THE OPENING DOOR
Not half an hour after the first word from Bronson, came another
hurried note. An unexpected obstacle had cropped up. So confident had
he and Mrs. Bronson been of their friends' cooperation, that rather
than put such important matters on paper, they had waited to explain by
word of mouth. The owner of the villa was a rich Syrian with a
French-American wife. He was a Copt in religion, hating Mohammedanism in
general and the father of Rechid Bey in particular. This had seemed to
the American Consul a providential combination: but to his disgust he
found that there had been a reconciliation between the families.
Dimitrius Nekean would not betray the Bransons' confidence, but he
could not allow his roof to be used as a shelter for Rechid's runaway
wife--no, not even if Rechid had three other wives in his harem.
Here was a situation! And as Monny remarked, in neat American slang, we
were "right up against it." She thought that, if Antoun and I "put our
heads together," maybe we could think of "some way out." So we did,
almost literally put our heads together across a table no bigger than a
handkerchief, in my cabin: and decided that the visit to Rechid Bey's
harem must be made by Brigit and Monny in the late afternoon. They must
time their departure from the house at about the hour when the Set
would arrive at the Temple of Mût. "Antoun" would be waiting for them,
and they would drive in a closed arabeah to the temple, where Mr. and
Mrs. Bronson would happen to be "sightseeing." If Mabella Hânem had
been rescued, she would then be put in charge of the American Consul,
whose very footprints created American soil around him as far as his
shoes could reach. Rechid would be unlikely to search at the Temple of
Mût, nor could he induce any Arab servant to accompany him there after
sundown. We would escort Mabel and her two protectors to the town, and
to the train for Cairo, Mr. Bronson promising to take the girl to
Alexandria, whence she could sail for "home."
It was the best plan we could think of in the circumstances, and Monny
approved it, though her patience was tried by having to wait through
nearly all of another day. Mabel must have begun to believe that we had
ignored her prayer and meant to do nothing. I argued that the girl
would believe we were working for her in our own way. I said, too, that
if Rechid were spying, his suspicions would be disarmed by seeing us go
the ordinary round of tourists. Every one came to Luxor. We had come,
leisurely, by river, and were sightseeing every moment. Even Bedr, if
he were on the spot, intending to finish his revenge as neatly as it
had been begun, could have noticed nothing suspicious in our actions.
The mention of Bedr in this connection seemed to startle Biddy, and I
was sorry I had let his name slip. But, as I had said, every one came
to Luxor. Bedr had with apparent frankness explained that he was
travelling up the Nile by rail with his two clients: and if that were
true, he would arrive at all our destinations in advance of us.
Probably it would depend on "the clients" whether they lingered at
Luxor long enough for us to run across them again.
"What are you afraid of," I asked Biddy when I had a chance with her
alone, "even if Bedr is a spy? Surely you kept your promise and left
that chamois-skin bag in a Cairo bank?"
"It wasn't a promise," she reminded me. "I only said I'd think about
it. Well, I did think about it, and I couldn't put it in a bank. I told
you it was the sort of thing one _doesn't_ put in banks."
"You didn't tell me what it was--I mean, what was in it besides money."
"No, I couldn't."
"Will you now?"
"Oh, no!"
"Well, then, will you give it to me to keep till we get back to Cairo?"
"No, _indeed_! But Duffer dear, honestly and truly it isn't for myself
I'm afraid. You _know_ that, don't you?"
"Of course. Yet if people are believing that Monny Gilder is Rachel
Guest, a poor little school teacher, then no one who heard the gossip
would bother to risk kidnapping her for ransom. And, also, there'll be
no further danger of those you fear mistaking her for--"
"Oh, don't speak the name!"
"I wasn't going to. I was merely about to use the word 'another.'"
"Good Duffer! Yours is a consoling argument. Still, I never liked Bedr
or wanted him with us. And even now, there seems something mysterious
about Rachel thinking so much of him. As if there were a secret
arrangement between them, you know! I've never got over that, or
understood it a bit."
"He flattered Miss Guest, perhaps. She loves flattery. But she's made
her market now, and all through Monny's charity. She couldn't want to
do her benefactress harm."
"No-o, I suppose not. Unless it were to do herself good. Don't those
eyes of hers say to you that she'd sacrifice any one for herself?"
