General Gordon arrived in London at the end of January 1880--having lingered on his home journey in order to visit Rome--resolved as far as he possibly could to take that period of rest which he had thoroughly earned, and which he so much needed. But during these last few years of his life he was to discover that the world would not leave him undisturbed in the tranquillity he desired and sought. Everyone wished to see him usefully and prominently employed for his country's good, and offers, suitable and not suitable to his character and genius, were either made to him direct, or put forward in the public Press as suggestions for the utilization of his experience and energy in the treatment of various burning questions. His numerous friends also wished to do him honour, and he found himself threatened with being drawn into the vortex of London Society, for which he had little inclination, and, at that time, not even the strength and health. After this incident he left London on 29th February for Switzerland, where he took up his residence at Lausanne, visiting _en route_ at Brussels, Mr, afterwards Lord, Vivian, then Minister at the Belgian Court, who had been Consul-General in Egypt during the financial crisis episode. It is pleasant to find that that passage had, in this case, left no ill-feeling behind it on either side, and that Gordon promised to think over the advice Mrs Vivian gave him to get married while he was staying at the Legation. His reply must not be taken as of any serious import, and was meant to turn the subject. About the same time he wrote in a private letter, "Wives! wives! what a trial you are to your husbands! From my experience married men have more or less a cowed look." It was on this occasion that Gordon was first brought into contact with the King of the Belgians, and had his attention drawn to the prospect of suppressing the slave trade from the side of the Congo, somewhat analogous to his own project of crushing it from Zanzibar. The following unpublished letter gives an amusing account of the circumstances under which he first met King Leopold:-- "HOTEL DE BELLE-VUE, BRUXELLES, "_Tuesday, 2nd March 1880_. "I arrived here yesterday at 6 P.M., and found my baggage had not come on when I got to the hotel (having given orders about my boxes which were to arrive to-day at 9 A.M.). I found I was _detected_, and a huge card of His Majesty awaited me, inviting to dinner at 6.30 P.M. It was then 6.20 P.M. I wrote my excuses, telling the truth. Then I waited. It is now 9.30 A.M., and no baggage. King has just sent to say he will receive me at 11 A.M. I am obliged to say I cannot come if my baggage does not arrive.