When the Crimean War ended and Burton returned to England, he shocked everyone, perhaps himself the most, by falling in love with Isabel Arundell. Isabel could not have been more different than Burton in her upbringing. She was British to the core and lived in a secure although strict family with deep roots in her native land. She was devoutly Catholic as well. Isabel also had an adventurous streak, though, and she used to visit the Romani who camped near her family's home. One of them, a Hagar Burton, told her fortune, predicting adventure and victory and that Isabel's surname would one day match her own.

Isabel had a firm idea of the kind of husband she wanted, and the first time she met Richard Burton in Boulogne, she knew that she would marry him. He was her ideal man. But Isabel's mother would not even let her daughter associate with Burton, whom she regarded as dangerous. Isabel and Burton met again at a party in London, and then she did not see him for four years.

Yet Isabel never forgot Burton. In fact, she became more and more obsessed with him, watching his career and noting all his adventures. She longed for that kind of life, and she longed to be Burton's wife. In the meantime, Isabel organized charitable assistance for soldiers' wives during the Crimean War.

When Burton returned from the war, he and Isabel met again. This time their relationship progressed until Burton proposed. Isabel agreed without hesitation, but she knew her family would never consent. Burton left for his new expedition, assuring Isabel in a letter that they would be together again in 1859. Isabel would wait and pray.