Read Online The Girl in the Nile by Michael Pearce - Free Book Online

From what they said, she had shrunk into a shell from the moment she had got on board, going off by herself whenever she could.
    “And that was why she was on the upper deck that night?” asked Owen.
    “Yes. She was always up there.”
    Mahmoud got them to go through the events of the night. The women had got into the way of going up on the deck every evening. They liked it even if Narouz didn’t. They had sensed the disapproval of the Rais.
    “But what’s the point of going up to Luxor if you never get a chance to see anything?” asked Nanette.
    What indeed?
    “Besides, after being cooped up below decks all day—”
    She made a pretty
moue
, which, Owen decided, was probably intended for his benefit.
    “You were up there together,” said Mahmoud, unsoftened, “all three?”
    “Yes.”
    “What were you talking about?”
    “What were we talking about? I can’t remember.” The girls looked at each other. “This and that.”
    “Did she join in?”
    “A little. Not much.”
    They had grown so used to her not joining in that they had not really noticed that she had stayed up there when they came down.
    “We were hoping we might have a drink before dinner,” said Masha.
    “Some hope!” said Nanette.
    It was when they were assembling for dinner that they had noticed her absence. They had called up to her. Narouz had even gone up.
    “Why he bothered I can’t think,” said Nanette tartly.
    They had started the first course without her. Then, as she still failed to appear, Narouz became annoyed and sent the eunuch up to fetch her.
    “We thought at first that she had hidden herself deliberately,” said Nanette, “and didn’t bother too much. But then as time went by—”
    It all corroborated what they had already heard. Mahmoud probed but came up with nothing more.
    “You know where to find us,” said Nanette, getting up. “Any evening,” said Masha, “except Friday.”
    Owen put out his hand to stop them.
    “Just one other thing,” he said, “before you go. What was her name?”
    “Leila,” said Nanette. “That was it, wasn’t it? Leila.”
     
    “Well,” said the Prince, “how are you getting on?”
    “Fine. But there are just one or two things I would like to ask you,” said Mahmoud.
    “Naturally,” said the Prince, settling back upon the divan. Owen had wondered whether his rooms would be furnished Eastern style or Western style. There was, however, no equivalent of the green motorcar. The room was like any other in the wealthier Cairo houses: carpets on the wall, tiles on the floor, low divans, cushions and very little furniture of any other sort.
    “Could you tell me first,” said Mahmoud, “why you were making an expedition to Luxor?”
    “I was
not
making an expedition to Luxor. That makes me sound like your English tomb-robbers. I was merely making a boring journey by river and Luxor happened to be at the end of it.”
    “What, then, was the purpose of your boring journey?” The Prince, unexpectedly, was silent for a moment.
    “I was accompanying my nephew,” he said then.
    “The Prince Fahid?”
    “Exactly.”
    “And what was the purpose of Prince Fahid’s journey?”
    “To add to his knowledge. He is reaching the age, you see, when he will be expected to play a larger part in public affairs. So we are trying to introduce him to the larger world. He has not even seen yet all the Khedivial estates. There is one not far from Luxor. That is what we went to see.”
    “You did not stay there very long.”
    “Quite long enough. Once seen, better quickly forgotten. I believe my father hoped we would stay longer. But Fahid is, like myself, someone on whom the attractions of the desert quickly pall.”
    “Would it be possible for us to talk to the Prince?”
    “I thought you might like to see him.” Narouz clapped his hands. A servant came in. “Ask the Prince Fahid to come this way, will you? This, too,” he said confidingly to Mahmoud and Owen, “will add to his