Miss Skinner will be arriving at any moment, said Owen, consulting his watch.
Cette américaine, said Nuri a trifle anxiously, fearing that he was going to have to provide the entertainment on his own, est-elle jolie?
Owen had not really considered the matter. He did so now. Miss Skinners trim form rose up before him; but also her sharp face.
Une jolie laide, he said at last, not wishing to discourage Nuri but feeling obliged to be truthful. Ugly-pretty.
Ah! Cest piquant, ça! said Nuri, intrigued. Like all upper-class Egyptians, he habitually spoke French.
Elle est formidable, Owen warned him.
Nuri brushed the warning aside. So long as the other parts of the equation were all right, the more formidable the better, so far as he was concerned. He liked a challenge.
Owen felt a little worried. Nuris interests centred fairly narrowly on politics and sex and he was inclined to associate women exclusively with the latter. Owen felt that Nuri needed more briefing.
However, at this moment the servant came in to announce Miss Skinners arrival.
Chère Madame! said Nuri, rising to kiss her hand.
Mr Pasha! said Miss Skinner, surprised but not discomfited.
Call me Nuri, said Zeinabs father, retaining her hand and leading her over to the divan.
Owen was glad that Paul was there. He had a feeling that things might be about to go wrong.
Fortunately, Zeinab appeared at this point, dressed as for a visit in discreet black, which owed, however, more to the fashion house than to Islamic tradition.
Im sorry Im late, she said. Ive been at Samiras. Her favourite niece was being circumcised and it went on for ages
Circumcised? Miss Skinners voice rose to a squeak. Female circumcision?
Barbaric, said Nuri. Reduces the pleasure enormously.
Miss Nuri, there are one or two things I would like to discuss
Paul somehow succeeded in detaching Miss Skinner from Nuri and leading her over to sit beside Zeinab, whose entrance, Owen thought, had not been entirely uncontrived.
He returned and sat down beside the disappointed Nuri.
What an opportunity! he said. The very man to tell us all the Khedives secrets!
Alas, my friend, said Nuri sadly, I am no longer one of his intimates.
Say not so! Why, only last week I was talking to Idris Bey and he said
Did he? said Nuri eagerly. Did he now?
At the other end of the room Miss Skinner was deep in conversation with Zeinab. Owen shuddered to think what she might be hearing. Zeinabs knowledge of the life led by ordinary Egyptians was sketchy but her imagination vivid.
Paul, meanwhile, had slid smoothly on to current politics and was now, thank goodness, giving Nuri the political background to Miss Skinners visit.
Antiquities? Im sure I have some. Or can lay my hands on some if Miss Skinner wishes to buy
No, no. Its the actual excavation shes interested in. But also the export of such treasures from Egypt.
An excellent thing. What good can they do here? Some clumsy peasant is sure to break them. Much better to sell them. If only, said Nuri wistfully, I had an unopened pyramid or two on my estates!
Miss Skinners position is, I think, a little different. She wishes to stop the export of antiquities from Egypt.
Stop! cried Nuri, aghast. But why should she want to do that?
She feels, I believe, that Egypts remarkable heritage should be preserved.
Oh quite, said Nuri. Absolutely.
He seemed, however, a little cast down.
But, tell me, my friend, he began again tentatively, exactly what business is it of hers? These treasures do after all belong to us.
I think she feels, mon cher Pasha, that they belong to the world.
Belong to the world? said Nuri, stunned.
In the sense that they are part of the heritage of us all.
Well, yes, said Nuri. In that sense. As long as its in that sense. Though I still dont see
There was a little silence. At the other end of the room Miss Skinner and Zeinab chattered happily away.
Nuri sniffed.
In any case, he said, heritage! Pooh! That is all in the past. We must look to the future. I was saying so to the Khedive only the other day. We were discussing, as it happens, the sale of a temple, complete with colossi
I think, said Paul, that would be the kind of thing she had in mind.
The sale was to the British Museum, of course.
A difficult balance of interests, said Paul, smiling and shaking his head. Difficult for all of us.
Nuri caught at his arm.
And therefore, my friend, to be approached with circumspection. You will urge that, wont you? This could create such problems for us
A few antiquities?
Not so few. Not these days. Now that the price of cotton is so low. Some of my colleagues are going in for it in a big way. Raquat Pasha was telling me that he had appointed a European agent. Sidki Narwas Pasha has a permanent arrangement with a German museum. Two or three are getting together. Even the Khedive
Owen listened with deepening gloom. They were all in it, the big Pashas, the Khedive, the museums. It was a national industry.
We rely on it, Nuri was saying with emphasis. Absolutely rely on it. You must do something, my friend.
Across the room Zeinab and Miss Skinner were bringing their conversation to an end.
Surely there is something you can do, mon cher? said Nuri earnestly to Paul. Persuade her to take up other interests, perhaps?
Well, there is the Women Question
Ah yes, said Nuri thoughtfully.
But more immediately, said Paul, there are her archæological interests. I am taking her down to Der el Bahari at the end of this week.
Are you? Are you, indeed?
The conversation ended and the women rose together.
You do see now, dont you, Pasha, said Paul quietly, the importance of these political questions?
Oh, quite, said Nuri. Oh, quite.
It would be very unfortunate if Miss Skinner were to get the wrong impression.
Dont worry, said Nuri Pasha. I know exactly how to handle Miss Skinner.
Owen stuck his head into the bar room.
Trevelyan here?
No, said someone. He left this morning. Hes on his way to Der el Bahari by now.
With our blessings, said someone else.
Theres a lot of money riding on it, said Carmichael, from Customs.
Whys that? asked Owen, coming definitely into the room.
Its that damned woman, said someone, Jopling, from Finance. Weve promised him free drinks for a month if he can keep her down there for a fortnight.
