ations about the neighborhood.

[Illustration: Every morning at an early hour Elizabeth Eliza made her
visit to the Sphinx.]

Mrs. Peterkin, meanwhile, set out each day at a later hour, arriving
in time to take her noon lunch in front of the Sphinx, after which she
indulged in a comfortable nap and returned to the hotel before sunset.

A week--indeed, ten days--passed in this way. One morning, Mrs. Peterkin
and her party had taken the ferry-boat to cross the Nile. As they were
leaving the boat on the other side, in the usual crowd, Mrs. Peterkin's
attention was arrested by a familiar voice. She turned, to see a tall
young man who, though he wore a red fez upon his head and a scarlet wrap
around his neck, certainly resembled Agamemnon. But this Agamemnon was
talking Greek, with gesticulations. She was so excited that she turned
to follow him through the crowd, thus separating herself from the rest
of her party. At once she found herself surrounded by a mob of Arabs, in
every kind of costume, all screaming and yelling in the manner to which
she was becoming accustomed. Poor Mrs. Peterkin plaintively protested in
English, exclaiming, "I should prefer a donkey!" but the Arabs could not
understand her strange words. They had, however, struck the ear of the
young man in the red fez whom she had been following. He turned, and she
gazed at him. It was Agamemnon!

He, meanwhile, was separated from his party, and hardly knew how to
grapple with the urgent Arabs. His recently acquired Greek did not
assist him, and he was advising his mother to yield and mount one of the
steeds, while he followed on another, when, happily, the dragoman of her
party appeared. He administered a volley of rebukes to the persistent
Arabs, and bore Mrs. Peterkin to her donkey. She was thus carried away
from Agamemnon, who was also mounted upon a donkey by his companions.
But their destination was the same; and though they could hold no
conversation on the way, Agamemnon could join his mother as they
approached the Sphinx.

But he and his party were to ascend the pyramid before going on to the
Sphinx, and he advised his mother to do the same. He explained that it
was a perfectly easy thing to do. You had only to lift one of your feet
up quite high, as though you were going to step on the mantelpiece, and
an Arab on each side would lift you to the next step. Mrs. Peterkin was
sure she could not step up on their mantelpieces at home. She never had
don