knew so well. She had met her loverthere--in that out-of-the-way spot--he having travelled by the Red Searoute to the Sudan in order to keep the tryst.
Waldron stood there listening, like a man in a dream.
It was all plain now. The man who had been marked out as Lola's husbandshe hated, because of her secret love for that young Frenchman in whosearms she now stood clasped.
He was telling her how he had left Brindisi three weeks before, andgoing down the Red Sea had landed at Port Sudan, afterwards taking sailto Khartoum and then post-haste across the desert to Haifa.
"Had I not caught the coasting steamer I could not have reached hereuntil you had left," he added.
"Yes, Henri. But you must be most careful," she urged. "My uncle mustnever suspect--he must never dream the truth."
"I know, darling. If I travel back to Cairo with you I will exercisethe utmost discretion, never fear."
"Neither by word nor by look must the truth ever be betrayed," she said."Remember, Henri, my whole future is in your hands."
"Can I ever forget that, my darling?" he cried, kissing her with all thefrantically amorous passion of a Frenchman.
"It is dangerous," she declared. "Too dangerous, I fear. Gigleux isubiquitous."
"He always is. But leave it all to me," the man hastened to assure her,holding her ungloved hand and raising it fervently to his lips. "Ishall join your steamer as an ordinary passenger just before you sail."
"But you must avoid me. Promise me to do that?" she implored in a low,earnest tone.
"I will promise you anything, my darling--because I love you better thanmy life," was his low, earnest answer, as he tenderly stroked the softhair from her brow. "Do you recollect our last evening together inRome, eh?"
"Shall I ever forget?" was her reply. "I risked everything that nightto escape and come to you."
"Then you really do love me, Lola--truly?" For answer she flung herlong arms around his neck and kissed him fondly. And she then remainedsilent in his strong embrace.
CHAPTER SIX.
MORE CONCERNING THE STRANGER.
At their feet, winding its way for thousands of miles between limitlessareas of sand, its banks lined for narrow distances with green fieldsand the habitations of men, flowed dark and wondrous the one thing thatmakes human life possible in all the lands of the Sudan and of Egypt--flowed from sources that for ages were undiscovered, and which even inthis day of boasted knowledge are yet incompletely known--the Nile.
In the lazy indolence of that sun-baked land of silence, idleness andlove, affection is quickly cultivated, as the fast-living set who go upthere each winter know well. Hubert Waldron, man of the world that hewas, had watched and knew. He stood there, however, dumbfounded, forthere was now presented a very strange and curious state of affairs.Lola, the dark-eyed girl who had enchanted him and held him by the greatmystery which surrounded her, was now revealed keeping tryst with astranger--a mysterious Frenchman who had come up from the blazingSudan--a man who had come from nowhere.
He strained his eyes in an endeavour to distinguish the stranger'soutline, but in vain. The man was standing in the deep shadow. Onlythe girl's familiar form silhouetted against the starlit sky.
"We must be very careful of my uncle," the girl urged. "The slightestsuspicion, and we shall assuredly be parted, and for ever."
"I will exercise every discretion, never fear, dearest," was hisreassuring reply, and again he took her soft, fair face in both hishands and kissed her passionately upon the lips.
"But, Henri," she exclaimed presently, "are you quite sure they suspectnothing at home--that you have never betrayed to anyone your affectionfor me? Remember, there are spies everywhere."
"Surely you can trust me, my darling?" he asked in reproach.
"Of course, dear," she cried, again raising her lips and kissing himfondly. "But, naturally, I am full of fear lest our secret be known."
"It cannot be known," was his confident reply. "We can both keep thetruth from others. Trust me."
"And when we return to Europe. What then?" she asked in a low, changedtone.
"Then we shall see. Why try and look into the future? It is useless toanticipate difficulties which may not, after all, exist," he saidcheerfully, again stroking her hair with tenderness.