"I've been thinking more about a different pair of eyes. And there were
such a lot of men crowding round Rachel's--for some reason or other."
"_Now_ we know what the reason was--as she and Monny must have known
all along, since their joke together began. Oughtn't _you_ to tell Bill
Bailey the truth?"
"No, my dear girl, I must draw the line somewhere! I've gone about at
people's beck and call, telling other people disagreeable truths, till
I'm a physical and mental wreck. Bill Bailey knows all about statues,
with and without glass eyes. Let him find out for himself about a mere
girl--"
"With cat's eyes." Biddy snapped.
If one triumph leads to another, Anthony could afford to be hopeful for
the ending of our stay at Luxor. He had not done as much sightseeing as
the rest of us, but when we had been asleep in our beds or berths,
dreaming of temples--or of each other--he had been out whispering and
listening, in places where his green turban opened doors and hearts. He
had traced the mysterious "trouble" to its source, and learned the
inner history of that regrettable incident which, like a dropped match,
had lit a fire hard to extinguish. A party of young men travelling with
a "bear leader" had laughed at some Arabs prostrating themselves to
pray, at that sacred moment, just after sunset, ordained by Mohammed
lest his people should appear to worship the orb itself. One of these
youths, fancying himself a mimic, had imitated the Moslems. They were
old men, unable to resent with violence what they thought an insult to
their religion; but they had told their sons, and the story had spread.
Later that night the joyous tourists with their near-sighted "bear
leader," had been attacked apparently without reason, on coming out of
a native café. Having forgotten the sunset prayer, they honestly
believed that they had been set upon by men to whom they had given no
provocation. They had uttered statements and complaints; and disgusted
with the "beastly natives" had pursued their journey up Nile, visiting
their grievances on the innocent, and making more mischief at each
stopping place. Murmured threats, with dark looks, insulting words and
jostlings of strangers by the inhabitants of Upper Nile villages, had
occasioned anxiety at the British Agency. It had proved impossible to
get at the truth, and the influence of the Young Nationalists had been
suggested. Our Hadji had now turned the green light of his sacred
turban upon obscurity, and those in power at Cairo would know how to
set about repairing damages. In spite of private anxieties, those which
I shared and others which I didn't share but suspected, I think Anthony
was happy on that third morning at Luxor. He must have been tired, for
much of his work had been night work, but he showed no fatigue. The
true soldier-look was in his eyes, the look I knew far better than the
new and strange expression which had said to me lately, "A woman has
come to be of importance in Anthony Fenton's life."
We spent our morning and a good part of the afternoon at Karnak,
lunching irreverently but agreeably in the shade of fallen pillars
Cambyses or the great earthquake had thrown down. Neill Sheridan, who
had been to California, likened the ruddy columns of the Great Hall to
the giant redwoods. He was enjoying Karnak because there was
practically nothing "modern and Ptolemaic about it," but I thought how
quickly he would lose this calmness of the student if some one blurted
out a word about our plan for that evening. According to Monny, he had
been "taken" with poor Mabella Hânem on board the Laconia--admiring her
so frankly that Rechid had banished his bride to her cabin. If Sheridan
regretted her, as a man regrets a woman vainly loved, he had confided
in no one, not even Monny, who had risked seeming to seek his society
in order to reach the secret of his heart. He had, however, been graver
in manner than at first, so said the girl, who had been much with him
before my appearance on the scene. Whether it was intuition, or sheer
love of romance which inclined her to the opinion, she believed that
Sheridan was unhappy. It would make things worse for Mabel (if our
scheme failed) were Neill Sheridan mixed up in the plot; therefore,
even impulsive Monny admitted the wisdom of keeping him out of it. But
I could see by the way she looked at him--almost pityingly--when he
discoursed of lotus and papyrus columns, how she was saying to herself:
"You poor fellow, if only you _knew_!"
The "thing" being to see the Temple of Luxor at sunset, we gave it the
afternoon, as if condescending to do it a favour. When I remembered how
I had meant to linger here week after week, I felt that I was paying a
big price for my share of the Mountain of the Golden Pyramid, making a
knock-about comedian of myself, rushing through halls of history
followed by a procession of tourists, as a comet tears past the best
worth seeing stars, obediently followed by its tail. Still, I had
Brigit and Monny as bright spots in the tail; and my old dreams of
Luxor had been empty of them.
