Part 30 (1/2)

After the festivities ended and Hakim's parents had departed, the travelers decided that they would not eat again until morning. The camel drivers built a fire and withdrew to care for their animals, grateful for the gift of fodder the Ababdeh had brought-dried zilla stems they'd collected en route.

As the sun fattened on its downward arc through the western sky, Flo, Gustave, the consul, Hakim, and Trout lounged on blankets around the campfire. Gustave smoked his chibouk, making sure, it pleased her to notice, that some part of him-leg, foot, hand, elbow, or shoulder-was always in contact with her. The consul stoked his French briar pipe and drew a long breath. ”This is not a simple matter,” he warned.

”Fine, but you must tell us everything,” said Flo. ”I shall translate for Trout.”

He nodded.

Hakim might as well have arranged for the sun to rise in the west instead of the east, Pere Elias said, for all the confusion he had caused. In the end, only the boy's cleverness had prevented a tragic outcome, for the situation was more complicated than he had yet allowed.

When Hakim's father was unable to convince Hakim to marry, he faced the threat of being deposed by his first cousin. For a while it seemed the father might have to kill the cousin. Later he offered him the dowry of Hakim's sister, though not the girl herself. The cousin refused. Hakim's parents implored him to reconsider marriage, but by now, friends.h.i.+p and employment with the consul had strengthened his resolve. ”Though Hakim is an excellent worker, I would not have risked bloodshed merely to retain a servant,” the consul said. ”It was a matter of the heart for me, too,” he confessed, ”for I have grown fond of Hakim. To me, he is like the son I never had.” The consul's voice was shaky. He stared at his feet.

”I see,” said Flo.

”Enfin, the father proposed to give the cousin Hakim's sister for a second wife. The cousin promised to consider it.”

”Oh, dear,” said Flo. She hated the very idea of a second wife. Before Egypt, she could not have imagined anything more limiting than to be bound as a wife. To be a second wife must be a complete forfeiture of personhood.

This broke Hakim's mother's heart a second time, Pere Elias explained, for an Abadi daughter, once married, was forbidden ever to see her mother again. ”That's when Hakim took permanent refuge in Koseir, with me.”

”I still do not understand how Trout figures into it,” Flo said.

”I am nearly finished,” the consul said. He uncrossed his legs, stretching them out in front of him.

”So the daughter was taken away weeping, and the mother could not be comforted. It was just then that you and your party arrived in Koseir. Hakim had never before met an Englishwoman. He hatched the idea to arrange a gift for his parents that would redeem them in their clansmen's eyes: a visit from a great English lady. Something like a state visit, you might say,” he added. Apparently the Ababdeh knew well the power of England, having ushered soldiers and diplomats across the desert bound to or from India by the Red Sea route. And so the visit was arranged.

The consul's voice dropped to a whisper, as if Hakim might suddenly grasp his French. ”I wonder if he told them he was considering marrying Madame Trout.”

”More likely,” Gustave said, ”he simply let them arrive at the idea themselves, without contradicting it.”

Flo completed the thought. ”That way, the parents could hope for the unthinkable and settle for the merely fabulous-a visit from a fine English lady.”

”What a clever lad,” Gustave noted.

Flo glared at him.

”Genius put to bad use, though.”

”I knew nothing of this plot,” the consul insisted again.

”So you have said. Do you think Hakim was aiming for Trout?” Flo asked.

”Aiming?” The consul tapped his pipe bowl onto the ground beside him. ”I don't think I understand.”

”Did he particularly wish to kidnap Trout?”

The consul paused. Clearly, if he knew what answer she desired, he would have supplied it. ”I don't know,” he admitted. ”I don't know if he understood that she is your servant.”

”Oh, my.”

”Do not upset yourself,” Gustave said, patting her hand. ”What's done is done.”

”Yes.” But she felt the terrible certainty that it was her fault that Trout had been taken, her fault for consigning her to a small tent alone.

”You must trust to fate, to destiny, is what I mean,” Gustave said, ”not that you should put the incident from your mind, but that everything is not under your control-or anyone's. Do you see the difference, my dear?” He put his arm around her while the consul continued.

Gustave's remark astounded her. For some reason, she had never truly believed in accidents until now. She'd always thought that if a person were paying attention, there could be no accidents. His reasoning provided enormous relief. For at least the moment, she felt both innocent of and forgiven for Trout's abduction.

”Hakim enlisted his cousin, one of the caravan guides, to a.s.sist him. It's likely they all knew of it.” Pere Elias coughed and muttered sotto voce, ”Of course, I know none of this part firsthand, you understand.”

”Yes, yes.” The consul's insistence on his ignorance-and thus his innocence-was vexing. What possible point did it serve?

”The visit was a great success,” the consul went on. ”All the clan came to meet the great English lady in the family hut and lavished food and gifts upon her. Hakim says that she bestowed favors and privileges in return.”

”What privileges?” Flo asked.

”Did they even share a common language?” Gustave added.

The consul shook his head. ”I don't see how. Nevertheless, Madame Trout reciprocated. So Hakim said. He was there.”

”Is it true?” Flo asked Trout, who startled upon being addressed.

”I did talk, mum. I could not be silent amidst all that gabble, so when they spoke, I spoke. I never understood more than a word or two.”

”Perhaps Hakim will elucidate,” Gustave said.

Hakim was blus.h.i.+ng again. ”It was all harmless lies, happy lies. My parents and I are reconciled, my father's power is secure, and my mother is eating again. All is as it was before the trouble began. No harm has been done.” His eyes were welling up again.

”Except that your sister is wretchedly married,” Flo said.

”A minor point in the scheme of life,” said the consul, lighting his pipe anew. ”She would have been sent away eventually.”

Trout raised her finger tentatively, like a schoolgirl who wants a second chance at the correct answer. ”When I saw they meant me no harm, I talked to them. And I gave them things I had to hand.” She looked stunned, like a person shaken awake from a dream. ”From my chatelaine.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew it. ”The thimble and beeswax-”

Flo took the chatelaine in her fingers.

”The black and white thread.”

The chatelaine was almost empty. Only the needle case and the black key remained. Flo felt like crying at the sight and heft of it, so reduced, so much lighter in the hand. The grat.i.tude she felt for Trout's safe return overwhelmed her with a great wave of relief and then, abruptly, like a cloud obscuring the sun, exhaustion overcame her. Total darkness of thought and feeling. It was the fatigue of confusion, of too much information and too little sense. She might not be able to reach her tent unaided. And there was still the matter of justice. Pere Elias and Hakim planned to leave shortly; she would start for Kenneh with two sick men before the sun was up. She couldn't wait any longer to resolve the matter.

She turned to Trout. ”Do you wish these people punished?” Her voice was hoa.r.s.e.

Trout did not react. Flo repeated the question.

”Is it up to me, then, a mere servant?”