Egyptian Honeymoon (14 page)

She glanced at him sideways, hoping he would show guilt, but his face did not change, and he said casually:

'Did you? When I looked in you were sleeping soundly.'

'You mean… you came in again?'

'Naturally I wanted to be sure you were all right.'

'Really? How unexpected, after what you did to me!'

Steve gave her a long, level look and she felt herself flush.

'Though you mayn't believe it, I'm not inhuman,' he told her quietly.

They returned to the boat with Noelle's mind a jumble of temples, carvings and wall paintings. As they were too late for lunch, Steve made a steward rustle up a scratch meal for them. He was silent and preoccupied and she supposed his thoughts had reverted to his business problems. She went to her cabin intending to pack, but was overcome by weariness. She had tried to see too much in too short a space of time. She lay down on the bed, and was soon fast asleep.

Soon she began to dream. She was Nefertari, stretched on her bier, but in possession of all her senses, though she could not move. All around her was the panoply of death—the stone sarcophagus, the gilded mummy case, and a miscellany of precious objects to be put into her tomb. With a feeling of terror she saw a tall man in a white robe holding in his hands long strips of mummy wrappings. She wanted to cry out that she was not dead, she could see and hear, but she could not stir. Then the Pharaoh appeared, a glittering figure crowned and carrying his sceptres, with a shining pectoral about his neck. The attendants—she saw there were a number of them—prostrated themselves, and beckoning to one of them, he handed him his crown, and the flail and crook, the sceptres the Pharaoh always bears. Then he knelt beside the bier. To her astonishment, Noelle saw there were tears in his eyes, and they were grey. He took her in his arms and rained kisses on her face, and with all her strength she tried to respond, to show him she was still alive, but the horror of nightmare shackled her limbs. She still could not move or speak.

Then the man stood up and said in a harsh voice:

'I don't want an icicle in my bed. Bury her in Highgate Cemetery.'

She was filled with desperate longing to go to him, to make some sign, for the Pharaoh's face was Steve's. She saw him gradually fading away with a sense of bereavement too terrible to bear, and awoke with a cry, tears streaming down her face.

'What's the matter?'

She stared at the connecting door which was wide open and Steve was standing on its threshold.

'Oh, Steve, I dreamed…'

He came to her, pushing aside her legs so that he could sit beside her. He took both her hands in one of his, and drawing a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the tears from her face. His eyes, she saw with astonishment, were soft and full of concern.

'A bad dream?'

'Horrible.'

'H'm, the result of wandering round sepulchres in the heat, but you're awake now, my love.' He began to stroke her arms with a soothing motion. 'Tell me your dream.'

'I seemed to be dead, only I wasn't. I was lying on something like this bed. They… they were preparing to bury me.' She stopped and shuddered, the miasma of her dream still clinging to her. Steve gently pushed back the hair from her forehead.

'Was I in this dream of yours?'

'Oh yes, you were Pharaoh, in full regalia. You looked… magnificent.' She laughed shakily.

'But surely I wasn't assisting in these unpleasant rites?'

'No. You came in and everyone flopped on the floor. Then you stood over me… like you did last night.'

He became very still, and his hands slowly clenched on his knees.

'Like last night… go on.'

'I wanted to get up, to beg you… but I couldn't.' Her despair in the dream came back to her and she cried in anguish. 'But I couldn't move, that was what was so terrible, I was helpless. I wanted to… escape, but I couldn't move.'

She covered her face with her hands and shuddered. She had meant she wanted to flee from those horrible men who were preparing her burial, to beseech Steve-Pharaoh to take her away. That he might put a different interpretation upon her words never occurred to her.

'I understand.'

He stood up and his face was like the man in her dream when he had said: 'I don't want an icicle in my bed.'

He looked down at her; she was lying in the same position as she had lain last night when he had come to punish her, and her eyes held the same desperate appeal as when she had besought him to listen to her and he had told her to shut up. A spasm crossed his face, and he spoke harshly:

'For heaven's sake, get up, girl!'

