diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/unpfm10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/unpfm10.txt | 1671 |
1 files changed, 1671 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/unpfm10.txt b/old/unpfm10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74d219b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/unpfm10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1671 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Unprotected Female, by Trollope +#18 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below, including for donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 + + + +Title: An Unprotected Female at the Pyramids + +Author: Anthony Trollope + +Release Date: February, 2003 [Etext #3710] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] +[The actual date this file first posted = 07/31/01] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Unprotected Female, by Trollope +*******This file should be named unpfm10.txt or unpfm10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, unpfm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, unpfm10a.txt + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman & Hall "Tales of all Countries" edition. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of July 12, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, +Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, +Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North +Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, +Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, +Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising +will begin in the additional states. Please feel +free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork +to legally request donations in all 50 states. If +your state is not listed and you would like to know +if we have added it since the list you have, just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in +states where we are not yet registered, we know +of no prohibition against accepting donations +from donors in these states who approach us with +an offer to donate. + + +International donations are accepted, +but we don't know ANYTHING about how +to make them tax-deductible, or +even if they CAN be made deductible, +and don't have the staff to handle it +even if there are ways. + +All donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541, +and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal +Revenue Service (IRS). Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum +extent permitted by law. As the requirements for other states are met, +additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the +additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +*** + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman & Hall "Tales of all Countries" edition. + + + + + +AN UNPROTECTED FEMALE AT THE PYRAMIDS + +by Anthony Trollope + + + + +In the happy days when we were young, no description conveyed to us so +complete an idea of mysterious reality as that of an Oriental city. We +knew it was actually there, but had such vague notions of its ways and +looks! Let any one remember his early impressions as to Bagdad or +Grand Cairo, and then say if this was not so. It was probably taken +from the "Arabian Nights," and the picture produced was one of strange, +fantastic, luxurious houses; of women who were either very young and +very beautiful, or else very old and very cunning; but in either state +exercising much more influence in life than women in the East do now; +of good-natured, capricious, though sometimes tyrannical monarchs; and +of life full of quaint mysteries, quite unintelligible in every phasis, +and on that account the more picturesque. + +And perhaps Grand Cairo has thus filled us with more wonder even than +Bagdad. We have been in a certain manner at home at Bagdad, but have +only visited Grand Cairo occasionally. I know no place which was to +me, in early years, so delightfully mysterious as Grand Cairo. + +But the route to India and Australia has changed all this. Men from +all countries going to the East, now pass through Cairo, and its +streets and costumes are no longer strange to us. It has become also a +resort for invalids, or rather for those who fear that they may become +invalids if they remain in a cold climate during the winter months. +And thus at Cairo there is always to be found a considerable population +of French, Americans, and of English. Oriental life is brought home to +us, dreadfully diluted by western customs, and the delights of the +"Arabian Nights" are shorn of half their value. When we have seen a +thing it is never so magnificent to us as when it was half unknown. + +It is not much that we deign to learn from these Orientals,--we who +glory in our civilisation. We do not copy their silence or their +abstemiousness, nor that invariable mindfulness of his own personal +dignity which always adheres to a Turk or to an Arab. We chatter as +much at Cairo as elsewhere, and eat as much and drink as much, and +dress ourselves generally in the same old ugly costume. But we do +usually take upon ourselves to wear red caps, and we do ride on +donkeys. + +Nor are the visitors from the West to Cairo by any means confined to +the male sex. Ladies are to be seen in the streets quite regardless of +the Mahommedan custom which presumes a veil to be necessary for an +appearance in public; and, to tell the truth, the Mahommedans in +general do not appear to be much shocked by their effrontery. + +A quarter of the town has in this way become inhabited by men wearing +coats and waistcoats, and by women who are without veils; but the +English tongue in Egypt finds its centre at Shepheard's Hotel. It is +here that people congregate who are looking out for parties to visit +with them the Upper Nile, and who are generally all smiles and +courtesy; and here also are to be found they who have just returned +from this journey, and who are often in a frame of mind towards their +companions that is much less amiable. From hence, during the winter, a +cortege proceeds almost daily to the pyramids, or to Memphis, or to the +petrified forest, or to the City of the Sun. And then, again, four or +five times a month the house is filled with young aspirants going out +to India, male and female, full of valour and bloom; or with others +coming home, no longer young, no longer aspiring, but laden with +children and grievances. + +The party with whom we are at present concerned is not about to proceed +further than the Pyramids, and we shall be able to go with them and +return in one and the same day. + +It consisted chiefly of an English family, Mr. and Mrs. Damer, their +daughter, and two young sons;--of these chiefly, because they were the +nucleus to which the others