“Quite,” I said, getting a grip on myself. The conversation had been extraordinary. “Nefret, take the – er – young lady off to the bath chamber and get her some clean clothing. That rug is absolutely filthy.”
“Don’t say anything important until I get back,” Nefret ordered.
The girl got to her feet. “Are you still angry with me?” she asked Ramses.
“Good Lord, no. I – er – I owe you a great deal. More than I realized.” He smiled at her, and a blissful answering smile spread across her face.
“You owe me nothing. I will treasure the memory of that kiss forever, even if you can never be mine.”
After Nefret had removed the girl, the rest of us sat in silence, reflecting upon what we had learned. We were, in my opinion, becoming somewhat overburdened with strong-minded young women. I fixed a critical gaze upon my son.
“The kiss was, perhaps, a mistake.”
“It seemed the least I could do, Mother.”
I think he was teasing me. One cannot always be sure with Ramses. I trusted he would find Nefret’s comments equally entertaining.
“A kindly error, however,” I conceded. “We will not speak of it again.”
“Extraordinary young woman,” said Emerson. He added gloomily, “I suppose we’re stuck with her.”
“For the time being,” I agreed. “And we certainly cannot complain, considering what we owe her. We were dead wrong about her. She managed the whole business by herself.”
“With a few hints from Ismail Pasha,” said Ramses. “Don’t give me that steely stare, Mother. I am not denying her intelligence and her courage, but I would be willing to wager that she went rushing off to her sympathetic English friend as soon as they removed my – er – beautiful self to the cells, and opened her heart to him. That gave him his opening, and no one is better at putting ideas into people’s heads. I can almost hear him, can’t you? ‘The cruelties of war… too young to die… your father forced against his will to destroy a gallant enemy… in his heart he’d be grateful to be relieved of that grim duty… ’ ”
“She does seem to be a romantic young person,” I said. “And clever enough to work out the details, with, perhaps, a suggestion or two from Sethos. He had probably explored the house, including the cells – ‘just in case.’ Like myself, he believes in anticipating potential dangers. Nor would he have had any difficulty in persuading her to run away with him, to join the individual who had made such an impression on her susceptible heart.”
“Now, Mother,” Ramses protested. “She was bored and restless, and annoyed with her father for dragging her off to Gaza, and fascinated by Sethos. It wouldn’t have required more than that.”
“Hmm,” I said. “Admittedly her motives are less important than his. Why did he do it? Surely not to rescue a damsel in distress.”
“Not Sethos,” said Emerson – who might have been fool enough to do just that. “He means to use her against her father, somehow or other. It would be confounded embarrassing for Sahin Bey – oh, very well, Pasha – to admit he had lost his daughter to the enemy. What would he be willing to give to get her back?”
“We cannot be party to any such scheme,” I declared. “I will not force a young woman against her will, no matter what is offered in exchange.”
“Not even Sethos?” Ramses’s eyes were on the unlit cigarette he was rolling between his long fingers.
“Oh, good Gad,” I said.
11
The night passed without incident, but in some discomfort. I felt it incumbent upon myself to keep the girl with me. She had been removed suddenly from her home and was in the company of strangers; a motherly presence would comfort her – and prevent her from leaving us, in case she changed her mind. Emerson attempted to convince me to change my mind, declaring that my habit of foreseeing difficulties that never arose had become, as he put it, deuced inconvenient. Unable to prevail, he went off to one of the small sleeping chambers in a considerable state of aggravation.
Esin proved to be a noisy companion, breathing heavily through her nose and changing position every few minutes. However, there is a silver lining to every cloud; wakefulness gave me ample time for reflection. The situation had become even more confusing than before, and the possible permutations were manifold. If we did not make preparations to depart, Cartright might decide to place us under house arrest or remove us by force – for our own good, as he would explain. I did not trust him one inch, or believe in his protestations. Heaven only knew what Sethos would do next. I had never believed he was a traitor; I did not believe it now, though his real purpose was still a mystery. He had not exaggerated, however, when he spoke of a noose round his neck; a turncoat is automatically under suspicion, and Sahin, an old hand at the Game, was probably watching his every move. Ramses’s suggestion that Sethos had taken the girl as a possible bargaining counter, in case he was arrested, made a horribly convincing theory; in fact, it was the only reason I could think of why he might have taken that risk. Sahin Pasha was another unpredictable factor. What would he do when he discovered his daughter was missing?
By morning I had formulated my plans. I explained them to the others over breakfast.
“I am having serious doubts as to the advisability of our remaining here. Let us at least behave as if our departure were imminent.”
“Start packing, you mean?” Nefret asked, her brow furrowed.
“It would certainly do no harm if each of us made up a little bundle of basic necessities. What I meant, however, was that we should shop for items we would need on a journey and inspect the motorcar to make certain it is in good order.”
“It is in good order,” Selim declared, in some indignation.
“I am sure it is, Selim. But you could pretend it was not, couldn’t you – that some repairs were needed? That would give us a reasonable excuse to stay on for another day.”
“Yes, I could do that,” Selim agreed. His eyes shone in anticipation of an interesting vehicular challenge. “These people know nothing of motorcars. I could take off the -”
“No, no, you mustn’t take anything off! I want to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, if we have to.”
“Not having one of your famous premonitions, are you?” Emerson inquired, his eyes narrowing. “Because if you are -”
“You don’t want me to tell you about it. I am only trying to anticipate every contingency, Emerson. That is not superstition, it is simply good sense. We must stay here until tomorrow at the earliest, so that we can confer with Sethos, and we don’t want some helpful military person dropping by to inquire into our plans.”
“How far do you want to go?” Selim asked. “If it is more than five miles, we will need more petrol.”
“What else will we need?”
I made a little list. Our guest, who had not spoken except to bid us good morning, said, “Am I to go with you?”
I leaned back and gave her my full attention. A bath and a change of clothing, into one of “the favorite’s” silk robes, had improved her appearance considerably, and I had braided her hair myself. One could not have called her pretty, her features were too strong, but she was a handsome girl, in her way. Selim kept sneaking sidelong glances at her.
“We aren’t going anywhere just yet,” I replied. “As for taking you back to Cairo with us, that depends on a number of factors that are as yet unknown.”
“We can’t do anything else,” said Emerson. “She has placed herself in our hands and we owe her our protection.”
Esin’s admiring gaze indicated her appreciation of this noble sentiment, which was, I should add, entirely sincere. It wasn’t that simple, of course; men fix on words like honor and decency and noblesse oblige, and lose sight of the important issues. My chivalrous husband would never consent to an exchange, even if the life at stake was that of his own brother. I had not decided what I would do if the situation arose. We would not be selling the girl into slavery, only returning her to a father who had always treated her indulgently…