by Pamela Kent
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"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 any- Aing 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
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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 feel
ing 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.
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"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
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sure Aere's everything I need here. The room seems mar
vellously 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 some
where 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 shar
ing a table in Ae dining-saloon of Ae Nile steamer wiA
Allerton, but Crighton was an unknown quantity � some
one 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
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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 Crigh
ton.
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,
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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
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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
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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 desir
able in a shimmering gown of ice-blue, and Martin Aller
ton, very smart and well brushed in a criap white dinner
jacket and rakish scarlet cummerbund. He was sipping one
of his favourite cocktails, and he smiled at her raAer sheep
ishly, 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
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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 finger
tips, 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 beau
tiful, 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."
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"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 pleas