had attached themselves as adherents; they +had originated the journey, and in the whole management of it Mr. Damer +retarded himself as the master. + +The adherents were, firstly, M. Delabordeau, a Frenchman, now resident +in Cairo, who had given out that he was in some way concerned in the +canal about to be made between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In +discussion on this subject he had become acquainted with Mr. Damer; and +although the latter gentleman, true to English interests, perpetually +declared that the canal would never be made, and thus irritated M. +Delabordeau not a little--nevertheless, some measure of friendship had +grown up between them. + +There was also an American gentleman, Mr. Jefferson Ingram, who was +comprising all countries and all nations in one grand tour, as American +gentlemen so often do. He was young and good-looking, and had made +himself especially agreeable to Mr. Damer, who had declared, more than +once, that Mr. Ingram was by far the most rational American he had ever +met. Mr. Ingram would listen to Mr. Damer by the half-hour as to the +virtue of the British Constitution, and had even sat by almost with +patience when Mr. Damer had expressed a doubt as to the good working of +the United States' scheme of policy,--which, in an American, was most +wonderful. But some of the sojourners at Shepheard's had observed that +Mr. Ingram was in the habit of talking with Miss Damer almost as much +as with her father, and argued from that, that fond as the young man +was of politics, he did sometimes turn his mind to other things also. + +And then there was Miss Dawkins. Now Miss Dawkins was an important +person, both as to herself and as to her line of life, and she must be +described. She was, in the first place, an unprotected female of about +thirty years of age. As this is becoming an established profession, +setting itself up as it were in opposition to the old world idea that +women, like green peas, cannot come to perfection without supporting- +sticks, it will be understood at once what were Miss Dawkins's +sentiments. She considered--or at any rate so expressed herself--that +peas could grow very well without sticks, and could not only grow thus +unsupported, but could also make their way about the world without any +incumbrance of sticks whatsoever. She did not intend, she said, to +rival Ida Pfeiffer, seeing that she was attached in a moderate way to +bed and board, and was attached to society in a manner almost more than +moderate; but she had no idea of being prevented from seeing anything +she wished to see because she had neither father, nor husband, nor +brother available for the purpose of escort. She was a human creature, +with arms and legs, she said; and she intended to use them. And this +was all very well; but nevertheless she had a strong inclination to use +the arms and legs of other people when she could make them serviceable. + +In person Miss Dawkins was not without attraction. I should exaggerate +if I were to say that she was beautiful and elegant; but she was good +looking, and not usually ill mannered. She was tall, and gifted with +features rather sharp and with eyes very bright. Her hair was of the +darkest shade of brown, and was always worn in bandeaux, very neatly. +She appeared generally in black, though other circumstances did not +lead one to suppose that she was in mourning; and then, no other +travelling costume is so convenient! She always wore a dark broad- +brimmed straw hat, as to the ribbons on which she was rather +particular. She was very neat about her gloves and boots; and though +it cannot be said that her dress was got up without reference to +expense, there can be no doubt that it was not effected without +considerable outlay,--and more considerable thought. + +Miss Dawkins--Sabrina Dawkins was her name, but she seldom had friends +about her intimate enough to use the word Sabrina--was certainly a +clever young woman. She could talk on most subjects, if not well, at +least well enough to amuse. If she had not read much, she never showed +any lamentable deficiency; she was good-humoured, as a rule, and could +on occasions be very soft and winning. People who had known her long +would sometimes say that she was selfish; but with new acquaintance she +was forbearing and self-denying. + +With what income Miss Dawkins was blessed no one seemed to know. She +lived like a gentlewoman, as far as outward appearance went, and never +seemed to be in want; but some people would say that she knew very well +how many sides there were to a shilling, and some enemy had once +declared that she was an "old soldier." Such was Miss Dawkins. + +She also, as well as Mr. Ingram and M. Delabordeau, had laid herself +out to find the weak side of Mr. Damer. Mr. Damer, with all his +family, was going up the Nile, and it was known that he had room for +two in his boat over and above his own family. Miss Dawkins had told +him that she had not quite made up her mind to undergo so great a +fatigue, but that, nevertheless, she had a longing of the soul to see +something of Nubia. To this Mr. Damer had answered nothing but "Oh!" +which Miss Dawkins had not found to be encouraging. + +But she had not on that account despaired. To a married man there are +always two sides, and in this instance there was Mrs. Damer as well as +Mr. Damer. When Mr. Damer said "Oh!" Miss Dawkins sighed, and said, +"Yes, indeed!" then smiled, and betook herself to Mrs. Damer. + +Now Mrs. Damer was soft-hearted, and also somewhat old-fashioned. She +did not conceive any violent affection for Miss Dawkins, but she told +her daughter that "the single lady by herself was a very nice young +woman, and that it was a thousand pities she should have to go about so +much alone like." + +Miss Damer had turned up her pretty nose, thinking, perhaps, how small +was the chance that it ever should be her own lot to be an unprotected +female. But Miss Dawkins carried her point at any rate as regarded the +expedition to the Pyramids. + +Miss Damer, I have said, had a pretty nose. I may also say that she +had pretty eyes, mouth, and chin, with other necessary appendages, all +pretty. As to the two Master Damers, who were respectively of the ages +of fifteen and sixteen, it may be sufficient to say that they were +conspicuous for red caps and for the constancy with which they raced +their donkeys. + +And now the donkeys, and the donkey boys, and the dragomans were all +standing at the steps of Shepheard's Hotel. To each donkey there was a +donkey-boy, and to each gentleman there was a dragoman, so that a +goodly cortege was assembled, and a goodly noise was made. It may here +be remarked, perhaps with some little pride, that not half the noise is +given in Egypt to persons speaking any other