shall probably stay there some weeks. I shall endeavour to find some place with Ida’s help—as high as possible. It was very good of you to think of our going to the Island but it would not do on either side. The days might be dry there but night & morning must be damp. And then as poor Nelson lost his wife through consumption it would hardly be fair to introduce into his household a case of what is after all infectious disease. If I had a nice pure house I should very strongly object to such a visitor. But it will be far better the other way.
I have finished that play and I think that it works out excellently well. I have written to Hare and to Payn & when I come back in the spring I shall read it to them & arrange for its production. I want Payn to come in on an equal footing in every way. It is true that I have done all the work but it would never have been undertaken but for the dramatic idea of the story which was his.
We were very glad to get the letter bundle yesterday & to know that all is well with you and Ida. I have not had an answer yet from Grant Allen whose house I covet for the summer. Lottie is very gay, going to regimental dances. Touie has done better here than anywhere—no other place has ever suited her nearly so well. Evidently warmth is wha
t she needs. I have half a mind, if all is well, to do India next winter. Since we must be abroad we might as well vary our experiences and get some education.
[P.S.] The poor Italians seem to have had a nasty knock. They are not strong enough at home to colonise abroad. Let them reform their luggage system.
to Mary Doyle CAIRO, MARCH 19, 1896
The reviews of ‘Brigadier’ have been most satisfactory. The Chronicle which you saw is about the worst. So I think the book has a fair chance of doing well. It is pleasant to see so many people fond of him—for I was a bit fond of him myself.
I dont want to leave here yet awhile as the weather is nice and Touie seems to get benefit. This being so I am inclined to run up the Nile again and see if I can [see] some of the operations. I wont stay any length of time, but if all goes well, I shall try to get at least as far as Wady Halfa. There is another fellow, a writer named Julian Corbett, a very good chap who will accompany me. I have wired to the Times asking for some authorisation from them—as a sort of extra freelance special—but I have not had a reply. Without some official excuse of the sort they would not, I fear, let me past Assouan. It seems a pity to have historical events going on so near and not to see anything of it.