I take advantage of a British steamer which is crossing to-day to Medina
to send you this hurried note.
Your colleague, Captain Brentham, was married on March 31 to Mrs. John
Baines, the widow of the poor fellow who was killed at Hangodi.
Brentham will probably be returning to England very shortly on leave of
absence (I understood from you you were willing to postpone your leave
for a few months). Before he goes I have asked him to co-operate with
you in getting affairs at the Medina Consulate settled up
satisfactorily, so that you may formally take over from him and be
Acting Consul there till there are further developments. I am very
grateful to you and Mrs. Bazzard for stepping into the breach caused by
these confounded disturbances which have not only occurred in the German
hinterland but are now beginning in ours--so we mustn't boast too soon!
Brentham had to leave, as you know, very hurriedly last September, and
if the Arabs had succeeded in taking the town matters would have been
ever so much worse than they are. He says if there turns out really to
be any deficit in the cash due to the embezzlement of the Indian
clerk--if he did embezzle--but _what_ has become of him? Was he
killed?--he is willing to make it good out of his own pocket. (Rather
hard on him as he could not help leaving this man in charge; but I may
come in like a benevolent arbiter if the affair is serious.) The loss
or disappearance of the office cipher is a serious business--very--. I
don't see what good it would be retrieving it from the Germans, as, if
they _have_ had it at all in their possession, they have probably
derived from it all the information they want!
Whilst Brentham is over at Medina I want him to have an interview with
the German commandant, Captain Wissmann, as he can convey to him a
message from me.
I hope Mrs. Bazzard continues well? She has certainly shown she can
stand the climate. But we mustn't try her _too_ far.
Sincerely yours ...
GODFREY DEWBURN.
When this letter reached Spencer Bazzard he took it promptly to his
wife, who was seated before her dressing-table rubbing a little of the
"hair-restorer" into the very roots of her hair, which had an
exasperating way of not starting gold from the skin-level. She said,
keeping her eyes fixed on the glass, "Read it aloud." He did so.
"Hooray," she exclaimed, with ordered joy so as not to interfere with
the delicate operation--they were going out to dine that night with a
German functionary--"Hooray! That means he's scuppered. He's going
home, you bet, rather off colour. They've made him marry her to placate
the missionaries. But he'll never bother us again out here. Well, we'll
be civil to him in the clearing up."
_From Captain Roger Brentham to Lady Silchester._
Mbweni, Unguja,
_April_ 2, 1889.