language that is bestowed +on those whose vocabulary is English. + +This lasted for half an hour. Had the party been French the donkeys +would have arrived only fifteen minutes before the appointed time. And +then out came Damer pere and Damer mere, Damer fille, and Damer fils. +Damer mere was leaning on her husband, as was her wont. She was not an +unprotected female, and had no desire to make any attempts in that +line. Damer fille was attended sedulously by Mr. Ingram, for whose +demolishment, however, Mr. Damer still brought up, in a loud voice, the +fag ends of certain political arguments which he would fain have poured +direct into the ears of his opponent, had not his wife been so +persistent in claiming her privileges. M. Delabordeau should have +followed with Miss Dawkins, but his French politeness, or else his fear +of the unprotected female, taught him to walk on the other side of the +mistress of the party. + +Miss Dawkins left the house with an eager young Damer yelling on each +side of her; but nevertheless, though thus neglected by the gentlemen +of the party, she was all smiles and prettiness, and looked so sweetly +on Mr. Ingram when that gentleman stayed a moment to help her on to her +donkey, that his heart almost misgave him for leaving her as soon as +she was in her seat. + +And then they were off. In going from the hotel to the Pyramids our +party had not to pass through any of the queer old narrow streets of +the true Cairo--Cairo the Oriental. They all lay behind them as they +went down by the back of the hotel, by the barracks of the Pasha and +the College of the Dervishes, to the village of old Cairo and the banks +of the Nile. + +Here they were kept half an hour while their dragomans made a bargain +with the ferryman, a stately reis, or captain of a boat, who declared +with much dignity that he could not carry them over for a sum less than +six times the amount to which he was justly entitled; while the +dragomans, with great energy on behalf of their masters, offered him +only five times that sum. + +As far as the reis was concerned, the contest might soon have been at +an end, for the man was not without a conscience; and would have been +content with five times and a half; but then the three dragomans +quarrelled among themselves as to which should have the paying of the +money, and the affair became very tedious. + +"What horrid, odious men!" said Miss Dawkins, appealing to Mr. Damer. +"Do you think they will let us go over at all?" + +"Well, I suppose they will; people do get over generally, I believe. +Abdallah! Abdallah! why don't you pay the man? That fellow is always +striving to save half a piastre for me." + +"I wish he wasn't quite so particular," said Mrs. Damer, who was +already becoming rather tired; "but I'm sure he's a very honest man in +trying to protect us from being robbed." + +"That he is," said Miss Dawkins. "What a delightful trait of national +character it is to see these men so faithful to their employers." And +then at last they got over the ferry, Mr. Ingram having descended among +the combatants, and settled the matter in dispute by threats and +shouts, and an uplifted stick. + +They crossed the broad Nile exactly at the spot where the nilometer, or +river guage, measures from day to day, and from year to year, the +increasing or decreasing treasures of the stream, and landed at a +village where thousands of eggs are made into chickens by the process +of artificial incubation. + +Mrs. Damer thought that it was very hard upon the maternal hens--the +hens which should have been maternal--that they should be thus robbed +of the delights of motherhood. + +"So unnatural, you know," said Miss Dawkins; "so opposed to the +fostering principles of creation. Don't you think so, Mr. Ingram?" + +Mr. Ingram said he didn't know. He was again seating Miss Damer on her +donkey, and it must be presumed that he performed this feat clumsily; +for Fanny Damer could jump on and off the animal with hardly a finger +to help her, when her brother or her father was her escort; but now, +under the hands of Mr. Ingram, this work of mounting was one which +required considerable time and care. All which Miss Dawkins observed +with precision. + +"It's all very well talking," said Mr. Damer, bringing up his donkey +nearly alongside that of Mr. Ingram, and ignoring his daughter's +presence, just as he would have done that of his dog; "but you must +admit that political power is more equally distributed in England than +it is in America." + +"Perhaps it is," said Mr. Ingram; "equally distributed among, we will +say, three dozen families," and he made a feint as though to hold in +his impetuous donkey, using the spur, however, at the same time on the +side that was unseen by Mr. Damer. As he did so, Fanny's donkey became +equally impetuous, and the two cantered on in advance of the whole +party. It was quite in vain that Mr. Damer, at the top of his voice, +shouted out something about "three dozen corruptible demagogues." Mr. +Ingram found it quite impossible to restrain his donkey so as to listen +to the sarcasm. + +"I do believe papa would talk politics," said Fanny, "if he were at the +top of Mont Blanc, or under the Falls of Niagara. I do hate politics, +Mr. Ingram." + +"I am sorry for that, very," said Mr. Ingram, almost sadly. + +"Sorry, why? You don't want me to talk politics, do you?" + +"In America we are all politicians, more or less; and, therefore, I +suppose you will hate us all." + +"Well, I rather think I should," said Fanny; "you would be such bores." +But there was something in her eye, as she spoke, which atoned for the +harshness of her words. + +"A very nice young man is Mr. Ingram; don't you think so?" said Miss +Dawkins to Mrs. Damer. Mrs. Damer was going along upon her donkey, not +altogether comfortably. She much wished to have her lord and +legitimate protector by her side, but he had left her to the care of a +dragoman whose English was not intelligible to her, and she was rather +cross. + +"Indeed, Miss Dawkins, I don't know who are nice and who are not. This +nasty donkey stumbles at ever step. There! I know I shall be down +directly." + +"You need not be at all afraid of that; they are perfectly safe, I +believe, always," said Miss Dawkins, rising in her stirrup, and +handling her reins quite triumphantly. "A very little practice will +make you quite at home." + +"I don't know what you mean by a very little practice. I have been +here six weeks. Why did you put me on such a bad donkey as this?" and +she turned to Abdallah, the dragoman. + +"Him berry good donkey, my lady; berry good,--best of all. Call him +Jack in Cairo. Him go to Pyramid and back, and mind noting." + +"What does he say, Miss Dawkins?" + +"He says that that donkey is one called Jack. If so I've had