"But no! I shall have to go back to Assiut, and then to Cairo and Alexandria, the Delta, too."
"And the Fayyūm? Haven't you property there? Isn't it one of the richest districts in Egypt?"
He looked at her and smiled, slightly pouting his thick lips.
"Even if I could go to the Fayyûm, I don't think it would be much good," he answered.
He had no scruple in stripping her bare of subterfuge.
"I meant that your advice on Egyptian agriculture might be valuable to my husband," she retorted, with composure.
Something in his glance, in his tone, seemed suddenly to brace her, to restore her.
"Ah! that is true. Mr. Armeen would take my advice. In some ways he is not so very English."
"Then it would be kind to come to the Fayyûm and to give him the benefit of your advice."
He leaned towards her, and said: