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Page 67
She stood quite still, her heart beating to suffocation; then she
raised her hand and pushed the hair from her forehead.
"I feel just as though the roof was pressing down upon me," she
whispered to herself. "As though, through me, something awful was
going to happen. I----"
She turned, and almost ran out of the sanctuary, her footsteps waking
the echoes of the roof which once had resounded to the clash of cymbal,
the roll of drum and blare of trumpets. She heard Ellen's strident
voice calling to her, telling her to come and join them in the crypts;
she paid no heed, she ran on and out into the sunshine and down to the
maid, who was still placidly crocheting.
And as she left the ruin, the mantle of depression fell from her, and
she laughed as she caught the great dog and forced him to walk upon his
hind-legs.
"No, Janie," she said that night, as the maid tucked her up in bed.
"Here I stay until I have visited the Temple thoroughly, and I'll take
you down into the creepy crypts and lock you in them if you worry any
more. We all got up too early and hadn't had enough breakfast--that is
why we disliked the place so much."
They stayed some days, and then took the public steamer home, Damaris
bubbling over with high infectious spirits, which had their birth in a
secret hope that she might find a letter from Ben Kelham upon her
return.
She was leaning over the rail, thinking about him, as the boat made its
lazy way down-stream.
"So funny," she was saying to herself as they approached Luxor under a
sunset sky. "I wonder if he will be at the hotel. I somehow feel him
quite near."
And then her thoughts were distracted by the exclamations and laughter
of the passengers as they rushed to the side, causing the boat to take
a distinct list.
What little things serve to amuse us!
The bluebottle at the Cathedral service; the stray dog which rushes
athwart the regal procession; the straw hat blown through the traffic!
The steamer was churning up the waters of the river down which
Cleopatra had passed in all her power and beauty; on each side were the
ruins of temples and tombs built to the glory of great god or mighty
emperor; yet the tourists flung down guide-books and left their tea to
shout encouragement and wave their handkerchiefs to Ben Kelham and
Sybil Sidmouth, who were also having tea on the slanting deck of their
private steamer, which had run aground on the pestiferous sand-bank.
Mrs. Sidmouth, in the seclusion of the saloon, was summoning all her
strength for a real nerve-storm.
Damaris looked hard for a moment, then became deadly-white, and backed
her way out through the crowd. She flashed a quick glance round in
search of the Thistletons, and saw them leaning dangerously far over
the rail, trying to attract the attention of Sybil Sidmouth, who was
smiling so contentedly as she handed her companion his tea; then she
turned to run to the saloon to hide herself, and ran, instead, right
into Jane Coop's arms.
There was a grim set to the maid's mouth and a steely glitter in her
eyes.
"I was just coming to ask you, dearie, if you'd like a cup of tea. One
gets fair sick of the ruins and things one sees on this river. The
young ladies can come and find you at tea if they want to."
How often had the motherly woman gone out to bring in the lamb from the
storm, or hunted the fields and hedgerows for her straying chick!
Later, she sat on the edge of her darling's bed and patted the curly
head resting on her faithful heart, to the accompaniment of little
clucking sounds.
"There now, dearie--there now--there now! It isn't worth crying over;
every river is as full of good fish as ever sailed on it in a boat that
couldn't run straight. Let old Nannie dry her baby's tears. There
how--there now!"
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