These ideas were in my mind, while on donkeys and in arabeahs we dashed
as if our lives depended on speed, from the Temple of Karnak to the
Temple of Luxor, along the dusty white road trimmed with sphinxes. This
description was Enid Biddell's, she being happy and therefore
frivolous. She rode with Harry Snell, as queens may have ridden along
that way, guarding a captive prince who had been subdued forever.
Sunset illumined the world, as for a New Year's festival of Amen-Rã in
his ruby-studded boat of gold, when we were ready to leave the glorious
temple, and turn to the region of little bazaars and big hotels, fair
gardens, and girls with tennis rackets whose shape reminded our
Egypt-steeped minds of the key of life. Monny and Brigit had slipped away.
Their _real_ day was just beginning.
My heart was with them; Anthony's, too, and his work permitted him to
conduct _his_ heart along the way that they must take, while I had to
conduct the Set to the Winter Palace Hotel, and give them tea on the
terrace.
When everybody was rested and had had enough strawberry tarts, view and
flirtation, we were to make for the Temple of Mût: and, having returned
at last to the _Enchantress Isis_, were to steam away just as tourist
boats and dahabeahs were lighting up along the shore. We were to dine
late, after starting, and anchor in some dark solitude, so as to enjoy
a peaceful, dogless night on the Nile. But--what would have happened to
Brigit and Monny before the sounding of that dinner gong?
What did happen at the beginning I must tell as best I can, because I
was not there, and can speak for myself only from the Temple of Mût.
When they stole almost secretly away from Karnak, they took an arabeah
which was waiting and drove to the sugar-plantation of Rechid Bey. This
place of his is not prepared for a lengthy or luxurious residence; but
as I have said, there is a house. There is also a small gatehouse, in a
somewhat neglected condition; but a gatekeeper was there: the usual
stout negro. Monny and Biddy were quivering with fear lest they should
be refused admission, as at Asiut: but this time their coachman was
Ahmed Antoun, carefully disguised as a common driver of an arabeah, a
rather exaggeratedly common driver perhaps, for his face and turban
were not as clean as the face and turban of a self-respecting Moslem
ought to be. He had been helped to play this trick by one of the secret
friends he had made in some café or other, the cousin of an uncle of a
brother of him who should have sat on the box seat. But the motive he
had alleged was not the real one. The two beating hearts in the arabeah
had confidence in him. If the gatekeeper tried to send them away,
Antoun would bribe him, or threaten him with black magic, or say some
strange word which would be for them as an "Open Sesame."
The fat creature at the gate had no French, but the driver of the
arabeah addressed him in Arabic, and translated his answers. Yes, the
great lady had come hither with her husband the Bey. Word should go to
her. It should be ascertained whether it was her pleasure to receive
these friends who had journeyed from a far country to pay her a visit.
Monny and Brigit sat in the arabeah to wait, but they dared not talk to
the dirty-faced driver, lest some spy should be on the watch, where
every group of flowering plants might have ears and eyes. Even if the
big gatekeeper came back with an excuse, as seemed too probable, there
was hope from Antoun's diplomacy; but the chances were two to one
against success. Rechid Bey had almost certainly been put upon his
guard by the revengeful Bedr who had shown himself all grinning
friendliness to us. Rechid might have tired of playing dragon, as
Antoun prophesied; yet it would be strange if he had not given
instructions that no European ladies were to visit his wife. Mabella
Hânem had been snatched in haste from Asiut, but if she were still in
Luxor with her husband, she and her women in the harem would be guarded
by eunuchs, as in the more ambitious villa which Rechid called his
home.
I suppose Anthony, slouching on the box seat in his unattractive
disguise, must have been as much astonished as Monny and Brigit when
the gatekeeper returned with another big negro to say that the ladies
would be welcomed by Mabella Hânem. The two girls were wildly
delighted. Fenton's emotions were mixed. He wanted to save the American
bride from the consequences of her tragic mistake, but he cared more
for his friends' safety than for hers.
