Nile Dusk

Romilly was pleased, but certainly not alarmed, when her"'" great-aunt left her a house in Cairo. Why should Crighton Bey warn her to be careful of her possessions? Romilly soon found herself thinking of him more than was good for her - but was he really interested in her — or only in what she had inherited?

ARLEQUI

y G m a if c e PRICED IN CANADA

OTHER

Harlequin ^Kpmances by PAMELA KENT 791—CITY OF PALMS 80.4—BLADON'S ROCK

(Originol Harlequin title: "Doctor Gaston

829—SWEET BARBARY 909—DESERT DOORWAY 943—ENEMY LOVER 983—MOON OVER AFRICA 1005—GIDEON FABER'S CHANCE 1035—STAR CREEK 1061—MEET ME IN ISTANBUL 1091—CUCKOO IN THE NIGHT 1134—THE MAN WHO CAME BACK 1234—DESERT GOLD 1274—MAN FROM THE SEA 1384—BELOVED ENEMIES

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by

TORONTO WINNIPEG

§

CHAPTER I ROMILLY felt the moonlight pouring all over her, bathing her in a flood of silver, and in some strange way transforming her and setting her apart from the desert behind her. But at the same time that she was aware of this phenomenon she was also aware that the smile on the face of the Sphinx was becoming increasingly mocking. The sensual lips of the carven mouth seemed to be curving upwards derisively, and a voice emerged from behind the giant mask that had drawn millions to gaze at it since those far-off days when ij was first placed where it was and drawled at her softly and provocatively: "Pretty Romilly!" it said. "Come all this way to look at me! ... Just as your great-aunt did, only she never returned to her own people. She used to stand there just where you're standing now, and she thought she knew so much about Ancient Egypt, and of course she knew nothing at all i She was much like you when she was your age. ... The same pale skin and Anglo-Saxon blue eyes and pretty hair. What do you call it ... chestnut hair? I like the way it shines, as if it was powdered with gold dust; but in my day we fancied something lusher and more exotic.... We liked our women to be exciting!" "How do you know I'm not exciting?" Romilly answered the great beast silently, rebelling against such a tepid description of herself. "Because you're not.... You know very well you're not! You're thoroughly conventional and thoroughly English. It's in your bones!" ".

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"I've been told I've very shapely bones!" she protested mutinously. The mocking smile spread until even the eyes lit up with it. "What are bones?" the Sphinx demanded. "It's the flesh that covers them Aat is important! ... Your curves are not pronounced enough, and you're too thin. At least, that's my opinion." "Have you never heard of dieting?" she enquired sarcastically. "Women don't wish to run to fat nowadays." "The women of Ancient Egypt were slender as gazelles, and their skin was as firm as ripe fruit to the touch! Their eyes were all velvet with the shimmer of starshine, and they had mouths like wild red buds...'"" "Hothouse plants," she scoffed. "I've heard about them!" Kalim was standing not very far off, guarding her greataunta tired-out Daimler. Kalim was one of the local Fellaheen and she was quite sure used to the ways of tourists, with their strange preoccupations and obsessions with monuments such as this; but at the same time she suspected he was moving a little restlessly in the shadows, and having already provided her with a brief history of the Great Pyramid of .Cheops and the slightly smaller one of Chephren, as well as nostalgically recounted for her benefit episodes in his own past life when he had attached himself with unshakable firmness to the Great British Tourist who had had a habit of wintering in Egypt as well as uncover.ing her extraordinarily colourful and magnificent past, and was now no more, she was not surprised. Kalim was getting old, and had grown old in her late aunt's service. The splendours of moonlight at the foot of the Sphinx, while a rather nagging wind from the desert on the edge of which they were virtually standing reached

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them, and the stars burned somewhat remotely overhead, had few charms for him nowadays, and he would have infinitely preferred to be back in his quarters, which without being luxurious were comfortable enough for him. He wished the sitt would stop standing there in quite such a rapt manner and remember diat he suffered from rheumatism, and the hour was very late anyway. Romilly sighed. She supposed she would have to tear herself away from the great sprawling monster which attracted her far more than the Pyramids, and plan to come back and see it another day ... or rather, another night. For the Sphinx was at its best by moonlight. And she was quite sure it had all sorts of things to say to her. She caught that soft, mocking whisper again. "Little girls like you should be in bed by this time! ... You're keeping Kalim out of his I" She spun round. From where she stood she couldn't see Kalim, and the noise of the occasional car on the distant road seemed very far away, but somebody was standing quite near to her, and although the moonlight touched him only faintly she was quite sure he was unusually tall. He had an impressive breadth of shoulder, and yet at the same time a leanness of build that was rather like the lean, clean lines of the Sphinx. She received the curious impression that he was poised for flight, and that he had only suddenly alighted there ... not arrived there in anything so prosaic as a car, or even walked there from the nearest hotel. And as he stood watching her, with slightly back-flung head and narrowed eyes, a mouth that curved upwards at the corners and seemed to be smiling at her disdainfully, just as the Sphinx was still smiling down at her, she received a shock. He could be the very embodiment of the Sphinx, the heart and soul of the Sphinx - if that indescribable creature

had a heart and soul. And although he appeared to be clothed in modem dress, and she thought she saw the moonlight glinting on his tie-pin - or was it an ornamental stud in the front of a dress-shirt, since it could be that he was wearing a dinner-jacket? - there was nothing emphatically modem about mm. His vague shape, standing there, with patches of moonlight creating all sorts of extraordinary illusions, and his back-flung head and a line of shadow across his forehead indicating that he was wearing some sort of a head" dress» although that could have been simply the effect of moonlight and shadow, had the almost literal effect of bringing her heart up into her mouth. She had seldom felt so startled in her life, and yet there was noAing really to startle her. Just a man, like herself, admiring the Sphinx, Or was he concentrating all his attention on her? And was he just a man...? She heard Kalim cough, and nearer, on the road, she caught the fat tdss of tyres as a car drew closer to the Pyramids. If she had turned her head she would have caught the beam of headlights. But she did not turn her head. She felt quite unable to move even an inch, and if her life had depended on it she could not have found a voice to call out to her silent neighbour and ask him what he was doing there. Which would have been an impertinence in any case, since it was anyone's right to approach the Pyramids, just as she herself had done, and remained there fascinated by what there was to see. Emboldened by weariness and a growing craving to compose his limbs for what remained of the night, Kalim deserted his own particular block of shadow and approached nearer to her. "It is growing late, sift," he called out to her thinly.

"Ought we not now to leave ...? The sitt can return another day." Romilly did not even start. She was still staring at the tall man - was he only six feet away from her? - whose eyes, curious and gleaming in the dark, were holding her own. She saw his white teeth as his shapely lips parted and he smiled in an utterly inscrutable fashion. "Sittr "Oh, Kalim," she called breathlessly, "is that you?" "Of course, sitt I" "Oh, Kalim, I'm coming.... Don't go away!" The man vanished as if he had never been just as Kalim arrived within a foot of her, and she put out a hand and grasped his arm to ensure that he, too, didn't vanish. Her breath was coming unevenly between her parted lips, and her eyes were staring. "Kalim, did you see a man... just now?" "No, miss. No one," he assured her. "But there was a man ... someone! He was tall, and he stood -" she gestured with her hand - "over there!" Kalim felt that niggling little wind from the barren desert finding out the weak spots in his bones, and he shivered although he had lived many years under blazing suns. He 'supposed that like the late Miss Styles he was growing so old that he was vulnerable, and soon even waiting for a new mistress at the foot of the Sphinx would be too much for him. He shook his head unhappily at the prospect of workless days in store. "We will go now, sift," he muttered. ' But Romilly was completely bewildered. One moment |the man had been there, and the next he had vanished into Sthin air. He was real - he must have been real! - and |real people could not just disappear as if they were crea|tures of phantasy. She listened for the sound of a car start1 9

ing up on the road, but there was only that distant hum of another car which had approached and then turned and driven away again. And while it was still driving away — subconsciously she had registered that much - the man had been there! She accompanied her late aunt's servant back to the Daimler, and as he opened the rear door for her and she subsided on to the seat she felt she had to have some sort of reassurance. Almost coaxingly she asked him: "But you must have seen someone, Kalim? Just for a moment, out of the tail of your eye? Or is this place -" laughing a little shakily - "haunted ? " Quite clearly Kalim did not relish such a suggestion. His toffee-ball dark eyes rolled in a distinctly unhappy manner. "Always the burial places of the Pharaohs are haunted," was his reply. "Many people see things in places such as this.... Even I. Once!" "Oh, Kalim," she insisted, "what did you see?" He glanced around him uneasily, his hand still on the door of the car, taking in the dark shape of the Sphinx, and the darker shapes of the nearby Pyramids, their conical outlines etched against the stars and the purple night sky. There was utter silence all around them, a silence that could be felt.... No longer even the comforting noise of a car. He shook his head, while his eyes rolled wildly. "Nothing, mistress." "I don't believe you," she replied. "It is true, sitt," he returned. "And in any case, I prefer not to speak of it." Romilly smiled slightly. In the face of such determination not to reveal any of his past experiences what could she do? And by this time, in the comforting enclosure of 10

the car, she was certain the man had been real. That had been an ornamental button on the front of his shirt, she was sure. They drove away along the road which leads to Cairo, and she decided to say nothing more about her experience at the foot of the Sphinx. She realised she had rather a vivid imagination, and the curious atmosphere of the place they had just left must have affected her. Or at any rate, it could have affected her.... But she was reasonably certain it had not. The experience had been real. The man, who could have existed in the days of Ancient Egypt, had just slipped away. Possibly he was an expert at dematerializing himself. Which caused her to smile again, although very faintly, as she lay back against the comfortably upholstered back of the seat, for the first time she realised that it had been a long day. Arrival in Egypt followed by a first visit to the Pyramids, and now already it was a new day. Soon "dawn's left hand" would be in the sky, and all the scents and sounds of a strange new world would be around her. She felt vaguely exdted by the thought, just as she was excited by the thought of exploring the contents of the late Romilly Styles' house - now her own. She found it difficult to believe. She had come all this ' way to inspect a house which was now hers, and only a few weeks ago she had had no idea at all that such a place ; existed. She bad known about the great-aunt after whom she had been mysteriously named, but that was all. That the ; scventy-eight-year-old spinster had remembered her in her '. will had come as the biggest surprise of her life. The i equally elderly solicitor who had broken the news to her i seemed to think she ought to be tremendously grateful, but | at the moment she was simply bewildered. | It was too much to take in, just as this first long day in a

country utterly alien to her own had been like something out of a dream. Any moment now she might wake up and find that it was a dream, but while the illusion lasted she thought longingly of curling up in one of the big beds with enormous feather pillows which had made life comfortable for the late Miss Styles, and with which she had seemed to fill her crumbling mansion on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital. In the days when the British influence was most strongly felt in Cairo many fine houses were built for their comfort and convenience, together with the race-course, golfcourse and polo grounds of the Gezira Club, which was actually concentrated on the island of Gezira in the middle of the Nile. But the years have passed and the influence of the British has not merely waned, it has practically ceased to be an influence at all. Romilly, who was very British, and didn't care who knew it or suspected it - in which she closely resembled her unknown namesake and benefactress, had she but been aware of it - was conscious of being an oddity from the moment she arrived in Cairo, sticking out rather like a sore thumb while she was being closely questioned by the immigration people, and had to admit that the purpose of her visit was to arrange for the sale of a house which had been left to her by her relative. There could have been difficulties, but apparently Miss Romilly Styles - the seventy-eight-year-old version - had, despite her predeliction for all things British, got along very harmoniously with the local authorities, and she had even benefited one or two local institutions with bequests under the terms of her will which had endeared her to them still more. She had been very much in favour of the emancipation of Egyptian women, and had helped them greatly in her time. Her father had been a well-known archaeologist 12

whose particular passion was the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, and Cairo museums had benefited as a result of this passion during his latter years. Romilly had had no idea what to expect when she first saw the House of the Seven Stars, as it was called. Kalim had arrived at her hotel, where she had had an early breakfast, with the ancient Daimler, and had driven her ponderously to inspect the house, which was bathed in brilliant December sunshine, and far more impressive than she had dared to hope, The sunshine delighted her, after the raw cold of England, and the fact that the garden was carefully tended and full of flowers delighted her still more. She had already been amazed by the unexpected fertility of Egypt, which she had imagined a dried up, sun-scorched land with little to relieve the bareness, and to discover that her late aunt's house had flower borders which were regularly looked after as well as a fascinating palm grove and a tennis-court which, unfortunately, was very badly neglected, pleased her so much that she actually commented upon her surprise to Kalim. The house itself stood well back from the road, and was ensured a good deal of privacy by its extensive gardens. Inside, it was not quite so welcoming, for the contents would have appealed much more to a collector than a home-lover. Everything smelt of age, and there was so much of it that Romilly felt slightly appalled. There must have been hundreds of ivory statuettes and brass, bronze, jade and silver ornaments, lacquer cabinets filled with treasures, and one or two fine Persian rugs and Turkish hangings which would probably fetch a good deal of money when the house was put up for sale. There was one room which Miss Styles had plainly made a stupendous effort to deceive 13

visitors into believing was a faithful copy of an English drawing-room, but even that was rather pathetic for the divan coverings and cushions were threadbare, and the flowered carpet was so faded that one could only guess at the original design. The bedrooms were just as crammed with antiques as th rest of the house, but at least the beds, without exception, looked comfortable and capacious, and the linen was exceptionally fine, and there were endless stacks of it. The dining-room was more like an armoury, lined with weapons of every sort and kind from many different countries. It also contained some rather sad Birmingham junk, which caused the new owner to shake her head and wonder what had come over Aunt Romilly when she allowed herself to acquire that lot. But also in the dining-room, in glass-fronted cabinets, were one or two obviously very valuable pieces. The keys of the cabinets were missing, but Romilly could see elegant little statuettes and bronzes - obviously Egyptian - and a whole collection of fascinating-looking scarabs, rings and brooches. There were no servants in the house, only Kalim to look after it and organise whatever help was needed when he needed it. He explained to Romilly that, anticipating that she would wish to stay in the house, he had arranged for a couple of women to come in daily, as well as a house-boy, and the gardener would continue to look after the garden. Romilly explained, a little diffidently, that she had more than half made up her mind to stay at a hotel, but he looked so wistful and disappointed, as well as slightly disapproving, that she changed her mind almost on the instant, and smilingly agreed to spend a week or so, at least, in her own house. She told herself that it would save her money, even if it wasn't frightfully convenient, for until the house and

its contents were sold she had not actually benefited financially as a result of her great-aunt's will, and was drawing upon funds of her own to make this visit possible. Kalim, who looked as fragile as blown glass, and had a curiously withered air about him, although his smile when he rewarded anyone with it was peculiarly radiant, instantly nodded his head and smiled delightedly. He assured the sitt that she would be well looked after, went away to organise his domestic arrangements, and left her to continue making discoveries in her latest acquisition. She was glad that she had brought thin things with her, for the weather was enchantingly balmy, and there was nothing in the least wintry about it. She selected a roam for herself overlooking one of the most attractive corners of the garden, changed out of her travelling outfit, and went out through the french windows to explore the garden. Later she had lunch, which was served to her in the dining-room, and struck her,,as being very well cooked and prepared. She spent the afternoon enjoying a nap on the outside of her extremely comfortable bed, and awoke to find that the sun was setting and the room ablaze with the crimson magnificence of it. Never in her life had she seen such a sunset before, or witnessed such a magical paling of the hard blue sky into a sort of apple-green afterglow. She went out on to the terrace at the back of the house to marvel at it, and the .whole garden seemed to be swimming in the lovely green light, while low down on the flat horizon the fires of sunset were all but extinguished by a rush of pure primrose in which the first stars were already hanging suspended as if (they were jewels supported by invisible threads. As the ygreen light faded and gave place to a kind of bat's wing Igloom which clamped down protectively over the garden,

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and it was difficult to see the outline of her own hand when it was extended in front of her, she went back into the house, where the lights were glowing softly, and sought out Kalim to ask him whether, as the moon would be at its full later on, he could drive her out to see the Pyramids, since she understood they were not far away. "Certainly, sitt," Kalim had answered, and he had looked mildly resigned as if he understood perfectly the reactions of people like herself, who could not wait to see •the wonders of his country once they arrived in it. So the visit to the Pyramids was made, and it was while they were driving back in the car that Romilly made up her mind that if it was at all possible she would extend her visit for at least an extra week, since she was after all being spared the heavy cost of a Cairo hotel, and the highly inflationary cost of her air fare more than justified it. And having arrived in Egypt for the first time, with a travel record behind her thai included nothing more exciting than a week-end in Paris and a solitary week in Switzerland, she honestly felt she owed it to herself to broaden her vision a little, if nothing else. And what an extraordinarily fascinating place Egypt was! ... If only her finances would run to a trip up the Nile ... perhaps as far as Luxor! Wonderful starry nights and long, languid, sun-filled days reliving Egypt's past m the company of other tourists whose society she would probably find very pleasant, while she would almost certainly enjoy the delving into ancient history. She wasn't the great-niece of a well-known Egyptologist for nothing! And Cairo itself had struck her, as a result of the brief glimpse she had had of it, as a very modern and attractive city, with lots of modern shops and hotels. Her/frequent visits to the British Museum and absorbed study- of the Pharaohs, through the thirty-three dynasties during which 16

they had ruled Egypt, had hardly prepared her for it. It was only back there, at the feet of the Sphinx, that all the strange magnetic force of Ancient Egypt had risen up and engulfed her. She had not yet shaken off the peculiar, mesmerised feeling that she had had while entering into a somewhat one-sided conversation with the Sphinx, and as for the man who could have been part of that longdead civilisation, but for the fact that she was absolutely certain he had worn a dinner-jacket.... Well, he had laid a spell on her, too. She gave her head a sudden, quite vigorous shake in the back of the car, and was convinced for a moment that she was slightly bewitched. The magic of the night had been too much for her, on top of her somewhat hectic day. And then they were back at the villa, and almost immediately after her head touched the pillow and her bedside light was out she fell asleep. She was awakened quite suddenly by a noise which must have been so very slight that it was difficult to understand why it had aroused her. at all, and then while she was staring into the blackness of her room she heard it repeated. The moon had set, so it must have been very close to dawn, and as she glanced at the window she could see that there was a certain vague lightening of the sky towards the east. As she stared at the patch of sky framed by the win-' dow she saw it brighten as if it was coming mysteriously to life, and a flush of rose invaded the purple gloom in which the last of the stars was beaming benevolently down at her. She put. a foot out of bed and groped for her dressinggown. The sound which had reached her and penetrated her decidedly heavy sleep had come from somewhere fairly near at hand, and below her rather than anywhere else. Which meant that someone was moving about on the ground floor of the House of the Seven Stars, and it was as 17

yet too early, surely, for the servant&to be stirring? She switched on her bedside light cautiously, and saw by her travelling clock that it was a quarter to five. A quarter to five, and certainly too early for the most conscientious domestic to be anything other than still asleep. .No; there was someone else in the house, and whoever it was was moving about it very cautiously, endeavouring to make as little noise as possible but sufficiently unaware of the geography of the house to avoid certain pitfalls which lay in wait for the unwary. A muted crash was followed by a stunned period of silence while the intruder, whoever he was - and somehow Romilly did not think it could be a "she" - either made good his escape, or trusted to his particular good fortune to ensure mat the moment of carelessness had failed to arouse anyone, and was holding his breath in some secret corner of the house until he judged it safe to continue his unlawful prowling. But Romilly was far too curious by nature to allow anything like that unexpected crash followed by absolute silence to go un-investigated. She had to know what was happeniig below stairs, and although she had very little natural boldness, and was inclined to suspect that in a strange house - and a strange land! - she might be wiser if she just slipped back into bed and pulled the covers up over her head until the dawn light outside the windows should have spread sufficiently to make investigation a trifle safer, she did nothing of the kind. Instead she extinguished her bedside light, fastened the sash of her slim silk dressinggown until it hugged her slender waist as if it loved it, and moved stealthily across the floor to the door. Luckily she encountered nothing on the way that could cause her to stumble and advertise her movements to whoever was below, .and opening her bedroom door cautiously she stole outside into the thickly carpeted corridor - it 18

was most fortunate that her great-aunt Romilly had favoured lush carpeting despite the fact that she was living in a country renowned for its soaring temperatures! - and then stood appalled by the blackness that greeted her. The house was as inky with its closely drawn blinds and closed shutters as the inside of one of the Pyramids; and for a second or so she had no idea of the direction in which the head of the stairs lay. And then she remembered that she turned left outside her bedroom door to reach the stairs, and was halfway down the rather handsome staircase when she saw the gleam of light in a comer of the hall, rapidly extinguished. Her heart thudded against her ribs, and for one moment she contemplated flight. Undoubtedly that was the pale beam of a torch that had been doused when the owner of it caught the sound of her footsteps on the stairs. He was standing near the dining-room door, and as she strained her eyes through the gloom she was able to make out that the dining-room door was standing open. She summoned up a trembling voice. "Who's there?" she called. There was no immediate answer, and she called again. "I know you're there, because I saw your light! You'd better tell me what you're doing, because I'm going to find an electric light switch and - and switch on a light!" But to her horror she realised suddenly that she had no idea where the nearest light switch was, and if the intruder wished to prove awkward he could have her at his mercy Little prickles of horror sped up and down her spine, and she was groping about frantically on the wall behind her for a selection of switches which she had observed somewhere there during the earlier part of the day before, when whoever it was who stood below her laughed suddenly and spontaneously.

. "Little fool!" he exclaimed, and bathed her in the white light of his torch. Romilly stood quite still on the handsome oak staircase, and then when she felt herself blinded put both hands up over her eyes. She was not very tall --barely five feet three inches - and swathed in the pale lavender silk of her dressyig-gown, with her chestnut curls delightfully disordered and her smooth, rounded cheeks pale from shock while her eyes Were wide, she quite obviously represented nothing in the nature of a reprisal, or even a justifiably angry householder, to the man below. From the note of contempt in his laughter, and his handsome but contemptuous eyes as he obligingly switched on the hall light for her, he was amazed that she had even discovered enough courage'to descend the stairs. "Little fool," he said again, and this time she felt indignation bubble up in her. "You!" she gasped, as if she could hardly believe it. For it was one thing to have decided that a flesh and blood man encountered at the feet of the Sphinx had something to do with Ancient Egypt, and quite another to discover in the early hours of the morning that he was nothing but a vulgar housebreaker. And a very modem housebreaker, too, for she had been right about his wearing a dinner-jacket; and not even the fact that it was a very well-cut dinner-jacket, and it really was a diamond stud - unless he went in for paste, which she doubted owing to the way in which it caught the light and sparkled like a diamond-bright eye - in his immaculate shirt-front; while tucked in at the end of his sleeve was a rakish red handkerchief which looked like extremely expensive silk, could lend him any respectability which his means of entering her house had deprived him of. In fact, she had caught him red-handed. 20

She glanced in through the open door of the diningroom and saw a broken ornament lying in the middle of one of the Oriental rugs. "I'm sorry," he said casually, "but if you will allow junk like that to clutter up the place you mustn't allow yourself to be upset when some of it gets smashed. I tried to move about as carefully as I could, but the wretched thing got in my way!" "Got in your way \" She regarded him as if he was something utterly alien in her experience ... which, as a matter of fact, he was. "I wonder whether you would mind very much telling me precisely what you think you're doing here at this hour?" "Of course." His voice still held that slight, insolent drawl which offended her even more than his casualness. "But it will take time, so you'd better ask me to sit down somewhere ... anywhere that is. a little less public than the hall here. By the way, does your man Kalim sleep ia the house?" "I - I don't know," she answered, realising that that was something she ought to have found out before she went to bed. Her intruder smiled. "Not particularly au faif with things yet, are you? But of course, you've only been in the country a matter of hours, haven't you? However, a young woman alone should have a servant sleep in the house." She regarded him with a look of strong suspicion. "You knew Kalim didn't sleep in the house?" His smile broadened, permitting her to admire his excellent white teeth. His eyes were very dark, and strange, and in some way sensual while at the same time remaining cold and emotionless. And never before in her life had she seen a man with such long eyelashes. 21

