as he could, he went into the other room and brought back a bottle of liqueur for her, a thick spicy brandy, and at once she took it from him and drank it down.
Her eyes went dim for a moment. And then she moaned aloud in pure distress again.
The gramophone. Ramsey loved music. Ramsey was spellbound by it. Elliott went to the little machine, and examined the few records beside it in a pile. Lots of the English-language foolishness. Ah, here was what he wanted: Aida. Caruso singing Radames.
He wound the box, and set the needle on the record. At the first thin sound of the orchestra, she sat up in the bed; she stared in horror. But he went to her and touched her shoulder gently.
"Opera, Aida," he said. He groped for words in Latin to explain it was a music box; it worked by parts fitted together." The song was from a man to his Egyptian love."
She climbed out of the bed and stumbled past him. She was now almost entirely naked, and her form was quite beautiful, her hips narrow and her legs beautifully proportioned. He tried not to stare at her; not to stare at her breasts. Approaching slowly, he lifted the gramophone needle. She screamed at him. A volley of curses broke from her in Latin." Make the music go on."
"Yes, but I want to show you how," he told her. He cranked the handle of the machine again. He set the needle on the record again. Only then did the utter savagery go out of her expression. She began to moan in time with the music, and then she put her hands on her head, and shut her eyes very tight.
She began to dance, rocking frantically from side to side. It terrified him to watch her, but he knew he'd seen this very kind of dancing before. He had seen it among severely damaged children - an atavistic response to the rhythm and sound.
She didn't notice as he slipped away to bring her food.
Ramses bought the newspaper from the British newsstand and walked on, slowly, through the crowded bazaar.
MURDER IN THE MUSEUM MUMMY STOLEN; MAID KILLED
Beneath the headline was the column heading:
MYSTERIOUS EGYPTIAN SOUGHT IN GRISLY DEATH
He scanned the details, then crumpled up the newspaper and threw it away. He walked on with his head bowed, arms folded under the Arab robe. Had she slain this serving woman? And why had she done it? 'And how had she managed to escape?
Of course the officials might be lying, but that seemed unlikely. Not enough time had elapsed for such cleverness. And she had had the opportunity, for die guards had been busy taking him away.
He tried to see again what he had seen in that shadowy hallway - the horrid monstrosity which he had resurrected from the case. He saw the thing trudging towards him; he heard the hoarse, almost gurgling voice. He saw the attitude of suffering stamped on the half-eaten-away face!
What was he to do? This morning for the first time since he had been a mortal man, he had thought of his gods. In the museum as he had stood over her remains, ancient chants had come back to him; ancient words he'd spoken before the populace and in the darkened temple surrounded by priests.
And now in the hot teeming street, he found himself whispering under his breath old prayers again.
Julie sat on the small white chintz sofa in the sitting room of her cluttered hotel suite. She was glad that Alex was holding her hand. Samir stood quietly beside the only empty chair. Two British officials sat opposite. Miles Winthrop, standing near the door, hands clasped behind his back, looked miserable. The elder of the two officials, a man named Peterson, held a telegram in his hand.
"But you see, Miss Stratford," he said with a condescending smile," with a death in London and now a death here in Cairo ..."
"How do you know they are connected?" Samir asked." This man in London. You say he was a maker of illegal loans!"
"Ah, Tommy Sharpies, yes, that was his profession."
"Well, what would Mr. Ramsey have to do with him?" Julie asked. How remarkable that I sound so calm, she thought, when I am going mad inside.
"Miss Stratford, the Cleopatra coin found in the dead man's pocket connects these murders. Surely it came from your collection. It is identical with the five coins cataloged."