'Yes.' Politely he moved past Ramsey, and into the drawing room. He stood beside Julie, who had just signed another bank draft for her uncle, which she placed now in his hands.
'Yes,' Elliott said, turning back to Ramsey and speaking loudly enough for the others to hear him. 'Alex and I are both going. I booked passage on the same ship, as soon as Julie called. We wouldn't dream of letting her go alone, would we, Alex?'
'Elliott, I told you no,' Julie said.
'Father, I didn't realize ...'
'Yes, my dear,' Elliott said to Julie, 'but I couldn't take no for an answer. Besides, this may be the last time I see Egypt. And Alex has never been there. Surely you won't deny us the pleasure. Is there any reason why we should not all go?'
'Yes, I suppose I should see it,' Alex said, by this time thoroughly confused.
'Well, your trunk's packed and on its way,' Elliott said. 'Come on, now, or we're all going to miss the boat, so to speak.'
Julie was staring at him in a silent fury.
Ramsey gave a soft laugh behind him.
'So we all go to Egypt,' he said. 'I find this most interesting. We shall talk on board, Lord Rutherford, as you have said.'
Randolph looked up after tucking the power of attorney into his coat.
'Well, that solves everything, doesn't it? Have a pleasant journey, my darling.' He kissed his niece tenderly on the cheek.
* * *
The dream again, but he couldn't wake up. He turned over in Daisy's bed, into the scratchy lace pillow with its cloying perfume. 'Just a dream,' he murmured, 'have to stop it.' But he saw the mummy coming towards him, the long strips of darkened linen trailing from its shuffling feet. He felt the fingers lock on his throat.
He tried to scream, but he couldn't. He was suffocated, the smell of the filthy cerements choking him.
He turned over, thrashing at the bedcovers and suddenly striking out with his fist, only to feel fingers locked on it tightly.
When he opened his eyes, he saw his father's face.
'Oh, God,' he whispered. He fell back on the pillow. The dream locked around him again for an instant, but he shuddered and stared again at his father standing over the bed.
'Father,' he moaned. 'What are you doing here?'
'I might ask you that question. Get out of that bed and get dressed. Your trunk's waiting downstairs, along with a cab to take you to the P and O docks. You're going to Egypt.'
'The hell I am!' What was this, another stage of the nightmare?
His father removed his hat and took the bedside chair. When Henry reached for his cigar and matches, his father knocked them out of his hand.
'Damn you,' Henry whispered.
'Now you listen to me. I have things in hand again and I intend to keep it that way. Your cousin Julie and her mysterious Egyptian friend are setting out for Alexandria this afternoon, and Elliott and Alex are going with them. Now you will be on that ship, too, do you understand? You are Julie's cousin, and therefore the only proper companion. And you will see that things remain seemly, that nothing intervenes to prevent Julie's eventual marriage to Alex Savarell. And you will see . . . you will see that this man, whoever he is, does not hurt my brother's only child.'
'That man! You're mad if you think I'll-'
'And you are disinherited and penniless if you don't!' Randolph lowered his voice as he leaned forward. 'I mean this, Henry. All your life I Ve given you everything you ever wanted. But if you don't toe the line now, and see this thing to the bloody end, I shall remove you from the board of Stratford Shipping. I shall terminate your salary and your personal income. Now you will be on that ship. And you will keep an eye on your cousin and see she doesn't elope with that revoltingly handsome Egyptian! And you will keep me posted as to everything that is going on.'
Randolph removed a slim white envelope from his breast pocket. He laid it on the bedside table. There was a thick wad of money in the envelope. Henry could see that. His father rose to go.
'And don't wire me from Cairo that you're broke. Stay away from the gaming tables and the belly dancers. I shall expect a letter or a telegram within a week's time.'
Hancock was beside himself.
'Left for Egypt!' he sputtered into the telephone. 'But the whole collection is still there in that house! How could she do this!'
He motioned for silence to the clerk who meant to disturb him. Then he slammed down the black receiver in its hook. 'Sir, the newspapermen are here again, about the mummy.' 'Oh, damn the mummy. That woman's gone off and left that treasure locked up in her living room, as if it were a collection of dolls!'
* * *
Elliott stood beside Julie and Ramsey watching from the high railing as Alex kissed his mother at the foot of the gangplank far below.
'But I'm not here to cluck over you like a mother hen,' Elliott said to Julie. Alex embraced his mother again and then hurried to board. 'I only want to be close at hand if you need me. Please don't be so distressed.'
Lord, he meant it. It hurt him to see the look on her face.
'But Henry, why on earth has Henry come along? I don't want Henry with us.'
Henry had boarded only moments before without a civil word to anyone, looking as pale and overwrought and generally miserable as he had looked the day before.
'Yes, I know.' Elliott sighed. 'But my dear, he's your next of kin and-'
'Give me space to breathe, Elliott. You know I love Alex, I always have. But a marriage to me may not be the best thing for him. And I've been perfectly honest about it all along.'
'I know, Julie, believe me, I know. I always have. But your friend-'' He gestured to the distant figure of Ramsey, who was watching all the goings-on of the harbor with obvious excitement. 'How are we not to worry? What are we to do?'
She could not resist him. That had always been the case. One night several months back, when she'd had too much champagne and there'd been entirely too much dancing, she'd told Elliott she was more in love with him than she'd been with Alex. If he'd been free and asking for her hand, it would have been a fait accompli. Of course Alex had thought she was joking. But there had been a strange secret look in her eye that flattered Elliott immensely. And he saw a pale flicker of that same look now. And what a liar he was. What a liar he was being just now.
'All right, Elliott,' she said. She kissed him on the cheek, and he loved it. 'I don't want to hurt Alex,' she whispered.
'Yes, darling,' he said. 'Of course.'
There was a violent blast from the steam whistle. The last call for boarding passengers. Parties had broken up in the staterooms, and a steady stream of guests was going ashore.
Suddenly Ramsey came pounding towards them. He spun Julie around as if he didn't realize his own strength. She stared blankly.
'Feel it, Julie, the vibrations. I must see these engines.'
Her face softened at once. It was as if his excitement were contagious.
'Of course you must. Elliott, excuse me. I have to take Ramse ... I mean Mr. Ramsey ... to the engine room, if it can possibly be arranged.'
'Allow me,' Elliott said agreeably, motioning for a young officer in a crisp white uniform who had just come out on deck.
* * *
Alex was unpacking already when Elliott entered the little drawing room between their staterooms. Two steamer trunks stood open. Walter moved to and fro with armfuls of clothes.