him +myself many times, and Jack is a very good donkey." + +"I wish you had him now with all my heart," said Mrs. Damer. Upon +which Miss Dawkins offered to change; but those perils of mounting and +dismounting were to Mrs. Damer a great deal too severe to admit of +this. + +"Seven miles of canal to be carried out into the sea, at a minimum +depth of twenty-three feet, and the stone to be fetched from Heaven +knows where! All the money in France wouldn't do it." This was +addressed by Mr. Damer to M. Delabordeau, whom he had caught after the +abrupt flight of Mr. Ingram. + +"Den we will borrow a leetle from England," said M. Delabordeau. + +"Precious little, I can tell you. Such stock would not hold its price +in our markets for twenty-four hours. If it were made, the freights +would be too heavy to allow of merchandise passing through. The heavy +goods would all go round; and as for passengers and mails, you don't +expect to get them, I suppose, while there is a railroad ready made to +their hand?" + +"Ye vill carry all your ships through vidout any transportation. Think +of that, my friend." + +"Pshaw! You are worse than Ingram. Of all the plans I ever heard of +it is the most monstrous, the most impracticable, the most--" But here +he was interrupted by the entreaties of his wife, who had, in absolute +deed and fact, slipped from her donkey, and was now calling lustily for +her husband's aid. Whereupon Miss Dawkins allied herself to the +Frenchman, and listened with an air of strong conviction to those +arguments which were so weak in the ears of Mr. Damer. M. Delabordeau +was about to ride across the Great Desert to Jerusalem, and it might +perhaps be quite as well to do that with him, as to go up the Nile as +far as the second cataract with the Damers. + +"And so, M. Delabordeau, you intend really to start for Mount Sinai?" + +"Yes, mees; ve intend to make one start on Monday week." + +"And so on to Jerusalem. You are quite right. It would be a thousand +pities to be in these countries, and to return without going over such +ground as that. I shall certainly go to Jerusalem myself by that +route." + +"Vot, mees! you? Would you not find it too much fatigante?" + +"I care nothing for fatigue, if I like the party I am with,--nothing at +all, literally. You will hardly understand me, perhaps, M. +Delabordeau; but I do not see any reason why I, as a young woman, +should not make any journey that is practicable for a young man." + +"Ah! dat is great resolution for you, mees." + +"I mean as far as fatigue is concerned. You are a Frenchman, and +belong to the nation that is at the head of all human civilisation--" + +M. Delabordeau took off his hat and bowed low, to the peak of his +donkey saddle. He dearly loved to hear his country praised, as Miss +Dawkins was aware. + +"And I am sure you must agree with me," continued Miss Dawkins, "that +the time is gone by for women to consider themselves helpless animals, +or to be so considered by others." + +"Mees Dawkins vould never be considered, not in any times at all, to be +one helpless animal," said M. Delabordeau civilly. + +"I do not, at any rate, intend to be so regarded," said she. "It suits +me to travel alone; not that I am averse to society; quite the +contrary; if I meet pleasant people I am always ready to join them. +But it suits me to travel without any permanent party, and I do not see +why false shame should prevent my seeing the world as thoroughly as +though I belonged to the other sex. Why should it, M. Delabordeau?" + +M. Delabordeau declared that he did not see any reason why it should. + +"I am passionately anxious to stand upon Mount Sinai," continued Miss +Dawkins; "to press with my feet the earliest spot in sacred history, of +the identity of which we are certain; to feel within me the awe- +inspiring thrill of that thrice sacred hour!" + +The Frenchman looked as though he did not quite understand her, but he +said that it would be magnifique. + +"You have already made up your party I suppose, M. Delabordeau?" + +M. Delabordeau gave the names of two Frenchmen and one Englishman who +were going with him. + +"Upon my word it is a great temptation to join you," said Miss Dawkins, +"only for that horrid Englishman." + +"Vat, Mr. Stanley?" + +"Oh, I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Stanley. The horridness I +speak of does not attach to him personally, but to his stiff, +respectable, ungainly, well-behaved, irrational, and uncivilised +country. You see I am not very patriotic." + +"Not quite so much as my friend, Mr. Damer." + +"Ha! ha! ha! an excellent creature, isn't he? And so they all are, +dear creatures. But then they are so backward. They are most anxious +that I should join them up the Nile, but--," and then Miss Dawkins +shrugged her shoulders gracefully, and, as she flattered herself, like +a Frenchwoman. After that they rode on in silence for a few moments. + +"Yes, I must see Mount Sinai," said Miss Dawkins, and then sighed +deeply. M. Delabordeau, notwithstanding that his country does stand at +the head of all human civilisation, was not courteous enough to declare +that if Miss Dawkins would join his party across the desert, nothing +would be wanting to make his beatitude in this world perfect. + +Their road from the village of the chicken-batching ovens lay up along +the left bank of the Nile, through an immense grove of lofty palm- +trees, looking out from among which our visitors could ever and anon +see the heads of the two great Pyramids;--that is, such of them could +see it as felt any solicitude in the matter. + +It is astonishing how such things lose their great charm as men find +themselves in their close neighbourhood. To one living in New York or +London, how ecstatic is the interest inspired by these huge structures. +One feels that no price would be too high to pay for seeing them as +long as time and distance, and the world's inexorable task-work, forbid +such a visit. How intense would be the delight of climbing over the +wondrous handiwork of those wondrous architects so long since dead; how +thrilling the awe with which one would penetrate down into their +interior caves--those caves in which lay buried the bones of ancient +kings, whose very names seem to have come to us almost from another +world! + +But all these feelings become strangely dim, their acute edges +wonderfully worn, as the subjects which inspired them are brought near +to us. "Ah! so those are the Pyramids, are they?" says the traveller, +when the first glimpse of them is shown to him from the window of a +railway carriage. "Dear me; they don't look so very high, do they? +For Heaven's sake put the blind down, or we shall be destroyed by the +dust." And then the ecstasy and keen delight of the Pyramids has +vanished for ever. + +Our