Whispers In The Sand Part 1

Whispers in the Sand.

Barbara Erskine.

Prologue.

In the cool incense-filled heart of the temple the sun had not yet sent its lance across the marble of the floor. Anhotep, priest of Isis and of Amun, stood before the altar stone in the silence, his hands folded into the pleated linen of his sleeves. He had lit the noon offering of myrrh in its dish and watched as the wisps of scented smoke rose and coiled in the dimly lit chamber. Before him, in the golden cup, the sacred mixture of herbs and powdered gems and holy Nile water sat in the shadows waiting for the potentising ray to hit the jewelled goblet and fall across the potion. He smiled with quiet satisfaction and raised his gaze to the narrow entrance of the holy of holies. A fine beam of sunlight struck the rim of the door- frame and seemed to hover like a breath in the hot s.h.i.+mmer of the air. It was almost time.

'So, my friend. It is ready at last.' The sacred light was blocked as a figure stood in the doorway behind him; the sun's ray bounced crooked across the floor, deflected by the polished blade of a drawn sword.

Anhotep drew breath sharply. Here in the sacred temple, in the presence of Isis herself, he had no weapon. There was nothing with which he could protect himself, no one he could call. 'The sacrilege you plan will follow you through all eternity, Hatsek.' His voice was strong and deep, echoing round the stone walls of the chamber. 'Desist now, while there is time.'

'Desist? When the moment of triumph is finally here?' Hatsek smiled coldly. 'You and I have worked towards this moment, brother, through a thousand lifetimes and you thought to deprive me of it now? You thought to waste the sacred source of all life on that sick boy pharaoh! Why, when the G.o.ddess herself has called for it to be given to her?'

'No!' Anhotep's face had darkened. 'The G.o.ddess has no need of it!'

1.'The sacrilege is yours!' The hiss of Hatsek's voice reverberated round the chamber. 'The sacred potion distilled from the very tears of the G.o.ddess must be hers, by right. She alone mended the broken body of Osiris and she alone can renew the broken body of the pharaoh!'

'It is the pharaoh's!' Anhotep moved away from the altar. As his adversary stepped after him the purifying ray of sunlight sliced the darkness like a knife and struck the crystal surface of the potion turning it to brazen gold. For a moment both men stared, distracted by the surge of power released from the goblet. 'So,' Anhotep breathed. 'It has succeeded. The secret of life eternal is ours.'

'The secret of life eternal belongs to Isis.' Hatsek raised his sword. 'And it will remain with her, my friend!' With a lunge he plunged the blade into Anhotep's breast, withdrawing it with a grunt as the man fell to his knees. For a moment he paused as though regretting his hasty action, then he raised the b.l.o.o.d.y blade over the altar and in one great sweeping arc he brought it down on the goblet, hurling it and the sacred potion it contained to the floor.

'For you, Isis, I do this deed.' Setting the sword down on the altar he raised his hands, his voice once again echoing round the chamber. 'None but you, oh great G.o.ddess, holds the secrets of life and those secrets shall be yours for ever!' Behind him Anhotep, his bloodied hands clutching his chest, somehow straightened, still on his knees. His eyes already glazing over he groped, half blind, for the sword above him on the stone. Finding it he dragged himself painfully to his feet and raised it with both hands. Hatsek, his back to him, his eyes on the sun disc as it slid out of sight of the temple entrance never saw him. The point of the blade sliced between his shoulder blades and penetrated down through his lung into his heart. He was dead before his crumpled form folded at the other man's feet.

Anhotep looked down. At the base of the altar the sacred potion lay as a cool blue-green pool on the marble, stained by the curdling blood of two men. Staring at it for a moment Anhotep looked round in despair. Then, his breath coming in small painful gasps, he staggered across to a shelf in the shadow of a pillar. There stood the chrismatory, the small, ornate gla.s.s phial in which he had carried the concentrated potion to the holy of holies. He reached for it, his hands slippery with blood and turned back to the altar.