"I would have been foolish to break in knowing him to sleep in the house, wouldn't I?" he counter-questioned. "But -" She felt extraordinarily helpless all at once, very much aware of the deficiencies of her dress, and the fact that he was more than adequately clothed. And she was perplexed by his extraordinary air of complete self-possession (considering the circumstances), and his faint but quite unmistakable air of criticism and amused disapproval which lent him a curiously maddening air of disdain, which in view of all the circumstances deprived her of the capacity to think clearly. "I have no idea what it is you want," she concluded, her voice faltering, "And presumably you do want something?" His eyes warmed as his look flickered over her. "Oh, yes, I want something," he assured her. He held his handsome head on one side. "Looking at you, in that fetching kimono, some people might say I'd been lucky enough to find it!" The colour was flooding back into her cheeks, and his words brought it pounding back like an avalanche. The rosy flush disappeared under the soft waves of her hair, and even the pale ivory of her throat was stained by it. With the golden light of the fine mosque lantern, swaying slightly in a current of air above her head, pouring over her and making it unnecessary for him to exercise his imagination where her general shapeliness was concerned, she realised she was at a disadvantage and he was basely taking advantage of it. She told him so, shortly, her indignation reviving with his impertinence. "You followed me from the Pyramids, didn't you?" she accused him. "It was you I saw at the Pyramids!" His smile was intended to annoy her. "Even now you don't seem absolutely certain that I'm 22

quite real," he told her, in his curiously provoking drawl. "But I was very much entertained by the one-sidedness of your conversation with the Sphinx! The one thing I still don't understand is why you seemed to be attempting to justify yourself!" Romilly flushed brilliantly. "You shouldn't have been listening," she said shortly. "And in any case, I wasn't having a conversation with the Sphinx.... That would, be absurd! I was merely musing aloud." , •• He smiled in a very amused way. "So that was it, was it?" he said. "Well, well!" ;' , ' . She turned hurriedly in the direction of the dining-room door. "You'd better come in here," she said, "if you've really got some explanation to offer that will convince me you're not just a common housebreaker," with an edge to her voice. "But I might as well warn you at the outset it will have to be a very good explanation if I'm to be prevented ' from ringing the police." At that he laughed softly, with enjoyment. "Oh, my poor, dear, foolish young woman, you're not even on the telephone, so I don't quite see how you're going to contact the police! And there can be no question of detaining me by brute force," towering above her in the open doorway. "I'm afraid you'd come off very badly if we attempted a contest of that sort!" laughing softly in his throat. She looked round at him in alarm. It had never even occurred to her that the house wasn't on the telephone. Her intruder continued to smile, his black eyes gleaming like velvet. "Yes, an odd notion, wasn't it...? Thinking a telephone a nuisance! But that, I'm afraid, is what your aunt thought 23

of such a very valuable means of maintaining some sort of contact with the outside world!" Romilly remained standing once they were inside the diningroom, with the broken vase making an untidy litter at her feet. But although she indicated a chair her early morning caller seemed also to prefer to stand while he delivered himself of his explanation. "You see, I knew your great-aunt very well! She was a somewhat eccentric maiden lady, and I'm amazed her house wasn't constantly brolen into, considering the number of valuable objects it contains." Romilly glanced round at the heterogeneous collection of objects that immediately met her eye, and she felt surprised that he considered some of them - in fact, apparently, a good many of them! - valuable." "Oh, yes." He nodded his head with emphasis. "Don't be misled because I talked about junk just now. There is a vast quantity of junk in the place, of course," spuming the broken ornament with his foot, "but there are also one or two priceless pieces. One in particular!" "Oh!" She looked at him for further enlightenment. "My great-uncle was an archaeologist. Do you mean that some of the things here came from the -" "Tombs? Yes; of course..., But nothing very noteworthy! At least your great-uncle was no fool, and neither did he wish to deprive the local authorities, and most of his finds are in museums scattered about the country. No; the piece I have in mind he picked up quite legitimately in an antique shop." "Oh!" she said again, for want of something better to say. "Would you mind telling me what this priceless piece is?" He started to walk about the room, examining cabinets 24

and shelves. Plainly, he had been doing this very thing with the somewhat inadequate assistance of a flash-light when she was inconsiderate enough to interrupt him. He opened drawer after drawer, and turned away from the contents with disgust. Then, after running an eagle eye over the contents of a vast Chinese cabinet, hauling down various boxes that looked like deedboxes from a shelf and sorting through the accumulation inside them with very great diligence, but apparently failing to discover what he wanted .to discover, and feeling annoyed by his failure, he turned to her. "It isn't here! Not in this room anyway.... And I know it used to be kept in this room. Of course, it's just remotely possible that your aunt parted with it, but I don't think so. She wouldn't have been such a fool, knowing what it was worth.... And someone with enough money to recompense her adequately might have been difficult to come by" "You intrigue me," the old lady's great niece observed a trifle drily. "I think you're trying to make me understand that there is a small fortune hidden away somewhere in this house, and apparently you fancied it for yourself. Is that it?" He swung round to face her and eyed her with great contempt. "Of course not, you small-minded and quite unworthy descendant of a very interesting old gentleman and a very charming old lady! I happen to have your aunt's interests at heart.... And, incidentally, yours." "Oh, yes?" she said, with increased dryness. He regarded her with displeasure. "Oh, yes," he echoed, his beautifully shaped eyebrows arching themselves disdainfully above his brilliant but veiled dark eyes. She couldn't help feeling that he would 25

have been completed by the wearing of a tarboosh - now, she knew, banned in Egypt - or some other form of classical Egyptian headdress. "Difficult as you may find it to believe, it does happen to be the truth. My own collection of objets d'art would be enhanced by the addition of such a piece but I wouldn't risk my reputation by breaking into a neighbour's house for the purpose of acquiring it illicitly." "Then you are a neighbour," she stated rather than asked. "I have a house in the district, yes," he answered coldly. "Interesting!" she commented. "I must ask Kalim tomorrow what he knows about you. Now, will you be so good as to tell me a little more about your reason for coming here to-night?" "I have told you, I got in by means of an unfastened window to look for the statuette I have already told you about." "So it is a statuette!" "Made of solid gold!" Her feathery eyebrows ascended. "Don't tell me it's also studded with diamonds?" The contempt returned to his face. "It doesn't need to be studded with diamonds. It is of exquisite craftsmanship, and one of a pair - the other has been missing for half a century. If this one is missing, also, it will be a tragedy." "And you wish to safeguard me against such a tragedy?" "I wish to warn you that unless you want to be deprived of something exceptionally beautiful you will institute a search, and when this object has been found you will place it in very safe keeping. I can look after it for you myself, if you wish, or advise you as to the best method of ensuring its safety. And if you do wish to part with it I will buy it from you... .And, more than that, you shall name

your own price I" "Ah!" Romilly exclaimed. "So you do covet it! And," she added, as the thought occurred to her, "you must be very rich!" He looked infinitely disdainful. "That is an expression I find unpleasant. But if you mean have I a sufficiency of this world's goods ...? Well, yes, more than a sufficiency." "Wonderful!" she exclaimed, with mock envy. "I wish I had!" He looked at her with rather more curiosity and interest than he had displayed so far, and then remarked that, in that case, she was fortunate to have been made the leading beneficiary under the terms of her late aunt's will. "For if you take skilled advice before disposing of the contents of this house you will find that you have cause to be grateful to the late Miss Romilly Styles. She lived for the greater part of her life without very much luxury in her •personal surroundings, but she hoarded many treasures throughout the years.... She loved them, and so did her father! I don't think she would have traded any of them for money." "But I shall, very likely," Romilly remarked with a shrug. "For one thing," she added defensively, "I don't live in Egypt and I shall have to dispose of everything in this house. That is one of the reasons why I have come out here to see things for myself." He nodded. "And I'm right in believing you to be a second Miss Romilly Styles?" "Yes." An odd expression, not particularly nattering, crossed his face. "But you will probably not die Miss Romilly Styles. One 27

might say it is a matter about which one can be certain!" She felt the flush rise to her face again, and didn't know how to answer him. Feeling at a loss, and considering the situation absurd in any case, she decided to ask him: "Before we go any farther, can I be told the name of the man who has my interests so 'much at heart that he breaks in at three o'clock in the morning to warn me about my statuette? I'll say nothing about the shock I received when I realised that someone was prowling about the house, and I'll say nothing about the curious, unorthodox style of your behaviour which could have resulted in my breaking my neck in the dark, since I couldn't find any of the light switches and hadn't got any matches -" "In a strange house and a stranger country you should have made yourself familiar with the light switches before you went to bed," was all he commented as a result of this protest. And then he walked to the window and opened the heavy curtains and she saw to her surprise that it was by this time broad daylight outside, and the garden swam in a lovely, liquid light as the sun slipped into a lightly flushed, clear blue sky, and a chorus of birdsong reached them as the man flung the window wide. He indicated the heartening picture before them with a shapely hand, and observed that even England couldn't produce anything fairer in the way of a brilliant early morning than the one mat had stolen up on them while they,were still shut away behind thick curtains. <• Romilly agreed with him. And then she looked at him as he stood there, tall and shapely and very masculine, with shining black hair that was very beautifully bartered and an evenly tanned skin and square, attractive jaw - and a curiously mobile mouth, as she noted for the first time. She felt, suddenly, an intense curiosity about him, slightly disturbed by the fact that he was about to step out on to a

paved terrace and disappear - possibly quite permanently - out of her life. So while he talked as if to himself in a pleasing, almost a lyrical way about the charms of the morning, and the absurdity of considering thick curtains a necessity in such a climate, and incidentally painted such a vivid picture of the wonders of Egypt about which she as yet knew less than nothing, she decided to allow him to go on talking uninterrupted, until she thought she heard Kalim moving about on the ground floor of the house, and she spoke up hurriedly. "You know, you may be very familiar with your subject, which you make sound quite interesting,-but I still haven't a clue who you are. If you don't wish me to get an entirely wrong impression," with considerable dryness, "and just in case we meet again while I'm in Egypt, will you tell me who you are? It would be awkward if I had to greet you with 'Hello, Mr. Burglar?' Other people might get the wrong idea!" He turned and smiled down at her.' "Yes, it would be rather awkward, wouldn't it?" "For you, but not for me!" He continued to study her quite deliberately. "Perhaps it didn't occur to you," he said, "but you could have shouted for help!" And then he walked away from her into the calm beauty of the Egyptian morning, before the heat of the day became really trying, and while the dew was still sparkling on the grass of the well-cared-for borders.

CHAPTER II

KALIM was putting the finishing touches to her breakfasttable when she walked into the dining-room a couple of hours later, and she asked him at once wheAer he had heard any unusual sounds during the night. He assured her he had heard nothing at all, but he offered her the assurance without looking at her, and she wondered whether he was being exactly truthful. She then tried him on the subject of her early morning caller, without mentioning the fact that the gentleman had broken in in a somewhat unorthodox manner, but once again Kalim failed to prove helpful. He did not know such a gentleman, but there were several gentlemen in the district who might answer to' the description.... Tall and dark. There were quite a number of tall, dark gentlemen in the area. Romilly gave up trying to drag any information out of him, and reminded him that he was driving her into Cairo to see her late aunt's solicitor that morning. Romilly was quite sure modern Cairo was quite unlike th Cairo her Aunt Romilly had got to know when she arrived in Egypt all those years ago; but all the same the great-niece found it decidedly fascinating. The modern buildings impressed her, the shops, the towering blocks of offices and hotels, and the well-dressed crowds thronging the pavements. But in addition to well-dressed crowds there were still plenty of the poorer types, the obvious beggars for which Cairo had always been famous, and as well as the up-to-date buildings there were hundreds of fine old mosques. Romilly had realised there was a lot to seeg

and she would have loved to wander in the Ezbeklyeh Gardens, but she had an appointment with Mohammed Yusuf, her great-aunt's solicitor, at eleven o'clock, and any'sightseeing would have to wait until afterwards. Mr. Yusuf's office was in a modern block, and from the well-organised outer office, complete with secretaries and typists, she gathered that he was a good deal in demand. He was a rather plump, balding gentleman with alert dark eyes behind spectacles, and although he greeted her politely enough she rather gathered that he was not prepared to waste a lot of time on her. He had valued her aunt as a client, but she was an entirely different matter. "Ah, Miss Styles!" he exclaimed, bouncing up out of his chair to shake her hand, and then seating himself again almost immediately. "So mis is your first visit to Cairo, yes?" He smiled perfunctorily, and she noticed he bad very well-cared-for teeth. "You have come to inspect your house, which is a very good house in a very good district. Your late aunt was very much attached to it, and I don't think she ever returned home to England once- she and her father decided to settle here in Egypt." "No, I don't think she did," Romilly answered. "Of course, she lived in a very different age, and life has altered a good deal in this country since Miss Styles decided to make it her home. But the value of her property has increased considerably since it was built, and if as I understand you wish to sell the house it should realise quite a fair price. Unfortunately you' did not inherit any of her financial assets, but the contents of the house are yours, and although I don't suppose you have had time yet to inspect them in detail they, too, should bring you in quite a nice little sum of money if you wish to dispose of them as well as the house." 31

"I do," Romilly told him. He pushed a box of cigarettes across the desk to her, but she declined, and he lighted one himself. He began to regard her with a little more interest, and as she was wearing a very neat, crisp outfit in a shade of Nile blue that went wonderfully well with her bright chestnut hair and perfect English complexion it was not perhaps surprising that a look of appreciation dawned slowly in his eyes. She was also wearing white accessories, including an attractive white shoulder bag, and they gave her a curiously unblemished look. He relaxed very noticeably in his chair. "Of course, I have no idea how long you intend this visit of yours to be, but it seems a pity if you are planning to make it as short as possible. There are various legal matters in connection with the will that will take some little time to tie up, and in addition it would be of the greatest possible assistance if you could make an inventory of the contents of the property yourself, especially as there are some fairly valuable items amongst it. Your late aunt's collection of jade, for instance, and a certain amount of jewellery which is old-fashioned but valuable." Romilly was waiting for him to mention the golden statuette, but he did nothing of the kind. It struck her as slightly curious, if such a statuette existed, and he knew of it, that he didn't go out of his way to impress upon her that she was the owner of one very valuable ornament indeed; and then it occurred to her that perhaps he didn't know of the existence of the statuette, or perhaps her aunt had already disposed of it before her death, and that put that out of her reach once and for all. But she thought it much more likely her early morning visitor had invented the statuette for some reason of his own, and therefore she decided to say nothing at all about it. 32. ^'

She explained that she couldn't afford to remain in Egypt for any length of time, quite apart from the fact that she had a job to return to. She was secretary to the managing director of a firm of engineering consultants, and she had been granted a few weeks' leave of absence on the understanding that she was back in her office within a reasonable length of time. Mr. Yusef said he understood the position and would see what could be done, but these matters were not settled overnight - beaming at her toothily - and it was not entirely up to him. There were other people involved... .Government officials, and one knew how long they took to deal with almost anything. He was sure it was the same in England, and one had to exercise patience. And if it was a question of money to extend her stay he was sure an advance on the estate could be made to her, and indeed he was quite sure the late Miss Romilly Styles would have wished it. It seemed a pity that she should come all this way and not see as much of Egypt as was possible, particularly in view of me fact that her familly had established such a tradition with Egypt.... One might almost say they had made themselves a part of Egypt! He showed her his excellent teeth again, one or two of which had gold stoppings, and when she made it clear that she couldn't overstep her deadline - and although she was attracted by an advance she thought she had enough money to defray the costs of her modest holiday - he spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders, and said it was a great pity and perhaps she would change her mind. He added jocularly that it was the prerogative of her sex, was it not? She took her departure from his office with him bowing her out of the inner office, and even accompanying her across the floor of the outer office when he saw how charmall! 33

ingly she smiled at him. He assured her once more, with a good deal of impress ment, that he was at her service at all times, and she mustn't hesitate to call on him. Romilly emerged into the open air once more, and was glad that at least she had got that little bit of business over for the day. She found Mr. Yusuf slightly embarrassing to deal with, for once he had overcome his indifference to her arrival at the outset he had adopted an air of old-fashioned gallantry which was slightly alarming when accompanied by rolling eyes and constant leanings across the desk towards her. And the fact that he was fond of garlic had made itself noticeable as soon as she entered his office. She dismissed Kalim and told him to pick her up at about two o'clock in the afternoon, when she had had a chance to provide herself with some lunch and see a little o the fascinating city the colourful life of which was flowing around her like a colourful tide. She found an attractive restaurant where she had coffee and a sandwich, and then did a tour of the shops but by one o'clock she was glad to get out of the sun again, and looked around for another restaurant and the possibility of a cool drink. In a wonderful patisserie where some of the largest chocolates and the richest and most succulent-looking cakes she had ever seen in her life were on sale, she was standing in front of an assortment of violet creams and fondants and other mouth-watering confectionery when a voice that was strangely familiar hailed her, softly, from behind. "Why, hello. Miss Romilly Styles! Not the one I used to know, but a very pleasant successor!" Romilly spun round and her mouth fell open a little as she saw the man who had accosted her. "Why, you!" she exclaimed. 34

He made a slight face. He looked much the same as when she saw him last, walking through the garden of the House of the Seven Stars, away from her in the first clear light of day, except that he was no longer wearing a dinnerjacket, and instead his beautifully cut light grey lounge suit, worn with a pale blue shirt and a casual tie, struck her as being eminently suitable masculine wear for such a beautiful day, and became his tall, languid'elegance so well that the finished product actually filled her with somewhat extraordinary resentment for a few moments. She stared at him hard, with some of the resentment flaming in her eyes, and he laughed suddenly. "You are not altogether pleased to see me, no?" Although his English was perfect and suggested an English public school during his formative years, he had the very, very faintest trace of an accent which she could not place. Actually, not so much of an accent as a way of framing his sentences, which at times were not typically English. "Indeed, you make it painfully clear Aat at our last meeting I quite failed to impress you at all favourably. But. then I was caught in the unfortunate position of a burglar, wasn't I? And very likely you do not wish to be on friendly terms with burglars?" Romilly was quite taken aback by what she could only consider his effrontery at believing her capable of entirely overlooking his unorthodox method of entering her house in the early hours of the morning, and she could only continue to stare at him without finding any words to reply to him. He turned his attention to the array of expensive confectionery which had been claiming her recent interest. "Ah, so you have a sweet tooth, have you, Miss Styles'?" he said. "You were about to indulge yourself by buying a box of your favourites?" "On the contrary," she returned, "I was simply feeling 35

amazed because there are so many varieties." "And your tooth is not really in the least sweet?" "Oh, yes, as a matter of fact I love sweets." She was annoyed because he was smiling at her with an air of quizzicalness. "And i don't have to bother about my figure, or anything like that, if I feel like indulging myself, as you put it just now," she added with a faint air of defiance. "Splendid!" he declared. His eyes roved over her in a way that she considered insolent. "Certainly, one must agree there is nothing in the least wrong with your figure, and indeed there is a very great deal that is right with it! But young women nowadays seem to make a habit of counting the calories, and I thought perhaps you were no exception." He glanced at a nearby table, and indicated it with his hand. "I don't know whether you have lunched, but if you have a cup of coffee will not upset the balance. And if you have not, I know of somewhere much more interesting where it is not yet too late to be served with an excellent meal -" "Thank you, but I have already lunched," she told him bleakly. •He looked as if he was prepared for that. "Ah, well, we will content ourselves with coffee, then. I was afraid it was asking too much to expect you to lunch with me." She followed him over to the comer table without being .quite certain why she didn't turn down his invitation out of hand, and when they were seated she watched him light a cigarette and summon a waiter with a lift of his eyebrow which intrigued her, and wondered why he hadn't offered her his cigarette-case, and decided that it was because perhaps he didn't approve of women smoking. Later, she was to make the discovery that he had very strong views on women smoking, but at that early stage of their acquaint36

anceship she knew very little about him, and was not particularly impressed by what she did know. Nevertheless, the waiter seemed to consider he was not a customer to be kept waiting, and their coffee arrived very quickly. Romilly was sipping hers almost cautiously, as he happened to be paying for it, when he asked her with sudden bluntness how much satisfaction she derived from her meeting with Mr. Yusuf that morning. Romilly looked up at him in astonishment. "How on earth do you know I saw my aunt's solicitor this morning?" He made a slight gesture with his shoulders, as if how he knew was quite unimportant, but the result of the meeting had a certain interest for him. "I know Mohammed Yusuf quite well," he told her. "And I think I made it clear to you last night that at one time I knew your aunt quite well." She stared at him as if for the first time she admitted to herself that he fascinated her. "If you knew my aunt so well," she said to him, "then you must have some idea where she put the statuette you were searching for last night." "Not last night, early this morning," he corrected her half smilingly. "I had other things on hand last night!" She recollected that he had been wearing a dinner-jacket, and was very well turned out, and wondered what 'other things' had engaged his attention before she saw him at the Pyramids. "Please tell me," she insisted, "have you any idea where the statuette is likely to be found ? " He shook his head. "No, otherwise I wouldn't have wasted so much time looking for it while you were still asleep." She frowned suddenly. 37

"It was a most unorthodox thing to do to break into my house. Do you normally go around breaking into o&er people's houses?" He gave her a solemn assurance, while his handsome ey twinkled. "On my word of honour, no! It would use up far too much of my time, for one thing; and for another I would have to have a particular reason for doing so. My reason, as I have already told you, for disturbing you in the early hours of this morning was very much in your own interests. ... I wished to make absolutely certain that no one deprives you of a thing of great value! You can believe me or not as you wish." "But if it is of such great value surely Mr. Yusuf would have gone out of his way to mention it to me," she pointed out to him, leaning towards him across the table as she spoke because she thought that this omission on the part of Mr. Yusuf was a clear indication that no such statuette existed, and his reason for breaking into the villa had nothing whatsoever to do with a statuette. If she could make him admit this then perhaps she might also make him admit what it was that he was really looking for while he was blundering about in a distinctly clumsy manner which terminated in her catching him red-handed, as it were. The dark eyes confronting her remained quite unabashed. "He did not, then, make any special mention of anything your aunt acquired during her lifetime which could be of very great value?" "No, except that there are quite a few items of value inside the villa, and when they're' sold they should fetch quite a reasonable sum of money. He even offered to make me a small advance on the sale of the villa and its contents if I was really in need of some money." 38

I.-. "Oh, he did, did he!" g; "But he said nothing about your statuette. I'm inclined iti-. to believe it was sold long ago, if my aunt ever really did ^possess it." $'. "You can take it from me that the statuette was not l^soldl" ig, She looked at him very hard once again. &: "You seem to be very certain of your facts, for some jg 'reason which I can't quite fathom. My aunt must have I" ? known you very well, and trusted you very much, for you i to be so knowledgeable about what she did, or did not, .. do with her possessions." "As a matter of fact, she did," he assured her composedly. "And yet I don't even know your name!" "You can call me Julius." He smiled at her. "It does I? happen to be my name." I1' "Mr. Julius?" | "If you like." I She frowned swiftly. I, "Why can't you tell me the truth? What your full name |; really is, what was your connection with my aunt, and her j; father before her, and why you are so passionately inters ested in my statuette? And I'm tired of referring to it as | a statuette.... What did it represent? I think you 'said it | was made of gold. What was it called ? " I- "The Eye of Love.". I "The Eye of -?" She coloured suddenly, and rather de| liciously, the soft pink flush rising up over her creamy skin 1; as he regarded her with that disturbing and oddly conI fusing twinkle in his eyes. She looked down hurriedly into fe her coffee cup. "That doesn't sound very Egyptian. I ^ thought you said it was discovered in a tomb." | "I didn't say anything of the kind. I said your great" I:' 39

uncle acquired it in an antique shop, and I certainly said I it was made of gold. I think I also mentioned that it was one of a pair. There are - I say 'are' because I know they still both exist - an exquisite pair of lovers somewhere carefully hidden away in this country, and if it were pos" sible for you to contemplate the craftsmanship you would agree with not only me, but everyone who has seen thema that as figurines they are quite out of this world. One of them - the boy - is known as The Eye of Love; the girl is known as The Conquest of Love. They should always be together. From a purely aesthetic point of view it is a, crime that they should be apart." All at once she felt that she had the capacity for being immensely shrewd. "Arid you," she said to him, although of course she was only guessing, "are the possessor of either The Eye of Love - in which case you will not be happy until you also possess The Conquest of Love. Or else it is The Eye of Love you suspect is concealed somewhere inside my villa -" She paused when she saw his eyes flash with extraordinary coldness, and she was amazed at the change in his voice as he interrupted her curtly: "If you think that, then there is very little point In our continuing this discussion at all," he told her, crushing out his cigarette in the ash-tray and thrusting his coffee cup away from him as if the amiable interlude between them had lasted long enough. "I wanted to be of some asistance to you, but it is becoming very clear to me that you would rather be without that assistance. I don't know where you get your dramatic notions from, but -" "If they are dramatic, it is because you chose to be •dramatic at a very early hour this morning," she replied to him swiftly. "And since you are not even prepared to tell me your full name, or give me any other information about

yourself, I certainly would prefer it if you ceased displaying such decidedly suspect interest in my affairs." She reached for her handbag, which was on the chair beside her, and stood up. "Thank you for the coffee, Mr. Julius. I hope you're not planning to continue your search for this mythical statuette in the early hours of tomorrow morning, and just in case I think I ought to warn the police that I'd like a special watch put on the House of the Seven Stars for the next few nights, as I dislike having my slumbers interrupted in the way that they were this morning. So if you do another spot of breaking and entering you might find yourself marched off to the police station." "I don't think that is at all likely," she heard him say very quietly, and as he stood up and watched her depart she had the feeling that, in addition to his surprise, there was a quality of ice-cold contempt and displeasure in the eyes that watched her. She was afraid she had sounded a trifle crude, but she wasn't quite sure what it was about him - and particularly about his refusal to tell her exactly who he was, and why he was taking such an" interest inkier and her affairs if it wasn't to deprive her of some of her valuables - that upset her so much, to the point of making, her long to be very rude to him indeed. Which was absurd because, even if he was no better and no worse than she believed him to be, she could always do as she threatened and go to the police and lodge a complaint about him, which would be more dignified than entering into somewhat spiteful arguments with him - and allowing him to buy her coffee I She saw all this very clearly by the time she was half way home, but by that time it was too late to do anything about it. She had behaved in a way she deplored, and it annoyed her. But she made up her mind that if she met him 41

"Naturally. But you didn't have to accept it." "Is there any reason that I don't know of why I should not have accepted Mrs. Mortimer's invitation?" she asked him more steadily, resentment banishing her feeling of confusion. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "There could be.... But that's not the point. I understood you were here to settle your aunt's affairs, not to get to know the district." "By which you mean enter into the district's social activities?" "Of course." She began to feel bewildered again. There was no doubt about his hostility, and she wondered whether it was because he had not fully accepted the apology she sent him. She started to apologise to him afresh, and for the first time verbally. "I'm so sorry I behaved rathe? badly and said some rather crude things that last time we met. But you must realise I hadn't the least idea who you were -" "As to that, forget it," he advised, and took her by the arm and piloted her towards the head of the flight of steps that led down from the. roof. "And as that mask doesn't really offer you any concealment I'd take it off if I were you. I knew you the instant I set eyes on you.tonight." "Then, in that case, why didn't you do the polite thing and come and speak to me?" she asked. "Because I seldom if ever do the polite thing just for the sake of being polite. And I preferred to watch you, if you want the truth. That outfit becomes you very much indeed, and in point of fact you're very eye-catching tonight. But then you were very eye-catching in that kimono thing the first night I saw you!" The flush burning faintly in her cheeks deepened. She 66

again she would behave differently, And, in any case, she didn't believe for one moment all his talk of a statuette that was apparently next door to being priceless. If such a statuette existed, and was somewhere inside the villa, Mr. Yusuf would have mentioned it to her. It was much later in the day that she remembered her aunt's letter, and she extracted it from her handbag and read it. She felt a sudden surge of intense curiosity and interest as she cast her eye over the closely-written sheets that were contained inside the envelope; and by the time she was half-way through reading them she was feeling quite different. She was feeling amazed and slightly stunned. "My dear, unknown niece," the letter began. "It seems strange to me that we have never met, and you probably don't even know of my existence. It is even more strange because one day this house and all that it contains will be yours. You are a member of my family, and despite the fact that I have lived abroad for so long I am really very family-minded, and I feel strongly that everything must come to you. "When I say 'everything' I exclude what little money I have, for that must go elsewhere. I have made various promises in the past, and these must be honoured. But the house is full of things I'm sure you will enjoy, and I do hope you will not rush to sell them just because, sold in the right quarter, they will bring you in quite a lot of money "Stay in Egypt for at least a little while, and grow to love it as 1 have loved it all my life, and then sell up if you must "My father's collection of scarabs is almost, if not quite, unique. There are one or two items of jewellery, too, that are very fine. The adorable little Eye of Love is hidden 42

away in an old trunk in the attics. I wrapped it up in one of my old ballgowns, surrounded it with mothballs, and then closed the lid on it. I felt I was being very clever because quite a lot of people would like to possess it and short of troubling the bank and getting them to take charge of it I couldn't think what to do with it. Now, once you have read this letter, only you and I know where it is \ ' • "If you are in any difficulty or require expert advice at any time, on almost any problem, you cannot do better than contact my very dear friend, Julius Crighton. He is known locally as Crighton Bey, but I knew his grandmother - the Countess of Dorian - when she was a girl, and he has only a very little Egyptian blood in his veins. But the little he has is good - his mother was the Princess Shaif, a great beauty who married Roger Crighton. Such a pity he doesn't remember either his fattier or his mother, because they died when he was quite young." The letter concluded by recommending her to "discover Egypt" before settling down to live her own life, urged her to remember that you get from life precisely as much as you put into it, and expressed regret that they had never met. It was signed Romilly Styles, and gave Romilly a quite extraordinary feeling because the signature, although cramped, was almost a faithful copy of her own. In fact hers might have been modelled on her great-aunt's. She re-read the letter several times before getting into bed. She had only remembered that Mr. Yusuf had handed it to her when she was undressed and ready for bed, and now she sat on the side of the bed nearest the window, through which she could see the stars sparkling like gems in a tiara away up in the dark canopy of the sky, and wondered what perverse trick of fate was responsible for her not having an opportunity to read it before she blotted her copybook, almost certainly once and for all, where Mr. 43

Julius Crighton - or Crighton Bey as he was known locally - was concerned. If only he had had the sense to make it quite clear to her who he was then she wouldn't have been quite so rude to him! Grandson of a countess and son of a princess! No wonder he had such an air of being completely sure of himself. ... And no wonder, when she saw him for the first time at the feet of the Sphinx, she thought the two of them had a sort of affinity. She went to bed at last determined to send him a short note of apology once she had found out where he lived, but she didn't expect he would acknowledge it. But not merely did he acknowledge it " Kalim having overcome his reluctance to so much as discuss him and supplied her with his Cairo address - it was accompanied by a huge box of the highly expensive chocolates she had been gazing at when he surprised her in the patisserie where he also bought her a cup of coffee. When she had untied the ribbon and studied the contents with pleasure-filled eyes (for how was it possible he had guessed that she disliked hard centres and had a positive weakness for violet and rose creams, with a sprinkling of lime, lemon and orange to provide variety?) she felt extraordinarily gratified. It was plain that he had accepted her apology, and when next they met it would be without the embarrassment of their last meeting to hinder the establishment of a more friendly relationship. And if it was true that he was always willing to be of some sort of assistance she might consult him about the ultimate disposal of the Eye of Love - once she had tracked it to its hiding-place, which she had not so far done. And about the sale of so many of the things inside the villa which she would ultimately have to part 44

gwith, although constant re-reading of the great-aunt's letter |; had put her in two minds about having an immediate sale. j' She was greatly tempted to take her great-aunt's advice | and see a little of Egypt before returning home to England, I and that meant making a few plans. When the sale of her F inheritance finally did take place she would be reimbursed | for any expenditure she incurred at the present time.... s And, even if something went wrong and she was out of | pocket, would it matter so very much so long as she could | just manage to afford it? ! How many people had the opportunity to see such an historic land as Egypt in their lifetimes? It was not like the Costa Brava, to which most of her friends had flocked at some time or other at no very great cost. And how many people with Egypt in their blood, as it were, since she came from a line of archaeologists, would have thought twice about remaining for a few weeks longer than was originally intended once they werejthere, and all the glamour of Egypt was slowly making itselffelt ? She had, an instinctive feeling that if she went home tamely without seeing much more than she had already done her great-aunt - and possibly, her great-uncle, too would haunt her. In any case, she felt they would be sadly disappointed.