friends, therefore, who for weeks past had seen from a distance, +though they had not yet visited them, did not seem to have any strong +feeling on the subject as they trotted through the grove of palm-trees. +Mr. Damer had not yet escaped from his wife, who was still fretful from +the result of her little accident. + +"It was all the chattering of that Miss Dawkins," said Mrs. Damer. +"She would not let me attend to what I was doing." + +"Miss Dawkins is an ass," said her husband. + +"It is a pity she has no one to look after her," said Mrs. Damer. M. +Delabordeau was still listening to Miss Dawkins's raptures about Mount +Sinai. "I wonder whether she has got any money," said M. Delabordeau +to himself. "It can't be much," he went on thinking, "or she would not +be left in this way by herself." And the result of his thoughts was +that Miss Dawkins, if undertaken, might probably become more plague +than profit. As to Miss Dawkins herself, though she was ecstatic about +Mount Sinai--which was not present--she seemed to have forgotten the +poor Pyramids, which were then before her nose. + +The two lads were riding races along the dusty path, much to the +disgust of their donkey-boys. Their time for enjoyment was to come. +There were hampers to be opened; and then the absolute climbing of the +Pyramids would actually be a delight to them. + +As for Miss Damer and Mr. Ingram, it was clear that they had forgotten +palm-trees, Pyramids, the Nile, and all Egypt. They had escaped to a +much fairer paradise. + +"Could I bear to live among Republicans?" said Fanny, repeating the +last words of her American lover, and looking down from her donkey to +the ground as she did so. "I hardly know what Republicans are, Mr. +Ingram." + +"Let me teach you," said he. + +"You do talk such nonsense. I declare there is that Miss Dawkins +looking at us as though she had twenty eyes. Could you not teach her, +Mr. Ingram?" + +And so they emerged from the palm-tree grove, through a village crowded +with dirty, straggling Arab children, on to the cultivated plain, +beyond which the Pyramids stood, now full before them; the two large +Pyramids, a smaller one, and the huge sphynx's head all in a group +together. + +"Fanny," said Bob Damer, riding up to her, "mamma wants you; so toddle +back." + +"Mamma wants me! What can she want me for now?" said Fanny, with a +look of anything but filial duty in her face. + +"To protect her from Miss Dawkins, I think. She wants you to ride at +her side, so that Dawkins mayn't get at her. Now, Mr. Ingram, I'll bet +you half-a-crown I'm at the top of the big Pyramid before you." + +Poor Fanny! She obeyed, however; doubtless feeling that it would not +do as yet to show too plainly that she preferred Mr. Ingram to her +mother. She arrested her donkey, therefore, till Mrs. Damer overtook +her; and Mr. Ingram, as he paused for a moment with her while she did +so, fell into the hands of Miss Dawkins. + +"I cannot think, Fanny, how you get on so quick," said Mrs. Damer. +"I'm always last; but then my donkey is such a very nasty one. Look +there, now; he's always trying to get me off." + +"We shall soon be at the Pyramids now, mamma." + +"How on earth I am ever to get back again I cannot think. I am so +tired now that I can hardly sit." + +"You'll be better, mamma, when you get your luncheon and a glass of +wine." + +"How on earth we are to eat and drink with those nasty Arab people +around us, I can't conceive. They tell me we shall be eaten up by +them. But, Fanny, what has Mr. Ingram been saying to you all the day?" + +"What has he been saying, mamma? Oh! I don't know;--a hundred things, +I dare say. But he has not been talking to me all the time." + +"I think he has, Fanny, nearly, since we crossed the river. Oh, dear! +oh, dear! this animal does hurt me so! Every time he moves he flings +his head about, and that gives me such a bump." And then Fanny +commiserated her mother's sufferings, and in her commiseration +contrived to elude any further questionings as to Mr. Ingram's +conversation. + +"Majestic piles, are they not?" said Miss Dawkins, who, having changed +her companion, allowed her mind to revert from Mount Sinai to the +Pyramids. They were now riding through cultivated ground, with the +vast extent of the sands of Libya before them. The two Pyramids were +standing on the margin of the sand, with the head of the recumbent +sphynx plainly visible between them. But no idea can be formed of the +size of this immense figure till it is visited much more closely. The +body is covered with sand, and the head and neck alone stand above the +surface of the ground. They were still two miles distant, and the +sphynx as yet was but an obscure mount between the two vast Pyramids. + +"Immense piles!" said Miss Dawkins, repeating her own words. + +"Yes, they are large," said Mr. Ingram, who did not choose to indulge +in enthusiasm in the presence of Miss Dawkins. + +"Enormous! What a grand idea!--eh, Mr. Ingram? The human race does +not create such things as those nowadays!" + +"No, indeed," he answered; "but perhaps we create better things." + +"Better! You do not mean to say, Mr. Ingram, that you are an +utilitarian. I do, in truth, hope better things of you than that. +Yes! steam mills are better, no doubt, and mechanics' institutes and +penny newspapers. But is nothing to be valued but what is useful?" +And Miss Dawkins, in the height of her enthusiasm, switched her donkey +severely over the shoulder. + +"I might, perhaps, have said also that we create more beautiful +things," said Mr. Ingram. + +"But we cannot create older things." + +"No, certainly; we cannot do that." + +"Nor can we imbue what we do create with the grand associations which +environ those piles with so intense an interest. Think of the mighty +dead, Mr. Ingram, and of their great homes when living. Think of the +hands which it took to raise those huge blocks--" + +"And of the lives which it cost." + +"Doubtless. The tyranny and invincible power of the royal architects +add to the grandeur of the idea. One would not wish to have back the +kings of Egypt." + +"Well, no; they would be neither useful nor beautiful." + +"Perhaps not; and I do not wish to be picturesque at the expense of my +fellow-creatures." + +"I doubt, even, whether they would be picturesque." + +"You know what I mean, Mr. Ingram. But the associations of such names, +and the presence of the stupendous works with which they are connected, +fill the soul with awe. Such, at least, is the effect with mine." + +"I fear that my tendencies, Miss Dawkins, are more realistic than your +own." + +"You belong to a young country, Mr. Ingram, and are naturally prone to +think of material life. The necessity of living looms large before +you." + +"Very large, indeed, Miss Dawkins." + +"Whereas with us, with some