Jan. 10. Cairo Dearest Mother. I was thankful for your long letter of Dec 27 which arrived today - I hadn't heard from you for 3 weeks, thanks to the sinking of the Persia. Don't bother to write at length if you are very busy, but a word to say you are all well is a great comfort. I don't think it is much use writing by the French mail - we seem to get no letters but by P & O. We have had a week of wind and some rain, the thermometre [sic] at 45 which we think arctic - and it is arctic when one is living in rooms without fires. It's fine again and everyone sits in the sun and praises God, but still a good deal colder than I like. Yes, the retreat from Gallipoli [Gelibolu] was wonderful; we are all out now, leaving only our dead to keep watch there. It doesn't bear thinking about. But it was no good staying. Lots of Med. Force are here now - Col. Tyrrell, Willie's cousin, dined with me one night last week and Guy Dawnay another. The tales they tell make one's heart ache - the folly and muddle of it all, and the vain courage. I have been hard at work. My job is a very lengthy one or I am slow at it, any way it seems to get on slowly. I like it however and am very glad to be here, as far as one is glad at anything. E..... has come, thank you so much. My plans are quite vague; I shall wait for Domnul's answer to my letters before I decide about India. Mr Hogarth does not seem to be coming out yet and in his absence there is a good deal to do here. I'm dining with the MacMahons tonight, to meet all the generals I suppose. Sir Henry and I spent an afternoon at the Pyramids with Reisner - very pleasantly. Ever your very affectionate daughter Gertrude