She
had spoken with sincerity when she said that she could have done
without her uncle's fortune, for there were moments when she deceived
herself into believing that if her grand passion for Michael had been
returned, that if she had ever been loved as greatly as she felt that
she herself could love, or if she had had any children, she would have
been a good and noble woman. No chance of goodness had ever come her
way, and she had never stepped aside to look for it.

"I don't know about repaying Mike," she said coldly. "There are some
things which can never be repaid or bought."

Meg certainly got as good as she had given. "I never meant to suggest
that I had so much wealth that it would be a burden to me. I think I
shall find some way of spending it enjoyably." She turned to the left
wing of the corridor; her bedroom lay there. "Now I must say
good-night," she said, still more coolly. "I have a great deal to do."
She looked down at her dress. "My luggage has never come on from
Luxor--it's such a nuisance. I had to wear a 'dug-out' to-night, a
blouse and skirt I wore in the desert. They have lain packed all that
time--I never thought I should have to wear them again." As she spoke,
she visualized her last evening in the camp, when she had given Hassan
her instructions for their flitting. She had worn the blouse that same
evening.

"It looks very nice," Margaret said carelessly.

"Oh, it's terrible! I didn't venture to come down to _table d'hote_ in
it--I dined in my room. Good-night."

"You still wear your eye of Horus?" Margaret said; she had noticed the
amulet the moment she saw Millicent in the lift.

"Of course! It is my most treasured possession."

Margaret longed to tell her that she knew where the bit of blue faience
had been found on the day when it was lost in the hut. She burned to
say, "You little prying cat, you read my diary!" instead of which she
said, quite calmly:

"The Divine Eye ought to have known better than to be the cause of
Mohammed Ali's telling one of his finest lies."

"What do you mean?" Millicent asked. But even as she spoke, her face
paled a little. "Your language has become quite cryptic--the result, I
suppose, of your work in the tombs!"

"Probably," Margaret said. "Life in the Valley has taught me many
things--but first and foremost, above all others, it has shown me the
power and the danger of _baksheesh_. Good-night," she added quickly.
"I've been keep