She wilted, and he went on in a softer voice:

'You were overdone with the heat and you're so sensitive, those mausoleums stimulated your imagination too strongly. But you're awake now, and you'd better get on with your packing, or shall I send for a stewardess to do it for you?'

'Oh no, I'll do it.' She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Steve had again become remote and aloof. Yet he had tried to comfort her. She knew that he despised softness and thought he must be regretting what he would consider a lapse into weakness. She went on:

'I'd like to say goodbye to the Bates. I think they were going to Karnak, but they'll be back by now.'

'I expect so.' He sounded completely disinterested, but he was lingering in her cabin as if he were loath to leave her.

'It isn't a secret, is it? I mean, our departure? You didn't tell Marcia.'

'No, it's not secret, and I suppose I'd better go and tell her now. You thought I was being inconsiderate, didn't you?'

She had thought he was worse than that, and though she disliked and distrusted Marcia she didn't like to think Steve would deliberately hurt her.

'We were in a hurry and I thought she'd make a scene,' he explained.

'Will she make one now?'

He made a grimace. 'Probably, but I'll cope with her.'

Noelle stood up. 'Steve…'

'Yes?'

'You won't… I mean, if she suggests it… take her back with us?'

He looked astonished. 'Why ever should I do that? I've told you before, she's going with these friends of hers to Aswan.' His eyes narrowed. 'You didn't believe they existed, did you?'

She hung her head.

'Remember before you pass judgment again how wrong you were.'

With that he went out on deck.

Noelle sat down again holding her head between her hands, while she went over what had passed in review. Her dream was quite understandable, it was a hotch-potch of her impressions during the day, but Steve's reaction to her distress had surprised her. He had seemed so understanding until she had told him the culmination. Then something had stung him and he had changed completely, she couldn't imagine why, but her own feelings had clarified. In spite of his assault upon her, the rose had revived, she did love him, and his unpredictability was part of his charm. Hugh she had understood thoroughly, she had known what he would do and say in any given circumstances as if he were part of herself, but Steve had all the fascination of an enigma.

With a sigh, Noelle abandoned her unproductive thoughts, washed her face, changed her dress and went in search of the Bates.

She found Mrs Bates lying upon her bed flushed and feverish, and her husband a very worried man.

'She's got a rash,' he told Noelle. 'We didn't go to Karnak as she was feeling poorly, and she's become steadily worse. It may be something she's eaten. I don't think there's a doctor on board.'

'No, but there'll be one in the town.'

She guessed the Colonel was not only fretting over Mary's health, but if her illness was serious, hospitalisation would be very expensive. She laid a cool hand on Mary's forehead, and asked if he had taken her temperature. He admitted he had not, he had no thermometer, but Noelle had. She would go and get it and enquire about a doctor at the office.

'Bless you,' the Colonel said with a faint smile.

Noelle sped up the companionway to the next deck. She would fetch the thermometer first. On the promenade above she encountered Steve.

'Hello? Something wrong?' He put out an arm to check her.

'It's Mary Bates, she's ill.' Breathlessly she told him about Mary's condition and what she proposed to do.

'You won't go near her again,' Steve said forcefully.

'But Steve, I must…'

'You will not. You little fool, it may be something infectious and you've already exposed yourself to it.'

'It's probably nothing serious, and I had all the jabs before I came…'

'So of course did she.' He held her arm firmly, preventing her from moving. 'Listen to me. You'll go and finish your packing and I'll get a conveyance to take us straight to the airport. We may be able to pick up an earlier flight to Cairo or Alex, there are often cancelled seats, but we must get away at once.'

'But why?' she asked blankly.

'As you say, it may be only a minor ailment, but if the doctor diagnoses something serious we may all be put in quarantine. I must get back, and quickly. Don't tell anyone. you've been to see her, understand? You can have a check-up when we get to London.'

She stared at him incredulously.

'Do you never think of anyone but yourself? I won't go, she's my friend, she needs me.'

