by Pamela Kent
"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.
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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.
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"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 should 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
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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.
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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 exchanged 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
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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.
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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 wis
taria afforded a sufficient amount of shade for Ae marble
benches, and Ae long pool reflected Ae sky and had a sec
ond 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
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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 - honey
moons, 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."
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
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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-w
hy...?"
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.
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He answered her very quietly, with quite a grave inflec
tion 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 ex
tremely 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 re
quested. 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.