CHAPTER III BUT if she thought that a polite note of apology on her part, and a present of a box of chocolates from the most exclusive confectioner in Cairo on the part of Julius Crighton, would bridge any former unpleasantness and open up the way to further friendly relations between them she was doomed to a certain amount of disappointment, for after spending three weeks at the House of the Seven Stars she had to admit to herself that Crighton Bey was making no effort to see her. Or else he was no longer in Cairo, and had forgotten that she even existed.... Although she felt reasonably certain he would never forget that the little statuette known as the Eye of Love existed. She had got as far as climbing to the attics, and had traced the trunk in which the statuette was claimed by her great-aunt to be hidden; but as it was stoutly banded and corded, as well as secured by a padlock to which she had no key, she had not yet actually unearthed the statuette itself. She disliked taking Kalim into her confidence about it, and for some reason she was not quite sure about she was hesitant about taking Mr. Yusuf into her confidence. If her aunt had trusted Mr. Yusuf as much as most people normally trust their solicitor it would have been quite simple, but the whole tone of her aunt's letter had indicated that the matter was secret - a secret she was prepared to share with her great-niece, but not with anyone else, Not even - although she hadn't actually said so - Julius Crighton?

After she had been at me House of the Seven Stars for nearly two weeks she had a visitor. A very sleek and glossy car turned in -at the drive gates one afternoon, and from it alighted an extremely glamorous female figure in a delectable white silk suit. Never in the whole course of her life before - and as she was only twenty-three she hadn't had a very long life span - had Romilly seen anyone who looked so faultlessly turned out, and was so shatteringly beautiful that even the most glamorous film-star would have been cast into the shade by her. She stood looking up at the front of the house, a white silk sunshade held above her head, and her perfect heartshaped face looked as clear-cut as a cameo. She had an exquisite lightly tanned skin with a delicate rose colour on the slightly high cheekbones, and her hair was as black as Crighton Bey's and as shiny as satin where it escaped the restriction of a smart little hat and lay against her cheeks. Watching from an upstairs window, Romilly at first could not believe that such an ultra-smart creature meant to call on her. And then the bell rang and Kalim came hurrying to find her and inform her that Mrs. Leah Mortimer was waiting to see her. "Mrs. Mortimer?" Romilly sounded astonished. "Who is she? Is she someone I ought to know?" Kalim-looked almost reproachful, as if he found it difficult to comprehend such ignorance. "She is very important lady," he informed his new mistress. "No lady more important round here. Shall I tell her you will see her immediately?" "You can tell her I'll see her as soon as I've had time to run a comb through my hair and make myself respectable," Romilly answered without expecting him to be impressed by her determination to maintain her own dignity on such occasions, and refuse to be stampeded by the des47 .

cent of any lady, however "important", or deemed to be important in the district who had not received an invitation and was completely unknown to her, upon her. She smiled at him a trifle quizzically as he attempted to make out what "running a comb'' through her hair meant when it was literally translated, and then asked him to show Mrs. Mortimer into the drawing-room. When she descended to the drawing-room about five minutes later she found her visitor admiring her own reflection in a full-size wall-mirror that hung on the wall. She was certainly worth gazing at, even if it did indicate a certain over-preoccupation with the charms of her own appearance, and Romilly felt she ought to be excused the weakness, particularly when she turned and smiled at her with indescribable charm. "Miss Styles?" she said, advancing on her. Her English was almost fluid, it was so perfect, but at the same time she had a slight accent that was fascinating. "Miss Romilly Styles! I don't expect I can make you understand how strange that seems to me! You see, your dear, late lamented aunt and I were the greatest of friends! Indeed, I counted her among my closest friends." She laid a delicately-scented hand on Romilly's arm, a hand that was unusually small, with exquisite finger-nails, and ornamented by an enormous scarab ring which quite fascinated Romilly, who had never seen anything'like it before. "Oh, yes?" she said, conscious of sounding a trifle flat and unwelcoming, but too much impressed by her visitor be capable of anything better. Mrs. Mortimer continued to smile, aware, perhaps, that the display of her pretty teeth and the bright sparkle of her eyes was enough to confound anyone when they were first confronted by such sheer perfection. It would take 48

Romilly was certain it would take a great deal of ||time - to take such perfection for granted. | "Of course, she was a very old, old lady," she said of | the other Miss Styles. "And to pass on her name to one t who looks so youthful and charmingly English is quite dei lightful! You are planning to stay for a while here at the House of the Seven Stars ?" Romilly shook her head. "No, I'm afraid not." Belatedly she remembered to offer her visitor a chair, but the other seemed to prefer to stand. "You see, I've a job to return to in England, and in any case I'm only here really to arrange for the sale of the place." "Oh, I see." The other made a slight gesture. "Just like that! You mean, as it stands ?" "Well... more or less." "Which seems a pity." But Romilly couldn't help thinking that Mrs. Leah Mortimer thought it was an excellent notion in actual fact, and she proved this a moment later by saying: "Well, of course, it might be difficult for you and take time if you first dispose of the contents and then put the house up for sale, for these matters have a habit of dragging on, as I very well know to my cost. But if someone can be found to buy the place as it stands -" "Oh, I didn't quite mean that," Romilly assured her somewhat hastily. "I mean," she corrected herself, "I shall naturally take a little time to sort things out for myself and • arrange with Mr. Yusuf to put them up for auction, but I feel I owe it to my aunt to take a certain amount of ; trouble over the disposal of her effects. And as there is so i much here, and much of it is obviously valuable while some \ of the other stuff is just - well, not so valuable - I shall | certainly have to ask for a slightly longer leave of absnece I from home than I intended in order to get it all sorted out."

"Of course." But the other woman's radiant smile had vanished, and she was staring at her thoughtfully. "But won't that take a great deal of time?" This time it was Romilly's turn to smile, and to look more relaxed. "Oh, as to that, my aunt expressed a particular wish that I should stay here for a while," she explained, "and I feel I need a holiday. I'm not likely to pay a second visit to Egypt, so I ought to take advantage of this one, didn't I ?" "Indeed, yes.... Of course!" The lustrous eyes took ia every detail of her appearance while appearing to do nothing of the kind. "Egypt is so utterly'fascinating, and everyone who comes here must hope to pay a second visit. Why is it you are so sure that you will not come here again? " "For the simple reason that I couldn't afford it.'8 Romilly's blue eyes had a humorous look, a rueful look. "Money's an essential commodity when you start visiting far-away places." "But you will have money when this house is sold!" "Yes." Romilly was not quite sure she liked the other's harping on the sale of her house. "// I sell it, and if I don't decide to be quixotic and keep it!" "But you wouldn't do that! What use would a house be to you in a country you could not afford to visit? " "Not much, I suppose," and Romilly's ruefulness increased. Leah Mortimer started to prowl about the long, faded drawing-room, and she pounced on a vase that was quite obviously valuable. "Now this," she declared, "will bring you in some money." "I believe it's Satsuma." "Yes. And this - and this!" She waved other objects in the air. "All these things will bring you in trifling sums, 50

but there are cases and cabinets in this house that are filled wiA all sorts of bric-a-brac; and unless you employ an expert to catalogue them for you and find out their presentday value you are liable to be badly 'done down', as they say, when you do eventually part with them. But if you sold everything as it stands to someone who is prepared to give you a very fair price then there would be no danger of your being unfairly treated. Indeed, quite the reverse could be the case." "But who would be likely to make an offer such as that?" Romilly demanded. "Without knowing exactly what is inside the house?" "Ah! ..." The other woman shrugged her elegant, silkclad shoulders. "But I did not suggest that someone who knew nothing about this house would make you an offer.... That would be quite unlikely, I agree." "Very unlikely, I should think," Romilly emphasised quietly, and then remedied another omission and asked her guest whether she would like some coffee. "Or tea, as it must be very nearly tea time." "Thank you, but I do not drink tea - or at least, only very occasionally. And coffee I understand is bad for me." "Oh, is it? Then what about a drink of some sort ... ?" Leah Mortimer shook her head, while smiling charmingly at the same time. "No, thank you, Romilly - and you don't mind me calling you Romilly, do you? - I have an appointment with my dressmaker in another hour, and I cannot, I'm afraid, stay much longer. But first I must make it clear to you why I came. / am prepared to make you an offer for this house... a very, very generous offer!" "Oh, yes?" Romilly said, and her eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she surveyed her visitor afresh. "Why?" she asked, and if she sounded a trifle too blunt she thought

die other could put it down to astonishment. Once more Mrs. Mortimer shrugged her shapely shoulders. "Not, I must admit, because I am in love with the house itself, but because there are many things here which I covet. ... Yes, honestly, covet!" trying to look as if she was shocked by her own streak of covetousness. She waved her enchantingly pale hands to indicate the crammed cabinets and the shelves which lined the room. "So many things, some beautiful and others quite hideous, but for the sake of the beautiful ones I will write you a very large cheque if you will allow me to spare you the trouble of arranging an auction. And one other thing, you can have the cheque now..." Romilly's blue eyes narrowed still more. "My need of money is not as great as all that," she said quietly. "Ah, but every young woman needs money! Certainly one as pretty as you... to buy many pretty things!" "I find some of the things in this house quite attractive," Romilly assured her on a strangely obstinate note .., strange, because she had every intention of selling eventually, but not to this woman. No, she told herself, not to this woman S "Of course, of course!" Mrs. Mortimer looked as if she meant to humour her, but time was running out, and she found the English girl a trifle unreasonable. "There are rings and brooches and other pretty toys, some of them filched from tombs, and others acquired in a more legitimate manner, but not, surely, the sort of things to appeal to a young girl like you? An old woman like your aunt could hoard them, but you ... for you life must be different!" "Not so very different, because I'm a bit of an archaeol52

ogist myself ... or I would like to be," Romilly admitted. "And a good many of the things in this house really do make a quite strong appeal to me." She paused for a moment, and Aen put a question in the same, almost casual tone. "The Eye of Love, for instance! I'd love to find it.... Wouldn't you?" Leah Mortimer stared back at her blankly. "I'm afraid I do not quite understand. What is this Eye of Love...?" "Oh, nothing.... Forget it." Romilly turned away from her, and moved in the direction of the mirror in which Mrs. Mortimer had been admiring her reflection when she first entered the room. She stared at her own slender, rather little-girl figure, and at the same time she saw her visitor standing absolutely still and staring after her - with the same blank, perplexed look on her face. "I'm sorry." She whirled round suddenly, smiling brilliantly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to give your offer some thought, and perhaps in a week or two I can give you my answer. Bat- I don't want to be rushed." : "Of course not, of course not!" The other immediately thawed into complete understanding, and rushed- over to her and once more patted her arm in an extremely friendly and almost affectionate manner. "In your circumstances why should you be rushed? After all," the lovely lips curving upwards quite enticingly at the corners, and the dark eyes wearing a strangely basilisk smile, "you are the one who is holding the baby, are you not?" Romilly frowned. "Holding the-?" "You are the one to whom the house has been left, and at the moment you are feeling the pride of ownership. But shortly - soon - all this will pall, and you will be happy to sell. Yes?" 53

"Perhaps," Romilly answered, her smile much more right. "Then that is good! We will come to terms, and I shall be most generous, and you and I will remain friends. That will be better still!" "But at the moment," Romilly pointed out to her politely, "we hardly know one another." "True." Leah Mortimer's expression, however, did not alter. "However, I do assure you we will be good friends in time, and perhaps before you go home to England you will come and stay with me at my house in the desert the true desert, far to the south of here." "I'm sure I should love that," Romilly answered, temporarily intrigued. Leah nodded. "You would find it exciting, especially if you do not know the desert. Such a wonderful sense of freedom, such a getting away from everything that is dull and ordinary. And for you, with your feeling for archaeology, there would be more to excite and intrigue, for we have recently uncovered a very interesting tomb, and have made other discoveries in the area which you would find fascinating, I'm sure. Only keep in touch with me, and we will arrange matters." She went off gaily, without giving Romilly a chance to inquire how and by what means she should keep in touch with her, since she did not provide her with an address, and when she was alone in the faded drawing-room heavy with the fragrance of the recent visitor she walked back to the mirror in which she had first caught Mrs. Mortimer earnestly studying her reflection and wondered whether it was only her reflection she had been studying. The mirror hung on the wall in such a position that it commanded an excellent view of a set of cumbersome 54

Chinese lacquer cabinets, and if one had a particular interest in those cabinets - or their contents - to stand in front of it and study the position of the locks might be a rewarding exercise. Or it could be if one was thinking of acquiring a set of keys, or already had a set of keys. And one was thinking of attempting to open the cabinets in a poor light - in the dark, for instance! But somehow Romilly could not see the elegant and plainly very wealthy Mrs. Leah Mortimer copying Crighton Bey's example, and rifling the cabinets. Besides,, unless she was a very clever actress she hadn't even heard of the Eye of Love. Or had she ? Was she a very clever actress ? It was a simple matter for Romilly to obtain Mrs, Mortimer's address from the invaluable Kalim, but having been put in possession of it she hesitated to call on her for the excellent reason that she had ho intention of selling her the House of the Seven Stars more or less as it stood, and without this pretext she had no justification for returning her

can.But she waited hopefully in anticipation of some further word from Crighton Bey - whose chocolates she had thoroughly enjoyed. And she was beginning to understand from his silence that he had no intention of contacting her any more when she received an invitation to a party that was to be given by Mrs. Mortimer at her house on the outskirts of Cairo. The card said "fancy dress optional", from which Romilly gathered that it was to be a fancy-dress party. She had never in her life attended a fancy-dress ball before, and having seen Mrs. Mortimer she entertained few doubts about the quality of this particular effort to divert her friends and acquaintances. It would be something, in 55

vulgar parlance, to "write home about" ... and as Romilly wrote home occasionally to the few special friends she had in England, including a favourite aunt, she had no doubt she would be mentioning this excursion of hers into topflight Cairo society before very long. But in the meantime she was very much exercised in her mind as to what she should wear. It was one thing to be invited to a cocktail-party, or something of that sort, by her new neighbours, but fancy-dress meant investing in an outfit that also meant a lot of thought. Unless, of course, she took advantage of the "fancy-dress optional", and turned up in one of her simple little dinner-dresses. She had not expected much social life on this visit to Egypt and had made virtually no provision for it, but she had already seen one or two very smart dress shops in Cairo and was not averse to parting with a little of her hardearned money in one or other of them. It would give her a feeling of recklessness which the fascinating knowledge that she actually possessed a statuette for which people were willing to pay vast sums of money made in some way justifiable. For - who knew? - she might even be a very wealthy woman before long I So she allowed the thought to go a little to her head and actually bought herself quite an outfit once she got inside the most enticing of these very feminine shops. The saleswoman, sensing that Romilly was taking a kind of delight in being unusually extravagant, and impressed by the purity of her complexion and her essentially English looks, brought forth some most attractive clothes to induce her to part with her money. Although by no means certain she was behaving wisely - for what if the trunk in the attic failed to contain the statuette? - Romilly found herself the possessor of a couple of evening gowns which she might 56

never have occasion to wear, some delightful day dresses and a trouser suit in cream-coloured wild silk that went extraordinarily well with her curling silken hair, in addition to the dress that she was to wear at Mrs. Leah Mortimer's party. The saleswoman knew Mrs. Mortimer by repute, although the establishment was not honoured by her patronage, and she was quite awed when she heard that the English customer was on visiting terms with Mrs. Mortimer. She assured Romilly that parties at Mrs. Mortimer's house were very elegant affairs indeed, and they were often much talked about afterwards in the district. Only the most influential looking a little dubiously at Romilly - received invitations to her salons and her cocktail-parties and her dinners. And if she was giving a fancy-dress ball, then half the local press would i be there to photograph the guests and report on it afterwards. Everyone who was anyone in the district would be there. It would be a very smart affair indeed, widely talked about once it was over and magnificently staged, since Mrs. Mortimer was not only extremely rich but she spent her money lavishly. She had a houseboat on the Nile and another house in Alexandria. She was known to have houses all over the places, and her friends were in very high places. And although the invitation stated that fancy-dress was optional, it was practically certain that fancy-dress was expected, unless one was either old, or infirm, or eccentric. And, once more looking at Romilly and smiling this time, the saleswoman had to admit that she didn't honestly think Romilly was any one of those three things. In the end, since Romilly was curiously reluctant to wear fancy-dress, she suggested a shadowy black dress shot through with silver and a scarlet silk domino, which she could wear with a black mask for further concealment. The 57

mask would be vaguely exciting and arouse speculation, and certainly the colour scheme would suit Romilly, with her enchantingly fan- skin, perfectly. Romilly left the shop at last with the promise that all her purchases would be delivered on the following day, and from there she went on to a shoe shop to purchase the right kind of shoes to complete her outfit, as well as a really lovely evening bag that was perhaps the nicest thing she had ever possessed in her life, and make an appointment to have her hair washed and set for the great occasion. . She felt she had behaved in a way that indicated she had taken a certain amount of leave of her senses by the time she arrived home, but that didn't prevent her looking forward to the following day when all her exciting new purchases would be delivered to her. Kalim, who must have sensed her mood of slight exaltation, served her a very fitting dinner in a candlelit atmosphere that actually touched her, for she had not suspected he could rise to such heights without being explicitly requested to do so ... and as to the candles, that belonged to the days of silver epergnes and candelabra, Venetian glass and real lace table mats, when her great-aunt Romilly had entertained the district and been as much talked about, perhaps, as the present-day hostess, Mrs. Mortimer, they were rose-pink and tapering, and matched the fresh roses from the garden with which Kalim had filled a bowl and placed it in the centre of the table. The next day Romilly kept her hairdressing appointment, and was modestly pleased with the result.. Her dress for the party lay spread out on her bed until the moment" arrived when she slipped into .it, and to say that she was modestly pleased with the over-all effect once she was ready to leave and be driven by Kalim the short distance between her house and her prospective hostess's would have 58

been an understatement. She was actually quite beguiled by her own appearance, never having believed she could look quite like that, with the cloudy black dress highlighted by clever silver embroidery hugging her slender hips and cascading about her ankles. When she finally adjusted her mask she wondered why it was people didn't wear them more often. Hers certainly suited her, and the slight air of mysterious glamour it lent to her made her smile, for she was not mysterious by nature. She sprayed herself with the delicate lilac perfume that had been one of her most expensive purchases, and was so extremely light and delicate that it could give offence to no one, and then set off in the car. Her silver-shod feet twinkled as she climbed into it. Far away above her head the Egyptian stars were shining like jewels, and that remarkable greenish light that was always left by the sunset seemed to linger low dowfa on the skyline. The road to Mrs. Mortimer's house wound like a wellcared-for snake, beneath the flawless sky. There was a smell of warm dust and flowers in the air, and at the same time it was crisp and cool and reviving after the long sun-filled hours of the day. In the road before Mrs. Mortimer's house the cars were parked in serried rows. Her drive was packed with them, and lights from the house streamed over their gleaming paintwork and glittering chromium. Romilly experienced her first real sense of alarm when she caughtsight of them, and she wondered for the first time whether she had been utterly mad to accept this invitation. On the drive to the house she had found herself pleasur- , ably anticipating the evening, and had even allowed herself to wonder whether amongst the guests she would find someone she knew in the person of Julius Crighton, who had so 59

painstakingly avoided her after burgling her house. She had been most peculiarly fascinated by Crighton from the moment she saw him on her visit to the Pyramids, and although she had been quite rude to him on one particular occasion that was because she more than suspected he was not all he seemed on the surface. But now that she knew her late aunt had valued him as a friend she was able to allow herself to think of him quite differently. He was so good-looking, and so unlike any man she had ever met that it might have been strange if she hadn't allewed her thoughts to dwell on him a good deal. And now she knew he was the son of a princess.... It was all very glamorous! Glamour! Why was she thinking so much in terms of glamour... ? She who led quite a humdrum life at home! And then when she saw the cars outside Leah Mortimer's house, and the brilliance of the lights that streamed down the drive and bathed the road, her heart fluttered nervously and did a kind of uneasy jump up into her throat. .She swallowed several times, and wished she was anywhere but where she was. There was actually one moment when she was about to instruct Kalim to rum the car and take her back to her aunt's house, but common sense prevailed, and having already accepted her invitation she told herself that she couldn't very well fail to turn up. Besides, Kalim would think it very odd, and in any case he had already stopped the car and was ready to help her alight, with the full blaze of the lights pouring over them and several people who were doing precisely the same thing as herself glancing, she thought, curiously, in her direction, and no doubt wondering who she was. Not that anyone was in the least likely to know who she was, and the comforting obscurity her mask provided really 60

was something to give her courage. She saw Columbines and Roman gladiators ascending the steps to the house, gypsies and pirates, and with the additional courage lent to her by a burst of music escaping from an unseen ballroom falling on her ears like a noisy but well-meaning friend she found herself copying their example. It really was a magnificent house to which she had been invited, and she stood for several seconds in the hall admiring the great marble staircase which was its most prominent feature. People were pouring up the staircase into some upstairs rooms, and there was a great deal of laughter, chatter and noise. The upstairs rooms were a suite of splendid reception rooms, and they were alive with a mass of moving colour as the motley throng of guests surged restlessly to and fro. But still no sign of her hostess, and when she caught sight of a door marked Ladies' Powder Room Romilly darted into it and made sure that her make-up was in no need of any special attention. Her silk domino was a part of her present disguise and she had no reason to discard it, so she returned to the first of the reception rooms and wondered how long it would be .before her hostess pounced upon her and at least made her welcome. But ten minutes later she was still standing in the same spot and being jostled by every new arrival. They quite plainly knew the house much better than she did, and went on their way without sparing her more than a glance and pausing for more than a second. There seemed to be every nationality amongst them, from swarthy, dark-skinned Arab types to paler-skinned Egyptians and obvious Europeans. Their mecca seemed to be the roof, from which the . music was finding its way, and when Romilly eventually summoned up the courage to behave like the rest she found that the roof was the high-spot of the festivities, for it was