'She won't, she'll have professional attention.'

'That's another thing. They aren't well off. I think the Colonel's worried about expense.'

'Presumably he's insured. What do you expect me to do? Give him a blank cheque?'

'You wouldn't miss it.'

'Maybe not, but I didn't get where I am by listening to hard luck stories. Besides, he's a gentleman, he wouldn't take it.'

'You don't know. The offer of a loan might relieve him.' Noelle tried to free her arm. 'Let me go, I must get that thermometer.'

'You will do no such thing, I told you you were not to go near her again and I expect you to obey me.'

Noelle's lips set mutinously, and her eyes were stormy.

'I'm sure the risk is very slight, I don't care about it.'

'But I do.' Steve held her arm in an iron grip and his face was stern. 'Are you going to do what you're told?' She shook her head. 'Very well, then you must be made to.'

He picked her up as if she had been a naughty child and ran up the next flight of stairs as if he found her weight no burden at all. Too confounded to struggle, which would have been undignified as well as useless, since Steve could easily master her, she choked with indignation and outrage.

He dumped her down upon the bed in her cabin, and striving to master her rage, she tried to speak reasonably.

'Steve, you can't really mean we're going to run away without doing anything to help those poor people? I promised…'

'You can't be blamed for not keeping it in the face of superior force,' he smiled satirically. 'The old fool should never have allowed you to see his wife when he didn't know what was wrong with her, but they aren't your responsibility and you are mine.' He paused, then added deliberately, 'You're rather precious to me.'

Noelle had always known he would be ruthless where his business interests were concerned, but to try to cloak his inhumanity under a pretence of anxiety for her well-being she could not accept.

'You don't care a damn about me,' she stormed, 'so don't hand me out any soft soap! Go if you must, but let me stay on board. I'll go on to Aswan with them and find my own way back.'

'That's quite out of the question.' He caught hold of her hair, holding a strand on either side of her face and forcing her to look up at him. 'Do you want to stay to nurse Mrs Bates, or to make another assignment with ben Ahmed?'

'Oh God, no!' She tried to free her hair, he was' pulling it quite mercilessly. 'How dare you suggest such a thing? Only your corrupt mind would think of it. Oh!' as he gave her hair a tug. 'You're a brute and a bully,' she exploded, 'a cruel beast!'

Steve released her so suddenly she fell back on the bed.

'Couldn't you think of something more original to call me?' he asked sarcastically. 'You're becoming monotonous, and you've never left me in any doubt about your opinion of me. But we're wasting time. You still haven't packed.'

She clenched her hands. 'I'm not coming.'

'Of course you're coming. Are you going to be sensible, or must I lock you in while I make my arrangements?'

She hesitated, but she knew she was defeated. If she continued to defy him he would imprison her until he was ready to drag her ignominiously off the boat.

'And I mean stay in here,' he. went on. 'No slipping off to the Bates or trying to contact a doctor.'

Noelle looked at him with wide, accusing eyes. 'I'll stay here since I must, but I think you're utterly selfish, a bully, and in every way despicable.'

'Too bad.' He gave her a derisive grin, and went out.

Noelle restrained the tears of frustration that had risen to her eyes. Tears wouldn't help anyone. Steve had seemed so different when he had comforted her after her nightmare, but now she had the sensation of having been butting her head against a granite wall. He wasn't human, she decided fiercely, he was a computer programmed to produce statistics, incapable of normal feelings. She thought of writing a note to the Colonel, but what could she say? 'My husband forbade me to help you'? No, she couldn't say that, but any expression of regret would sound insincere, and she was too wretched to think up excuses. Mechanically she packed her cases, tidied her hair and powdered her nose. She was already dressed for travelling. She caught sight of the linen hat, which she had overlooked, and on a sudden impulse picked it up and went on deck to throw it overboard. There, she thought, goes the last of my Egyptian… honeymoon… Honeymoon, what irony! She smiled wryly and went back inside to await her husband's coming, outwardly compliant, inwardly seething with resentment.