He appeared calmer when she reached the street. He was scanning the traffic. He reached out for her hand without looking at her, and together they proceeded slowly until he stopped to watch the workmen on a construction sight. The great cement mixer was churning. The sound of hammering echoed against distant walls.
A faint bitter smile passed over Ramses' lips. Julie hailed a passing hansom.
"Where shall we go now?" she asked. "Tell me what you want to see."
He was staring at a beggar woman, a ragged figure in broken-down shoes who extended her hand now as she passed.
"The poor," he said, glancing at the woman. "Why are the poor still here?"
They rode silently through cobblestone streets. Strings of laundry closed out the damp gray sky. The smoke of cooking fires rose in the alleys. Barefoot children with soiled faces turned to watch them pass.
"But cannot all this wealth help these people? They are as poor as the peasants of my land."
"Some things don't change with time," Julie said. "And your father? He was a rich man?" She nodded. "He built a great shipping company - ships that carry merchandise from India and Egypt to England and America. Ships that circle the world."
"For this wealth, Henry tried to kill you, as he killed your father in the tomb."
Julie stared straight forward. It seemed the words would strip away every vestige of control she had. This day, this adventure, it had carried her to the heights, and now she felt herself descending. Henry killed Father. It was near impossible for her to speak.
Ramses took her hand in his.
"There should have been enough wealth for all of us," she said, her voice strained." Enough for me, for Henry, for Henry's father."
"Yet your father dug in Egypt for treasure." "No, not for treasure!" She looked at him sharply." He dug to find evidence of the past. Your writings meant more to him than the rings on your ringers. The story you told, that was his treasure. That and the painted coffin because it was a pure thing, from your time."
"Archaeology," Ramses said.
"Yes." She smiled in spite of herself." My father was not a robber of tombs."
"I understand you. Don't become angry." "He was a scholar," she said, a little more gently." He had all the money he needed. If he made a mistake, it was that he left his company to his brother, and to his nephew, but then he paid them so very well."
She stopped. She felt weary suddenly. Beneath the euphoria, she had been ever mindful of what happened; and the pain had only begun.
"Something went wrong," she whispered.
"Greed is what went wrong. Greed is what always goes wrong."
He was looking out the window at the dull, broken windows above. Foul smells rose from the puddles and from the doorways. The stench of urine, and decay.
She herself had never been in this part of London. It saddened her; it exacerbated her own pain.
"This Henry should be stopped," Ramses said firmly. "Before he tries again to hurt you. And your father's death, surely you want it avenged."
"It will kill my uncle Randolph when he finds out what happened. That is, if he doesn't already know."
"The uncle, the one who came this morning with such fear for you - he's innocent and is afraid for his son. But cousin Henry is evil. And the evil is unchecked."
She was trembling. The tears had risen to her eyes.
"I can't do anything now. He's my cousin. They're my only family. And when something is done, it will have to be in a court of law."
"You are in danger, Julie Stratford," he said to her.
"Ramses, I am not a Queen here. I cannot act on my own."
"But I am a King. I always will be. My conscience can bear this burden. Let me act when I see fit."
"No!" she whispered. She looked up at him imploringly. He pressed his arm against her, gently, then reached as if to embrace her. She held steady." Promise me you will do nothing. If something happens, it will be on my conscience too."
"He killed your father."
"Kill him and you kill my father's daughter," she said.
There was a silent moment in which he merely looked at her, marvelling perhaps, she couldn't tell. She felt his right arm on her left arm. Then he drew her close to him, her breasts against his chest, and he kissed