The Girl in the Nile (21 page)

“What a terrible man!”

“Yes. He saw Miss Sekhmet as something he could use. No more.”

“Terrible!”

“I suppose it was easier to see her like that because she was a woman.”

Narouz shook his head in commiseration.

“Our society is not altogether fortunate in the way it sees women,” he said. “Now I myself value women highly.”

After the ceremony Paul took Owen back to the Consulate-General and gave him a drink in the garden.

“Congratulations!” he said, raising his glass.

“I feel a bit of a charlatan.”

“Why?”

“Well, I mean—the Order of the Camel!”

“You saved his life, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“Well, he thinks you did, which comes to the same thing. Anyway, you’ve done other good things for the Khedive. You deserve the Camel.”

They sat quietly for a moment among the roses and bougainvillea, enjoying the cool beauty of the Egyptian evening.

“The trouble is, though,” said Paul, “that you solved it too late.”

“Too late?”

“Yes. By the time you got him he had already built up a big head of steam in the radical press. The Khedive took cold feet and refused to sign.”

“The Agreement’s not been concluded, then?”

“No. It’s all off.”

Owen held up his glass against the sunset and studied the colors.

“So Hargazy got what he wanted after all,” he said thoughtfully. “Or part of it.”

He drained his glass and stood up.

“Club?” asked Paul.

“No. I’m off to see Zeinab.”

“No,” said Zeinab.

“What do you mean—‘no’? I’ve done it, haven’t I? I’ve found out who did it and put them in jail. What more do you want?”

“I want them dead.”

“That will take ages. There’s got to be the trial first.”

“It won’t do you any harm to wait. Men can’t expect to have it all their own way.”

Another thought struck him.

“What happens if some of the sentences are commuted? If they don’t sentence them all to death?”

Zeinab just smiled.

[scanned anonymously in a galaxy far far away]

[A 3S Release— v1, html]

[May, 2013]