Lloyd Triestino Monday Oct 5. Darling Belloved Father. We are now about 3 hours from Alexandria after a most prosperous and happy voyage, the only drawback of which has been our very stuffy inner cabin. The ship is so full that there are more passengers than beds and in many cabins for two a third has been thrust in to sleep on a sofa. Our chief ally has been the First Officer, Captain Secco, who fell an immediate victim to Sylvia's charms (I don't wonder) and has been assiduously attentive to all our wants. Sylvia's delight in everything has been an added zest - she has never been on a sea voyage before and her interest culminated when Captain S. took us onto the bridge last night and showed us the stars through a sextant. The nicest man on board (we think) is an acquaintance of yours and mine, as much forgotten by you as he was by me though I ought to have remembered him - Colonel Fell, a doctor who was in Baghdad during the war; we met him in C'ple [Istanbul (Constantinople)] at that lunch at the Club with Col. Cornwall. Do you remember? a large greyish man. He is now chief doctor to the army in Egypt and we lose him - to our regret - today. He has been very kind and useful. The Vernons, I regret to say, are showing terrible clay feet. Having risen to what he considers dizzy heights after a life passed as a financial hack in the Colonial Office his self-confidence is beyond belief. Fortunately he was stricken with a malady which kept him in bed for the first two days so we haven't seen much of him and have contented ourselves with spasmodic civilities to her. But I am sure he will not be a success and my sympathy goes out to poor Ken, who is not only to be his host till he finds a house for himself, but whose whole peace in life depends on establishing cordial relations between Interior and Finance. How he will do it I can't think, but he is tolerably thick skinned and perhaps he won't dislike him as much as we do. On the other hand I have succeeded in avoiding a pestilential American missionary called Zwemer whose political activities in the Persian Gulf have been a bye word. Col. Fell told me he had been hunting for me since we started, but concealed in the long grass I have evaded notice. As far as I can make out we shall not reach Baghdad til the 17th. The Vernons and such as wish to catch this week's convoy, are getting off at Alexandria and going to Jerusalem [(El Quds esh Sherif, Yerushalayim)] by train. I cannot for a moment regret not travelling with them. We trans ship at Alexandria tonight, going straight from boat to boat without passing through the Egyptian customs. We touch at Jaffa [Tel Aviv-Yafo (Joppa)] and Haifa before landing at Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)], where we arrive on the 9th and unless by chance there is an intermediate convoy, we don't leave till the 14th. If this proves correct we intend to leave our luggage and Marie at Beyrout, putting the Satows (Consul General) in charge, and slip up to Baalbek and Damascus [Dimashq (Esh Sham, Damas)]. It would be very amusing to take Sylvia to both and I should much like a talk with our very intelligent consul (Smart, not the horrible man you met) at Damascus. As the arrangements were made for us by the Crown Agents it is not our fault if we arrive a week late and anyhow I had asked Sir Henry for an extension of my leave till the 17th. We are told that our next ship will be almost empty and we have sent a wireless asking that two single cabins may be reserved for us. Sylvia is an admirable travelling companion, I won't say as good as you because you are incomparably first, but as good as anyone else but you. And it is a joy to me to see her so happy and well entertained. The three days' slow voyaging up the Syrian coast will do neither of us any harm. I still feel as if I had scarcely recovered from the rush of departure and the horrible wrench of leaving my family - not that one quite recovers from the last, but the waters which surged so dreadfully tend to go down as one sets one's face to one's work out there. I'm so glad that I am not alone; I shouldn't at all have liked a solitary journey. I shall send you a telegram as soon as I know the date of our arrival at Baghdad - that will be probably when we reach Beyrout. I think you must have received my first letter this morning - posted at Trieste - and I may possibly have time to write again tomorrow before we leave Alexandria. But I shall post this one today so that it may reach you as quickly as it can. I wonder if you and Mother saw Faisal - I should be so much pleased to hear that she had met him. But I wonder still more what has resulted from the talk with Kent and Brydon. Sometimes, when you are feeling like it, take my Michael dog out for a little walk, will you? I wish - no I don't wish that I had taken him for he would have been such a bore on the journey and he would have hated it so much. I shall find him when I come home. I have been reading on board the life of Pasteur, provided by Sylvia. It would interest you both, especially you, for now that I come to think of it wriggling germs are not exactly Mother's taste. Still it's a wonderful book. I have still 4 novels left - I loved the King who went on Strike. A thousand thousand loves to you both. Your daughter Gertrude. By the way Col. Fell was with Harrington at York and has met you both at functions, chiefly Red Cross, I gather.