of us at least, the material aspect has +given place to one in which poetry and enthusiasm prevail. To such +among us the associations of past times are very dear. Cheops, to me, +is more than Napoleon Bonaparte." + +"That is more than most of your countrymen can say, at any rate, just +at present." + +"I am a woman," continued Miss Dawkins. + +Mr. Ingram took off his hat in acknowledgment both of the announcement +and of the fact. + +"And to us it is not given--not given as yet--to share in the great +deeds of the present. The envy of your sex has driven us from the +paths which lead to honour. But the deeds of the past are as much ours +as yours." + +"Oh, quite as much." + +"'Tis to your country that we look for enfranchisement from this +thraldom. Yes, Mr. Ingram, the women of America have that strength of +mind which has been wanting to those of Europe. In the United States +woman will at last learn to exercise her proper mission." + +Mr. Ingram expressed a sincere wish that such might be the case; and +then wondering at the ingenuity with which Miss Dawkins had travelled +round from Cheops and his Pyramid to the rights of women in America, he +contrived to fall back, under the pretence of asking after the ailments +of Mrs. Damer. + +And now at last they were on the sand, in the absolute desert, making +their way up to the very foot of the most northern of the two Pyramids. +They were by this time surrounded by a crowd of Arab guides, or Arabs +professing to be guides, who had already ascertained that Mr. Damer was +the chief of the party, and were accordingly driving him almost to +madness by the offers of their services, and their assurance that he +could not possibly see the outside or the inside of either structure, +or even remain alive upon the ground, unless he at once accepted their +offers made at their own prices. + +"Get away, will you?" said he. "I don't want any of you, and I won't +have you! If you take hold of me I'll shoot you!" This was said to +one specially energetic Arab, who, in his efforts to secure his prey, +had caught hold of Mr. Damer by the leg. + +"Yes, yes, I say! Englishmen always take me;--me--me, and then no +break him leg. Yes--yes--yes;--I go. Master, say yes. Only one +leetle ten shillings!" + +"Abdallah!" shouted Mr. Damer, "why don't you take this man away? Why +don't you make him understand that if all the Pyramids depended on it, +I would not give him sixpence!" + +And then Abdallah, thus invoked, came up, and explained to the man in +Arabic that he would gain his object more surely if he would behave +himself a little more quietly; a hint which the man took for one +minute, and for one minute only. + +And then poor Mrs. Damer replied to an application for backsheish by +the gift of a sixpence. Unfortunate woman! The word backsheish means, +I believe, a gift; but it has come in Egypt to signify money, and is +eternally dinned into the ears of strangers by Arab suppliants. Mrs. +Damer ought to have known better, as, during the last six weeks she had +never shown her face out of Shepheard's Hotel without being pestered +for backsheish; but she was tired and weak, and foolishly thought to +rid herself of the man who was annoying her. + +No sooner had the coin dropped from her hand into that of the Arab, +than she was surrounded by a cluster of beggars, who loudly made their +petitions as though they would, each of them, individually be injured +if treated with less liberality than that first comer. They took hold +of her donkey, her bridle, her saddle, her legs, and at last her arms +and hands, screaming for backsheish in voices that were neither sweet +nor mild. + +In her dismay she did give away sundry small coins--all, probably, that +she had about her; but this only made the matter worse. Money was +going, and each man, by sufficient energy, might hope to get some of +it. They were very energetic, and so frightened the poor lady that she +would certainly have fallen, had she not been kept on her seat by the +pressure around her. + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! get away," she cried. "I haven't got any more; +indeed I haven't. Go away, I tell you! Mr. Damer! oh, Mr. Damer!" and +then, in the excess of her agony, she uttered one loud, long, and +continuous shriek. + +Up came Mr. Damer; up came Abdallah; up came M. Delabordeau; up came +Mr. Ingram, and at last she was rescued. "You shouldn't go away and +leave me to the mercy of these nasty people. As to that Abdallah, he +is of no use to anybody." + +"Why you bodder de good lady, you dem blackguard?" said Abdallah, +raising his stick, as though he were going to lay them all low with a +blow. "Now you get noting, you tief!" + +The Arabs for a moment retired to a little distance, like flies driven +from a sugar-bowl; but it was easy to see that, like the flies, they +would return at the first vacant moment. + +And now they had reached the very foot of the Pyramids and proceeded to +dismount from their donkeys. Their intention was first to ascend to +the top, then to come down to their banquet, and after that to +penetrate into the interior. And all this would seem to be easy of +performance. The Pyramid is undoubtedly high, but it is so constructed +as to admit of climbing without difficulty. A lady mounting it would +undoubtedly need some assistance, but any man possessed of moderate +activity would require no aid at all. + +But our friends were at once imbued with the tremendous nature of the +task before them. A sheikh of the Arabs came forth, who communicated +with them through Abdallah. The work could be done, no doubt, he said; +but a great many men would be wanted to assist. Each lady must have +four Arabs, and each gentlemen three; and then, seeing that the work +would be peculiarly severe on this special day, each of these numerous +Arabs must be remunerated by some very large number of piastres. + +Mr. Damer, who was by no means a close man in his money dealings, +opened his eyes with surprise, and mildly expostulated; M. Delabordeau, +who was rather a close man in his reckonings, immediately buttoned up +his breeches pocket and declared that he should decline to mount the +Pyramid at all at that price; and then Mr. Ingram descended to the +combat. + +The protestations of the men were fearful. They declared, with loud +voices, eager actions, and manifold English oaths, that an attempt was +being made to rob them. They had a right to demand the sums which they +were charging, and it was a shame that English gentlemen should come +and take the bread out of their mouths. And so they screeched, +gesticulated, and swore, and frightened poor Mrs. Damer almost into +fits. + +But at last it was settled and away they started, the sheikh declaring +that the bargain had been made at so low a rate as to