2.Falling painfully to his knees, sweat blinding his eyes, he managed to scoop a little of the liquid back into the tiny bottle. Fumbling with shaking fingers he pressed in the stopper as far as it would go, smearing blood over the gla.s.s. In one last stupendous effort he pulled himself up and set it down on the back of the shelf in the darkness between the pillar and the wall, then he turned and staggered out towards the light.

By the time they found him lying across the entrance to the holy place he had been dead for several hours.

As the bodies of the two priests were washed and embalmed the prayers said for their souls stipulated that they serve the Lady of Life in the next world as they had failed to serve her in this.

It was the high priest's order that the two mummies be laid inside the holy of holies, one on each side of the altar, and that it should then be sealed for ever.

3.May there be nothing to resist me at my judgement; may there be no opposition to me; may there be no parting of thee from me in the presence of him that keepeth the scales.

It is thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. The embalming complete, the bodies of the priests are carried back into the temple in the cliff where once they served their G.o.ds and they are laid to rest in the shadows where they died. A mote of sunlight lies across the inner sanctuary for a moment, then as the last mud brick is pressed into place across the entrence, the light is extinguished and the temple that is now a tomb is instantly and totally dark. Were there ears to hear they would distinguish a few m.u.f.fled sounds as the plaster is smoothed and the seals set. Then all is as silent as the grave.

The sleep of the dead is without disturbance. The oils and resins within the flesh begin their work. Putrefaction is held at bay.

The souls of the priests leave their earthly bodies and seek out the G.o.ds of judgement. There in the hall beyond the gates of the western horizon, Anubis, G.o.d of the dead, holds the scale which will decide their fate. On the one side lies the feather of Maat, G.o.ddess of truth. On the other is laid the human heart.

5.'What you need, my girl, is a holiday!' Phyllis Sh.e.l.ley was a small wiry woman with a strong angular face, which was accentuated by her square red-framed gla.s.ses. Her hair cropped fas.h.i.+onably short, she looked twenty years younger than the eighty-eight to which she reluctantly admitted.

She headed for the kitchen door with the tea tray leaving Anna to follow with the kettle and a plate of scones.

'You're right, of course.' Anna smiled fondly. Pausing in the hall as her great-aunt headed out towards the terrace, she stood for a few seconds looking at herself in the speckled gilt-framed mirror, surveying her tired, thin face. Her dark hair was knotted behind her head in a coloured scarf which brought out the grey-green tones in her hazel eyes. She was slim, tall, her bones even, cla.s.sically good-looking, her body still taut and attractive, but her mouth was etched with fine lines on either side now and the crow's-feet around her eyes were deeper than they should have been for a woman in her mid-thirties. She sighed and pulled a face. She had been right to come. She needed a good strong dose of Phyllis!

Tea with her father's one remaining aunt was one of the great joys of life. The old lady was indefatigably young at heart, strong - indomitable was the word people always used to describe her - clear thinking and she had a wonderful sense of humour. In her present state, miserable, lonely and depressed, three months after the decree absolute, Anna needed a fix of all those qualities and a few more besides. In fact, she smiled to herself as she turned to follow Phyllis out onto the terrace, there was probably nothing wrong with her at all which tea and cake and some straight talking in the Lavenham cottage wouldn't put right.

It was a wonderful autumn day, leaves s.h.i.+mmering with pale gold and copper, the berries in the hedges a wild riot of scarlet and black, the air scented with wood smoke and the gentle echo of summer. 'You look well, Phyl.' Anna smiled across the small round table. 6 Phyllis greeted Anna's remark with a snort and a raised eyebrow. 'Considering I'm so old, you mean. Thank you, Anna! I am well, which is more than I can say for you, my dear. You look dreadful, if I may say so.'

Anna gave a rueful shrug. 'It's been a dreadful few months.' 'Of course it has. But there's no point in looking backwards.' Phyllis became brisk. 'What are you going to do with your life now it is at last your own?'

Anna shrugged. 'Look for a job, I suppose.'

