"You have been up the Nile, then?"
"Yes, I'm just back. Now I'm going to see something of Cairo before I leave."
"We start up the Nile day after to-morrow," said she.
"The day after—" he stopped.
'Twas ever thus. Fate never did one good turn but she sneaked back and jabbed him unawares. She was a tricksy jade.
"That's—that's gloomy luck," said Billy, and felt outraged. "Why, how about that Khedive ball thing?"
"Oh, that's when we come back."
She was coming back, then. Hope lifted her head.
"When will that be?"
"In three weeks. It takes about three weeks to go up to the first cataract and back, doesn't it?"