Part 49 (1/2)

”P'r'aps you're right,” she said; and presently they went out together to see what was happening to Daniel.

They found him just emerging from the tent where he had slept. It was evident that he was still thoroughly tired; but a group of troopers and their camels outside the police buildings indicated that, nevertheless, an immediate start was to be made.

He was munching biscuits as he shook hands with Mr. Bindane. ”I'm sorry I can't stay,” he said. ”I've got to set this business to rights at once. But I dare say we'll meet in Cairo before you leave for England.

Good-bye!” He held out his hand, but Kate checked him.

”I'll go and see if Muriel is awake,” she said.

”No, never mind,” Daniel answered, with his mouth full. ”I won't disturb her. Please tell her I'm coming to Cairo within a month from now.”

He waved his hand to them, and hurried away; and presently they saw him mount his camel and ride away southwards, followed by half a dozen troopers, their rifles slung across their shoulders.

”Well, I'm blowed!” muttered Kate.

”It seems to me it's business first with him, too,” remarked Mr.

Bindane, looking vacantly before him.

”Oh, rot!” replied his wife. ”From what Muriel says it appears that he had promised the old Sheikh that his son should hold office after him; and he's going to keep his word.”

That night Muriel confessed the whole truth to her friend, only exacting the promise that she would not tell of her humiliation to Benifett. She related the events without emotion, her voice steady and the expression of her face calm. It was as though she were telling the story of some other woman in whom she felt no personal interest. It was as though Daniel had now pa.s.sed entirely out of her life.

”I'm going to marry the first man who proposes to me,” she said, setting her jaw.

”Well, you'll have to look sharp about it,” Kate replied. ”He's coming to carry you off by the hair in a month's time, and don't you forget it.”

Muriel put out her hand quickly, and touched her friend's arm. ”No, you don't understand him,” she said. ”He's not a bit that sort of man....”

She checked herself, feeling that she had no desire to be inveigled into discussing his character.

Next morning, soon after breakfast, the start was made on the return journey to the Nile. Muriel, after a long sleep, was quite recovered from her fatigue; but she did not feel happy, and the wide vistas of the desert did not make the same appeal to her as on the outward journey.

She felt herself to be very much older, very much more subdued; and there was, as it were, a veil between her eyes and the beauty of the wilderness.

Moreover, she was very self-conscious. It seemed to her that she had lost caste; and, now that all the alarums and excursions were over, she was not a little dismayed at the affront she had put upon the conventions. Benifett Bindane's att.i.tude to her was non-committal, but in his evasion of the subject of her adventures he displayed an awkwardness which she found almost insulting.

And then the natives.... She felt as though many pairs of eyes were upon her, and more than once it seemed to her that she was not being treated with the same deference as formerly.

Once, when her camel had lagged behind the others, she found herself riding beside the Egyptian secretary of the expedition, a young man who evidently regarded his personal appearance with favour; and it seemed to her that he turned his dark eyes upon her with a boldness which she had not previously observed.

But the most galling experience was provided by her dragoman, Mustafa, who took the opportunity to speak to her on the day of their departure, when she was sitting alone, waiting for the picnic luncheon to be served.

”I hope my leddy was varry happy at El Hamran,” he said, grinning at her boldly.

”Thank you, yes,” she answered, fiddling with her shoe.

”Mistair Lane he varry nice gentleman,” he went on; and then, leaning forward, he lowered his voice. ”Mustafa know the beesness: he say nudding; he keep varry quiet, my leddy. No talk 'bout El Hamran....”

”What d'you mean?” she exclaimed angrily, but he only smiled at her, and salaamed.

It was disgusting, and she felt a cold s.h.i.+ver creep down her spine, as she hastened across to the others.