^

there, in the velvet calm of the Egyptian night and under the shattering brilliance of the stars, that many couples were dancing to the steady beat of a band ensconced behind a bank of pure white roses, while other couples paraded and got in their way with champagne glasses in their hands to the accompaniment of champagne corks being popped at an improvised bar in another flower-decked corner, and Ae ceaseless efforts of the orchestra. Romilly, in her scarlet cloak, might have attracted attention in any other gathering, but this one was too colourful and too bizarre to allow her to be outstanding in any way. True, the fact that she was alone did seem to arouse some interest, and occasionally a pair of dark, masculine eyes looked at her a little more penetratingly than the rest. It was while she was attempting to avoid a definitely amorous pair of eyes that she caught sight of someone whom she felt very certain was her hostess, although she was dressed to look like Cleopatra in shimmering silk and golden bosses concealing her shapely breasts, while on her raven hair the royal serpent of Egypt was attached to a golden fillet and entwined amongst her curls. She was laughing and talking with a handsome man who was supposed to be one of the early Pharaohs when Romilly first caught sight of her, and inevitably one of her exquisite, beringed hands clutched a diampagne glass. But at the interchange of glances which resulted from Romilly's fixed stare she set down the glass and came moving fluidly towards her, her lovely body undulating as if it was part of a snake. "Why, Romilly! How lovely that you could come!" She was showing all her perfect little even teeth, and Romilly was quite fascinated by the exquisite perfection of her face, despite the fact that her brilliant laughing eyes were heavily .ringed with kohl, and from the point of view of an English 62

girl who was used to less ostentatious make-up her violent poppy-red lipstick was a little startling, to say nothing of the fact that she was heavily rouged and smelt like a garden of flowers. "It was very kind of you to invite me," Romilly replied a little stiffly. It wasn't that she resented being ignored for so long, but she had felt very obvious standing there. "Nonsense! I couldn't be more pleased," the hostess assured her. She looked about her, despite her assertions, a trifle vaguely. "Now, we must find someone to look after you and take you into supper. I wonder who could be trusted to make sure you enjoy yourself? Ah!" catching sight of a tall figure lounging against a flower-draped column. "There's the very man! Julius," she called, in her lovely bell-like voice. "Julius darling, do stop being so completely idle and come and be introduced to Miss Styles. She's being very English and aloof, and we can't have that." It didn't surprise Romilly at all that he had declined to behave like nearly everyone there and subdue his personality by wearing a fancy dress costume. He could have played the part of a Pharaoh to far greater advantage than the man who had been the hostess's recent companion, but he preferred to be almost painfiiHy immaculate in a white dinner-jacket and cummerbund, with linen that dazzled the eye, and diamond studs in his shirt-cuffs in addition to that solitary diamond stud he wore in the front of his shirt. He had a look in his eyes that was hardly encouraging when one realised - as Romilly most certainly did - that he must have been aware of her presence on the roof for some time, and had made no effort to approach her until his hostess singled him out for the purpose of requesting a favour from him. He bowed, however, very formally and correctly in front of both women. 63

"There is no need to present me, Leah," he told Mrs. Mortimer. "Miss Styles and I have met." Whether or not Mrs. Mortimer was as surprised as she appeared Romilly was unable to tell. But for some reason that was rooted in instinct, and for that reason somewhat suspect, the girl was not, entirely convinced by her air of being completely astonished. "Oh, really? Well now, isn't that interesting!" she exclaimed. And then, tapping him archly on the sleeve with a gold-mounted ivory fan, with which she had been keeping herself cool on me roof: "You don't lose any time, do you, darling? You must have had your scouts out in advance of Miss Styles'arrival!" "Nothing of the sort," he answered coolly. "But we do happen to be reasonably near neighbours." "Of course." The slightly slanted eyes gleamed like brilliant stars. "And you were always a great favourite with our late lamented friend, weren't you? And no doubt you were curious to find out what her nearest relative and principal benefldary looked like." "As to that," Crighton replied, with even greater coolness, "£ don't believe Miss Styles is the principal benefidary under the late Miss Styles's will. Unless I've been wrongly informed the bulk of her fortune was bestowed on some very worthwhile charities locally." . Leah Mortimer smiled as if this obvious, but slight rebuke amused her very much indeed. "Yes, of course, I am forgetting," she said. And then she turned once more to Romilly. "You must forgive us, my dear, for discussing you in this manner, but you really are a source of profound interest to both of us." Then once more she tapped the Bey on the sleeve. "However, we will not continue the argument, which is a little pointless in any case. And since

you are already known to one another will you take Romilly in to supper?" The arch look this time swung in Romilly's direction. "You see, I already have permission to call her by her Christian name, which means I may have advanced a little further than you have, Julius!" Romilly was not aware that she had granted permission for her Christian name to be used by the ravishing widow, but since the matter seemed unimportant she refrained from making any comment one way or the other. And Crighton Bey, who was beginning to look a little bored, looked politely in her direction. "You will allow me to take you in to supper. Miss Styles?" he inquired, deliberately, perhaps, emphasising the "Miss Styles". Romilly realised there was no other course open to her but to agree, although the lack of enthusiasm in his tone brought a faint flush to her cheeks. As soon as they were alone, their hostess having departed with a few airy words, and the expressed wish that both her invited guests would enjoy themselves, the Bey said almost coldly to Romilly, looking down on the top of her head from which the hood of the silk domino had slipped: "What are you doing here, in any case? Did you really want to come?" "Well! ..." Romilly exclaimed. And then looking upwards into the dark, handsome' face, with the mysterious eyes and the beautifully shaped brow and gleaming hair thrown into sudden prominence by the beams of the laterising moon, she heard her own voice falter. He really was astonishingly good-looking, and she had the feeling that he didn't like her any more.... Or at any rate, he was not putting up any more pretence. "I - I.... What do you mean? I received an invitation!" 65

"Naturally. But you didn't have to accept it." "Is there any reason that I don't know of why I should not have accepted Mrs. Mortimer's invitation?" she asked him more steadily, resentment banishing her feeling of confusion. He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "There could be.... But that's not the point. I understood you were here to settle your aunt's affairs, not to get to know the district." "By which you mean enter into the district's sodal activities?" "Of course." She began to feel bewildered again. There was no doubt about his hostility, and she wondered whether it was because he had not fully accepted the apology she sent him. She started to apologise to him afresh, and for the first time verbally. "I'm so sorry I behaved rather badly and said some rather crude things that last time we met. But you must realise I hadn't the least idea who you were -" "As to that, forget it," he advised, and took her by the arm and piloted her towards the head of the flight of steps that led down from the roof. "And as that mask doesn't really offer you any concealment I'd take it off if I were you. I knew you the instant I set eyes on you.tOnight." "Then, in that case, why didn't you do the polite thing and come and speak to me?" she asked. "Because I seldom if ever do the polite thing just for the sake of being polite. And I preferred to watch you, if you want the truth. That outfit becomes you very much indeed, and in point of fact you're very eye-catching tonight. But then you were very eye-catching in that kimono thing the first night I saw you!" The flush burning faintly in her cheeks deepened. She 66

1: felt his arm, which he slid behind her on the stairs to make ^certain she didn't slip, pressing close to her, and for the I,, first time in her life she wanted to inhale deliberately the I attractive masculine scents of a man who was the most atI tractive specimen of his kind she had met in her life, H "You know," she said a little shakily, when they reached ^ the foot of the stairs, "I always think of you as my burglar! |; Without having any real idea what it was you proposed to | burgle! Because I never believed that story of yours about | the little statuette called The Eye of Love." | "And you still don't believe such a statuette exists ? " I "Oh, yes.... As a matter of fact, I know it does. And ? that's why I've been rather anxious to see you." I "What! "he exclaimed. ;' They had entered the supper room, which was on the ground floor of this magnificent house, and were met by ; a babel of voices and laughter as the hungry guests pounced on the delectable foodstuffs that had been provided for them. Two long tables glittered with damask, silver and. ^ flowers, and the giant buffet was loaded with everything from smoked salmon and caviare to wild duck and neats' tongues in aspic. There was also an extremely generous supply of every kind of alcoholic beverage, and the champagne flowed. Quite a few of the guests - particularly the men - looked as if they had already imbibed rather more than was good ; for them, and their female companions received constant ^ leers and occasional pinches that were hardly the sort of ;: thing to be indulged in in public. Romilly, who by this [: time had discarded her domino but retained her mask, was ^ the recipient of quite a few leers herself, and a very large I; number of interested glances, and impatiently the Bey | drew her aside into the concealment of an alcove, and t -pressed her for an explanation of her last statement. I' 67

"What do you mean when you say that you know the statuette exists?" She looked up at him thoughtfully, not entirely gratified by the pressure of his extremely hard fingers upon her arm, and wondered just how far she should commit herself. "Well?" he insisted. Romilly, who was feeling thirsty, glanced towards the buffet. "Do you think I could have a glass of lemonade or something?" she asked. "It's very warm in here, and I'm terribly thirsty." "In one moment I will gel you a glass of champagne if you will kindly explain something you said just now." There was an odd gleam in his eyes - something rather more than impatience. And then she recollected her aunt's letter. If the late Miss Romilly Styles had trusted him completely she supposed she might as well do so as well. "All right," she said, leaning against the frame of the window behind her. "But if you'd kept in touch with me during the past three weeks instead of sending me to Coventry because of a mistake I made you could have been in possession of the facts long before this. The truth is that my aunt left me a letter, and Mr. Yusuf handed it to me when I saw him in his office. Apparently Aunt Romilly looked upon you with a considerable amount of favour, and she said I could trust you. So.... The statuette is hidden away in a trunk in the attics at the House of the Seven Stars, but although I've located the trunk I can't manage to open it. I didn't want to involve Kalim in this, so I waited until I could see you, but unfortunately you've been particularly elusive." She felt his fingers tighten on her arm, winced as she felt certain they made a bruise, and then sighed with relief as h; released her. 68

"That was very foolish of you," he said, "to be so patient that you might never have made contact with me. All you had to do was to send a message to my house. However, now that we are at last on the track of &e statuette we will forget about the rest. What makes you so certain the goddess is in the trunk?" "Because my aunt plainly stated so in her letter." "And Aere is no one else who could have seen the letter? Yusuf is, of course, perfectly trustworthy. It would not be him." She looked up at him in some astonishment. "Do you mean that you think the statuette might not be in the trunk? That someone else has already found it? Because if you do I can tell you that that is quite unlikely. The trunk is stoutly corded and the padlock will not open without the key.... It is simply that the key is missing." "Then we must find the key." "I've already looked for it everywhere, but it's not in any of the drawers of the desk or my aunt's personal bureau. Of course I suppose it could be hidden somewhere ... for extra safety." Crighton Bey looked down at her without actually seeing her, and nodded his head. "Yes, we will just have to conduct a search. I will come to your house tomorrow morning, shortly after ten, and we will go up to the attics together." He did not say, "If that is convenient for you", but she' understood the matter was of some urgency, and decided to overlook his brusqueness. She did not remember very clearly how the rest of the evening passed, but she knew he supplied her with refreshments, and afterwards they returned to the roof for a short interval during which they danced one dance together, and she was slightly regretful when it ended because he was a 69

particularly good dancer and she would have enjoyed it very much if he had asked her to dance again. But on this occasion he was a man of few words, quite unlike the man who had broken into her house on her first night in Cairo: And he was plainly very preoccupied even when they were dancing. She had asked Kalim to pick her up at midnight, having no real idea how long parties of that sort went on for, and at what hour one was expected to leave without giving any offence because one was either taking one's departure too early or top late, but it was actually closer to one o'clock when she finally sought out her hostess and wished her good night. By that time it was obvious to her the party was only really beginning, and. it would almost certainly be dawn before any mass emigration from it took place. Therefore she was not surprised when Leah Mortimer arched her eyebrows and inquired whether it was because she was .either bored or tired that she was leaving so soon. "Neither," Romilly responded, smiling a little too tightly, however, for she was well aware that Crighton B was standing not very far away and watching her make her adieux with a quite unreadable expression on his face. Mrs. Mortimer smiled from one to the other of them, •• and made the suggestion that they should really get to know one another. "For you have a common interest," she said. "You share an interest in antiques." "Particularly Egyptian antiquities," the Bey said with curious quietness. "Other people," he added, "have similar interests."' • Mrs. Mortimer smiled quite brilliantly, her eyes gleaming with amusement. "Well, that is not so very strange, is it?" she said. "You and I, for instance.... Are we not a part of Egypt?" 70

He put Romilly into her car while the patient Kalim held open the door, and just before she was driven away he bent and put his sleek head in at the window and spoke to her in a low voice, but with strange, insistent urgency. "Be careful in future," he advised, "when you receive an invitation. You have plenty of time to make friends." . Romilly wondered what he meant by that for some time ' after he had uttered the warning. The next morning he arrived punctually at ten o'clock to examine the trunk in the attic, after conducting a fruitless search for the key to the padlock. But although they searched through every drawer and cupboard in the house that would be likely to harbour it the key refused to turn up. In the end he burst open the padlock and cut through the cord that bound the trunk, Romilly held her breath as he lifted the lid of the old-fashioned trunk and a strong odour of musk and mothballs began to fill the attic. He lifted out faded and crumpled dresses, yellowed satin slippers that had once been pale as ivory, feathered and sequinned headgear and several boxes of costume jewellery. But although they both searched diligently there was no sign of the little golden goddess of love; There were several ball gowns, in any one of which it might once have been wrapped.... But no little Eye of Love. Julius Crighton wore an expression that was almost grim as he turned to Romilly. "We are too late," he said. "Someone else has the statuette!"

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CHAPTER IV THE more Romilly pondered on her missing statuette the more perplexed she was. Why, she asked herself, had Mrs. Mortimer wanted to buy the house as it stood if it was not because the house contained something she badly .wanted, and which she could afford to purchase at cost? And why, in any case, hadn't the statuette been handed over to Mr. Yusuf's care, or even placed in the care of the bank? What was it abOut the statuette that made it a thing to be hidden in a tr^nk, from which someone without auAority had quite obviously filched it. But who? Julius Crighton said he would very much like to know. He left almost immediately after failing to find the statuette, and he said nothing to Romilly about meeting 'her again. She felt a little deflated after his departure, as if some secret hope she had entertained had been somewhat brutally squashed, and wondered what she could do to banish. the odd feeling of depression that weighed upon her. She wasn't really very much concerned about the failure f) find the statuette, however valuable it was; but she did wish she had been a little less suspicious, or shown rather less suspicion, of Julius Crighton at the very beginning of their acquaintanceship. However, the harm appeared to have been done, and it was clear that he had no intention of pursuing anything in the nature of a friendship with her, despite the fact that she was Romilly Styles's great-niece. In a mood of sudden restlessness combined with a deter72

ruination to see something of Egypt apart from the modern capital before she went home she went to a local tourist office and booked a cabin aboard a Nile steamer which was proceeding on a six-day trip to Luxor, calling at various points of archaeological interest on the way there. She felt that in this way she would at least see something of the beauties of the Nile, and acquire a little more knowledge of Egypt's splendid past, as well as have an opportunity to relax and wear a few of her clothes before returning to the humdrum round which constituted her life in her own country, and from which she saw few opportunities of escaping once she did get home. In a way, the visit to Egypt had been like a challenge something utterly new in her experience, and likely to lead to even more exciting things. But as far as she was able to judge in her present mood of curious dissatisfaction, as she emerged from the tourist office, apart from acquiring a little nest egg which would pave the way to a comfortable old age for her should she never marry or find anyone with the slightest desire to contribute to her support, the visit to Egypt would be rather like an anti-climax. A foretaste of something that never materialised.... Although, if anyone had asked her what she expected to result from meeting an elevated gentleman like Crighton Bey she simply couldn't have told them. For not merely was he the son of a princess but he was at least ten years older than she was, and he just didn't belong to her world. No doubt he despised her for being what she was, an ordinary little English secretary who was no better than an' ordinary English tourist in his eyes. And English tourists, until very recently tied down by travel allowances, were not the people they once had been.... Certainly not in Egypt. 73

But feeling very much like a tourist, and determined to enjoy herself in spite of the fact for a short while if she could, she packed a suitcase and arrived on board the Nile steamer for her vaguely promising trip up the Nile at an hour of the evening when the Nile dusk was closing down. It was that extraordinary green dusk which, she found utterly fascinating, and which lay like a green haze on the various meanderings of the river. At that point it flowed so calmly it was like a river of glass, broad and reflecting the utter tranquillity of the sky, with one or two stars etched against it and the faintest flush of rose that had been left by the sunset. A very young moon, like a silver slice of melon, hung suspended above the flat-bottomed craft, and people were still boarding the vessel, moving like ghosts up the gangway and finding their way to their cabins with the assistance of the purser. Romilly, having been shown to her own cabin and unpacked her things, lingered on one of the three decks to watch until all the passengers were aboard and they finally cast-off, and then went down to the lower deck to the diningsaloon, and found that she had been allotted a table to herself at the far end of the saloon. The meal that was served to her was quite enjoyable, and she lingered over her coffee and watched her fellow passengers, mostly American and northern European, settling down for a somewhat intimate six days together, while outside the cabin windows the palm-clad shores slipped past, the green haze vanished and stars glowed like lamps in the brilliantly clear sky. Later that night they anchored well out in the middle of the river, well away from the flies that troubled the villages on shore, and with not even a ripple on the surface of the water and no chugging of the engines to disturb her rest Romilly slept like a child until she was awakened by the sunrise to a golden and rose-coloured new day, and die 74

knowledge that she was embarked on a most unusual voyage that would never have been possible but for her Great-Aunt RomHIy. She took breakfast in the saloon at the same table at. which she dined the night before, and then went up on to the observation deck to take stock of her surroundings and find herself a comfortable chair in which she could recline while she was following this absorbing occupation. At eleven o'clock they anchored again and were taken ashore, escorted by a guide, to visit some ancient monuments and a ruined temple, and were given a kind of potted history of Ancient Egypt'by the guide. The following day there were more trips ashore, but nothing very spectacular apart from mud-walled villages and labourers working in the fields was offered them in the way of diversion, and the guide had little opportunity to air his eloquence which Romilly had decided the previous day was quite remarkable, and she was actually looking forward to hearing him holding forth again on a subject he appeared to have mastered so thoroughly that it quite filled her with admiration. From him, however, she learned that the really interesting part of the voyage was not the early part; and it was not until the third day that, together with the rest of the little crowd of tourists who were herded ashore complete with cameras, dark glasses and fly whisks, she had her first experience of visiting genuine Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasty tombs on the back of a donkey. The donkey ride was quite an experience apart from the visit to the tombs, and it left her feeling slightly sore for several days afterwards. She was also slightly horrified by the assortment of Arabs screaming for baksheesh, cigarettes, and anything else the tourists liked to bestow upon them, who pursued them relentlessly for the whole of the journey, and were waiting to escort them back again when 75

it was over. Quite a few of her fellow passengers had had experience of this sort of thing before, and knew how to deal with them, but Romilly had to be rescued by a young man she had noticed on several occasions staring at her rather hopefully, and she discovered he was a young American doing a world tour. His name was Martin Allerton, and he begged her to call him Marty, which he assured her all his family and all his friends did at home, and impressed her very favourably once they had had a little conversation and felt they were getting to know one another because, despite a slightly one-sided smile and sandy eyelashes, he had a most engaging manner and a permanent smile in his lightblue eyes which appealed to her enormously. When they got back to the ship they had tea together, and that night, after dinner, they sat together in the observation lounge, and she told him all about her late Aunt Romilly and the legacy of the .House of the Seven Stars together with contents, and she could tell that he was very much intrigued, and it was quite plain that he admired the look of her in one of her attractive new evening dresses. She even told him about the missing statuette, and that seemed to interest him still more. "You've obviously been robbed since your arrival in Cairo, or else your aunt was robbed without knowing it before she died," he commented, when she had finished telling him all that there was to tell. "I don't think I've met your Mrs. Mortimer, but of course I've heard of her.... She's quite a beauty, isn't she? And Crighton Bey is well known locally. He's a collector of objets d'art and that sort of thing. Ybu say he broke into your house?" looking very much surprised. "Yes." She wasn't at all certain that she ought to have told him 76

this, but it was no more than the truth, and she still thought it was rather an extraordinary thing for a man in the Bey's position to have been guilty of. "But he said he only did so because he wanted to make absolutely certain the statuette was safe," she defended the Bey hastily. Martin Allerton's eyebrows rose in a questioning arch. "But the statuette wasn't safe, was it?" he pointed out. "And how do you know it wasn't perfectly safe -?"' She looked at him, and realised what he was going to say before he said it. "Before he broke, into the house that night?" she said as if she rejected the idea entirely. "Oh, no, he couldn't possibly have taken it!" she declared with conviction. "How do you know? " "I don't know. But having met Mr. Crighton I'd be prepared to swear he's utterly incapable of robbing anyone of anything." And although she had some excuse for entertaining a few doubts she knew very well that she meant what she said. "For one thing, he's not that sort of man ..." And that was the truth, the whole truth.... He wasn't that sort of man! "And for another, he didn't really have the opportunity." "And your aunt said in her letter that she trusted him absolutely." "Probably with good reason." "Oh, quite. But one would like to know a little more about the particular kind of reason that caused her to trust him so implicitly." Romilly felt it wisest to let the subject of Julius Crighton drop, and she was sorry that she had mentioned him at all, for an aura of doubt seemed to have been created and was : settling like a cloud about the Bey's arrogant head. But Martin, who watched her frowning slightly, raised the sub77

Ject of Ancient Egypt as a means of getting away from the subject of the Bey, and half an hour later they were still talking with unflagging interest about the land that obviously fascinated Them both to a far greater extent than it fascinated the ordinary tourist, and as Martin was something of an expert on the subject Romilly learned many things that she had not known before about the long line of Pharaohs that began with the Kings of the First Dynasty and went on through four thousand years to be overtaken by the Roman Conquest. For the following day a visit to the tomb of the reformer king Akhenaten was arranged, and in order that she should miss nothing of importance on this trip Martin talked to her until the moon waned about the sun-worshipping king who was succeeded by the far better known Tutankhamen. Sitting on deck in the splendour of the starshine, while the ship rode at anchor and a radiant Nile stretched like a silver ribbon on all sides of them, Romilly drank in eagerly the words that dropped from her new friend's lips, and when on the following afternoon they trotted side by side on a couple of donkeys while the rest of the party, and the guide, went ahead of them, she felt she was" well prepared for the expedition on which she was embarked. The one thing she was not prepared for was the slight eeriness of this journey through a sun-baked valley, and when Martin seemed disposed to lag behind to avoid what he termed "the mob", by whom he meant their fellow passengers and the usual escort of donkey-boys and vociferous Arabs who refused to be dispersed, she immediately made it clear to him that she had no desire to do anything of the kind, and hurried on after the others. The tomb contained little that could really interest her after all, for the remains of the man who had been Egypt's first Socialist were no longer there, and although the wall 78

paintings were interesting the whole atmosphere of the place affected her in a way she had not expected to he affected by such things. She began to realise that she preferred the strong sunlight outside to the dimness of the tomb, and that she had yet to get used to this kind of thing -which no doubt one did in time, if their guide's programme was faithfully adhered to. After anoAer two or three days of this kind of sightseeing she would probably be immune to the strange, sinister silence and the cold that made her teeth chatter, although people like Martin Allerton were too impressed by everything they saw to be capable of such weaknesses. Martin would have detained her after the others were ready to leave, in order to explain in detail the wall paintings, but she succeeded in being amongst the first to leave the tomb behind her, and was still feeling rather unlike herself and aware of goose-pimples on the backs of her arms, left unprotected by her short-sleeved dress, when a voice behind her caused her to whip round in utter astonishment and forget that only a moment before she had been eager only to escape. "You didn't seem to enjoy yourself down there just now," the voice said. And when she turned and looked into the eyes of Julius Crighton, wearing shorts and an opennecked silk shirt of a light khaki colour, very much like all the other male tourists, she could hardly believe the evidence of either her eyes or her ears. They had left the shadows before the gate of the tomb, and the sunlight was shining like a white light all about them, and in its warmth Romilly was no longer afraid, although she still looked distinctly pale, and the Bey sur: veyed her quizzically. | "You don't seem to have the stomach for this sort of t thing," he commented. "Why on earth did you have to I79 ••

have to make a trip of this kind if you lack all the right qualifications for making it?" "I don't know what you mean by the right qualifications," she replied, resenting the way the brilliant sunlight edged each slight wave of his dark hair and gave it a kind of iridescence, while he looked so healthily bronzed and so infinitely more attractive than any of the other men she had been journeying with for two days and nights that she felt her resentment increase because he was so superior to them. "I suppose I have as much right as anyone else to go in for a little sightseeing if I want to. And as I don't remember seeing you on the ship perhaps you'll explain how you come to be mixed up with me and my party?" He smiled. He had the leisurely air of one who was really very relaxed and thoroughly enjoying himself, quite unlike herself. "Of course. Only it so happens I'm not mixed up with you and your party. I'm what you might say enjoying a solo trip, without the advantages or disadvantages of that highly locquadous guide of yours. Do you suppose he spends all his leisure moments mugging it up in order to impress people like you?" "I'm not impressed," she returned swiftly, resenting more than ever that amused, condescending air of his. "And if you really must know I prefer to do my own 'mugging up' -" which wasn't strictly true - "on any subject which really interests me, and Ancient Egypt doesjnterest me." "But you get goose-pimples when you go down into the tombs, and you looked as if you suspected I was the disembodied spirit of the Pharaoh himself when I spoke to you just now. What would you have done if I'd been a ghost ?" "Don't be silly," she said, and turned to walk ahead of him back to the place where they had left the donkeys. He followed and caught up with her just as she was

struggling to remount her donkey. He stood looking up at her as she sat perched in a somewhat awkward manner on the back of the animal, and she felt annoyed because she was certain he was entertained by the knowledge that he had caught her at a disadvantage, and even in a trim .linen dress with immaculate accessories and a very smart white shoulder bag draped across the top of her smooth goldenskinned shoulder she looked as if she would rather be anywhere than where she was, and preferably standing beside him on terra firma would appeal to her more.... Always provided she was not forced to stand too close to him. "As a matter of interest," he said, as if he was genuinely keen to receive her reply, "do you honestly enjoy this sort of thing? I know archaeology is in the blood, but a trip up the Nile in company with a bunch of people all full of curiosity but with very little knowledge is hardly the best way in which to see Egypt." "Can you suggest a better way?" she inquired, looking down at him coldly. "I could.... But I'm not so sure it would be the best way for you. And you've probably got other plans." "Try me," she invited, with a slight, derisive smile curving the corners of her softly reddened mouth. "It could be that I haven't any plans at all!" "You mean when you get to Luxor?" His eyes regarded htr quizzically, and as if for some reason he was trying to make up his mind about her. "And they throw you off the boat? Well, I presume you'll put up at a hotel for a few days - the sale of a few of your aunt's trinkets will pay for that! - and look at a few antique shops, pay a vi"it to the Valley of the Kings, and then go home. First to Cairo and then England!" "You sound as if you want to get rid of me." . He shrugged his shoulders, and his obvious indifference