leave him not one +piastre for himself. Each man had an Arab on each side of him, and +Miss Dawkins and Miss Damer had each, in addition, one behind. Mrs. +Damer was so frightened as altogether to have lost all ambition to +ascend. She sat below on a fragment of stone, with the three dragomans +standing around her as guards; but even with the three dragomans the +attacks on her were so frequent, and as she declared afterwards she was +so bewildered, that she never had time to remember that she had come +there from England to see the Pyramids, and that she was now +immediately under them. + +The boys, utterly ignoring their guides, scrambled up quicker than the +Arabs could follow them. Mr. Damer started off at a pace which soon +brought him to the end of his tether, and from that point was dragged +up by the sheer strength of his assistants; thereby accomplishing the +wishes of the men, who induce their victims to start as rapidly as +possible, in order that they may soon find themselves helpless from +want of wind. Mr. Ingram endeavoured to attach himself to Fanny, and +she would have been nothing loth to have him at her right hand instead +of the hideous brown, shrieking, one-eyed Arab who took hold of her. +But it was soon found that any such arrangement was impossible. Each +guide felt that if he lost his own peculiar hold he would lose his +prey, and held on, therefore, with invincible tenacity. Miss Dawkins +looked, too, as though she had thought to be attended to by some +Christian cavalier, but no Christian cavalier was forthcoming. M. +Delabordeau was the wisest, for he took the matter quietly, did as he +was bid, and allowed the guides nearly to carry him to the top of the +edifice. + +"Ha! so this is the top of the Pyramid, is it?" said Mr. Damer, +bringing out his words one by one, being terribly out of breath. "Very +wonderful, very wonderful, indeed!" + +"It is wonderful," said Miss Dawkins, whose breath had not failed her +in the least, "very wonderful, indeed! Only think, Mr. Damer, you +might travel on for days and days, till days became months, through +those interminable sands, and yet you would never come to the end of +them. Is it not quite stupendous?" + +"Ah, yes, quite,--puff, puff"--said Mr. Damer striving to regain his +breath. + +Mr. Damer was now at her disposal; weak and worn with toil and travel, +out of breath, and with half his manhood gone; if ever she might +prevail over him so as to procure from his mouth an assent to that Nile +proposition, it would be now. And after all, that Nile proposition was +the best one now before her. She did not quite like the idea of +starting off across the Great Desert without any lady, and was not sure +that she was prepared to be fallen in love with by M. Delabordeau, even +if there should ultimately be any readiness on the part of that +gentleman to perform the role of lover. With Mr. Ingram the matter was +different, nor was she so diffident of her own charms as to think it +altogether impossible that she might succeed, in the teeth of that +little chit, Fanny Damer. That Mr. Ingram would join the party up the +Nile she had very little doubt; and then there would be one place left +for her. She would thus, at any rate, become commingled with a most +respectable family, who might be of material service to her. + +Thus actuated she commenced an earnest attack upon Mr. Damer. + +"Stupendous!" she said again, for she was fond of repeating favourite +words. "What a wondrous race must have been those Egyptian kings of +old!" + +"I dare say they were," said Mr. Damer, wiping his brow as he sat upon +a large loose stone, a fragment lying on the flat top of the Pyramid, +one of those stones with which the complete apex was once made, or was +once about to be made. + +"A magnificent race! so gigantic in their conceptions! Their ideas +altogether overwhelm us poor, insignificant, latter-day mortals. They +built these vast Pyramids; but for us, it is task enough to climb to +their top." + +"Quite enough," ejaculated Mr. Damer. + +But Mr. Damer would not always remain weak and out of breath, and it +was absolutely necessary for Miss Dawkins to hurry away from Cheops and +his tomb, to Thebes and Karnac. + +"After seeing this it is impossible for any one with a spark of +imagination to leave Egypt without going farther a-field." + +Mr. Damer merely wiped his brow and grunted. This Miss Dawkins took as +a signal of weakness, and went on with her task perseveringly. + +"For myself, I have resolved to go up, at any rate, as far as Asouan +and the first cataract. I had thought of acceding to the wishes of a +party who are going across the Great Desert by Mount Sinai to +Jerusalem; but the kindness of yourself and Mrs. Damer is so great, and +the prospect of joining in your boat is so pleasurable, that I have +made up my mind to accept your very kind offer." + +This, it will be acknowledged, was bold on the part of Miss Dawkins; +but what will not audacity effect? To use the slang of modern +language, cheek carries everything nowadays. And whatever may have +been Miss Dawkins's deficiencies, in this virtue she was not deficient. + +"I have made up my mind to accept your very kind offer," she said, +shining on Mr. Damer with her blandest smile. + +What was a stout, breathless, perspiring, middle-aged gentleman to do +under such circumstances? Mr. Damer was a man who, in most matters, +had his own way. That his wife should have given such an invitation +without consulting him, was, he knew, quite impossible. She would as +soon have thought of asking all those Arab guides to accompany them. +Nor was it to be thought of that he should allow himself to be +kidnapped into such an arrangement by the impudence of any Miss +Dawkins. But there was, he felt, a difficulty in answering such a +proposition from a young lady with a direct negative, especially while +he was so scant of breath. So he wiped his brow again, and looked at +her. + +"But I can only agree to this on one understanding," continued Miss +Dawkins, "and that is, that I am allowed to defray my own full share of +the expense of the journey." + +Upon hearing this Mr. Damer thought that he saw his way out of the +wood. "Wherever I go, Miss Dawkins, I am always the paymaster myself," +and this he contrived to say with some sternness, palpitating though he +still was; and the sternness which was deficient in his voice he +endeavoured to put into his countenance. + +But he did not know Miss Dawkins. "Oh, Mr. Damer," she said, and as +she spoke her smile became almost blander than it was before; "oh, Mr. +Damer, I could not think of suffering you to be so liberal; I could +not, indeed. But I shall be quite content that you should pay +everything, and let me settle with you in one sum afterwards." + +Mr. Damer's breath was now rather more under his own command. "I am +afraid, Miss Dawkins," he said, "that Mrs. Damer's weak state of health +will not admit of such an arrangement." + +"What, about the paying?" + +"Not only as to that, but we are a family party, Miss Dawkins; and +great as would be the benefit of your society to all of us, in Mrs. +Damer's present state of health, I am afraid--in short, you would not +find it agreeable.