“You certainly have the people at your command, old man, but the priests, I should imagine, are treacherous.”
“And that arch-humbug, Ur-tasen, the most treacherous of the lot,” replied Hugh, with a laugh. “Of course he hates me now, and having found out that I simply will not dance to his piping, he will, no doubt, take the first possible opportunity of effectively getting rid of me.”
“He dare not do that just at present.”
“Of course not. But these picturesque and excitable people are only human after all. This enthusiasm is bound to cool down after a bit, and then ’ware of traps and plots.”
“I cannot help thinking, Girlie,” I added, “that Princess Neit-akrit will prove a source of great danger.”
“To what, old croaker?—to our heads or to our hearts?” he said, with a laugh.
“I am inclined to think to both,” I replied earnestly. “Do you feel at all impressionable just now?”
“I? Not the least bit in the world. Has not the dear little swimmer’s talisman rendered me invulnerable? Besides, this land, fair as it is, is neither my home nor my country. At present it is a great and gorgeous prison, and I should not be such a fool as to court sorrow and misery within it.”
“Do you know, old man, that if those are your sentiments your attitude towards your future wife is doubtful in its morality?”
“You don’t understand what I mean, Mark. Marriage is a sacred tie, whether contracted in Christian or in pagan land. My word is pledged to Queen Maat-kha, and I will keep my word to her as much as I should if I were pledged to a woman English-born like myself. And if ever I return to dusty old London, even if she did not choose to accompany me, I should still consider the tie which binds me to her indissoluble, so long as she chooses to hold me to it. But, believe me, she has no love for me; to her I merely represent the stranger—human or semi-divine—who has helped to keep the crown upon her head and prevented it from falling upon that of Neit-akrit, whom she hates. The Pharaoh is doomed, and by the curious constitution of this land a woman can only sit upon the throne of Kamt if a husband or a son share that throne with her. That arbitrary old Ur-tasen would not allow her to wed one of her own subjects; he was surprised into accepting me. As soon as a son is born to her, she will release me from my word and see me depart without a pang.”