The Nile lay, gleaming exquisitely lilac, between its banks of golden sand, calm and smooth, with a soft sheen upon its surface, it moved forward as molten glass, without a ripple, without a murmur, in the stillness of the sunset hour. The palms on Elephantine Island held their feathery foliage without movement against the rosy violet of the glowing sky. The burnished sand, unruffled by any breeze, stretched level and even on every side, each grain of it seeming to glitter and sparkle with tawny and deep orange hues, as if some Emperor had had a carpet of jewels, of topaz and yellow amethyst unrolled along the river banks, flashing and shining under the red-gold fire of the sun rays.
Not a sound jarred upon the stillness; from the gold tips of the palms to the glow on the dreaming river all was wrapped in an infinite peace.
Some little distance from the island, motionless, with its sails hanging like curtains of gold and lilac silk in the evening light, lay the dahabeeyah of the Lanarks, and on its deck Everest and Regina were sitting side by side, in long cane chairs, watching the lustre of the western sky.
They had joined the dahabeeyah at Cairo, and, with its steam tug to pull them up, it had not taken them long to get as far as this on their way.
The boat was a thing of beauty; all fitted in purple and silver. It was named The Empress, in honour of Regina, and was well worthy of its name. When the girl went through it she felt, for the first time, a rejoicing in Everest's wealth, since it gave him the power to provide such a setting for their love. As she entered the sleeping saloon, large and spacious as any room on land, and her eyes fell on the bed at one side, with its purple velvet curtains, lined with mauve satin, her feet faltered. She turned aside and, leaning her hand on the window sill, looked down into the pale green waters below.
Her relations with Everest were still too new to her, and all the emotions that filled them too intense, for her to be able to look upon the room they were to occupy together with indifference.
Beyond the sleeping saloon, which occupied the whole width of the boat, thus obtaining a very wide and gracious form, came two small dressing-rooms and bathrooms, and beyond these, a covered topped space, with open sides, a verandah, as it were, in which to sit idly, contemplating the changing view of the river sides.
It was here they were sitting now, absorbed in that wonder of light and colour that makes Egypt's peculiar beauty.
At the extreme other end lay the kitchen and the servants' quarters, next came an anteroom and hall, where one first boarded the boat. From this, one passed to the spacious dining-room, thence to the drawing-room, and so on to the sleeping saloon. Over all the fore part stretched the upper deck, with a smooth, polished floor, where, before leaving Cairo, they had given a dance, and cool, white canvas overhead, forming the roof. Inside the whole was hung with pale mauve satin; and divans of wonderful depth and softness, inviting to slumber in the long, hot afternoons, lined the sides.