There was a moment's silence as Phyllis poured out two cups of tea. She pa.s.sed one over and followed it with a homemade scone and a bowl of plum jam, both courtesy of the produce stall at the local plant sale. Phyllis Sh.e.l.ley had no time in her busy life for cooking or knitting, as she constantly told anyone who had the temerity to come and ask for contributions of either to the church fete or similar money-raising events.

'Life, Anna, is to be experienced. Lived,' she said slowly, licking jam off her fingers. 'It may not turn out the way we planned or hoped. It may not be totally enjoyable all the time, but it should be always exciting.' Her eyes flashed. 'You do not sound to me as though you were planning something exciting.'

Anna laughed in spite of herself. 'The excitement seems to have gone out of my life at the moment.'

If it had ever been there at all. There was a long silence. She stared down the narrow cottage garden at the stone wall. Phyllis's cat, Jolly, was asleep there, head on paws, on its ancient lichen-crusted bricks covered in scarlet Virginia creeper. Late roses bloomed in profusion and the air was deceptively warm, sheltered by the huddled buildings on either side. Anna sighed. She could feel Phyllis's eyes on her and she bit her lip, seeing herself suddenly through the other woman's critical gaze. Spoilt. Lazy. Useless. Depressed. A failure.

Phyllis narrowed her eyes. She was a mind reader as well. 'I'm not impressed with self-pity, Anna. Never have been. You've got to get yourself off the floor. I never liked that so and so of a husband of yours. Your father was mad to let you get involved with him in the first place. You married Felix too young. You didn't know what you were doing. And I think you've had a lucky escape. You've still got plenty of time to make a new life. You're young and you've got your health and all your own teeth!'

7.Anna laughed again. 'You're good for me, Phyl. I need someone to tell me off. The trouble is I don't really know where to start.'

The divorce had been very civilised. There had been no unseemly squabbles; no bickering over money or possessions. Felix had given her the house in exchange for a clear conscience. He, after all, had done the lying and the leaving. And his eyes were already on another house in a smarter area, a house which would be interior- designed to order and furnished with the best to accommodate his new life and his new woman and his child.

For Anna, suddenly alone, life had become overnight an empty sh.e.l.l. Felix had been everything to her. Even her friends had been Felix's friends. After all, her job had been entertaining for Felix, running his social diary, keeping the wheels of his life oiled, and doing it, so she had thought, rather well. Perhaps not. Perhaps her own inner dissatisfaction had shown in the end after all.

They had married two weeks after she graduated from university with a good degree in modern languages. He was fifteen years older. That decision to stay on until she had finished her degree had been, she now suspected, the last major decision she had made about her own life.

Felix had wanted her to quit the course the moment he asked her to marry him. 'You don't need all that education, sweetheart,' he had urged. 'What's it for? You'll never have to work.'

Or worry your pretty little head about anything worth thinking about ... The patronising words, unsaid but implied, had echoed more and more often through Anna's skull over the ensuing years. She kidded herself that she had no time for anything else; that what she did for Felix was a job. It was certainly full time. And the pay? Oh, the pay had been good. Very good! He had begrudged her nothing. Her duties had been clear cut and simple. In these days of feminist ambition, independence and resolve, she was to be decorative. He had put it so persuasively she had not realised what was happening. She was to be intelligent enough to make conversation with Felix's friends but not so intelligent as to outs.h.i.+ne him and, with some mastery, she later realised, he had made it seem enormously important and responsible that she was to organise all the areas of his life which were not already organised by his secretary. And in order to maintain that organisation uninterrupted it was made clear only after the fas.h.i.+onable wedding in Mayfair and 8.the honeymoon in the Virgin Islands that there would be no children. Ever.

She had two hobbies: photography and gardening. On both he allowed her to spend as much money as she liked and even encouraged her interest when it did not conflict with her duties. Both were, after all, fas.h.i.+onable, good talking points and relatively harmless and she had allowed them to fill whatever gaps there were in her life. Indeed in combining them she had become so good at both that her photographs of the garden won prizes, sold, gave her the illusion that she was doing something useful with her life.