annoyed her. "My dear Miss Styles," he told her coolly, "your decisions are your own affair, aren't they? You'd be the first to remind me of that if I made any suggestions." "But still, I've a feeling Aat you could make a suggestion ..." She saw Martin Allerton approaching them with quickened steps, and realising that he was annoyed because he had temporarily lost her and would almost certainly lay claim to her afresh as soon as he reached her, despite the presence of Julius Crighton, she spoke hurriedly to the Bey. "You haven't answered my earlier question about how you come to be here," she reminded him. "If you're not actually following me around what are you doing." "I'm not following you around." For an instant his eyes went very cold indeed, and a little bleak, as if she had actually trespassed. "And I don't make trips up the Nile in flat-bottomed boats! ... But I have a perfectly legitimate excuse for being where I am." "Oh'"she said. "I have a house not very far from here, and I'm on my way to it." "Really?" she said. "Then you must be a kind of near neighbour of Mrs. Mortimer.... She has a house somewhere around here, too." Crighton smiled contemptuously. "We're not exactly on top of one another, if that's what you mean," he said. "In the desert travel is not as simple as it is in England, and we don't exactly bump into one another every time we do a round of our estates." He, too, had caught sight of Allerton hurrying along the track from the tomb, with a somewhat proprietorial eye on Romilly, and he spoke with slightly increased'speech, but no actual suggestion of urgency. "I'm rather inclined to suspect 82

you've made a conquest on that boat! Is this chap coming to collect you? If he is, I'd better say what I want to say before he reaches us. Don't mention your aunt's affairs to anyone.... And if you're bored when you get to Luxor let me know. Just leave a message with the hall porter of your hotel and he will get it to me. Now I think I'll disappear before you have to introduce me to Aat fellow - almost certainly American by Ae look of him! - whoever he is." He turned and disappeared between a couple of huge boulders, and by Ae time Allerton stood beside her, looking up at her wiA a mildly perplexed air, as well as a good deal of curiosity, Aere was no sign of him in Ae silent, deserted valley, or any suggestion Aat he had actually stood beside her in the flesh. But Ae fact Aat he had stood beside her, and Aat he was real, was proved by Ae American's somewhat peevish question, as he struggled to mount his own donkey, which had been left tied up with hers beside the track. "Who was Aat fellow I saw you wiA just now? And why has he disappeared ? " "I don't know why he disappeared, but his name is Julius Crighton. I've mentioned him to you." He looked astounded. "That chap! What's he doing here?" "Again, I don't know." "But he looked as if he had a good deal to say' to you, You seemed to be chattering away quite animatedly when I first caught sight of you. Is he Ainking of boarding Ae ship and finishing Ae trip wiA us ? " At that Romilly had to laugh. For she found it quite impossible to imagine Julius Crighton joining Ae Arong of passengers aboard Ae river steamer. WiA his arrogance and his air of contempt for all lesser creatures he would stick out raAer like a sore thumb in the midst of Ae band of 83

obvious tourists, most of whom were "doing" Egypt as they were doing Ae rest of the world, for no particular reason oAer Aan Aat it seemed a good idea to allow. Aemselves to be separated from large sums of money - Ae larger Ae better when their bank-rolls were very swollen - in order to impress their neighbours when they got back home. Allerton looked as if he failed to understand why she wa laughing, and was not at all pleased because she showed no sign of enlarging on what she had already said. "Well, it seems pretty extraordinary to me Aat he shoul turn up in a place like Ais for no particular reason," he exclaimed. "He looked extraordinarily immaculate, too, from the little I saw of him. How did he manage Aat, I wonder? There are no hotels oAer Aan a flea-bitten inn nearer Aan our next port of call down the river, to my certain knowledge.... Do you suppose he travels about wiA a personal valet and a kind of private safari outfit? If so, I don't see any sign of it," protecting his eyes with his hand against Ae glare and searching Ae barren desert Aat extended on all sides of Aem. "Perhaps he's got a private hideaway amongst Ae rocks," she suggested flippantly, and concentrated on persuading her donkey to take a few steps forward instead of backwards, a tendency it seemed determined to developBut despite Ais she felt extraordinarily lighAearted, as if her brief conversation wiA Crighton had done her a world of good after the sobering effect her visit to Ae nearby tomb had had on her. And not only had she felt depressed and even nervous after Ae visit to the tomb, but she had actually felt as if it had cast a shadow upon her.... Now fortunately lifted simply as a result of seeing Crighton! She decided to change the subject of conversation and discussed instead Ae evening ahead of Aem. Somebody 84

had told her Aat Aere was to be a dance on board that night, and she was quite looking forward to it. She would wear Ae dress she had worn for Leah Mortimer's fancydress party - minus, of course, Ae scarlet domino and Ae mask - and if Ae night was as perfect as it threatened to be it would be someAing quite exciting to remember. Dandng once more under Ae Egyptian stars, wiA Ae palm-clad banks of Ae Nile dark and mysterious in Ae light of the rising slice of silver moon! If only Martin Allerton refrained from making love to her, as he had tried to do on one or two occasions since Aey met, it would be quite memorable. But Martin Allerton did try and make love to her, and it definitely spoiled her evening. She didn't quite know why, since he was really very personable, and a very pleasant person once one got to know him.... But perhaps Aat was Ae trouble. Having got to know him, she realised Aat he was likely to become very serious about her, and as she was never in Ae least likely to become serious about him it was as well that Ae affair should be treated lightly. But still it puzzled her ... why she was so certain she could never become seriously interested in Martin. It wasn't as if there was anyone else.... Only a pair of broodingly handsome dark eyes and an exdting and unusual masculine mouA and beautifully shaped jawline that were inclined to haunt her! The rest of Ae trip to Luxor passed in a pleasant enough manner, wiA constant visits ashore to inspect remains and tombs and memorials, and a lot of information passed on to her by Ae, guide which she valued since he seemed to single her out as the most likely one amongst the passengers to be likely to remember it after Ae ship tied up at Luxor. She had some difficulty in persuading Allerton to say good-bye to her when Ae moment arrived to say farewell 85

to all Ae oAer passengers, but as he was staying at Ae great Winter Palace Hotel, and she simply couldn't afford a hotel of ,that class, it was reasonably easy when Ae moment arrived at last. "But I'll see you again ... don't you Aink I won't!" Martin warned her, as he hung on to her hand. "And very soon! I wish I could persuade you TO try Ae Palace.... It's Ae only decent hotel in Ae place." "From your point of view," she smiled at him. "But not from mine! My pocket would groan in anguish when I had to settle Ae bill!" 1 He frowned. "I wish you could find Aat statuette -" She laughed, and shook her head at him. "It doesn't exist. I'm quite sure of that!" She backed away from him, and was lucky enough to see a taxi-man advancing towards her at Aat precise moment. He seized upon her suitcases and put them inside the taxi, and it was only as Aey were driving away from Ae quay Aat she realised she had not even mentioned Ae name of a hotel to which she desired, to be driven, and he was proceeding at quite considerable speed as if he already possessed all Ae information he required in connection wiA her. She leant forward and said: "I want a reasonably priced hotel! ..." But perhaps because he failed to understand English he took no notice, of her. She sat back against the taxi seat, and metaphorically shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps he had sized her up quite shrewdly and was taking her to a hotel which he suspected she could afford, and as there was nothing about her to suggest immense wealA Aat would most certainly not be Ae Winter Palace. 86

But, when Ae taxi came to rest, it was immediately in 'front of Ae impressive facade of Ae leading hotel. Romilly spared an admiring glance at it, Aought what a magnificent view it had of the Libyan Hills in Ae distance, and what delightful gardens surrounded it for Ae delectation of Ae guests, and was particularly attracted by Ae row of windows that overlooked palms, and flower-borders and astonishingly green lawns. Even one night in Ais hotel would be something to remember, but she simply couldn't afford it.... She mustn't be tempted! But, wheAer or not it was because he didn't understand English, or because she had a greater air of affluence about her Aan she imagined, the taxi-driver - who, when she Aought about it afterwards, seemed to behave as if he was slightly deaf - picked up her cases and carried Aem into Ae hotel, and she followed him as far as the reception desk, where, extraordinarily enough, it appeared she was expected. "Miss Styles?" Ae sleek-haired young man behind Ae , reception-desk inquired of her wiA a great air of deference. "Miss Romilly Styles? Your room is reserved for you." "But -" Romilly stared at him. "I'm afraid there's some mistake, because I haven't reserved a room..." "Oh, but there is no mistake!' The young man produced Ae keys and handed them over to a waiting porter. He also, with a wide smile, handed over an envelope to Romilly. "I was instructed to give you Ais as soon as you arrived," he said. Romilly slit open the envelope there and Aen, after hesitating for only a second. It was addressed to Miss Romilly Styles, and it must be for her. ' Inside the envelope there was a single sheet of notepaper. ... Expensive notepaper, but not precisely feminine. 87

"Dear Miss Styles," Ae short note began, "I have taken the liberty of booking a room for you for one night, and I do hope you will be comfortable. Tomorrow, at eleven, my chauffeur will call for you, and drive you here to my house. You may remember that I invited you to stay with me when we met at your late aunt's house?" The note was signed, Leah Mortimer. At first Romilly was so surprised she could only stare at Ae letter, and Aen she realised Aat Ae porter was waiting, and the taxi-driver, too, had to be paid for his services. But when she looked round for Ae taxi-man he had vanished. She met Ae eyes of Ae young man behind the reception desk. They were regarding her blandly, inscrutably. "Your room is on Ae first floor," he said, as if Aat shou please her.

After a night spent in a sumptuous bedroom wiA her own private baAroom and an extraordinarily efficient room service, Romilly was hardly capable of surprise when, on the following day, she was collected by a uniformed chauffeur and driven away from Ae splendid opulence of Ae Winter Palace Hotel, wiA its outlook over Ae Libyan Hills, and Ae first stage of a quite unlooked-for adventure began. AlAough, when she Aought about it afterwards, Romilly realised Aat it was really Ae second stage. The first was when she heard Aat her Great-Aunt Romilly was dead, and she left England for Egypt. Already Ae day was promising considerable heat, and Ae Libyan Hills were a trifle hazy as a slight dust cloud hung over them. But the sky was beautifully, brilliantly blue, and the fertile belt which encompasses Luxor green and pleasant. It was only when they had been driving for about half an hour, leaving Ae temples of Luxor and Ae 88

remains of Ae once-great City of Thebes, as well as Ae silent valley known as the Valley of the Kings, or Ae Valley of Ae Dead, behind Aem, Aat Ae road became rougher and wound between boulders and over sandy stretches for another half-hour, at Ae end of which tune boA the inside and the outside of the car - which was an opal-coloured Rolls-Royce - were Aick with dust, and Romilly was expecting it to be bogged down at any minute by Ae yellow ridges of sand, which rose like a sea all about it. But Ae chauffeur quite obviously entertained no such fears, for apart from presenting to her a completely impassive back he drove as if he had performed Ais same journey many times before, and was not in Ae least troubled by Ae unfriendliness of Ae terrain. Moreover, he drove wiA a good deal of skill and in a manner so relaxed Aat Ae slight fears she began to entertain when Ae road ceased to be a road and became a mere trough of Ae desert vanished as if Ae chauffeur had actually said someAing to her to restore her confidence. But Aroughout Ae hour-long journey he said nothing at all to her, and she decided Aat he was eiAer marvellously well trained or had been instructed beforehand not to enter into conversation wiA his employer's visitor. Once or twice Romilly felt tempted to ask him whether Aey were appreciably nearer Mrs. Mortimer's house, but Ae sight of Aat impassive back put her off breaking the silence Aat lay between Aem inside Ae luxurious car. And she was glad that she had refrained from displaying vulgar curiosity - although why it should be vulgar to feel curious about one's destination in such a desolate spot she couldn't Aink - when without warning almost it became quite clear that Ae journey was ended, and a high wall rose up in front of Aem barring, save through an arched entrance gateway, any further progress. 89

The car, Aat had been weaving and bumping alarmingly for Ae last few hundred yards, approached the entrance gate in a more dignified manner, in keeping wiA Ae prestige value of its very recognisable bonnet, and came to a standstill immediately in front of a stout pair of double doors. They looked to Romilly to be made of metal, painted and ornamented - alAough Ae ornamentation was badly faded and blistered as a result of Ae power of Ae sun in Aat part of the world - and bearing very stout locks, one of which must have had a very large key attached to it on Ae inside, for, following a harsh grating and wheezing and Ae application of a pair of eyes to Ae narrow grille inset in Ae left-hand portion of Ae door - Ae right-hand door swung open, and Ae car slid under Ae arch and into a courtyard Aat was bounded by very high walls and gave no indication of what lay beyond. The chauffeur slid from behind Ae wheel and exchange a few words in a tongue quite unknown to Romilly, but which she suspected to be Arabic, wiA Ae man, wearing a kind of long djellabah, whose eyes must have been Ae eyes Aat approached Ae grille, and Aen turned back to Ae car and held open Ae rear door for its passenger to slight. AlAough they had been travelling for little more Aan an hour Romilly, when she stood on the hard, baked ground of Ae courtyard, felt stiff and slightly bruised, owing to Ae appalling condition of a large portion of Ae road over which Aey had travelled, and which even the comforts of a Rolls-Royce could do little to ameliorate. Also the. sun was striking down very warmly, and when she lifted her eyes to Ae square patch' of blue sky above her head Ae sharp clarity of it made her blink. She was wearing a very shapely pair of Ain cotton trou sers and a cotton top, but she felt as if she was enclosed in several layers of wool as Ae golden light from above 90

fell in a kind of golden shower all about her, and she wished she had had Ae foreAought to attach some form of protection to her head. But Ae chauffeur, for the first time speaking in English, said two words to her: "This way!" And he opened a door in Ae opposite wall and amazed her by revealing anoAer courtyard Aat was as shady as Ae outer courtyard was harsh wiA brazen glare, and to her further amazement Aere was actually a fountain playing in Ae middle of it and a magnificent bougainvillea entirely cloAing one wall. Romilly stood staring up at Ae bougainvillea and Aought Aat it was like a- purple cascade, giving forA violet shadows, and Ae shadows reached out to engulf her and drowned her as she stood there in a kind of perfumed sweetness. At Ae same time she became aware Aat Ae remaining three white walls - glaringly white but for the efforts to subdue Aeir somewhat shattering effect on Ae eyeballs - were also draped with climbing plants, but noAing so effective as Ae bougainvillea. Not even the scarlet hibiscus flowers and Ae passion flowers and the brilliant poinsettia leaves could detract from Ae splendour of Aat gorgeous torrent. And, like Ae soft cooing of many doves, Ae noise of Ae fountain, falling into a marble basin, went on and on, and occasionally a light splashing sound was created as well as a brilliant fish in the marble basin lifted its mouA and gulped in air. Romilly stepped forward to admire Ae fish, and the chauffeur seized the opportunity to open yet anoAer low, arched door, and this time she actually gasped as a long line of orange trees came into view, and facing; Aem was a row of lemon trees, Ae golden globes and Ae pale primrose ovals of fruit caught up armngst Ae glossy leaves looking like fairy lights amidst Ae green. 91

As if Ais was not enough, white doves fluttered from bough to bough in the still, warm air, and a long rectangu-, lar pool, surrounded by marble benches, lay at Ae end of Ae grove of trees. A kind of arabesque formed by columns and a protecting canopy of lattice work covered wiA wistaria afforded a sufficient amount of shade for Ae marble benches, and Ae long pool reflected Ae sky and had a second jet of water sending spray high into Ae air before it descended in glittering arcs and a soft hissing noise Aat was a background for Ae soft burbling going on in Ae outer courtyard. Romilly stood as if transfixed. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "This is like Ae Arabian Nights!" "You really think so?" a man's voice said, and Crighton Bey stepped forward between Ae orange and lemon trees to greet her. Romilly stared at him, wondering at first what he was doing there. "Don't tell me Mrs. Mortimer invited you as well?" she said at last, convinced Aat Ais was Ae only possible explanation. "No." He shook his gleaming dark head. "She and I are on quite good terms, but we don't often visit one another. Certainly we don't make a habit of it." "It would hardly be making a habit of it if you accepted an occasional invitation to stay wiA her - in a place like this," Romilly pointed out. "When, of course, Aere were oAer guests!" "You mean it might be inviting raised eyebrows amongst our mutual friends if I stayed wiA her when Aere were no oAer guests?" his sloe-black eyes developing a bright sparkle of amusement. "Well, I haven't much knowledge of your particular 92

circle of acquaintances, but I suppose it could look a bit odd." "FOM would think it odd?" j She stiffened slightly. "It would be no affair of mine, would it?" "Perhaps not." He moved towards her. "Tell me, did you have a very tiresome journey? We're only a short distance from Luxor, but the road is very rough, and extremely rough in places. My faAer never thought of Aat when he built this place. But I doubt wheAer he would have let it deter him even if he had." "^ow-father?" "Yes. I don't know whether I ever told you he was as keen on archaeology as your great-uncle; but apart, from Aat, and our proximity to Ae Valley of Ae Kings, he was extremely keen on my moAer, and he built this place as a honeymoon house. Not just Ae usual first honeymoon, but for a whole succession of future - possibly yearly - honeymoons, which unfortunately he never enjoyed because my . moAer died fairly soon after they were married." "I'm sorry about Aat," Romilly said, still sounding as if she was only partially recovering from Ac surprise of seeing him .. .'and had not even begun to recover from Ae shock of discovering Aat Ae house, apparently, was his. In which case, what had happened to Mrs. Mortimer? And ; why was she, Romilly, here at all? "But I'm a bit mixed up. 11 received a letter from Mrs. Mortimer -" ; "Leah? Yes; I know." "YouJWo?" "Of course. I wrote Ae letter.... Leah doesn't know , anything about it. Not yet." i Romilly surveyed him with arched eyebrows, and cold I very cold - blue eyes. In fact, he had probably never seen I such cold blue eyes in his life, and certainly not just such I' • 93

a pair Aat were fringed wiA golden-brown eyelashes very, very lightly mascaraed at Ae tips. "Please tell me if I'm making a mistake," she requested, in a voice as clear and cold as her eyes, "but do you wish me to understand Aat you forged Mrs. Mortimer's signature, in addition to issuing an invitation she probably doesn't know anyAing at all about, and booking me a room at Ae Winter Palace Hotel in Luxor, for which you paid in advance of my arrival? And Aat you expect me to accept all this as perfectly natural and. normal, and have no. explanation oAer Aan Aat you were probably acting on impulse?" He smiled ... and for Ae first time since she had known him it was a peculiarly charming and even, in a most curious way, extraordinarily infectious smile. "No, I can and do assure you, it wasn't a question of acting on impulse." "Then what was it? The gratification of some sort of a whim?" " "Not a whim." "Something along Ae lines of Aat oAer occasion, when you broke into my house in Cairo? You felt a kind of urge to foist yourself upon me? Only Ais time you Aought it would be a good idea to foist yourself upon me as a host? Only you seem to have overlooked one Aing.... I am not in the habit of staying wiA men I hardly know in isolated houses on the edge of Ae desert. And I don't allow them to settle my hotel bills, eiAer!" "Oh, come, come!" He had obviously made up his mind to try and wheedle her into a good humour, and to be reasonable - for some reason which must seem perfectly good to himself. "Your hotel bill was nothing, and you seem to forget Aat your aunt and I were friends, and if she'd been alive she'd have said it was a very good idea on my part 94

to invite you here for Ae week-end. I'm not proposing to keep you here.... And I do have lots of servants, and I've even gone to Ae trouble of inviting that close friend of yours whose acquaintance you made on Ae Nile steamer to join our little party and ensure Aat it's perfectly respectable. I'm expecting him to arrive at any moment." "You mean Martin Allerton?" "Of course. Do you have many oAer close men friends?" She flushed, suddenly and brilliantly, perhaps because of Ae way he was looking at her - a quizzical expression in Aose strange, mysterious, lustrous eyes of his as Aey roved over her. "Of course not." "Then Martin Allerton must be closer to you Aan I had suspected. And in addition to Ae three of us Leah will almost certainly drop in for .a short time. In fact, I shall be surprised if she doesn't." "But -" Romilly suddenly flung out her hands in bewilderment, looking at him in a bewildered way. "Why? Why do you want me here ...? Why do you go to so much trouble?" "Because I want you here." "But-why...?" Suddenly his handsome face looked extraordinarily sober. He moved closer to her - so close Aat he could have put out his hand and touched her if he had wanted to do so, and she could have put out a hand and touched him. As it was, looking up at him as they stood in such close proximity, and feeling her pulses quicken despite herself because, as always, he was immaculately if casually dressed, and Aere was something about him Aat had Aat effect on her - even causing Ae oddest sensation in Ae base of her Aroat, as if her breath was temporarily suspended — she remained quite still and motionless. 95

He answered her very quietly, with quite a grave inflection in his voice. "You ask me why I contrived to get you here? Well, it is because I had to see you ... and talk to you. You are not easy to talk to, you know.... You are less easy to talk to Aan almost anyone else I know! You have a habit of wiAdrawing into yourself, or simply rebuffing me wiA your coldness. And when it is a matter of urgency that I talk to you -" "Why?" she asked, not making any particular effort to rebuff him wiA coldness but aware Aat Aere was an extremely arctic note in her voice just Ae same. He shrugged his shoulders a little helplessly. "Cannot you wait until a more favourable moment?" he asked. "You have but just arrived, and Ae journey was hot and tiring, and after a rest in your room you will feel much better. And by lunch time your friend Mr, Allerton will have arrived, and- his arrival will no doubt fill you wiA much confidence," a little drily, as if he quite failed to understand why Ae presence of Martin Allerton should fill anyone wiA confidence. "And before dinner tonight Leah will have undoubtedly arrived also... unless I do not know my Leah!" "You speak as if you know her very well," Romilly remarked, wiA an extremely meaningful note in her voice. He glanced at her for a moment, and Aen away. And then he clapped his hands dedsively. A white-robed servant put in an appearance. "Have Miss Styles shown to her room," Crighton requested. Romilly spoke up hurriedly. "Just a minute! I haven't agreed to stay -'" But Ae servant bowed submissively in front of his master, and Aat master turned away. 96

"Please don't make Aings awkward for yourself, Miss Styles," he begged her icily ... and there was no doubt about it, when he did not choose to be urbane and very occasionally charming he could be the curtest and coolest man alive. "You really have no option but to remain where you are and enjoy my hospitality - which, I assure you, is even better than the Winter Palace Hotel. I had an excellent reason for bringing you here, and I do not intend you to leave until I am satisfied that Ae meAods I employed to get you away from Luxor were fully justified. I do not normally abduct young females, but I warn you Aat if you make any real attempt to leave you will find Ae absence of any kind of transport somewhat of a hindrance. My chauffeur will not drive you back to Ae Winter Palace until I give him Ae word, and it is raAer far for you to walk." "I could always try," she suggested, attempting a flippancy she did not feel, and he merely wiAered her wiA a look of contempt. "I don't Aink you intend me to take Aat suggestion seriously," he observed, and before she could think up anyAing else to say to him he had quietly left Ae room, and short of Arowing her dignity to Ae winds and pursuing him she realised Aere was noAing she could do but follow Ae servant. The man led her across Ae garden court and into Ae beautiful air-conditioned coolness of Ae house proper; and after Aat it seemed to her Aat Aey walked along endless corridors, all marble-tiled and crossed at intervals wiA graceful arches, wiA narrow windows set high up in Ae Aick walls through which an occasional bar of sunlight penetrated and lay like a golden sword blade on the black and white of the tilss. And then Aey reached a second garden court, complete with fountain and shimmering pool, which Aey crossed, after which Aey were in a part of Ae 97

house where Aere was much more in Ae way of creature comfort, and glowing Oriental rugs lay on Ae floor, silk curtains stirred gently in Ae arched entrances, and divans piled high with cushions were placed in recesses in the walls. At a section of Ae house where two corridors met and formed an angle a woman dressed like an ordinary English housekeeper met Aem and took over from Ae servant, and Romilly completed Ae journey to her room in her company. To her surprise she spoke English without a trace of an accent, and long before Ae door of her room was flung open and she was diverted by Ae charm of it Romilly had gaAered Aat her new conductress was English, and moreover she was very English. Once one accepted Ae obvious fact Aat she had noAing whatsoever to do wiA eiAer Ae East, or Ae Near East, one was even able to place Ae part of England she came from, simply by listening to her speech, which had a faint backwash of Whitechapel. "You'll find everything you need in here," she said to Ae girl, as Aey stood togeAcr in Ae doorway of a room Aat was all cream-coloured walls and warmer creamcoloured bedspread, rugs and curtains. The bedspread was of heavy silk, and so were Ae curtains; and Aere was a delightfully comfortable-looking wicker armchair, wiA an adjustable footrest, which appeared to be a nest of cushions. Through an arched entrance she could see a baAroom, wiA a pale azure baA and ceiling, and a lot of of bright fitments Aat made her uncomfortably aware Aat she was covered wiA dust. "I'd like a wash," she said, aware also that she was feeling sticky from the heat. "I feel a mess!" "Take a quick shower," Ae woman advised. "If you haven't brought a baArobe wiA you Acre's one in Ae wardrobe." Romilly looked at her curiously. 98

"You're English," she said, and she allowed her surprise to echo in her voice. The woman smiled. "The name is Forbes," she'said, "Mrs. Forbes. There's noAing very Oriental about Aat, is Aere? My husband served in the last war, and his name was Bert - Bert Forbes. He was valet to Mr. Julius's father, and I looked after Mr. Julius when he was knee-high to a grasshopper, as Aey say. He doesn't like it when I occasionally order him about, as I do ... but Aere, when you've seen a little lad go off to boarding-school and have packed his tuckbox for him you feel you can take a few liberties now and then, don't you?" "Yes, I suppose so," Romilly answered, but slowly, as if she found it difficult to imagine Julius Crighton at an age when a tuckbox was a Aing of value to him. Mrs. Forbes smiled at her, looked her up and down rather deliberately, as if she had a certain interest in her, and Aen indicated the french windows giving on to a vista of enclosed garden. "That garden is quite private," she said. "If you want tp walk in it you're not likely to run into anyone else. Actually, this and the adjoining suite share Ae garden, but Ae suite is empty at Ae moment, so you haven't any near neighbours." At Aat Romilly looked thoughtful. "You mean I'm alone in Ais part of Ae house?" "Well, if you want anything you've only to ring your bell. Someone will come at once." Romilly thanked her for Ae information, watched her cases carried in by a houseboy, and then nodded dismissal as Mrs. Forbes stood waiting to hear of some particular request. "I shall be quite all right, Aank you," she said. "I'm 99

sure Aere's everything I need here. The room seems marvellously equipped." "It is," Mrs. Forbes assured her. "The late Princess -" And Aen she decided to say no more, and beat a retreat. Romilly walked to Ae french windows, opened Aem and passed out into Ae garden. She was met by Ae heady perfume of honeysuckle, and saw Aat a vast bush of it grew just outside the window. She inhaled deeply of Ae intoxicating sweetness, and felt her anger at being decoyed in Ais fashion remarkably cool until there was hardly any of it left to rankle at the back of her mind. What a wonderful house, she Aought, and unless she was making a mistake she had been allocated the quarters of Ae late Princess Shaif, a great beauty whose husband, Roger Crighton, had wanted to repeat his honeymoon in this house. To repeat it year after year, only unfortunately Ae lovely princess had died young! ..,

