s Alexandria, that he was of mixed
Greek and Egyptian blood, and that he was a man of great energy and
will, interested in many schemes, pulling the strings of many
enterprises.

He spoke always with a certain polite but bold indifference, as if he
cared very little what impression he made on others; and all the
information that he gave about himself was dropped out in a careless,
casual way that seemed expressive of his character. The high rank, the
great riches of his father he rather implied than definitely mentioned.
Only when he talked of his occupations was he more definite, more
strongly personal. Nigel gathered that he was essentially a man of
affairs, had nothing in common with the typical lazy Eastern, who loves
to sit in the sun, to suffer the will of Allah, and to fill the years
with dreams; that he was cool, clear-headed, and full of the marked
commercial ability characteristic of the modern Greek. Whether this
aptitude was combined with the sinuous cunning that is essentially
Oriental Nigel did not know. He certainly could not perceive it. All
that Baroudi said was said with clearness, and a sort of acute
precision, whether he discussed the land question, the irrigation works
on the Nile, the great boom of 1906, in which such gigantic fortunes
were made, or the cotton and sugar industries, in both of which he was
interested. The impression he conveyed to Nigel was that he was born to
"get on" in whatever he undertook, and that in almost any form of
activity he could be a fine ally, or an equally fine opponent. That he
was fond of sport was soon apparent. He spoke with an enthusiasm that
was always mingled with a certain serene _insouciance_ of the horses he
had bred and of the races he had won in Alexandria and Cairo, of
yachting, of big-game shooting up the Nile beyond Khartum in the country
of the Shillouks, and of duck, pigeon, and jackal shooting in the Fayyum
and on the sacred Lake of Kurun.

Nigel found him an excellent fellow, the most sympathetic and energetic
man of Eastern blood whom he had ever encountered. Mrs. Armine spoke of
him more temperately; he did not seem to interest her, and Nigel was
confirmed by her lack of appreciation in an idea that had already
occurred to him. He believed that Baroudi was a man who did not care for
women, except, no doubt, as the occasional and servile distractions of
an unoccupied hour in the harem. He was always very polite to Mrs.
Armine, but when he talked