Strangely, she had put up with his occasional indiscretions, surprised herself at how little they actually upset her and suspecting but never admitting that this was because, perhaps, she did not, after all, love him quite as much as she ought to. It did not matter. No other man came along to whom she was attracted. Was she, she sometimes wondered, a bit frigid? She enjoyed s.e.x with Felix, but did not miss it when it became less and less frequent. Nevertheless, the news that his latest girlfriend was pregnant hit her like a sledgehammer. The dam, which had held back her emotions for so long, broke and a torrent of rage and frustration, loneliness and misery, broke over her head in a tidal wave which terrified her as much as it shocked her husband. He had not planned this change in his life. He had expected to carry on as before, visiting s.h.i.+rley, supporting her, and when the time came paying, no doubt through the nose, for the child, but not becoming too involved. His instant and genuine enchantment with the baby had shaken him as much as it had pleased s.h.i.+rley and devastated Anna. Within days of the birth he had moved in with mother and child and Anna had consulted her solicitor.

After the uncontested divorce Felix's friends had been strangely supportive of her, perhaps realising that something unplanned and unexpected had taken place and feeling genuinely sorry for her, but as one by one they rang to give her their condolences and then fell into embarra.s.sed silence she realised that in fact she had very few friends of her own and her feeling of utter abandonment grew stronger. Strangely, the one piece of advice they all pa.s.sed on before hanging up, was that she take a holiday.

And now here was Phyllis, saying the same thing.

'You must start with a holiday, Anna dear. Change of scene. New 9.people. Then you come back and sell that house. It's been a prison for you.'

'But, Phyl-'

'No, Anna. Don't argue, dear. Well, perhaps about the house, but not about the holiday. Felix used to take you to all those places where you did nothing but sit by swimming pools and watch him talk business. You need to go somewhere exciting. In fact you need to go to Egypt.'

'Egypt?' Anna was beginning to feel her feet were being swept from beneath her. 'Why Egypt?'

'Because when you were a little girl you talked about Egypt all the time. You had books about it. You drew pyramids and camels and ibises and you pestered me every time I saw you, to tell you about Louisa.'

Anna nodded. 'It's strange. You're right. And I haven't thought about her for years.'

'Then it's time you did. It is so easy to forget one's childhood dreams. I sometimes think people expect to forget them. They abandon everything which would make their lives exciting. I think you should go out there and see the places Louisa saw. When they published some of her sketchbooks ten years ago I was tempted to go myself, you know. I'd helped your father select the pictures, and worked with the editor over the captions and potted history. I just wanted to see it so much. And perhaps I still will one day.' She smiled, the twinkle back in her eye, and Anna found herself thinking that it was entirely possible that the old lady would do it.

'She was an amazing woman, your great-great-grandmother,' Phyllis went on. 'Amazing, brave and very talented.'

Like you. Unlike me. Anna bit her lip and did not say it.

Frowning, she considered Phyllis's words, aware that the old lady's beady eyes were fixed unswervingly on her face.

'Well?'

Anna smiled. 'It's very tempting.'

'Tempting? It's a brilliant idea!'

Anna nodded. 'I did actually suggest once or twice to Felix that we go to Egypt, but he was never interested.' She paused, aware of a stirring of something like excitement deep inside her. After all, why not? 'You know, I think I might just take your advice. I haven't exactly got a lot of pressing plans.'

10.Phyllis sat back in her chair. Closing her eyes she turned her face to the sun and a small smile played across her features for a moment. 'Good. That's settled then.' There was a pause, then she went on, 'This is heaven. There is no nicer time of the year than the autumn. October is my favourite month.' Her eyes opened again and she studied Anna's face. 'Have you spoken to your father yet?' Anna shook her head. 'He hasn't rung me since the divorce. I don't think he'll ever forgive me.'

'For separating from Felix?'

Anna nodded. 'He was so proud of having Felix for a son-in-law.' She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice for a moment. 'The son he never had.'