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CHAPTERV ROMILLY found it difficult to believe Aat it was actually happening, a short time later, when she found herself seated at a luncheon table in Ae shade of a cool colonnade, wiA scent of oleanders floating on Ae warm air around her and Ae tinkling music of a fountain playing somewhere not far away, wiA Martin Allerton on her left hand and Julius Crighton - acting the part of host - on her right. In Ae past few days she had grown accustomed to sharing a table in Ae dining-saloon of Ae Nile steamer wiA Allerton, but Crighton was an unknown quantity — someone she had been forced to suspect from Ae moment Aat she made his acquaintance. And now she'was an unwilling guest in his house, feeling more strongly suspicious of him Aan ever; and the one Aing she couldn't understand was Ae complete about-face that appeared to have taken place in Ae attitude of Allerton to a man he also had loudly and persistently suspected, ever since he had appeared and disappeared at Ae tomb of Akhenaten, which had struck him as quite extraordinary. But simply apparently because Ae mysterious Bey had invited him to stay wiA him, and underlined his invitation by sending a special car to collect him, he was all at once prepared to accept him as "a very decent fellow indeed, and remarkably hospitable". He had said as much to Romilly while Ae two of them were alone for a short while just before Ae meal was served, and a servant had previously dispensed very dry Martinis, which apparently Allerton found very much to his taste. Romilly had made some effort to find out why the American had accepted Ae inviiation of a complete stranger 101

wiAout at least Ainking it a little odd Aat such an invitaion had been issued, in the first place, but Aey had not been left alone togeAer for long enough for any satisfactory explanation of AUerton's attitude to be offered to her. She had garnered simply Aat Ae American was flattered, and being American - and not British, as he stressed - he saw no reason why he shouldn't accept. "Besides, when I heard you were going to be here wild horses wouldn't have induced me to turn down such an opportunity to be wiA you," he had told her, making a surreptitious snatch at her hand and giving it a quick squeeze before Ae host rejoined Aem. Crighton had looked at Aem raAer hard, Romilly had Aought, when he came in; but he was such a perfect host, and his manners were so excellent, Aat it was quite impossible for her to gaAer what he was Ainking. And now, having made Ae most of an excellent lunch and obviously enjoyed the wines that were served wiA it, Martin Allerton looked as if he was prepared to beam on anybody and everybody - and especially Romilly. She was glad when Ae host suggested removal to Ae opposite end of Ae colonnade, where some extremely comfortable-looking chairs were grouped round a low table, for coffee; and she was careful to ensure that she was not placed between Ac two men, where Martin's roving hand could get at her, and instead dropped into a chair on-Ac far side of Crighton. As she sipped her coffee she looked round carefully at Ae Bey, and saw Aat he was watching her wiA raAer an amused expression on his face. During lunch she had learned Aat Ae house that was so romantically tucked away on. the edge of the desert was known as Dar el Pace, which she understood meant House of Peace. WiA Ae flower scents floating in Ae atmosphere, 102

and particularly Ae piercingly sweet perfume of Ae honeysuckle, and Ae almond-sweet perfume of the oleanders, and Aat endless cooing of Ae doves, she was inclined to Aink Aat it was very well named. But Ae fact remained Aat she had been coerced into coming to Ais place, and she found it quite impossible to relax for longer Aan a few minutes at a time with such knowledge to disturb her. Some time during Ae hot afternoon, while she was resting in her room, Leah Mortimer arrived, and despite Ae fact Aat it was Ae hour of siesta, and previously a brooding calm had hung over Ae place, from Ae moment Aat Ae outer gate opened to receive her Ae voice and personality of Ae lovely widow seemed to penetrate to every corner of it. She could be heard laughing delightedly in Ae way a child laughs at something which charms it; and even the perfume she used - a very distinctive and expensive perfume - seemed to come stealing along Ae cool corridors to the far corner where Romilly was enjoying a very good cup of tea, which had been served to her complete w!th cream and sugar, on a silver tray and out of a small, squat silver teapot which looked to her to be William and Mary, and feeling peculiarly resentful because of Ae sudden intrusion of what she was inclined to look upon somewhat understandably as alien forces. And the thing which vaguely irritated and annoyed her most, without her being entirely aware of it, was the way Ae host's voice joined in with the musical cadences of Mrs. Mortimer, and the way, in fact, he actually joined in her laughter, as if he hadn't a care in the world now that she, had arrived, and the two of them seemed to be celebrating her arrival on Ae other side of Romilly's enclosed garden wall. She felt inclined to raise the matter of this slight but definite disturbance wiA Mrs. Forbes when she put in an 103

appearance, for Ae one Aing Ae housekeeper had promised her was Aat she would be completely undisturbed. And Aen she realised Aat if she made such a complaint she would be behaving childishly, for Ae host certainly had a right to behave as he liked in his own house, and so, if it came to Aat, had his guests. Even herself! She had Ae right to insist on leaving, and she meant to do so Ae very next time she saw her host. But when she saw him it was hours later, and night had fallen over Ae rocky desert surrounding Aem, and over Ae beautiful but excessively lonely house. The sky Aat had so recently blazed wiA Ae fires of sunset had Ae mysterious, velvety quality Aat Romilly knew she would assodate wiA Egypt for Ae rest of her life; and as she crossed an open court in Ae wake of a servant, on her way to rejoin her host, she felt a quite extraordinary quickening of her pulses, as if someAing in the very darkness around her was seeking to impress itself on her memory. One day, whatever it was Aat was quivering like a live Aing in Ae atmosphere, said to her, you will look back on this night, and Ae people in Ais house will be eiAer important or unimportant to you. Never again will you be able to regard Aem as casual acquaintances ... for that is someAing they can never be again! The time has come when you will get to know Aem for what Aey are, and wheAer or not Ae knowledge will make you any happier there is noAing you can do to alter the facts. It is Kismet, Ae local people would tell you.... Kismet, Kismet! The Will of Allah! She gave herself a little shake. The words seemed actually to be spoken, very close to her ear, and they caused her to look raAer pale and startled when she emerged into a soft flood of electric light that poured from Ae open windows of a large room she had not yet seen, but inside which 104

she was soon to find herself being stared at wiA curious intensity by Ae group of Aree who were waiting for her. There was Leah Mortimer, utterly ravishing, and desirable in a shimmering gown of ice-blue, and Martin Allerton, very smart and well brushed in a criap white dinnerjacket and rakish scarlet cummerbund. He was sipping one of his favourite cocktails, and he smiled at her raAer sheepishly, as if he hoped she wouldn't get the idea he was a little too firmly wedded to Aat particular blend of Martini. As for Ae host, Aere was noAing an expert tailor could have found wrong wiA Ae fit and cut of his evening attire; and if his appearance was raAer more conventional Aan Aat of his guest Aat, in Romilly's own private opinion - despite Ae fact Aat she felt she was waging a kind of war with him at Ae moment - was by no means a bad Aing, for she disliked flamboyance in Ae male sex, and when a man was as darkly attractive as Julius Crighton he had no need to resort to embellishments to make Ae most of himself. He was pouring a glass of sherry for his female guest when Romilly entered Ae room, which was almost unbelievably luxurious as well as very pleasingly furnished, and he put it into her hand before he straightened and looked up at Romilly. His dark, remarkable eyes surveyed her under slightly narrowed lids, which lent him that look she described to herself as his "Ancient Egyptian" look. "Ah, Miss Styles!" he exclaimed formally. His eyes narrowed still more, for all her colour appeared to have temporarily fled, and in her slim white dress she looked raAer like a wraiA. "You are perfectly all right?" he asked, on a note of urgency. "Perfectly all right," she answered, and Aere was even more formality in her voice than there had previously been in his. Her remote blue eyes refused to recognise the concern in his face. "Except Aat I hardly expected to become 105

a member of a house-party when I was brought here Ais morning!" Mrs. Mortimer set down her glass of sherry on a table at her elbow, and rose to greet her wiA a show of great warmth and exuberance. "Ah, Romilly!" she exclaimed, although Romilly couldn't remember granting her permission to make use of her Christian name. "How very, very nice to see you here! I was thinking of inviting you to stay with me.... In fact, I Aink I did actually mention to you at one time Aat you must come and stay wiA me? But Julius got in ahead of ' me, and you have become his guest instead of mine! But that is quite all right, because I, too, am a guest of his, as you see!" "Yes, I see," Romilly answered, and pretended not to see Ae lovely little white hand extended to her. And Aen, as she disliked being rude, and at the moment her quarrel was wiA Crighton Bey, for forging Leah Mortimer's signature, and not wiA Leah Mortimer herself, she took it, and felt Ae warm, beringed fingers, wiA Aeir rosy fingertips, closing firmly over hers. "But I actually Aought I was being invited to -" Whether as a result of sheer clumsiness or not, Romilly couldn't tell, but the decanter Ae Bey's hand had been about to close upon was suddenly overset, and a stream of colourful fluid flowed across the beautiful mellow wood of Ae long table on which the tray of drinks was standing. The Bey himself uttered an annoyed exclamation, and then touched a bell at his elbow and a servant appeared and started to mop up the mess. Mrs. Mortimer, turning beautiful, surprised eyes upon her host, shook her head in even greater surprise. "Really, Julius," she declared, "that is quite unlike you! I have never known you to have an unsteady hand before." 106

"And it is not in Ae least unsteady at the moment," he replied, exhibiting his shapely masculine hand for her benefit, and sounding a trifle irritated, as if he Aought that was too obvious a remark for her to make. "But occasionally we are all guilty of accidents, and I am no different from anyone else." "Oh, but, Julius darling, I assure you you are," she told him, while her lustrous eyes, soft wiA amusement and was it raAer too pronounced affection? Romilly wondered - dwelt lingeringly on his face. "You are so very different Aat I cannot begin to make you understand how different you are! Why, if all men were like you Ae world would be too perfect a place!" and she went up to him and laid one of her soft little hands on his sleeve, and, obviously repenting because he had spoken raAer sharply to her, he lifted the hand and, before the eyes of Ae oAer two, saluted it wiA his lips. "Thank you, Leah," he said quietly, retained possession o^ her hand for a moment longer, and then let it go. "You are an incorrigible flatterer, but such flattery is very pleasing occasionally. Just say Aat I was very clumsy just now, and let it go at Aat." ^ She looked at him a trifle whimsically, but with a fascinating softness at Ae comers of her mouA, and responded sweetly to his request. ' "As you say, darling," she murmured as if she was actually trying to humour him, and Aen turned once more to Romilly. "You were telling me just now that you received some other invitation?" she said in an enquiring voice. Once more Romilly was prevented from making a straightforward reply. "Miss Styles and Mr. Allerton are very good friends," Julius Crighton remarked, with obviously no intention of permitting Romilly to mak" revelations he quite plainly 107

preferred should not be made. To her astonishment he continued suavely: "They made Ae trip up Ae Nile togeAer, and that being Ae case I Aought Aey would like to be togeAer during a visit to this house. In fact, I felt very strongly Mr. Allerton would never forgive me if 'I omitted to ask his charming friend to accompany him when I first suggested he might care for a short period of relaxation at Dar el Pace.... Is that not so, Mr. Allerton?" Martin AUerron, looking suddenly very gratified indeed because his name had been publicly coupled with Romilly's, flushed slightly in a pleased manner and agreed wiA enAusiasm Aat Aat was indeed Ae case. "Yes, as a matter of fact you did say someAing about Romilly coming along as well," he admitted. "Although I Aought at Ae time that was too much to hope for, because I knew she had plans of her own. But it seems I was to be lucky after all, and when I got here here she was! I don't mind telling you I was jolly glad you were able to persuade her. You'll have to pass on to me your particular meAod of dealing with independent young women!" "Oh, as to that, I have no particular method," Ae Bey returned quietly. His dark eyes met Romilly's. "At least, not one Aat I would advise you to try out yourself!" She gazed back at him in astonishment, behind which was an unwilling admiration for his cool effrontery. And at Ae same time she was considerably puzzled by his deliberate linking of her name wiA Martin Allerton's... which also had Ae effect of annoying her quite consider•ably. And was not, as she realised, particularly flattering, since ' there had been odd moments during their brief acquaintance when he had actually come perilously close to attracting her in a way no oAer man she had met had never had Ae power to attract her. 108

She felt herself colouring rather vividly wiA uncontrollable resentment, and she coloured still more when she saw him smiling wiA a kind of cool amusement, as if her inability to conceal her swift reaction to his behaviour was a source of entertainment to him. She bit her lip and looked away, and he moved swiftly towards her and smiled at her wiA flashing teeA. "Do let me give you something to drink. Miss Styles," h" said. "What would you like? There is'everyAing here-" "NoAing, Aank you," she replied with curtness, and he studied her silently for a few moments, and Aen turned away. At dinner he was Ae same excellent host Aat he had been at lunch, but, perhaps because Mrs. Mortimer was now one of his guests, he seemed to put himself out to be even more attentive and urbane. It was quite clear to Romilly by Ais time - and, strangely enough, she had received quite a different impression of Ae effect Ae two had upon' one another when she saw Aem togeAer for the first time at Mrs. Mortimer's roof-top party - Aat a bond united Ae handsome man and Ae beautiful woman who could boA trace Aeir ancestry back to Ae kings and queens of Ancient Egypt. It had actually affected her rather like a shock when she saw Leah smiling into his eyes, and perhaps even before Aat, when she heard Aem laughing together, she had felt Strangely, curiously dismayed. And there was no reason why she should feel dismay ... none whatsoever, as she told herself quite fiercely as she sat at the Bey's flowerdecked dinner-table and refused course after course because she really had no appetite, and Ae sight of Mrs. Mortimer in her shimmering blue gown, with some priceless antique jewellery at her neck and about her wrists, betraying with every movement she made, and every word she uttered in her clear, bell-like voice, how incapable she was of appear109

ing gauche and awkward even for a second, and how much of sheer perfection there was about her, affected her like an adverse comment on herself. Even Martin Allerton, as the meal progressed, seemed to become mildly hypnotised by Mrs. Mortimer.... And by Ae time Aey were ready to wiAdraw for coffee and liqueurs he actually seemed to be under a spell. It appeared she knew America very well, and had even visited his home town, and it was quite touching to see Ae way he reacted to her kindly comments on Ae old-world charm of his birthplace. Any revelations he had made to Romilly about his way of life "back home", his parents and anything else connected with him were quite uninformative-by comparison wiA Aose he made to Leah, wiA her long-lashed, slanting eyes, and her inviting, smiling lips. And after a time even Ae host seemed to recognise Aat Ae burden of conversation was likely to rest wiA Ae oAer two for ^ quite some time once they were comfortably established in the relaxed atmosphere of Ae room where Aey had had drinks before dinner, and he looked meaningly across at Romilly and suggested she might like a walk in Ae outer courtyards before retiring for Ae night. "I don't know how you feel about exercise," he remarked, "but in a climate such as Ais one is inclined to avoid it rather stringently during Ae daytime. I personally like a breath of night air before going to bed." Romilly had the distinct impression Aat Mrs. Mortimer shot a sharp and raAer curious look at him; and as if he was perfectly well aware of it he bent and patted her lightly - on Ae silken smoothness of her nearest shoulder before opening Ae glass doors for Romilly. "Do extract all the information you can from Mr. Allerton about America," he said. "You never know, you might want to revisit it again fairly soon!" 110

She seemed to tighten her lips and Ae lovely eyes grew momentarily cold - and Aen sparkled like diamonds. She put back her shining head and laughed up at him, displaying all her even, perfect little teeA. "True," she agreed. "Who knows? ... I might feel Ae urge to visit America again quite soon!" Outside, in Ae darkness of Ae courtyards, Romilly found she would be doing an unwise Aing if she acted on impulse and Arew off her host's hand when it settled about her elbow with Ae intention of preventing her from losing her footing in Ae dark. The garden courts, Aat in daylight were a blaze of colour and a delight to the eye, were full of an inky blackness Aat actually brought her up short with a faint murmur of alarm when she first put an uncertain toe into Aem. Behind her was Ae glowing warmA of Ae room Aey had left, and in front noAing but a black abyss into which she feared to tread, alAough it was full of Ae soft tinkling of the fountains and heady with Ae perfume of'Ae flowers hidden by Ae forbidding canopy of Ae night. Julius Crighton heard her small cry of alarm and tightened his hold on her bare arm. She heard him laugh softly, very close to her ear. "You are frightened?" he said. "But Aere is noAing to be frightened of, because Ae moon will rise in another ten minutes or so, and it will be bright as day where we are standing now." Romilly said something nervously about always having a kind of fear of Ae dark, and his hand deserted her arm and went round her until it was clasping her shoulder. He advised her to stand perfectly still until the moon rose, and alAough it seemed to her slightly ridiculous to remain absolutely still with Ae blackness lapping about them in strange, sensuous waves, bats fluttering past Aeir ears wiA 111

little, shrill cries and the unseen spray from Ae nearest fountain settling upon Aem like dew, she neverAeless took his advice and remained slim and motionless in Ae hold of his arm, wondering whether he realised his proximity was embarrassing to her, for she could actually feel Ae beat of his heart as he pressed her very slightly against him, and the extraordinarily attractive masculine "perfume of him - which had disturbed her before - seemed to make a kind of deliberate assault upon her nostrils, wiA the result Aat she began to feel weak at the knees. And her voice had very little confidence in it when she spoke again. "You are lucky to have such a charming house. But isn't it raAer cut off...? I mean, no one could find you here unless they knew that you actually lived here!" He laughed again, a deep, soft, masculine laugh. "But perhaps my main purpose in creating a hideaway like Ais for myself was in order to spare myself Ae boredom of having people call upon me," he suggested. "But you like people.... I mean, oAerwise why did you invite Martin and myself and Mrs. Mortimer to stay wiA you?" And Aen she felt it necessary to correct herself. "At least, you didn't invite me in Ae normal sense! ... You decoyed me!" "True. But I know Leah very well, and she is always good company, and Ae young man, Martin, was intended to make up the numbers. Three would have been an awkward number, whereas four has a certain tidiness about it." "And I gather you imagine he is of some interest to me, and I to him?" "Well! ..." She relt his fingers gently smoothing Ae soft skin of her shoulder, and she also felt her knees grow weaker and wished he would either stop or Aeir relationship was not quite what it was. "Well, it did strike me you were getting along very well during your Nile steamer trip, 112

and it actually did occur to me Aat you might find him attractive. He is quite a nice young American, and you are a nice young English girl... and Egypt is a romantic country! I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't even decide to Aink seriously of him!" "Can't you?" Abruptly she moved away from him, and was lucky because Ae moon sailed into view at Aat moment, appearing above Ae high courtyard wall, caught up in the branches of a palm tree that was silvered by Ae flood of light Aat suddenly poured over it. "Thank you," she said stiffly, "but I am capable of enjoying a young man's company wiAout wanting to marry him, if that's what you mean by deciding to Aink seriously of him!" Julius Crighton smiled ... and although she didn't see him smile, she knew that he did. "What else would I mean?" he asked her. "A charming young woman like you, with moonbeams in her hair and Ae prettiest frock I have seen for a long time.... Tell me, why do you dress so much in pale colours, and why do they suit you so well that I feel you must be very clever! Leah is a creature of brightness and light, and would look insipid dressed as you dress. But you -" "I am well aware Aat, by comparison with Mrs. Mortimer, you must Aink me very insipid," she interrupted in the same stiff tones. "But I would prefer it if you didn't attempt to make comparisons between us." "Why not?" he asked, as if he was genuinely interested. -"Because she is very obviously a close friend of yours, and I am no more Aan an acquaintance." She didn't know why she made such a remark, but his description of Leah "a creature as of brightness and light" annoyed her, for no better reason Aan that if one was insipid — and the insinuation was certainly there - one could hardly ever hope to be Aought of as brilliant and beautiful. And although she 113

knew perfectly well she was neiAer brilliant nor beautiful, she had always prided herself on having a certain fairly strong feminine appeal. "Besides," she added, "from your point of view I must be fairly insipid. I'm very English, and you have, I believe - so also has Mrs. Mortimer! quite an exdting mixture of blood in your veins." He was silent for raAer a long moment, and she wondered wheAer she ^had gone too far. And Aen he said quietly: "Not such a very exciting mixture. I have a certain amount of Egyptian blood, but I also am very English." "Are you?" She looked up at him quickly, surprised, and saw Aat his dark eyes were gazing down at her very Aoughtfully in Ae moonlight. "You mean, you Aink like an Englishman? Your reactions are English?" "Some of Aem. I believe I had a great grandmother who was partly Arab and partly French, so if my reactions are not entirely English on every possible occasion you will have to forgive me!" He took her, quite gently, by Ae arm again, and led her towards Ae entrance to Ae next courtyard. "Come wiA me and I will show you something Aat you will remember," he said. They walked - Ae small heels of her silver sandals taptapping beside him - Arough Ae flower-filled courts until they reached a door in a toweringly high wall, through which he led her. On Ae oAer side of Ae door a stretch of rocky desert sloped in the moonlight to the bright curve of a river, and it was only suddenly that she realised Aat it was Ae Nile again. She drew a swift breaA of pleasure, for she had grown quite fond of the Nile during her trip to Luxor - and she knew she would always remember the wonderful sunsets and dawns Aat transformed its banks into a fairyland. 114

Just now Ae hour was. fairly late, but Ae late-rising moon still had a slightly orange look about it, and Ae open stretch of desert was tawny-gold raAer Aan silver, and Ae palm fronds black against the purplish-blueness of the sky. She could see mud-walled buildings, grouped closely togeAer, and one particularly tall, sentinel-like palm tree rising out of an oasis of leaves and reaching for Ae stars. As she stood Aere, with the shifting sand of Ae desert beneaA her feet, a cool desert wind fanning her face and lifting Ae ends of her hair, a tiny thrill stole like a vibration along her spine, for somewhere in that Aicket of green leaves enclosing a well where the village women fetched their water in Ae daytime someone was playing a flute, or some instrument which sounded like a flute, and Ae plaintive wail of it rose up like a cry in Ae night and carried clearly across Ae intervening space to Ae spot where Ae man and Ae girl were standing. Romilly spoke impulsively. "Oh, but Aat's beautiful! I love it! ...Is it a young man serenading his girl-friend ? " "It could be. But in this country it's much more likely to be a young man quite alone simply enjoying himself. A shepherd, playing on his favourite pipe." "It's exciting." "You find it so?" "Oh, yes," she assured him, her eyes big in the delicate oval of her face, her soft lips falling -a little apart. "Very exciting." "And perhaps Ae most exciting thing about it is that it's been going on for centuries, that simple form of entertainment. And Ae player is entertaining himself, of course, alAough to Western ears Ae music may sound curious. Would you like to walk over to the village?" She answered immediately and eagerly; 115

"Yes, please!" Once more he took her possessively by the arm, and Aey walked forward over a raAer stony track to Ae shining band of Ae river, and Ae cluster of date palms. There was no one Aere when Aey reached the palms, and Ae music of Ae pipe had ceased before they had covered half Ae distance. But Romilly found it strangely fascinating strolling in Ae dark alleyways- between the silent houses, and beneaA Ae lightly swaying feaAery fronds of Ae palms, while Ae moon climbed higher and higher in Ae sky, and Ae air grew sharp and cool, as if wiA Ae approach of dawn, alAough dawn was still a long way off. Romilly doubted whether she could have avoided missing her footing occasionally and stumbling in the dark if her host's arm had not provided her wiA so much support; and as he was considerate enough not to wiAdraw Aat support even when it was no longer needed and they were standing on Ae bank of Ae river watching the shining curve of it and Ae moon-baAed mystery of Ae farther shore, she was in little danger of turning one of her slender ankles even Aough her shoes were by no means suitable for such an excursion. And despite Ae absolute silence around them, and Ae raAer frightening loneliness - in fact, Romilly would have found it terrifying if she had been forced to experience it alone, or even in Ae company of Martin Allerton, who was no more accustomed to such a setting Aan she was - Ae fact Aat Crighton disregarded it entirely as he asked her questions about herself and her home life seemed to rob it of all its sinister overtones, and for the first time since she had met him she" found herself becoming quite expansive on Ae subject of her own rather ordinary way of life. The fact that he was hardly impressed showed immediately, and she saw his dark eyebrows rise into slightly 116

questioning arcs, and Aere was a puzzled expression in his extraordinary eyes as he gazed down at her. "And so much dullness and mediocrity has helped to produce you," he said, as if. that in itself was remarkable "I am not surprised now Aat you seized Ae opportunity to inspect your aunt's property as soon as it was made known to you Aat it had become yours, even although it meant coming all Ais way by yourself. The women of my world would not have done so .... at least, not wiAout some sort of escort or companion." "Not even Mrs. Mortimer?" she enquired, wiA a slight edge to her voice. "Mrs. Mortimer is a widow, and in any case slightly older Aan you are. She is also a great traveller." "Why did you think she might be visiting America shortly?" she asked curiously. He frowned, his hand still caressing her shoulder. "Because Aere is one excellent reason why she might do so.... But we will not go into Aat now," he replied. "Before you leave here we will go into it, but not tonight!" "You are very mysterious," Romilly said quietly. "In fact, I find you very, very mysterious!" "Do you?" "Yes. And sometimes I wonder why my aunt claimed you as such a close friend. Do you think she ... altogether understood you?" There was silence between them for a full half minute, and then he enquired with a certain dryness and coolness: "Does Aat mean you personally have very grave doubts about me? And, shall we say, my - respectability?" "No ... of course not!" "But I did break into your house ... remember? And there is all that mixed blood in my veins which you love to talk about! And I did decoy you here!" 117

"I Aink you wish me to understand you had a very good reason for Aat?" "But you know so little about me even Aat could be a lie! I could, for instance, have wanted to get you here for personal reasons!" "Then in Aat case I simply cannot understand why you invited Martin Allerton to come along as well." He laughed wiA genuine amusement. "You are quite right, of course," he said. "If I had wanted you here simply and solely because I find you a delight to Ae eye and could hardly wait to get you alone I would not have issued an invitation to a man who might very easily be your lover ... and I would not have invited Leah as an extra member of Ae party, eiAer!" "Except, of course, Aat she does seem to regard you wiA raAer a special affection." "And I have for her quite a spedal affection. But unfortunately I cannot trust her ... well, not as much as one would desire to trust her." "Really?" Romilly put back her head and looked up at him, and Ae movement brought her small chin very close to his shoulder. "That sounds to me quite extraordinary! ... You admire her enormously - you're probably in love wiA her! - but you can't trust her." "No." His dark eyes returned her regard very gravely in the moonlight. "Romilly! You seem to be gifted wiA Ae facility for misunderstanding everyAing I say and do, and Acre is one Aing I must make crystal clear to you.... You are in considerable danger!" There was a sudden movement behind them, and she whirled round in alarm. She was just in time to see someone sprinting away in Ae moonlight, becoming lost in Ae blackness between a grove of palms, pursued in a flash by Crighton Bey, who returned after a brief interval to report 118

in rather an odd voice Aat Aere was no cause for alarm. ... It was simply Ae lute player who had been seeking a fresh form of entertainment by spying on them. "He was curious, Aat is all. But I Aink I gave him quite a scare. He will not return." But Romilly was recalling the last words he had uttered to her before Ae sudden interruption, and Ae shock of Ae small disturbance had had the effect of driving all Ae colour out of her cheeks. Her eyes looked enormous. He moved swiftly towards her, and wiA one swift natural movement he took her protectively into his arms. "My sweet," he exclaimed, his voice full of concern, "Aere is noAing now for you to be alarmed about! It really was Ae lute player who was spying on us ... and he will not do such a Aing again. He was a simple inhabitant of Ais oasis ... nothing more sinister Aan that!" "But you said-" "NoAing about Ae maker of music! He is just a youth. ... A mere lad!" "Then what about the - danger... ?" For answer, she felt his mouA alight swiftly upon hers, and for Ae first time in her life she was being kissed in a way that set her senses reeling. Danger, the night, Ae oasis, Ae shining band of the river.... All were forgotten as a pair of shapely masculine lips took possession of her lips and she felt herself clinging to him. Afterwards she wondered whether she actually responded, but at the time she was aware of nothing but the sheer delight of being held in his arms, Ae almost exquisite joy of knowing they were Julius Crighton's arms, and his voice was murmuring to her as if she was a child and he had to soothe her. "Do not fear, my little one! I promise you no danger shall ever touch you, not while I can prevent it! You are so lovely, and so vulnerable.... Why on earth do you have 119

to be so vulnerable?" The stars were wheeling above her head, Ae great palm fronds doing a kind of mad dance against Ae violet night sky. "Please!" she gasped, at last, "you are taking my breaA away. Please ...!" He let her go at last, but by Aat time her whole face felt on fire from Ae touch of his devastatingly handsome mouA, her body bruised by Ae fierce pressure of his arms. He turned away abruptly, as if noAing utterly phenomenal had taken place. "Come!" he said almost curtly. "We will return to Ae house." Music was issuing from Ae house when Aey reached it, a wildly beautiful piano concerto which someone mast have selected from a wide selection of such pieces and placed on the record player during Aeir absence. Romilly had noticed Ais handsome piece of furniture while Aey were having Aeir coffee, and she suspected it was Mrs. Mortimer who, bored perhaps by Martin Allerton's confidences, had wandered over to it and set Ae music in motion. But when she entered Ae room slightly ahead of her hos she discovered Aat it was Martin who was enjoying Ae record player, and Leah was hovering restlessly just inside Ae open french window, looking very much as if she was not merely bored but somewhat perturbed in her mind because of Ae absence of Ae host. In fact, it would not have been an exaggeration to say she looked positively strung up, her lustrous eyes agitated and her mouA a Ain red line. "Ah, so Aere you are, Julius!" she exclaimed, as he followed Romilly through the door. "I wondered what had happened to you and to Miss Styles also!" Her brilliant eyes fastened upon Ae English girl. "Has he been showing 120

you all over Ae estate?" a certain dryness in her voice, as if she doubted it. "You look dishevelled, as if the night wind played havoc wiA your hair!" Romilly scarcely answered this question, because for one reason she didn't quite know-how to explain away Ae dishevelled condition of her hair, and Martin Allerton deserted Ae record cabinet and came over to regard her somewhat curiously. "Is Aere a wind tonight?" he asked, in a curiously naive fashion, and Romilly felt herself blush scarlet. Mrs. Mortimer's eyes ceased to be merely lustrous and flashed sparks. "Of course there is not!" she replied for Romilly, coldly. "A breeze, perhaps, but noAing more. I suggest you wiAdraw to your room and attend to your make-up, my dear — It appears to have slipped!" Romilly did not even look round at Crighton Bey before she left the room, only too Aankful to make her escape. As she did so, however, she heard him saying something almost sooAingly to Leah Mortimer, and Ae American whistled.

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CHAPTER VI THE next day the entire party made an expedition into the desert, and Romilly was more Aan ever impressed by the loneliness of their situation. BoA the Bey and Mrs. Mortimer appeared to know Ae desert very well and for Aem it plainly had a great and compelling attraction, and Aey talked of the times when Aey had been lost in it without apparently being much disturbed by such experiences. Martin Allerton looked at Romilly and indicated by the expression in his eyes that he Aought them a raAer extraordinary pair; but at Ae same time he was plainly enjoying his week-end and Ae beautifully served alfresco lunch Aey enjoyed in Ae desert, and although her attitude towards him was not quite as encouraging as it had been Ae night before Mrs. Mortimer plainly attracted him a good deal. He had not precisely deserted Romilly in favour of bestowing all 'his attentions on Ae beautiful and unusual widow, but he did display Ae utmost pleasure and. gratification whenever she spoke to him or singled him out in any way; and apart from liking him for what he was - an engaging young man on a world tour - Romilly could not have cared less if he had ignored her altogether. For Aere had been occasions during Ae Nile steamer trip when his, attentions to her had been difficult to cope with, and if he had continued to pay her such attentions during this week-end it could have been awkward. Not that she thought her host would have objected. He might have been amused - despite that interlude in the Arab village which he appeared to have completely for122

gotten as soon as it was over. And hadn't he already made it clear Aat he had invited Allerton in order Aat he should make one of a pair with Romilly? The latter experienced Ae most extraordinary sensations every time she recalled Aat somewhat crude admission of Ae Bey's.... That he Aought Ae two of Aem got along well togeAer and might even consider seeing much more of one another in Ae future! With such an admission ringing in her ears and Ae memory of his arms holding her, and his kisses descending like rain upon her face Ae night before, she felt bewildered, and she was also conscious of a deep and abiding hurt. In fact, Ae hurt was so deep and so disturbing Aat noAing Aat happened during Ae brief drive into Ae wilderness of sand surrounding Dar el Pace really penetrated. Voices and conversation, Ae way the cars bumped along over Ae rough ground, the constant bubbling laughter of Mrs. Mortimer and Ae way she hung upon Ae host's arm at every opportunity Aat presented itself to her, passed over her head like happenings in another existence. AlAough she did notice Mrs. Mortimer's languorous glances every time Julius Crighton was near, and Ae way he responded by squeezing her hand occasionally and drawing Aat same small hand through his arm while Aey were exploring an abandoned "dig" which apparently interested Aem boA enormously, and discussing Ae possibilities of reopening Ae site. "We've reason to believe Aat a good deal of treasure is hidden away somewhere below the ground here," she told Romilly, when Ae two women found themselves temporarily alone on a narrow track. She kicked at the surface of Ae track wiA her dainty white heel. "Extraordinary, isn't it, that people who lived and died thousands of years ago should have been left undisturbed for so long?" "I Aought Aere were hardly any tombs Aat had not been 123

partially disturbed by tomb robbers," Romilly replied, Ainking that the pale lemon yellow of her silk shantung outfit was exactly Ae colour of a lemon-yellow ice, and as cool-looking and delectable in that arid wilderness. Leah smiled at her quite brightly as if she appreciated A intelligence of such a reply. "Well, as a matter of fact you're absolutely right," she told her. "Most of Ae tombs were ransacked shortly after Aey were closed. In fact, we Aink it highly likely that some of them were desecrated even before Aey were offidally closed. But, as Ae discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb proved, some of them escaped that sort of thing, or perhaps Ae entrance was better concealed. We suspect that a raAer little-known-about younger brother of a very important pharaoh is buried somewhere here, and as he was very rich - in fact, almost unbelievably rich - Ae find, when it is discovered, should be a good one. Well worA any efforts ours to trace him to his final resting place." Romilly surveyed her curiously. "And you don't think it would be better not to disturb him?" she asked. "To leave him in peace after all Aese years?" Mrs. Mortimer smiled at her almost contemptuously. "My dear, of course not," she replied. "All that wealth and all Aat splendid jewellery and oAer ornaments to be allowed to rot in Ae ground for ever.... Of course not!" she repeated. "Unthinkable when one is at last on the track of it! Besides, if we don't find it someone else will, sooner or later." "Yes, I suppose so," Romilly answered slowly. "And in any case, you don't suppose we shall be allowed to take possession of it, do you? The Egyptian government will do that. But," her eyes beginning to sparkle again, "Aere are always pickings!" 124

"Like my late aunt's little golden love god?" Romilly asked. Instantly a change came over Mrs. Mortimer's face. She looked very Aoughtful indeed, and she opened her handbag and took out a delicate toy of a cigarette-case and lighted herself a cigarette. "Ah, yes," she echoed, "Ae God of Love! Have you by any chance discovered where it is hidden, or aren't you making any attempt to find out ? " "I don't want to find out. And besides, I think someone already knows where it is." "Oh, yes?" The beautiful, basilisk eyes were quite unreadable. "Do tell me where you got such a notion from. I couldn't be more interested!" "I'm sure sure you could not," Romilly nearly replied, but didn't. Instead, she paused for a moment, and Aen said: "My aunt left instructions where I could find it, but when I followed Ae instructions Aere was noAing Aere. I gaAered, of course, Aat someone had been Aere boefore me." "Someone in Ae know?" "If you mean, someone who was also in my aunt's confidence - well, no, I don't!" Mrs. Mortimer inhaled deeply on her dgarette, and Aen allowed the smoke to trickle delicately from her slender nostrils and surround her lovely head in a kind of misty, fragrantly smelling aura. "Naturally, I'm madly interested in your little love god," she said, rather drawlingly, "but apart from commiserating wiA you because you have apparently been deprived of a small fortune there isn't much else I can say, is Aere? And ar the moment I'm utterly obsessed by the marvellous possibilities Ae site here holds out." She turned and prepared 125

to lead Ae way farther along Ae lonely track, which appeared to peter out in a mass of scaffolding; cranes and oAer equipment, all of which had obviously oeen temporarily abandoned. "All this is at a standstill for Ae moment, because unfortunately we've run out of funds to carry on. I've invested as much money of my own as I feel I can reasonably afford, and Julius isn't exactly offering to pour any more of his into it ... at least, he won't until I've got to work on him. He's as keen on Ae project as I am, but being a man he's horribly hard-headed. He's not entirely satisfied that Ae rewards are really here for us to find -" "You mean all Aat treasure you were talking about? All Aose jewels and ornaments ?" Leah glanced backwards at her over her shoulder, and her slanting Egyptian eyes were cold. "Yes, but I Aink I also pointed out to you that we stand to gain nothing at all save a certain amount of notoriety, and it is the Egyptian authorities Aat will gain. Which is one reason why I mustn't be tempted to sink any more of my own money, although I'm sorely tempted." They came to a barrier of barbed wire, which was obviously there for the purpose of shutting off an enclosure, and she pointed downwards. "The chamber we have already uncovered is down Aere." Her delicately varnished finger-nail indicated the direction of the "find". "As an outer chamber it's not very impressive, but my knowledge of Ais subject is sufficient to enable me to know that it is merely one of a succession of such chambers. And the more there are of Aese outer chambers, or galleries, the greater the indication is that the cleverly protected inner chamber, where Ae body will be found, will be really worth searching for. In fact, I'd be prepared to swear Aat in this case Ac discovery will be shattering!" 126

"Really?" Lean's eyes were gleaming, and she had an unusually high colour in her cheeks as she stood Aere in Ae blazing sunshine wiAout even a hat to protect her shining dark head. Some of her excitement communicated itself ID Romilly, and she moved closer to Ae barricade and tried to get a better view of what lay below them. "You make it all sound terribly interesting, and I'm surprised that you know so much about this sort of thing. I can understand raAer eccentric characters like my late aunt making archaeology a kind of hobby; but you don't - if you'll forgive me for saying so! - look the kind of woman to take such a violent interest in Ae past. You are so very much alive..." "Thank you." The vivid lips smiled wiA a certain amount of appreciation at such a description of herself. "I'm certainly Aat. But Ae past intrigues me enormously - particularly Egypt's past. You could say it's my life!" "How - strange!" Romilly stared at her, because she really Aought it strange. "Then, in that case, I hope you find Ae money to continue your dig." "Oh, we will!" She turned and stared at Romilly somewhat Aoughtfully for a moment. "You've displayed a certain amount of interest in Ais sort of thing yourself, and I don't think you would have come all this way from England to settle Aings up with your lawyer if you hadn't had a good deal of your aunt's curiosity about Egypt seething somewhere in your veins. And that being Ae case you simply mustn't be allowed to depart without being shown something more of what we've discovered here." She hesitated, glancing back along the track, where no one was in sight. "I don't Aink Acre's time now. But we could make time!" "Leah!" A voice called auAoritatively from somewhere above 127

Aem, and Romilly looked up and saw, standing on a ridge of sand Aat overlooked Ae excavation, Julius Crighton, frowning down so ferociously Aat she wondered what could be Ae matter. He came scrambling down to join Aem, and Aere was no doubt about it he was in no ordinary mood when he finally reached them. He appeared to be breathing heavily, as if he ha.d exerted himself considerably to cover Ae ground in Ae shortest possible space of time, and, accustomed Aough he was to heat, he was feeling it as much as any of Aem as he wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. Romilly, who had never seen him look so disturbed before, or quite so much at a disadvantage by comparison wiA Ae immaculate crispness of Mrs. Mortimer and her own fairly untroubled appearance, stared at him openly in some astonishment. He returned her regard beneaA lowering brows and Aen turned brusquely away. "We wondered where you two had got to," he said shortly. "Come and have some lunch. I believe Mustapha has it all set out." Mrs. Mortimer laughed, a low, amused bubble of sound, as she walked at his side, and as she slid a hand familiarly inside his arm she remarked that he was being excessively careful about Aem, which she personally found raAer flattering. "And I was merely trying to persuade Romilly Aat she must see Ae inside of our dig before we leave your house tomorrow," she explained. "She's almost as interested as you and I are, and it would be a pity if she missed the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of what might turn out to be a wonderful discovery." Julius made some reply which was barely intelligible, and she shot a long, sideways glance at him and smiled wiA her lips, but not her eyes. H 10

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"Oh, come!" she exclaimed, as if remonstrating wiA him. "You must agree wiA me! There really is a good deal to see-" "Not yet," he answered. "There might be one day, but not yet." "Even so, Romilly is intelligent enough to be able to assess Ae potential of what we have discovered. And I have given her my word Aat I Aink it's a great discovery! Perhaps tomorrow morning, before we leave, we could let her have a peep at Ae audience chamber..." "There are no audience chambers in tombs." "According to Ae Ancient Egyptians Aey were intended to be used as audience chambers. And we can show her Ae few trinkets we've unearthed already." "I'm not at all sure Aat Ae tomb is safe." "Of course it is. All that scaffolding makes it perfectly safe. And Aat last little accident shouldn't put you off Ae project altogeAer." Romilly spoke up swiftly; "What little accident?" Julius answered curtly. "There was a slight accident when a part of one of Ae walls fell in, and one of our boys was in hospital for a few weeks afterwards. But Aat particular wall has been shored up again, and it should be safe." "Of course it's safe - perfectly safe! •" Mrs. Mortimer glanced up at him confidently out of her lustrous eyes. "And in any case," wiA a prettily pouting mouth, "if I'm allowed to go down into it I can't Aink why Romilly,.. ?" Nothing further was said on the subject, and Aey had their lunch in the shelter of some piled up rocks, rested for a brief interlude while Ae snn burned like fire overhead,

and Aen returned in Ae two cars which had brought Aem to Ae site to the lonely desert house known as Dar el Pace. Romilly travelled in Ae first car, which was Ae opalcoloured Rolls-Royce, wiA Ae host himself, who had somehow organised Ae arrangement and drove Ae car himself. He said to her after raAer a long period of silence as she sat beside him: "There is someAing I'd like to show you. Will you com to my study after you've had a chance to rest when we get back to Ae house? I Aink it will interest you." "Of course." It occurred to her Aat he might be going to show her some of the discoveries Aey had already made on Ae dig, but a sideways glance at his face caused her to wonder. His face had a slightly grim look ... not Ae look one would associate wiA an ardent archaeologist eager to display some of his finds. And Ae fact Aat she was sitting beside him, and Aey were alone in the car, seemed to afford him little pleasure, alAough only Ae night before he had displayed a tendency of take advantage of just such a situation. "Of course, I'd love to see anything you've got to show me," she repeated, more from politeness Aan for any other reason, since his face was Ae remote face of an unfriendly stranger, and he turned to her suddenly and placed a hand over boA of hers, where Aey rested in her lap, and gave them a hard and almost brutal squeeze. "Believe me," he said quietly, Ae remote look vanishing partially from his face, "you'll be interested. But I'm not at all sure you'll find it simple to understand why I'm suddenly in a position to arouse your interest 1"

CHAPTER VIS AFTERWARDS Romilly realised Aat she should have been prepared. His curious words in Ae car should have prepared her. But when she stood in his cool, book-lined study, wiA its own flowery courtyard outside Ae open french windows, and he unlocked a safe and then placed a slender golden shape in her hands, wiA the warning Aat she must be careful not to drop it because it was practically priceless, she could simply stand very still and gaze at it as if she quite failed, at first, to comprehend what it was. But in actual fact she comprehended what it was immediately. "It's Ae love god, isn't it?" she said, and then wondered why she didn't drop it out of sheer surprise. It was such a lovely Aing. Never in her life had she seen anyAing wiA such exquisite, fluid lines, or anyAing Aat gleamed as it did, as if it was created out of molten fire raAer Aan gold. It shone as if it had left its creator's hands only a few days before, but Ae sheer simplicity of it, apart from any oAer qualities Aat it had, made her wonder why for so many thousands of years, apparently, it had been an object so sought after Aat it had been Aought necessary to keep it in a secure place for most of Ae time because ofAe covetous fingers Aat would possess it if Aey could. "It's beautiful," she said at last. "It really is very, very beautiful." Crighton smiled a little peculiarly, as if he found her lack of enAusiasm intriguing. "And Aat is all you can say ?" "What else could I say?"

"You could ask me how I came by it, and what I propose to do wiA it." "Well, what do you propose to do wiA it? .. ^ And how did you come by it when we all understood it was lost? " "I have had it all the time. I broke into your house not in order to lay my hands on it and deprive you of a Aing of value but to establish some sort of contact between us. I knew perfectly well, considering Ae amount of noise I made, Aat it wouldn't be long before I'd see you descending Ae stairs and searching for your burglar - although, in actual fact, Aat was rather a foolish Aing to do, as Ae burglar might have been full of evil intent - and Aat would give me an opportunity to make myself known to you, a Aing I'd promised your aunt I would do when you arrived in Cairo." "I suppose it never occurred to you Aat you could have established Ae same sort of contact simply by knocking at Ae front door and allowing Kalim to announce you as a visitor?" she enquired drily. Julius smiled. "Well, of course, it did.... But I had one very good reason for refraining from doing anyAing so obvious. I. hoped Ae news of Ae break-in would reach oAer people's ears, and if Aey had any plans of Aeir own Aey would very quickly begin to set Aem in motion. As it happened, I was right about my line of conduct, unorthodox though it was, for it resulted in anoAer caller and an invitation for you.... Remember Leah Mortimer's party? You acepted Ae invitation like a lamb!" "Well, and why not?" She bridled slightly. "How was I to know my late aunt's friends were not all Aey seemed on Ae surface...?" And Aen Ae full implication of his words struck her. "You mean that Mrs. Mortimer really was - is - interested in my statuette ? " 132

"She was and she is!" Romilly felt her breaA catch in her Aroat. "And she only came and called on me because she wanted to find out where it -?" "Precisely." "But -" she felt perplexed, and suddenly rather frightened - "you don't mean she would try and take it from me ...? illegally! for want of a better word." "I do, and Aere lots of other people who would do Ae same Aing. Only, of course, if you refused to sell it to Aem at Aeir own price. I've no doubt Mrs. Mortimer made you an offer for the love god?" "She offered to buy my house as it stood, which was one way, I suppose, of acquiring Ae statuette as well." "A somewhat risky meAod, but Leah is very wealthy, and Ae love god is a kind of must wiA her ... someAing she must sooner or later possess, by hook or by crook. Just as she intends to open Aat tomb she was showing you Ais morning." "Is it possible she wants to sell Ae statuette in order to raise funds for Ae opening up of Ae tomb? I gather Aat she's raAer short of funds." "Oh, no. Leah wants Ae statuette for herself, and in any case Ae god, alAough valuable, would hardly provide her wiA sufficient funds to continue work on Ae tomb. Besides, it would be a feaAer in her cap, a triumph over the -rest of us. The statuette has been missing for so long Aat | half Ae world's collectors have been looking for it, and for ,'Leah to produce it suddenly and display it under Aeir ; noses would be a great triumph. For someone wiA her -temperament a triumph not to be missed." | *T see." But she was unable to conceal Ae fact that Aere |s?as a certain amount of doubt in her eyes. "But how do I jknow you are telling me Ae truA ...? That you are not I" 133

motivated by Ae same reasons as Mrs. Mortimer?" She flushed slightly, uncomfortably, as his quizzical eyes roved over her. "Qh, I know I ought to believe you, because my aunt obviously thought very highly of you, but -" "You don't? NotaltogeAer?" She shook her head hastily. "It isn't Aat. It's-" He crossed Ae room until he stood very dose to her, took Ae love god very gently from her and placed it on a table at his elbow, and Aen put a finger beneaA her chin and lifted it. "You can, you know," he told her in a very quiet voice. "Toucan trust me!" The colour rolled hotly, painfully, over her face and neck. She bit her lip very hard, and Aen she stammered: "I want to! I would like to! I..." "Tell me just why you don't feel you can trust me, as you have said more Aan once your aunt obviously did. Is it simply to do wiA Ae statuette ? " "No, noAing to do wiA Ae statuette." "Then what is it to do wiA?" She looked directly up at him, and her blue eyes were large and bewildered - and Aere was a certain wistful quality in Aem at Ae same time. She felt his hand dose more firmly over Ae smooAness of her dun. How could she say to him Aat it was because she failed altogeAer to understand him as a man? A man who attracted her enormously, and in whose arms she had happily remained completely quiescent while he kissed every inch of her face - Aat face Aat was now burning quite fierily because his eyes, deep and dark and mysterious, were only a very few inches from her own. But, even as she gazed up at him wiA a feeling of helplessness at Ae very root of her being, Aose black eyes 134

softened miraculously, and a quite extraordinary tenderness stole to Ae comers of his mouA. He bent and laid his lips softly against Ae bright line of her hair, where it met Ae creamy skin of her forehead, and she heard him murmur" ing softly almost in her ear: "You must trust me, little one.... And believe me, there isn't one single reason why you shouldn't! Just for a little while longer, and Aen quite a number of things will be dear to you." "WhatAings?" "Many things. Some of them extremely important!" "And all to do wiA Ae statuette?" He shook his beautifully brushed, sleek dark head. "Only one of Aem to do wiA Ae statuette." There was a knock at Ae door, and a feminine voice called gaily and challengingly; "Can I come in?" In one single movement, or so it seemed to Romilly, he whipped up Ae statuette, carried it across to Ae safe and dosed Ae safe door upon it. And Aen he crossed to Ae door and turned the key in Ae lock.... And Romilly's eyes widened still more because she hadn't even noticed Aat he had locked Ae door after she entered Ae room. Leah Mortimer stood outside in Ae corridor, looking lovely and distinctly curious, and her eyes went at once to Romilly and started to gleam in a somewhat extraordinary manner. "Well, well!" she exclaimed, attempting to make the words sound light and playful. "You must have had some very secret business to discuss! I do hope I'm not disturbing you." "Of course not," Ae Bey replied a trifle curtly. , "You're quite ... sure?" The lovely eyes looked past him to Ae neat outlines of Ae extremely modem safe, and I 135

her delicate eyebrows remained curved in an enquiring arch. "Because I can come back again later on. I mean, I don't want to be a nuisance..." "You are most decidedly not a nuisance," Julius assured her. "Really?" Her glance swung back to Romilly, and for a mere fraction of time Ae English girl experienced a quite extraordinary sensation, as if an uneasy tremor had started to creep along her spine and was affecting every oAer nerve in her body, like a warning bell jangling discordantly and sending out reverberations that in Aeir turn sent out oAer reverberations. And as a result she both felt and looked confused. o n even slightly guilty. "Oh, well, if you're absolutely sure I'm not breaking up anything," and she stepped past Romilly and looked round Ae book-lined room. "A charming little hideaway," she said to the Bey. "You know, I can't tell you how much I envy you Ais house. It really is delightful." She looked completely complacent, and her whole attitude was suddenly very friendly. "I've got an idea, Julius," she said to him. "Why break up our party so soon, when we've none of us, I believe, any pressing appointments which demand our presence elsewhere? Mr. Allerton has assured me Aat he's as free as air, and for Ae next few days at any rate I'm free, too. Cairo is so hectic, and this is such peace.... And I'd love to stay a little longer, if you'll have me?" voice and eyes full of charming appeal. "I'm sure, between us, we can persuade Romilly to stay, and if she does I can Aink of several interesting excursions in Ae neighbourhood Aat we must make for her benefit. The late dear Miss Styles would have hated her going away wiAout seeing as much as she 136

