f ruddy hair visible under her
smart straw, and very bright eyes, where shyness was at variance
with a friendly smile.

Indeed Jinny Jeffries was extraordinarily intimidated by the
occasion. She had a distinct sense of intrusion mingling with her
delight at having intruded, and she murmured her good wishes in an
almost inaudible tone.

"It is very good of you to let us come ... I wish you every
happiness," she said.

Beside her a tall slender figure, in black tcharchaf and yashmak,
made its appearance.

Aimee's eyes slipped past the pretty American; the mechanical smile
was frozen on her lips. Over the black veil she saw the hazel eyes,
bright with excitement, vivid as speech; the eyes of the masquerader
in the Scotch costume, the eyes of the man at the garden gate--Jack
Ryder's eyes ... the eyes of her dreams.

CHAPTER XI

THE FORTY DOORS

When Ryder had despatched from the jeweler's who had polished the
locket for him, that package with its secret note, and its warning
plaid, he had no real assurance that the message would fall into
Aimee's hands. But he could think of nothing better, and he argued
very favorably for his stratagem.

That miniature should have some effect, and given the miniature, and
the bit of plaid cloth, Aimee's quick wit ought to divine a message.

She had always the key, he remembered, and the power of egress from
her prison. And surely it ought not to be difficult for her to
devise some way of getting a letter into the post.

So his hope fluctuated between the garden gate and the daily mail at
the Bank, and he rather surprised McLean by the frequency and
brevity of his visits, and by the duration of his stay in Cairo.

For that he had an excuse, both to McLean and to the deserted
Thatcher, at the excavation camp, two excuses in fact--some belated
identification work to be done at the Museum and a cracked wisdom
tooth.

Chiefly he spoke of the necessity for dentistry and accounted for
his moods with his molar.

Of moods he had many. Moods when he contemplated his behavior
lightly and brightly or darkly, in unrelieved disgust, moods when he
refused to contemplate it at all. But he stayed. That was the
conspicuous and enduring thing. He stayed.

Jinny Jeffries returned from the Nile by express to find him
ensconced at her hotel, and her bright confidence suffered no
diminution of its self respect. And it was through Jinny that chance
set another straw of circumstance da