At the end of the year he
returned to England, where the conqueror of the Taipings was made
a Companion of the Bath.
That the English authorities should have seen fit to recognise
Gordon's services by the reward usually reserved for industrious
clerks was typical of their attitude towards him until the very
end of his career. Perhaps if he had been ready to make the most
of the wave of popularity which greeted him on his return--if he
had advertised his fame and, amid high circles, played the part
of Chinese Gordon in a becoming manner-- the results would have
been different. But he was by nature farouche; his soul revolted
against dinner parties and stiff shirts; and the presence of
ladies-- especially of fashionable ladies-- filled him with
uneasiness. He had, besides, a deeper dread of the world's
contaminations. And so, when he was appointed to Gravesend to
supervise the erection of a system of forts at the mouth of the
Thames, he remained there quietly for six years, and at last was
almost forgotten. The forts, which were extremely expensive and
quite useless, occupied his working hours; his leisure he devoted
to acts of charity and to religious contemplation. The
neighbourhood
was a poverty-stricken one, and the kind Colonel, with his
tripping
step and simple manner, was soon a familiar figure in it,
chatting
with the seamen, taking provisions to starving families, or
visiting
some bedridden old woman to light her fire.
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