He spoke in French in a soft, refined voice, and was evidently agentleman, though he still stood in the shadow and was thereforeundistinguishable. He was holding the girl in his arms and a silencehad fallen between them--a silence only broken by the low lapping of theNile waters, and that rhythmic chant now receding: "Ah-lal-hey!Al-lal-hey?"
"My darling!" whispered the stranger passionately. "My own faithfuldarling. I love you--ah! so much more than you can ever tell. And,alas! I am so unworthy of you."
She, in return, sighed upon his breast and declared that she loved butone man in all the world--himself.
"Since that night we first met, Lola--you remember it," he said, "myonly thought has been of you."
"Ah, yes," was her reply. "At my aunt's ball in Vienna. I recollecthow the Baron von Karlstadt introduced us, and how you bowed and invitedme to dance. Shall I ever forget that evening, Henri--just over a yearago."
"And old Gigleux? Is he still quite as troublesome as ever?"
"Just. He has eyes in the back of his head."
"And Mademoiselle Lambert--is she loyal to you?"
"I fear not, alas!" was Lola's reply. "She is paid to spy upon me. Atleast that has latterly become my impression. I have wanted to becomeher friend, but she is unapproachable."
"Then we must exercise every discretion. On board I shall avoid youstudiously. We can, of course, meet again in Cairo, for it is a bigcity, and you will sometimes be free."
"Yes. Till then, adieu, Henri. But," she added, "it will be so hard tobe near you for the next three weeks and never speak."
"It must be. Gigleux is no fool, remember," the man replied.
"I must be getting back. They will miss me," she said wistfully. "Howshall I be able to pass you by dozens of times a day, Henri, maybe sitdown at the same table with you, and betray no sign of recognition? Ireally don't know."
"But you must, darling! You must--for both our sakes," he argued, andthen he once again clasped her in his strong arms and smothered her withhis fierce passionate caresses.
Hubert Waldron witnessed it all. He held his breath and bit his lip.Who could be this mysterious Henri--this secret lover whom Lola had metby appointment in that far-off, out-of-the-world place?
He recollected that Lola had flirted with him and that she had amusedherself by allowing him to pay her compliments. Yet the existence ofone whom she loved so devotedly in secret was now revealed, and he stoodaghast, filled with chagrin at the unexpected revelation.
The pair, locked in each other's arms, moved slowly forward in hisdirection.
She was urging him to allow her to get back, but he was persuading herto remain a little longer.
"Think of all the long weeks and months we have been parted,sweetheart!" he was saying. "Besides we must not speak again until weget to Cairo. I shall remain at the little hotel over to-morrow. Butit would be far too dangerous for us to meet. One or other of thepassengers might discover us."
"Yes," she sighed; "we shall be compelled to exercise the greatestcaution always. All my future depends on the preservation of oursecret."
Waldron slipped from his hiding-place and away behind another tree, justbefore the pair passed the spot where he had been standing.
He watched them as they went forth into the light, and at last realisedthat the man was tall and slim, though, of course, he could not see hisface.
He watched their parting, a long and tender farewell. The ardent loverkissed her upon the lips many times, kissed her cheeks, kissed her softwhite hands, and then at last reluctantly released her and stoodwatching as she hurried on to the next belt of palms back to thelanding-stage.
Afterwards he strode leisure
ly on behind her, and was soon lost to viewin the black shadows.
A fortnight--fourteen lazy days of idleness and sunshine--had gone by.
The white double-decked steamer descending the Nile had left modernLuxor, with its gorgeous Winter Palace Hotel on the site of ancientThebes. It had passed the wonderful temple standing upon the bank, andwas steering due northward for Cairo, still a week's journey distant.
In the west a great sea of crimson spread over the clear sky, and shaftsof golden light fell upon the sand-dunes that barred the view in thatdirection. Away in the farther distance to the west the steel-like rimof the utter desert also seemed somewhat softened by that mellow lightwhich diffused