'Silly man.' Phyllis sighed. 'He's got more and more impossible since your mother died and that's a good ten years ago now! Don't let it upset you too much, darling. He'll come round. You're worth ten of any son he might have had and one day he'll realise it, I promise you.'

Anna looked away, concentrating as hard as she could on the drift of scarlet creeper on the wall on the edge of the terrace. She was not going to cry. She should have got used by now to her father's insensitivity and his blatant lack of interest in her, his only child. She sniffed hard and turned her attention to the York stone slabs at her feet. Old lichens, long dried to white crusts had formed circles and whoris in the stone. She realised suddenly that Phyllis had levered herself to her feet. Glancing up, she watched as her great-aunt disappeared back through the open French windows into the house, and groping for her handkerchief she mopped hurriedly at her eyes.

Phyllis was only gone two minutes. 'I have something here which might interest you.' She did not look at Anna as she sat down once more. She had dropped a package onto the table in front of her. 'When I was going through Louisa's papers and sketchbooks I despaired of ever finding anything personal. If there were letters she must have destroyed them. There was nothing. Then a few months ago I decided to have an old desk restored. The veneers had lifted badly.' She paused. 'The restorer found one of the drawers had a false bottom and inside he found this.' She pa.s.sed the packet over to Anna.

Anna took it. 'What is it?'

11.'Her journal.' 'Really?' Anna glanced down in sudden excitement. 'But that must be incredibly valuable!'

'I expect so. And interesting.

'You've read it?'

Phyllis shrugged. 'I had a quick look at it, but the writing is very difficult and my eyes aren't so good these days. I think you should read it, Anna. It's all about her months in Egypt. And in the meantime I think you should ring your father. Life is too short for huffs and puffs. Tell him he's being an idiot, and you can say I said so.'

The diary was on the back seat of the car when it was time to leave. The last crimson rays of the sunset were fading as Anna climbed in and reaching for the ignition looked up at her aunt. 'Thank you for being there. I don't know what I'd do without you.

Phyllis shook her head in mock anger. 'You would cope very well indeed as you know. Now, ring Edward tonight. Promise?'

'I'll think about it. I'll promise that much.' She did think about it. In the queue of heavy traffic making its way slowly back into London after the sun-drenched weekend she had plenty of time to reflect on Phyllis's advice and review her situation. She was thirty-five years old, had been married for fourteen years, had never had a job of any description whatsoever and was childless. Letting in the clutch she edged the car forward a few yards as the streams of traffic converged from the motorway into the clogged London streets. Her mind glanced sideways away from that last particular memory. She couldn't cope yet with the idea of Felix as the father of another woman's child. She had few friends, or so it seemed at the moment, a father who despised her, and a terrifying vista of emptiness before her. On the plus side there was Phyllis, the photography, the garden and whatever Phyllis said, the house.

One of the reasons Felix had left her the house was the garden. It was large for a London property, at first glance narrow and rectangular, but by some vagary of planning back in the eighteenth century the end of the garden took a steep angular bend around the back of two other houses, whose own gardens were thus sharply curtailed, doubling its size. The garden was Anna's pa.s.sion. Felix had as far as she knew never even walked to the end of it. His interest began and ended with its uses as a place for entertaining 12.corporate clients. Drinks. Barbecues. Sunday tea. The terrace with its jasmine and roses, its old terracotta pots of herbs - that was the extent of his interest. Beyond it, the winding paths, the high trellis-topped walls, the intricate beds with their carefully planned colours, the occasional half-hidden piece of sculpture lovingly garnered from trips to country antique shops was her domain alone.

It had stunned her when in the divorce settlement Felix had specifically mentioned the garden. He had said she deserved it after all her work. It was the nicest thing he had ever said to her about it.'Daddy. Can we talk?' She had sat by the phone in her bedroom for ten minutes before picking up the receiver to dial.

There was a moment's silence, then: 'I can't imagine we have much to talk about, Anna.'

She bit her lip. 'How about the fact that I might be miserable and lonely and need you?'

