He strained his eyes in an endeavour to distinguish the strangers outline, but in vain. The man was standing in the deep shadow. Only the girls familiar form silhouetted against the starlit sky.
We must be very careful of my uncle, the girl urged. The slightest suspicion, and we shall assuredly be parted, and for ever.
I will exercise every discretion, never fear, dearest, was his reassuring reply, and again he took her soft, fair face in both his hands and kissed her passionately upon the lips.
But, Henri, she exclaimed presently, are you quite sure they suspect nothing at home that you have never betrayed to anyone your affection for me? Remember, there are spies everywhere.
Surely you can trust me, my darling? he asked in reproach.
Of course, dear, she cried, again raising her lips and kissing him fondly. But, naturally, I am full of fear lest our secret be known.
It cannot be known, was his confident reply. We can both keep the truth from others. Trust me.
And when we return to Europe. What then? she asked in a low, changed tone.
Then we shall see. Why try and look into the future? It is useless to anticipate difficulties which may not, after all, exist, he said cheerfully, again stroking her hair with tenderness.
He spoke in French in a soft, refined voice, and was evidently a gentleman, though he still stood in the shadow and was therefore undistinguishable. He was holding the girl in his arms and a silence had fallen between them a silence only broken by the low lapping of the Nile waters, and that rhythmic chant now receding: Ah-lal-hey! Al-lal-hey?
My darling! whispered the stranger passionately. My own faithful darling. I love you ah! so much more than you can ever tell. And, alas! I am so unworthy of you.
She, in return, sighed upon his breast and declared that she loved but one man in all the world himself.
Since that night we first met, Lola you remember it, he said, my only thought has been of you.
Ah, yes, was her reply. At my aunts ball in Vienna. I recollect how the Baron von Karlstadt introduced us, and how you bowed and invited me to dance. Shall I ever forget that evening, Henri just over a year ago.
And old Gigleux? Is he still quite as troublesome as ever?
Just. He has eyes in the back of his head.
And Mademoiselle Lambert is she loyal to you?
I fear not, alas! was Lolas reply. She is paid to spy upon me. At least that has latterly become my impression. I have wanted to become her friend, but she is unapproachable.
Then we must exercise every discretion. On board I shall avoid you studiously. We can, of course, meet again in Cairo, for it is a big city, and you will sometimes be free.
Yes. Till then, adieu, Henri. But, she added, it will be so hard to be near you for the next three weeks and never speak.
It must be. Gigleux is no fool, remember, the man replied.
I must be getting back. They will miss me, she said wistfully. How shall I be able to pass you by dozens of times a day, Henri, maybe sit down at the same table with you, and betray no sign of recognition? I really dont know.
But you must, darling! You must for both our sakes, he argued, and then he once again clasped her in his strong arms and smothered her with his fierce passionate caresses.
Hubert Waldron witnessed it all. He held his breath and bit his lip. Who could be this mysterious Henri this secret lover whom Lola had met by appointment in that far-off, out-of-the-world place?
He recollected that Lola had flirted with him and that she had amused herself by allowing him to pay her compliments. Yet the existence of one whom she loved so devotedly in secret was now revealed, and he stood aghast, filled with chagrin at the unexpected revelation.
The pair, locked in each others arms, moved slowly forward in his direction.
She was urging him to allow her to get back, but he was persuading her to remain a little longer.
Think of all the long weeks and months we have been parted, sweetheart! he was saying. Besides we must not speak again until we get to Cairo. I shall remain at the little hotel over to-morrow. But it would be far too dangerous for us to meet. One or other of the passengers might discover us.
Yes, she sighed; we shall be compelled to exercise the greatest caution always. All my future depends on the preservation of our secret.
Waldron slipped from his hiding-place and away behind another tree, just before the pair passed the spot where he had been standing.
He watched them as they went forth into the light, and at last realised that the man was tall and slim, though, of course, he could not see his face.
He watched their parting, a long and tender farewell. The ardent lover kissed her upon the lips many times, kissed her cheeks, kissed her soft white hands, and then at last reluctantly released her and stood watching as she hurried on to the next belt of palms back to the landing-stage.
Afterwards he strode leisurely on behind her, and was soon lost to view in the black shadows.
A fortnight fourteen lazy days of idleness and sunshine had gone by.
The white double-decked steamer descending the Nile had left modern Luxor, with its gorgeous Winter Palace Hotel on the site of ancient Thebes. It had passed the wonderful temple standing upon the bank, and was steering due northward for Cairo, still a weeks journey distant.
In the west a great sea of crimson spread over the clear sky, and shafts of golden light fell upon the sand-dunes that barred the view in that direction. Away in the farther distance to the west the steel-like rim of the utter desert also seemed somewhat softened by that mellow light which diffused all the face of nature. During all the full hours of the day that rigid desert ruin, where lay the valley of the tombs of the kings, had seemed to repel, to warn back, to caution that there lay the limit beyond which the human being might not go. But in the falling light it had surrendered, and in its softer appearance it seemed to promise that it, like destiny and death, would surrender its uttermost secrets to those whose hearts were brave enough to approach it without fear.
The tea interval was over, and it was the lazy hour before dinner. Most of the travellers were in their cabins dressing, for the European ever clings to the dinner-jacket or evening blouse. On board that small steamer were men Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Americans whose wealth could be reckoned at over a hundred millions sterling, men who wore bad hats and rather shabby clothes, but whose women-kind were always loud-speaking and bizarre. Truly the winter world of Egypt is a strange one of moneyed leisure, of reckless extravagance, and of all the modern vices of this our twentieth-century world.
The white steamer, with its silent, pensive reis squatting in the bows with his eternal cigarette, ever watchful of the appearance of the broad grey-green waters, puffed onward around the sudden bend.
To the east, the Arabian Desert beautiful beyond words, but where, save in a few narrow oases, Nature forbade the habitancy of man stretched away to the Red Sea and far on into Asia. And to the west, frowning now as though in hatred of the green Nile with its fertility, lay the Libyan Desert, which, with its great mother the Sahara, held so much of Africa in its cruel grasp, and which was as unlovely and repelling as its sister of Arabia was bright and beautiful.
And Egypt the Egypt of life and fertility, of men and history, tradition, and of modern travel lay a green and smiling land between the two deserts as a human life lies between the two great eternities before birth and after death; or as a notable writer once put it: as the moment of the present lies between the lost past and the undiscovered future.