He knew that Monny and Brigit were brave, and that Monny had his
Browning, but the thought that she might need to use it could not have
made him comfortable on the box seat of his borrowed arabeah, outside
Rechid's gate. It was arranged that he should give Mabel's visitors one
hour, thus allowing for delays and emergencies; but if they did not
appear at the end of that time, he would dash off to tell the Luxor
police that two ladies were detained against their will in the house of
Rechid Bey.
Once in charge of the chief eunuch, who had come to take them to the
harem, Brigit and Monny might almost as well have been deaf and dumb.
Brigit knew practically nothing of Arabic; and Monny, though she had
been vaguely studying since her arrival, had been too passionately
occupied with other things to give much time or attention to the
language of Egypt's invaders. Her blood was beating in her veins now,
and she could think of no words except "Imshi!" "Malish!" and
"Ma'salama!" These buzzed in her head, like persistent flies, as she
and Biddy followed their silent, white-robed and turbaned conductor
along a narrow pink path, toward a modern villa almost shrouded with
bougainvillia. And they were the last words she needed. She didn't want
to tell the ponderous negro to "get out." On the contrary, she wished
to be polite. So far from saying "no matter," everything mattered
intensely. And, unfortunately, it was not time yet to bid the creature
"farewell."
Behind the white house with its crimson embroidery of flowers, rose a
thick growth of tall sugar-cane, the shimmering green pale as beryl, in
the dreaming light which precedes sunset. The dark red of the
bougainvillia looked like streaming blood against such a background.
Though the villa appeared to be comparatively new, it was built
according to Turkish, not European ideas, as it might have been were
the owner a Copt instead of a Mohammedan. The building was in two
parts, entirely separating the _selamlik_ from the _haremlik_. The
latter was small and insignificant compared with the former, for this
was not a place prepared for family life: it was but a temporary
dwelling, where the master would more often come alone than with the
ladies of his harem.
The eunuch opened a door leading into the women's building, and Brigit
and Monny entered the same secretive sort of vestibule they must have
remembered in the House of the Crocodile. A screen-wall prevented them
from seeing what was beyond; and the dead silence frightened them a
little, so easy was it to make of this place a trap.
In the vestibule was a long, cheaply cushioned bench, the resting-place
of the women's custodian; and upon it lay spread open the eunuch's
well-used koran, which he had deserted to meet the visitors. Who had
given him the order to go, and why it had been given, the guests began
to ask themselves.
Beyond the screen-wall they entered an anteroom. Through a big window-door
they could look into a small, grassy court that served as a
garden: and opening from the anteroom was a second room much larger,
which also gave upon the garden court. At the door of this, the eunuch
bowed himself away; but an involuntary glance which Monny threw at him
over her shoulder showed that he was grinning. The grin died quickly as
a white flash of heat-lightning fades from a black night-sky: but
though the heavy face composed itself respectfully, there remained a
disquieting twinkle in the full-lidded eyes. It struck Monny that the
negro was amusing himself at the expense of the visitors, because of
something he knew which they did not know.
"We're not going to be allowed to see Mabel!" she thought, with a jump
of her pulses; and even when a negress, smiling invitingly, beckoned
her and Biddy into the large room whose three windows looked on the
garden, she still believed that they had been deceived. She did not,
however, speak out her conviction to Brigit. Nothing could be done yet.
They must wait and see what would happen.
The room was furnished in abominable taste, with cheap Trench
furniture, upholstered with blue brocade that clashed hideously with
the scarlet carpet. There were several sofas and chairs stiffly
arranged round the walls; but no tables, save low maidahs of carved
wood inlaid with pearl, such as they had seen in Cairo bazaars and
hotels. The windows were closed, and the air heavy, as in a room seldom
used. The two seated themselves close together, on one of the ugly
sofas facing a door through which the beckoning negress had gone out.
There was no sound except the harsh ticking of a huge, bulbous clock,
all gilding and flowers, which stood in a corner. Monny's and Brigit's
eyes met, with a question.
Who would open the door just closed? Would it be Mabel, or would Rechid
Bey stride in, to reproach or insult them?
"_Are you sure it's loaded_?" Biddy whispered.
No need for Monny to ask what she meant.
"Sure," she answered.
The handle of the door turned.