More if he can do it for longer.
Its the end of the year, someone explained, the financial year, that is. Were up to our eyeballs in work reconciling everything in sight. And then this damned woman comes along, poking her nose in.
I dont mind her poking her nose in, said Jopling. Its having to take time off to answer her silly questions.
If shed just read the Accounts, said someone else, obviously also from Finance, that would be fine. But she wants to go behind them, keeps asking what they mean.
As if they meant anything, other than just an end-of-year story to keep everybody happy.
So we promised Trevelyan he could have free drinks every evening if hed only get her out of our hair.
Its worth it.
It certainly is, said Owen. Id have cut myself in if Id known. Wahid whisky-soda, min fadlak.
He collected the whisky-soda and sat down in a corner with Jopling and Carmichael.
Has she been getting in your hair, too? asked Carmichael.
My God, Owen, said Jopling, if shes been looking at your finances!
Thank you, not yet. Shes concentrating on the whitewash boys rather than the workers. Its the antiques export business, he said to Carmichael.
That? The export licence stuff?
She can forget that, said Jopling. The Treasury people back in Town are all Free-Traders. Now that the Liberals are back in power. They wont hear of a licence.
I dont know where she stands on the licence business, said Owen. From what Ive gathered, its more a question of whether to allow antiques to be exported at all.
She wants to ban that? Bloody hell, that would create a rumpus.
It would. It is already.
Jopling regarded him curiously.
How do you come to be involved? Its not really your line, is it? Like many people, he was uncertain exactly what was the Mamur Zapts line. More Carmichaels.
Enforcement, said Carmichael. Hes on the enforcement side.
Stopping the smuggling? Blimey, youve got a job on! Good luck, mate!
He drained his glass. Carmichael ordered another round.
Thats not the only thing, said Owen. He told them about the incident in the Ataba.
Somebody tried to push her under a tram? said Jopling. Wish Id thought of that. Might have been cheaper than the beer.
No one did anything, scoffed Carmichael. Shes imagining things.
Thats a bit like the conclusion Im coming to, said Owen.
Owen heard the water-carrier before he saw him. Even in the uproar of the Ataba-el-Khadra he heard the clanging of the little brass cups. They gave out a note as clear as a bell.
And there he was, the brass cups slung round his neck in front of him, on his back a resplendent brass urn and, lower down, dangling from his waist, two black bulging water-skins.
In the richer parts of the city the water-sellers sometimes wore the old national dress; in the poorer, they dressed in rags. This one compromised, wearing shirt-style tunic on top, rags below, so that it didnt matter when he walked into the Nile to replenish his skins.
As he moved through the crowd, slowly because of his burden, he gave the traditional cry: May God compensate me!
Owen caught his eye and the man moved towards him.
Compensation is at hand, brother! he said.
The man smiled, produced a cup, bent deftly and a cool, clear spurt of water leaped over his shoulder and into the cup without spilling a drop.
And there is yet more compensation if you can tell me what I seek to know.
He took the cup and sipped it.
If I know, then I will tell you, said the man.
Two days ago, said Owen, you were at this spot at this time and you were able to help a lady when she fell.
The water-seller looked at him curiously.
Yes, he said, I remember the lady.
What else do you remember? asked Owen. Did you see her fall?
I saw her fall and I saw her hit the tram and I thought: God protect her! And I think He did, for when I got to her she was lying beside the tram, hurt, I think, but not broken.
This is good water, said Owen. Give me some more.
The man bent again and refilled the cup.
She hit the tram, said Owen. The tram did not hit her?
The water-carrier made a gesture with his hand.
Are they not the same?
No, said Owen, for you speak as if the tram might not have hit her had she not herself moved.
She was falling, said the water-carrier. She fell towards the tram.
And hit its side?
Yes. High up. Which is fortunate, I think, as it knocked her away, so that she did not fall beneath the wheels.
She must, then, have been standing close to it?
The water-carrier nodded.
Yes, effendi, in the street, quite close to its path.
But not actually in its path?
No, not in its path.
Owen handed the cup back.
You speak as if you saw all clearly, he said.
The water-carrier bowed his head.
I did see all clearly. I was standing not far from her and there was no one between us.
Then perhaps, said Owen, you can tell me how she came to fall?
The water-carrier hesitated.
I should be able to, he said, but
Did she stumble?
She stumbled, yes. But that was after
Yes?
The water-carrier hesitated for a long time and then looked Owen straight in the eye.
After she was pushed, he said.
CHAPTER 3
Hamidullah, said Owen, this is a big thing that you have said.
He had taken the water-carrier over to the pavement by the arabeah stand and they were sitting down on the kerb. A yard or two away the cab-horses munched the green fodder spread for them in the gutter.
I know, said Hamidullah, and it was not said lightly.
Then say it again.
She was pushed, said Hamidullah. I saw it with my own eyes.
Tell me what you saw.
I saw her coming my way. And I said: Hamidullah, that lady is not for you. She will not want your water. For she was a splendid lady and had a mighty hat. I kept my eye on her, though, for she was coming in my direction and I did not wish to brush against her with my bags lest her fine dress be besmirched. And as she came towards me
The water-carrier stopped and looked bewildered.
What as she came towards you?
The water-carrier hesitated.
I would not say it if I had not seen it. A hand reached out and thrust at her.
Where did it touch her?
Hamidullah reached up under his urn and touched himself in the small of the back.
Here, he said. Right here. I was amazed. I could not believe my eyes.
It was a heavy push?
Effendi, it must have been a heavy push to make her fall like that. One moment she was walking along mightily. Like this. This water-carrier stuck his nose in the air and mimicked marching. The next, she had fallen like this.
The water-carrier sprawled along the pavement.
It was not then, oh, a little push such as one gives when one is impatient and someone is in the way?