thoughts?

* * * * * *

Late that night, as Abdul passed the Englishwoman's tent, he spat at
her door.

[1] Weigall's _Akhnaton, Pharaoh of Egypt_.

CHAPTER III

What was Margaret doing that night?

Many days had passed since she had heard from Michael, but there was
nothing in that to cause her anxiety. She did not expect to hear from
him after his desert journey had begun, except by happy chance. If he
passed a desert mail-carrier, he would give him a letter to be posted
when he arrived at the nearest town.

A desert mail-carrier is a weird object to Western eyes or to the eyes
of a city-dweller. Almost naked, he travels across the desert on swift
camels, carrying a long sword for the protection of the royal mails.

So far Margaret had received no desert letter. Her days had passed
smoothly and swiftly, for Freddy had kept her hard at work. Each day
her interest in his work intensified; the more she learned of
Egyptology and of archaeology generally, the more wholly absorbing it
became. She had developed into a very essential member of the camp.

With splendid common sense and determination, she had succeeded in
throwing herself body and soul into the work which filled her days.
She had made up her mind when she parted with Michael that not even by
thought would she retard his work and mission. When she allowed her
mind to travel to him, it was to convey currents of stimulating love
and encouragement. If thoughts are things, as he always told her, then
the things her thoughts were to give him must be happiness and
confidence. Keeping this steadily before her, she had spent healthy,
happy days with her brother. In their sympathies and interests they
had drawn even closer together. Strangers might well have taken them
for lovers, so eagerly did they look forward each morning to their long
evening to be spent together. There was very little time for play;
their days were made up of hard, exacting work.

Experts were busy forming their opinions and writing their official
reports upon the contested subjects connected with the tomb. The
mythological and archaeological finds in it were of exceptional
interest.

On this night, when Millicent in the eastern desert had held up her
arms to the heavens and questioned the unseen, Margaret had gone early
to bed. For some reason--perhaps owing to the great heat of the day
and to the airlessness of the chamber of t