Now, too, at four, came the women from the Embassies, a Russian girl with whom Aimee had played tennis in ages past, rosy now with yesterday’s sun and sleepy with last night’s dance, who touched the bride’s hand as if it were the hand of one half-dead, already consigned to the tomb; other girls she did not know, who stared at her with the avid eyes of their young curiosities; older women, experienced, unstirred, drinking their tea and smoking cigarettes and gossiping of their own affairs, and occasionally among them a tourist agog with wonder and exultation, storing away details for a lifetime of talk, asking amiably the most incredible questions....

“And is it true you have never met your husband?  Listen, Jane—­she says she has never met him—­”

A girl in a creamy white silk came forward a little uncertainly.  She was a pretty girl, with a curve of ruddy hair visible under her smart straw, and very bright eyes, where shyness was at variance with a friendly smile.

Indeed Jinny Jeffries was extraordinarily intimidated by the occasion.  She had a distinct sense of intrusion mingling with her delight at having intruded, and she murmured her good wishes in an almost inaudible tone.

“It is very good of you to let us come ...  I wish you every happiness,” she said.

Beside her a tall slender figure, in black tcharchaf and yashmak, made its appearance.

Aimee’s eyes slipped past the pretty American; the mechanical smile was frozen on her lips.  Over the black veil she saw the hazel eyes, bright with excitement, vivid as speech; the eyes of the masquerader in the Scotch costume, the eyes of the man at the garden gate—­Jack Ryder’s eyes ... the eyes of her dreams.

CHAPTER XI

THE FORTY DOORS

When Ryder had despatched from the jeweler’s who had polished the locket for him, that package with its secret note, and its warning plaid, he had no real assurance that the message would fall into Aimee’s hands.  But he could think of nothing better, and he argued very favorably for his stratagem.

That miniature should have some effect, and given the miniature, and the bit of plaid cloth, Aimee’s quick wit ought to divine a message.

She had always the key, he remembered, and the power of egress from her prison.  And surely it ought not to be difficult for her to devise some way of getting a letter into the post.

So his hope fluctuated between the garden gate and the daily mail at the Bank, and he rather surprised McLean by the frequency and brevity of his visits, and by the duration of his stay in Cairo.

For that he had an excuse, both to McLean and to the deserted Thatcher, at the excavation camp, two excuses in fact—­some belated identification work to be done at the Museum and a cracked wisdom tooth.

Chiefly he spoke of the necessity for dentistry and accounted for his moods with his molar.