'I hardly think you need me.' The voice the other end was cold. 'After all, you did not need to consult me over the divorce.'

'Consult you?' The usual emotions of anger, incredulity, indignation and finally impotence swept over her. 'Why should I have consulted you?' 'It would have been courteous.'

Anna closed her eyes and began counting to ten. It had always been like this. Other parents might show affection or sympathy or even rage. Her father was worried about a lack of courtesy. She sighed audibly. 'I'm sorry. I suppose I was too wound up about everything. It all came to a head too suddenly.'

'It should not have come to a head at all, Anna. You and Felix could have reached some accommodation. If you had consulted me I could have talked to him -'

'No! No, Daddy, I'm sorry, but we could not have reached some accommodation. Our marriage is over. Our decision. No one else's. If you feel slighted in some way, then I'm sorry. It was not intentional. I kept you informed all the way, if you remember. Every day.' Her temper was fraying.

'I don't expect to be kept informed, Anna. I expect to be consulted. I am your father 13.'I am a grown woman, Daddy!' 'You are not behaving like one, if I may say so -, Anna slammed down the phone. Her stomach was churning, and she was almost sobbing with rage. Standing up, she walked across to the dressing table and stood staring down at it, unseeing. It was a small Georgian writing desk, transformed for its current use by an oval toilet mirror and the scatter of cosmetics and brushes and discarded jewellery. Focusing suddenly on her reflection in the mirror she scowled furiously. He was right. She was not behaving like a grown woman. She was behaving as she was feeling, like an abandoned child. Her hand strayed to the small scent bottle standing by the mirror and she picked it up, staring at it miserably. About three inches high, the gla.s.s was a deep opaque blue, decorated with a thick white feathered design, the stopper a lump of shaped wax, pushed flush with the top and sealed. Phyllis had given it to her when it had caught her fancy as a child and it had stayed with her ever since. 'Take care of it, Anna,' the old lady had said. 'It comes from Ancient Egypt and it's very, very old.'

Egypt.

Anna turned it round in her hand, staring at it. Felix had had it valued, of course, and the antique dealer had been very sniffy about it. 'I'm sorry to disappoint you, Anna, dear, but I'm afraid it probably came from a Victorian bazaar. The early visitors out there were always being conned into bringing back so-called artefacts. And this doesn't even look Egyptian.' He had handed it back with a slight sneer, as though even by touching it he had somehow contaminated himself and his Bond Street reputation. Recalling that moment Anna gave a weary smile. At least she no longer had to put up with Felix's pretentious acquaintances, pretending they were so wise and acqulescing with their patronising dismissal of her too as no more than a decorative nonent.i.ty which he had picked up in a bazaar somewhere.

With a sigh she set down the bottle and stared once more into the mirror. She was tired, she was depressed and she was fed up.

Phyllis, as always, was right. She needed a holiday.'Have you ever been to Egypt before?'

Why hadn't she thought of this when she asked for a window 14.seat? Five hours of being trapped into conversation with whomever destiny had chosen to be her neighbour, and with no escape!

It was nearly four months since that glorious autumn day in Suffolk but now, at last she was on her way. Outside, the ground staff at Gatwick were completing the final checks on the loading of the plane and still spraying ice off its wings as they prepared for take off. Sleet slanted across the airport, whipping the faces of the men cl.u.s.tering round the plane into an angry painful colour.

Anna did not look up from her guidebook. 'No, I haven't.' She tried to sound unenthusiastic without being downright rude.

'Nor me.' She felt him glance at her sideways, but he said no more, groping in the bag by his feet for his own reading material.

Beyond him the aisle seat was still empty as the plane began to fill and the flight attendants shoe-horned people more and more tightly into place. Anna risked a quick look to her left. Forties; sandy hair, regular features, long eye-lashes, clearly visible as he flipped through an already well-thumbed volume. She was suddenly sorry she had been so curt. But there was plenty of time to make up for it if she wanted to. All the time in the world. Beyond him an elderly man in a dog collar inserted himself into the third seat in the row. He leant forw'ard to nod first to her and then their neighbour, then he reached for a pile of newspapers. She saw with a smile the Church Times was firmly tucked away beneath a copy of the Sun.

