The talk was the same all over the gardens—of the new Mahdi and his doings.
"Married to an Indian Princess, you say!"
"Oh yes! Quite an emancipated person, too! A sort of thirty-second cousin of the Rani of Jhansi. It seems she was educated by an English governess, kicked over the traces, became a sort of semi-religious suffragette, and followed her holy man to Egypt and the Soudan."
"How very droll! It is too amusing!"
The Sirdar, who had gone indoors some time before, returned to the garden dressed for a journey.
"Going away, your Excellency?"
"Yes, for a few weeks—to the lower Nile."
His ruddy, good-natured face was less bright than usual, and his manner was noticeably less buoyant. A few of his principal officials gathered about him, and he questioned them one by one.
"Any fresh news, Colonel?" he said, addressing the Governor of the city.
"No, sir. A sort of sing-song to-day in honour of the Bedouin Sheikh—that's all I hear about."