Nile Dusk Read online

  "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 come 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 ? "

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  "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 fright

  ened - "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. Be

  sides, 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 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

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  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

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  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.