That morning, as she locked the front door and hefted her suitcase into the waiting London taxi her nerve had almost failed her. The quiet early-morning streets were white with thick February frost and the pre-dawn light was strangely flat and depressing. All her resolution had fled. If the cab driver had not been waiting to take her to Victoria Station to catch the train to the airport she would have turned back into the empty house, forgotten all about Egypt for ever, climbed back into bed and pulled the duvet over her head.

It was hot and stuffy on the plane and her head ached. She couldn't move in the closely packed seats and she could feel the arm of her neighbour wedged tightly against her own. Beyond a nod and half-smile when she had looked up to reach for her tray and another when the drinks came round he had said nothing more to her, and the silence was beginning to weigh on her. She 15.wasn't looking for a full-blown conversation, in fact only a short time before, had dreaded it, but a casual remark to lighten the atmosphere would be a pleasant change to silence. The drum of the plane's engines was relentless and when she closed her eyes it seemed to grow louder by the minute. She had declined headphones for the film. So had he. As far as she could see he was asleep, his book upside down on his lap, his fingers loosely linked over the cover. The first guidebook had been replaced by another and he had glanced through it swiftly before sitting back, rubbing his face wearily with his hands and seeming to subside at once into a deep sleep. Glancing out of the window she could see, far below, the tiny shadow of the plane dancing across the intense blue ripples of the sun-warmed Mediterranean. She risked a second glance at her neighbour's face. In repose it was less attractive than when awake. The lines drew heavily downward, the mouth was set and sad, a tangible weight moulding the features. She turned her attention back to her own book, envying him his ability to sleep. Another two or three hours loomed before them and her muscles were screaming to be released from the cramped position into which they were squashed. Reaching up to the control panel over their heads to try and find some cooler air she realised suddenly that he had opened his eyes and was watching her. He smiled and she gave a small grimace in return. It was meant to convey cautious friends.h.i.+p and sympathy over the tightly packed, too intimate seating. She was about to follow this with a noncommittal remark when once again he looked away and closed his eyes.

Shrugging, she delved into the bag at her feet and brought out Louisa's diary. She had been saving it to read on the trip. Perhaps this was the moment to start.

The paper of the leatherbound notebook was thick, deckle-edged and in places foxed with pale brown spots. Carefully she turned to the first page of florid italic script and began to read.

'February 1 5th, 1866: And so, the boat has reached Luxor and here I leave my companions to join the Forresters. Tomorrow morning my boxes will be transferred to the Ibis which I see already tied up nearby. The decks are empty, even of crew, and the boat looks deserted. It will be wonderful at last to have some privacy especially after the constant chatter of Isabella and Arabella with whom I have had to share a cabin all these weeks from Cairo. I 16.am sending a packet of sketches and paintings back with them on the boat and hope to start a new series of drawings of the Valley of the Tombs as soon as possible. The British consul has promised me a dragoman, and the Forresters are said to be a kind, elderly couple who will allow me to travel with them willingly, without too much interference to my drawing. The heat of the day which at first renewed my spirits after the long voyage out here is growing stronger, but the nights are blessedly cool. I long to be able to see more of the desert. The nervous excitement of my companions so far on this adventure has prevented us from venturing any distance from our boat and I cannot wait to begin my explorations further afield.'

Anna looked up thoughtfully. She had never seen the desert. Never been to any part of Africa or the Middle East. Imagine the frustration of not being able to explore because your companions were too nervous. It had been bad enough knowing there was no time, no possibility of visiting properly the places she had travelled to with Felix. s.h.i.+fting a little in her seat to try and make herself more comfortable, she turned back to the diary.

'Louisa, dear. Sir John Forrester is here.' Arabella bounced into the small cabin in a froth of white lace and slightly stained cambric. 'He has come to take you across to his yacht.'