"Because he is working in the Fayyūm, may not I go up the Nile?"

"If you were on the Nile, Armine would not be in the Fayyūm."

"You are anxious about his reclaiming of the desert? Have you put money
into his land scheme?"

"You think I only care for money?" he said, nettled, despite himself, at
the sound of knowledge in her voice.

"What do you know of me?"

"And you--of me?"

She still spoke lightly, smilingly. But he thought of the inexorable
beating of that pulse of life--of life, and the will to live as her
philosophy desired.

"I don't wish to speak of any knowledge I may have of you. But--leave
Armine in the Fayyūm."

"Did he say I was going to Egypt?"

"He spoke of it once only. Then he said you might go."

"Anything else?"

"He said that if you did go he would look after you."

She sat looking at him in silence.