A surprise was in store for Frank and Fred when they returned from their excursion to the tombs of the kings.
Several ladies of the party had declined to visit the tombs, partly on account of the fatigue of the journey, and partly because they had been invited to see the harem of the English consul at Luxor, and did not wish to miss the opportunity of learning how the women of the East pass their time. When our friends returned to the boat the ladies had only been back a short time from the harem, and there was an active interchange of accumulated information until dinner was announced.
After dinner Frank tried to persuade one of the ladies to write an account of what she saw in the harem, as he wished to send it home for his sister and Miss Effie to read. She was unwilling to write, but promised that she would tell him the next day, while they were steaming up the river, and then he might write it out for himself.
Frank accepted the conditions, and next morning he sat down, pencil in hand, to take the story from the lady's lips. He thought it would be more interesting in her words than in his, and, as he was a rapid writer, he managed to get down a good part of the story just as she told it.
Here is the result of his work:
"We went to the office," said the lady, "and found the consul was all ready for us. We walked from there to his house, which is quite pretty when you get inside of it, and has a nice little garden on a balcony; from this balcony we went into the harem, accompanied by the consul's son, who speaks English. The consul remained outside with the husband of one of the ladies, as it would have been a great outrage upon Oriental etiquette for a foreign gentleman to step inside the sacred spot.
"The son of the consul only stayed long enough to introduce us, and then we were left to take care of ourselves. There were half a dozen women, some of them the wives of the consul, and others married to his son: we couldn't remember them all separately, and so when the young man left us we didn't know which was which. But it was of no particular consequence that we forgot, as we had to do all our talking by signs; the women spoke only Arabic, and not one of us knew a dozen words of that language. The only word I could think of was empshy! (clear out!), which you say to beggars when you want to be rid of them, and that wasn't exactly the kind of language to use when you are introduced to strangers.