possibly could of our fascinating Egypt. Now, what do you say, Romilly?" turning to confront her as if it was of Ae utmost importance to her Aat Romilly should not disappoint Ae late dear Miss Styles, "Well.. .'* "You will stay?" There was such engaging eagerness in her tone Aat Romilly felt she was getting to know her for Ae first time, but at Ae same time she had every reason to believe her no better Aan a common thief ... if Julius Crighton could be believed wiAout Ae smallest reservation. She flung a glance at Ae Bey which appealed to him to give her some indication of what he wished her to do. Did he want her to stay... ? "Of course you must stay," he told her quietly, "hi fact, I shall be delighted if you will all Aree stay. This house is very dull wiAout visitors." "There!" Leah exclaimed. "You have received a pressing invitation to remain at Dar el Pace for as long as you wish." Romilly's eyes still hung upon Ae Bey's. He was telling her silently Aat she had no option but to remain, for some reason which must seem excellent to him, but she couldn't quite understand why he wanted Mrs. Mortimer to remain while Aat beautiful golden statuette was reposing inside his safe. Unless, of course, he valued her company ... which he probably did! She looked down awkwardly at Ae toes of her shapely white shoes. "Very well," she said. "I shall love to stay, of course." Which was raAer a curious thing to say when she had been decoyed to Ae house in Ae first place.... And Ac most curious thing about it was Aat in all truAfulness she could not have said Aat she didn't want to stay. In fact, if 137

she was going to be absolutely honest wiA herself she had no desire at all to return to eiAer Luxor or Cairo knowing Aat she might never again see Dar el Pace. And Aat in spite of Ae fact that its owner was still very much of a mystery to her, and Aat he had her most valuable possession - acquired under even more mysterious circumstances ! - securely locked away in a safe in his study. And wheAer it was his intention to return Ae statuette to her at some distant future date she had no idea. She only knew Aat it wasn't really important.... And leaving Dar el Pace was! The rest of Ae day passed wiAout Julius making any effort to have any furAer private conversation with her,' in fact, if anyAing, he seemed to avoid her. Or, if he didn't actually avoid her, he seemed quite content to relegate the job of keeping her entertained to Martin Allerton, who was by no means as keen to do so as he had been before he made Ae acquaintance of one of Cairo's most attractive hostesses. He seemed to find it difficult to talk of anyAing but Ae charms of Mrs. Mortimer, and alAough this didn't upset Romilly in Ae least it did upset her when she saw her fellow female guest being Ae recipient of most of Ae host's attentiveness. It was she whom he invited for a walk in the courtyards after dinner, and when Aey returned after an absence of more than an hour Leah was looking very smug - raAer like the cat that had at last stolen all Ae cream - and clinging to his arm in a manner Aat was definitely possessive. Romilly made an excuse and retired to her bedroom wiAout anyone giving Ae appearance of being likely to miss her very much. On the following day Aey went for another drive into the desert and saw one or two temples and Ae site of yet an138

oAer possible dig. Leah explained to Romilly Aat the possibilities of recovering treasure in Aat area were endless, and every time she mentioned treasure her eyes gleamed in such a way mat Romilly became convinced she was obsessed by Ae Ancient Egyptians' apparently limitless wealA and the excitement, as much as anything else, of being Ae one to uncover it. The next day Aey drove into Luxor and had lunch at Ae Winter Palace, and Leah took Romilly on a brief tour of Ae shops, and helped her choose one or two inexpensive trinkets to take home wiA her. She also insisted upon her acceptance of a raAer more expensive item of jewellery, a bracelet made of beaten silver and inset wiA turquoise, togeAer wiA a pair of ear-rings which went wiA it, and Areatened to be mortally offended if Romilly continued to object Aat it was far too expensive when she was only a casual acquaintance, and something simple and inexpensive would be far more fitting. And in any case, Aere was no reason why she should give her anyAing at all. "Isn't there?" Mrs. Mortimer shook her head over her, and Aen patted her arm in an affectionate manner. "You really are terribly independent, aren't you?" she said, as if she found such typically British independence raAer attractive, nevertheless. "But you must understand that I have a lot of money and I like to make oAer people happy." It then occurred to her Aat it might be a good Aing if Aey stayed in Luxor overnight, sending back to Dar el Pace for someAing suitable to wear for the evening, and they could dine and dance and it would all be rather fun, she thought. After all, Romilly had had raAer a lot of antiquities during Ac past few days, and it would do her 139

good to see something more of life for a change. "Besides, I wish to get my hair done, and Aere is a hairdresser at Ae hotel who is absolutely superb, and I Aink you might like to have your hair done, also?" bestowing a fleeting glance of approval on Romilly's pretty chestnut hair. "And Aere is an excellent masseur in Ae hotel, too. I don't suppose you feel your figure is yet in need of much attention, being so delightfully young; but I am not as young as I would sometimes wish to be, and such matters are all-important wiA me," she confessed, albeit wiAout any crying need, so far as outward appearances went, for very much of her time and oAer people's effort to be devoted to either improving or maintaining them. Romilly was slightly shocked by Ae Aought of involving her host in further expense on her behalf, and a night at Ae hotel, wiA dinner and dancing thrown in, would almost certainly cost him quite a lot. So she ventured to raise an objection on Ae grounds that she didn't really Aink she could afford it, and of course she couldn't allow Mr. Crighton to settle her account for her. Whereupon Mrs. Mortimer looked really amused and once again shook her head at her. "You and your preoccupation wiA expense!" she exclaimed. "And your quite extraordinary independence! I Aink it is very fortunate that your aunt died when she did and left you some money, for otherwise you would have no fun at all and I shudder to think what sort of a life you lived in England! And as for the cost' of tonight, you are all to be my guests ... and I shall become very annoyed if you so much as suggest /. cannot afford it!" So the matter was settled - although Romilly was not entirely happy about it, having no desire to accept anything in the way of benefits from Mrs. Mortimer - and the chauffeur returned to Dar el Pace to collect some suitable eve140

ning doAcs for Aem, and Romilly wrote a note for Mrs. Forbes instructing her to pack her black and silver dress for her, and one or two oAer Aings Aat she would need for Ae evening; and when Julius was informed of Ae dedsion Aat had been taken he merely looked amused, as if he was accustomed to such light-handed decisions being taken by Leah Mortimer, wheAer or not he might approve of Aem, and no single word of objection left his lips. And as for Ae young American, he looked delighted. Romilly realised he was already bemused by Ae thought of dancing wiA Leah. So Aey dined in Ae hotel's vast main restaurant, and afterwards Aey danced for very nearly a couple of hours to the music of Ae really excellent hotel orchestra. Romilly, when she saw Mrs. Mortimer's glittering gown and her costly jewellery, which drew attention to Ae exquisite perfection of her neck and arms, felt a little like Cinderella in her one and only ball-gown as first Martin Allerton and - Aen Julius Crighton led her out on to Ae floor. But after circling Ae floor twice wiA Martin, and seeing almost unwilling approval and admiration in his electrically blue eyes, and hearing Julius say simply Aat she looked "very English" - and why Aat should have pleased her so absurdly she didn't know - as if that was the highest form of compliment he could Aink of to pay her, she felt better, and was even raAer pleased wiA herself for investing in such a clever little dress almost immediately after her arrival in Cairo. Julius only asked her to dance twice, but Aey were two highly satisfactory dances, .and unless it was purely her imagination he held her so firmly and possessively - boA dances being modern waltzes - Aat Martin's hold felt positively slack and inexperienced when she danced wiA him later.

It was true Aat she was not entirely happy when it became clear Julius had every intention of monopolizing Leah for Ae greater part of Ae evening, and when they were not actually dancing togeAer Aey were sitting Aem out at Aeir table on Ae fringe of Ae dance floor, and it seemed to Romilly, every time she happened to glance in Aeir direction Aat Aeir conversation was very earnest, and Aere were very few moments when Aey had little to say to one anoAer. Martin was not at all pleased because Leah made it abundantly clear she preferred being partnered by Ae handsome Bey, and he muttered angrily to Romilly on several occasions during Ae evening because he was thus overlooked. And alAough Romilly could also have pointed out Aat she, too, was being somewhat neglected by Ae host, she refrained from doing so. She decided, simply, to enjoy Ae evening, and Ae music, and to temporarily forget little Aings like her appropriated love god, and Ae heights of bliss to which she had been lifted when Julius kissed her - or even when he just lightly touched her face with Ae tips of his fingers. Tonight he plainly had little or no time for her ... but she was not entirely convinced in her heart Aat it was because of Mrs. Mortimer's superior looks and charm. She had Ae oddest feeling Aat looks and charm had noAing whatever to do wiA his conduct on Ais memorable evening. They had a midnight supper, with champagne, surrounded by Ae popping of oAer champagne corks and all Ae glamour of such a hotel, and a desert moon peeping in ar Aem Arough the tall windows and Ae great swaAes of expensive curtaining. And then Romilly, who was suddenly feeling very tired, and unable to keep up wiA the oAers' consumption of Ae sparkling beverage Aat was adding 142

light and lustre to most of Ae tables in Ae restaurant, announced Aat, if Aey would excuse her, she would go to bed. Mrs. Mortimer looked round at her and laughed. "So early?" But Julius Crighton stood up immediately and said of course Aey would excuse her, if she felt she had had enough. His voice was gentle and almost sooAingly understanding, and he took her by Ae arm and guided her over to Ae lift, refusing to leave her side until Ae lift was ready to ascend and whisk her out of his sight. But before Aat moment arrived he lifted her hand and, under Ae eyes of several oAer people who were also waiting for Ae lift, carried her fingers up to his lips and kissed Aem lingeringly. "Sweet dreams," he said, smiling down directly into her eyes. "Tomorrow we will return to Dar el Pace." And Ae way he said it warmed her heart as two glasses of champagne had quite failed to do. And for Ae first time she felt as if Dar el Pace had some very important meaning in her life. But Ae following morning, when she emerged from her room after a leisurely breakfast of coffee and rolls, enjoyed on her own private balcony which overlooked Ae beauties of Ae hotel gardens, she found Leah Mortimer waiting for her, not merely beautifully dressed and ready to face the day in a decidedly hot climate but looking as if she had retired at a very early hour Ae night before instead of actually planning to stay up for at least anoAer couple of hours when Romilly went to bed at close upon one o'clock. "Hello, my dear," she greeted Romilly brightly. "I'm afraid you're going to have to put up wiA my undiluted society for Ae whole of Ae day, for Julius has carried Martin off wiA him on some business Aey neiAer of Aem 143

made absolutely dear to me, and we won't see Aem until evening. We're spending anoAer night at Ae hotel and returning to Dar el Pace tomorrow. Is there anyAing you'd especially like to do, which will fill in Ae hours until our menfolk return to us ? " Romilly felt as if a slightly discordant note had been struck by Aat reference to "our menfolk", since Martin was noAing to do wiA her and she suspected Mrs. Mortimer had very dear cut plans Aat concerned Julius Crighton. However, as Ae other woman was smiling at her in a very friendly manner, and apparently placing herself at her disposal, she answered in Ae same spirit and said Aat she would prefer to leave Ae decision about what Aey did to her. "Well now, I Aought perhaps you might say Aat," Leah responded, "and I've already made plans. Come along!'8 and she slipped a friendly hand inside her arm. Outside a chocolate-coloured limousine with very sleek lines waited for Aem, and a chauffeur in matching uniform held open Ae rear door for them. Leah explained: "This is my car, and I Aought we'd do someAing I wanted to do Ae oAer day. I wanted to show you over Ae site where we expect to uncover Ae remains of a very rich gentleman who lived in Egypt so many thousands of years ago Aat I feel dizzy when I Aink of it. You'll remember I told you we're expecting to uncover a really fabulous treasure, which might even be greater Aan the Tutankhamen treasure, although of course we can't be certain at Ais stage. However, we have uncovered enough to make the site interesting, and knowing all about your forebears I was sure you'd like to have a look at what Aere already is to see. Julius wasn't very keen when ^suggested it to him the oAer day, but he has a habit of being, awkward on occasion. And in any case, he isn't here today to be awkward. 144

1;And I'm going to show you someAing quite exciting!" Romilly heard herself demur that perhaps her host might be annoyed, but Ae car had already left Ae hotel and was gaAering speed, and Leah merely laughed at her. "My dear, you mustn't let strong personalities like Julius's prevent you from doing the Aings you want to do. p; Men are so foolishly obstinate at times, and in Ais part of j Ae world Aey still Aink women are fragile, helpless creaI tares, really only fit to be confined to harems. Julius has | got enough English blood to deny Aat if I actually accused I him of entertaining such ideas, but at heart he wouldn't | deny it. When he marries his wife will have her freedom, j but not as much as most women would like. And he'll be| have very much like her lord and master!" "Oh, really?" Romilly murmured, not nearly so horrified by such an archaic attitude as she almost certainly would have been before she left England. "Yes. I expect Aat appals you, doesn't it, coming from a land where women are always imagining themselves Ae equals of men, and Ae men don't object because it helps to relieve Aem of a certain amount of responsibility? But as you're unlikely to marry someone wiA Julius's outlook I wouldn't let it worry you." Romilly spoke up quietly beside her. "And you are likely to do so ?" Leah looked round at her, smiling in a completely amiable way. "So you've gaAered Aat we're not entirely jdisinterested in one anoAer, have you?" she said. "Well, Julius and I have known one anoAer for some time, and I would- probably^have married him before but for Ae fact that I met someone else ... and it was all raAer a horrid mistake which upset me very much indeed while the marriage lasted! However, he's dead now, and I'm free again r Isn't 145

it wonderful? And I don't mind letting you into a secret! Julius and I expect to tell our friends before very long." "Oh, yes?" Romilly said, but her tone was much more mechanical Ais, time. Mrs. Mortimer turned to her and gave her a radiant smile. "You'd like to congratulate me? Well, you can if you like!" Her lustrous eyes had a sparkle in Aem Aat was almost like a sparkle of relish. "I won't tell Julius, because like most men he likes to do Aings in his own time and at Ae precise moment he considers right and propitious! There will have to be a very formal announcement, of course, followed by a notice in Ae papers, and Aen a betroAal party.... If you're still here of course I'll see you get an invitation to our betroAal party!" Romilly, who had set off from Ae hotel in a reasonably calm and composed frame of mind, actually felt as if she had been suddenly shipwrecked and noAing but disaster stared her in Ae face. Her voice refused to serve her, she could Aink of noAing to say, and Acre seemed to be a spreading hollow at Ae pit of her stomach. One of Mrs. Mortimer's beringed hands alighted on hers and gave it a squeeze. "It's a wonderful moment, isn't it, when one lets a friend in on a secret? But keep it to yourself! Because, as I've said, Julius is a stickler for formality." "Of course." Romilly licked very dry lips with the rip of her tongue. "Of course," she repeated. Leah gave her hand a second squeeze. "And you must see Aat wiA our sort of background we're entirely suited to one anoAer!" "Of course!" • Afterwards Romilly realised that it was because she was in a kind of daze Aat she hardly realised when Aey ar146

wved and Ae car stopped. And she hardly realised Aat i someone was helping her out of the car, and that same helping hand remained on hand for her to clutch at as Ae ^difficult journey to Ae dig was accomplished on foot. She realised vaguely Aat Aey descended several flights of steps hewn out of Ae rocky soil, and Aese steps led ever downwards into an increasing darkness which she hardly noticed at first because she was wearing dark glasses. Mrs. Mortimer had seen to Aat, providing her wiA Aem just before Aey left Ae car. "You may find the light trying at this hour of Ae day," she said. "And in any case, it's best to protect your eyes!" When Aey reached Ae foot of Ae flights of steps Aere was a long, channel-like tunnel which had to be traversed, and, removing her dark glasses for an instant, Romilly saw Aat it was shored up wiA pit props in order to prevent the weight of Ae soil overhead collapsing into the tunnel. There was a feeling of cold, and an unpleasant smell of stale, foetid air. Mrs. Mortimer took her by her oAer arm while her chauffeur continued his support on her left. She began to feel as if she was stumbling in the dark while Ae oAers hurried her along to the end of Ae tunnel, where a certain amount of daylight found its way in Arough a hole in Ae roof. The light poured downwards dazzh'ngly, and even through the dimness of her glasses Romilly saw Ae pit Aat yawned below her. A rough plank bridge crossed it, and Ae others drew back a little while at Ae same time Aey urged her forward. "Careful, my dear,". Leah urged, very close to her ear. "This is the most difficult bit, but it will be over in a minute. Then we'll come out on to a perfectly safe gallery." But Romilly started to hang back. "I don't Aink I want to go on," she said. 147

"Rubbish, my dear! Of course you do," Leah cooed softly. "Just think of your great-aunt, and Ae Aings she did at her time of life! Why, noAing would have prevented her from coming down here! And as the leading benefidary under her will you really must do Ac Aings she did!" All Ae same, Romilly was suddenly quite resolute abou a decision to turn back. She snatched off her dark glasses just in time to see Aat Aey were at Ae opposite end of Ae plank bridge, and she was just about to be decanted on to the sloping bank beyond. She felt someAing hit her in Ae small of her back, her feet went from under her and she landed in soft, cool mud - or raAer, she found herself sprawling in it - while Ae bridge behind her was whipped up, Ae two who had crossed it wiA her were safely on Ae farther bank, and Aey were looking smilingly across at her. The smiles were as cold as ice. "Now all you have to do, my dear," Mrs. Mortimer said, "is tell us where you're keeping Ae love god safely hidden. Tell us Aat and you can join us on Ais side again. But if you can't, or won't, tell us, Aen you can stay where you are!" "Oh, but I don't Aink so!" a voice as cold as their smiles cut in. "Not, at least, while I can prevent it!" And Leah turned to find several people just behind her, and closest of all to her, wiA something very hard and chill which he pressed into her back, was Julius Crighton. His black eyes bored into hers. "I had an idea you might get up to someAing like this today, given Ae opportunity," he said, "and so I provided you with Ae opportunity! But unfortunately for you it's not going to do you much good!"

CHAPTER VIII SOMILLY felt someAing sharp and acrid burning her mouA, and she realised Aat a brandy flask was being held to her lips. Julius was kneeling in Ae mud beside her, supporting her wiA his free arm, and his voice was very gentle as he said: "It's all over now, so you can forget it! You're perfectly safe! ... I give you my word you were never in any real danger. You don't Aink I would have gone off for Ae day and left you wiA Leah, do you? She's Ae very last person I would ever have left you completely alone wiA!" Romilly looked up at him dazedly. "But I Aought you ... I thought you liked her!" she said. He smiled, and his white teeA were a pleasant sight in the dimness. "You mean she strove to make you believe that I liked her! Well, perhaps I did, once - a long time ago." He lowered Ae brandy flask and placed boA arms round her, lifting her up out of Ae mud until she was standing supported by his arms and leaning against him. He kissed Ae top of her head fervently. "Oh, my poor little one," he said, "I wish Aere'd been some oAer way to prove what she was up to, but Aere wasn't! In some ways she's so transparent, and her insistence on showing you over Ais dig was Ae clearest indication I could have that she was up to mischief. The oAer day, when I found you here alone wiA her, 3 knew what she had in mind." 149

"But she didn't really mean to - to leave me here, did she?" "She probably intended to leave you here for a few hours if necessary." "She wanted to know about Ae statuette." "Yes, I gaAered that. You mustn't overlook Ae fact that I wasn't far away when she brought you here." Romilly put back her head and looked up at him. She was still feeling extraordinarily weak as a result of Ae shock she had suffered, and despite Ae fact Aat a burning ray of sunlight had singled Aem out at Ae bottom of Ae shaft her teeth were chattering and her whole body shivered convulsively every few seconds. The brandy had warmed her and Ae blind moments of panic when she found herself sprawling in Ae mud wiA Ae bridge over Ae chasm removed and Ae'open gallery to Ae tomb yawning behind her had receded into a kind of hazy but all too recent past, and wiAout realising what she was doing she clutched at Julius and held on to him tighdy. "It was so horrible!" she gasped. "I really thought they were going to leave me here for ever." The man's handsome mouA hardened until there was someAing positively brutal about it, and then softened and his shapely lips continued to nuzzle Ae brightness of her hair. "Darling," he breaAed, "Ae whole Aing only lasted for a few minutes, and it is over now.'* "She looked at me as if she... hated me!" "She's obsessed wiA Ae idea of possessing your statu° ette. But she never will 1" But his answer failed to entirely convince Romilly. She didn't really mind what happened to the statuette, but she was absolutely certain of one Aing ... Leah Mortimer meant it when she said she was going to marry Julius. She 150

(had every intention of marrying him one day, even if he had no real idea of her intentions, and from Ae first she | had resented Romilly's appearance on Ae scene because it j meant Aat he paid her a certain amount of attention. Not a g great deal, but enough to arouse Ae fires of jealousy in t such a woman as Leah. j She was clever at concealing Aings, but from Romilly » she had never completely concealed her interest in Crigh: ton. And taken togeAer wiA Ae fact Aat Romilly also [possessed Ae statuette... . "I'd like to get away -from here," she said quietly, wondering wheAer he really had called her darling, or wheAer in her extremely disturbed state she had imagined it. "Of course," he said. g He picked her up in his arms and prepared to carry her I across the plank bridge, which was once more in position, I but before he did so he bent his head and kissed her firmly ^ and passionately on Ae mouA. Then when she looked up at. him wiA surprise and something else in her eyes he : kissed her again. "That's to make it all seem raAer more real," he said, and carried her across Ae bridge. On Ae far side of it, in an entirely safe zone once more, he set her down, wiAout, however, releasing her altogeAer, and he looked her fully and squarely in the eyes. Returning rapidly to normality she could feel the reassuring strength of his hold, and for Ae first time a sensation like utter bliss descended on her. If being rescued by him also meant Aat he had acquired Ae right to hold her as he was holding her now Aen she almost thought it might be worth it to be marooned on Ae oAer side of the plank bridge for Ae second time in her life. But only if he, and he alone, was going to rescue her immediately! Dim Aough it was in Ae tunnel Aey had yet to traverse 151

he could see the sudden shine in her eyes, and the way her soft lips fell apart wiA utter wonder. He smiled at her gently and touched her cheek wiA his forefinger. "You understood what I meant when I said it's all quite real?" he asked. Shyly she buried her face against him, and once more she dutched at him. "Oh, Julius," she breaAed, "I can't quite take it in I" "Why not?" "Because just now I was utterly terrified, and now it's all so miraculous I wonder wheAer I'm actually awake and not dreaming. And I've never been quite certain about = how you felt about me S" "I fell in love wiA you Ae moment I saw you in the moonlight standing talking to Ae Sphinx, and alAough Aere have been moments since Aen when I wanted to shake you, I would say Aat on Ae whole I have been so sorely tempted to cover you wiA kisses Aat I wonder my urgency didn't get out of hand sometimes," he told her. "Particularly," he added, "when you were being raAer more awkward Aan usual, and it occurred to me Aat I might have kissed some sense into you, and particularly when I saw you for Ae first time wiA Allerton and I knew you were boA making Ae trip up Ae Nile on Aat steamer. I was furious because he was going to have so many more opportunities Aan I looked like having to make love to you, and I knew immediately he was Ae wrong type for you altogeAer." "Yet you invited him to stay at your house." "Only because, as I once told you, I wanted to balance Ac party... and it did actually occur to me he might transfer his allegiance to Leah once he saw her at close quarters. A young man of his type is almost bound to be attracted by Leah." 152

She shuddered. "What-where is she?" "The local police took her in hand, but I won't be bring" ing a charge against her. She'll probably disappear from our lives forAwiA, and I happen to know she was planning a trip to America where she proposed to sell Ae love god as soon as she managed, by hook or by crook, to get hold of it. You must understand Aat she's a wealAy woman, but she can never resist Ae opportunity to make more money. And Ae statuette should fetch a pretty penny once it's known Aat it's on Ae market." Romilly shuddered again. "Give it to her," she urged. "I don't want it. I never really wanted it, and it's caused a lot of trouble." He shook his head. "But it was also Ae excuse Aat brought us togeAer. s a remember? You can sell it if you like, but I'd advise keeping it - as a memento. And I suppose you could say .it's not a love god for nothing! " Romilly coloured delightfully in Ae dimness of the tunnel. "That's true," she admitted. "I never Aought of Aat." "Well, you can "start Ainking about it now," he said, stroking her cheek. "When we're married - and I hope I can take it Aat you're not against Ae idea of marrying me, despite Ae fact Aat you didn't seem to take to me Ae moment we met? - we'll give it an honoured niche eiAer in my house in Cairo or at Dar el Pace." "I've never seen your house in Cairo," she murmured. "No, but you will do so fairly soon, because I'm taking you Aere immediately, wiA Mrs. Forbes to keep an eye on you. Oh, and by the way, she very much approves of you! ... And she was simply full of approval when I told her I was going to marry you!" 153

. "Oh! Did you really tell her Aat?" "I've been accustomed to telling her nothing but Ae truA ever since Ae days when she caught me stealing Ae jam, and I had to admit to the Aeft. She was a bit of a martinet in Aose days ... still is, as a matter of fact. But I'm very fond of her." "I like her, too." "Fondness and liking sound somewhat tepid to me," he commented, taking her wiA sudden fierceness into his arms and crushing her up against him. "I want to hear you say you love me! The other night, in Ae Arab village, I had an almost overpowering urge to hear you say it, but you were so cool and contained I didn't dare to press my luck. But now I know you're not really cool and contained.... say it! "he pleaded. She whispered Ae words against his open-necked shirt. "I love you! ... I really do love you so desperately, Julius, and I Aought you weren't even interested." "Which just shows how basically stupid you are..« Probably Ae reason why your aunt, who was utterly delightful, never married. She could never get around to saying'I love you!'to Ae right man." "Now Aat I'm absolutely certain you're Ae right man I'll say it as often as you please," she offered. For answer he practically took her breath away by kissing her once more hard on Ae mouA. And Aen he kissed her wiA tenderness, and wiA every evidence of having an incurable desire to go on kissing her. His chauffeur discreetly averted his eyes when Aey walked across the burning sands to his car. It was not yet noon, but Ae sun was high in Ae sky, and Ae uneven face of Ae desert was like a sea of gold. Romilly felt as if the whole world was made up of sunshine and brilliance, and 154

the shadowy darkness from which she had escaped was just a moment of nightmare. And it was worth experiencing Ae nightmare when so much solid brilliance awaited her. Dear Great-Aunt Romilly, she Aought. What a pity she never married i