--And therefore--" this he added, seeing that she was +still about to persevere--"I fear that we must forego the advantage you +offer." + +And then, looking into his face, Miss Dawkins did perceive that even +her audacity would not prevail. + +"Oh, very well," she said, and moving from the stone on which she had +been sitting, she walked off, carrying her head very high, to a corner +of the Pyramid from which she could look forth alone towards the sands +of Libya. + +In the mean time another little overture was being made on the top of +the same Pyramid,--an overture which was not received quite in the same +spirit. While Mr. Damer was recovering his breath for the sake of +answering Miss Dawkins, Miss Damer had walked to the further corner of +the square platform on which they were placed, and there sat herself +down with her face turned towards Cairo. Perhaps it was not singular +that Mr. Ingram should have followed her. + +This would have been very well if a dozen Arabs had not also followed +them. But as this was the case, Mr. Ingram had to play his game under +some difficulty. He had no sooner seated himself beside her than they +came and stood directly in front of the seat, shutting out the view, +and by no means improving the fragrance of the air around them. + +"And this, then, Miss Damer, will be our last excursion together," he +said, in his tenderest, softest tone. + +"De good Englishman will gib de poor Arab one little backsheish," said +an Arab, putting out his hand and shaking Mr. Ingram's shoulder. + +"Yes, yes, yes; him gib backsheish," said another. + +"Him berry good man," said a third, putting up his filthy hand, and +touching Mr. Ingram's face. + +"And young lady berry good, too; she give backsheish to poor Arab." + +"Yes," said a fourth, preparing to take a similar liberty with Miss +Damer. + +This was too much for Mr. Ingram. He had already used very positive +language in his endeavour to assure his tormentors that they would not +get a piastre from him. But this only changed their soft persuasions +into threats. Upon hearing which, and upon seeing what the man +attempted to do in his endeavour to get money from Miss Damer, he +raised his stick, and struck first one and then the other as violently +as he could upon their heads. + +Any ordinary civilised men would have been stunned by such blows, for +they fell on the bare foreheads of the Arabs; but the objects of the +American's wrath merely skulked away; and the others, convinced by the +only arguments which they understood, followed in pursuit of victims +who might be less pugnacious. + +It is hard for a man to be at once tender and pugnacious--to be +sentimental, while he is putting forth his physical strength with all +the violence in his power. It is difficult, also, for him to be gentle +instantly after having been in a rage. So he changed his tactics at +the moment, and came to the point at once in a manner befitting his +present state of mind. + +"Those vile wretches have put me in such a heat," he said, "that I +hardly know what I am saying. But the fact is this, Miss Damer, I +cannot leave Cairo without knowing--. You understand what I mean, Miss +Damer." + +"Indeed I do not, Mr. Ingram; except that I am afraid you mean +nonsense." + +"Yes, you do; you know that I love you. I am sure you must know it. +At any rate you know it now." + +"Mr. Ingram, you should not talk in such a way." + +"Why should I not? But the truth is, Fanny, I can talk in no other +way. I do love you dearly. Can you love me well enough to go and be +my wife in a country far away from your own?" + +Before she left the top of the Pyramid Fanny Damer had said that she +would try. + +Mr. Ingram was now a proud and happy man, and seemed to think the steps +of the Pyramid too small for his elastic energy. But Fanny feared that +her troubles were to come. There was papa--that terrible bugbear on +all such occasions. What would papa say? She was sure her papa would +not allow her to marry and go so far away from her own family and +country. For herself, she liked the Americans--always had liked them; +so she said;--would desire nothing better than to live among them. But +papa! And Fanny sighed as she felt that all the recognised miseries of +a young lady in love were about to fall upon her. + +Nevertheless, at her lover's instance, she promised, and declared, in +twenty different loving phrases, that nothing on earth should ever make +her false to her love or to her lover. + +"Fanny, where are you? Why are you not ready to come down?" shouted +Mr. Damer, not in the best of tempers. He felt that he had almost been +unkind to an unprotected female, and his heart misgave him. And yet it +would have misgiven him more had he allowed himself to be entrapped by +Miss Dawkins. + +"I am quite ready, papa," said Fanny, running up to him--for it may be +understood that there is quite room enough for a young lady to run on +the top of the Pyramid. + +"I am sure I don't know where you have been all the time," said Mr. +Damer; "and where are those two boys?" + +Fanny pointed to the top of the other Pyramid, and there they were, +conspicuous with their red caps. + +"And M. Delabordeau?" + +"Oh! he has gone down, I think;--no, he is there with Miss Dawkins." +And in truth Miss Dawkins was leaning on his arm most affectionately, +as she stooped over and looked down upon the ruins below her. + +"And where is that fellow, Ingram?" said Mr. Damer, looking about him. +"He is always out of the way when he's wanted." + +To this Fanny said nothing. Why should she? She was not Mr. Ingram's +keeper. + +And then they all descended, each again with his proper number of Arabs +to hurry and embarrass him; and they found Mr. Damer at the bottom, +like a piece of sugar covered with flies. She was heard to declare +afterwards that she would not go to the Pyramids again, not if they +were to be given to her for herself, as ornaments for her garden. + +The picnic lunch among the big stones at the foot of the Pyramid was +not a very gay affair. Miss Dawkins talked more than any one else, +being determined to show that she bore her defeat gallantly. Her +conversation, however, was chiefly addressed to M. Delabordeau, and he +seemed to think more of his cold chicken and ham than he did of her wit +and attention. + +Fanny hardly spoke a word. There was her father before her and she +could not eat, much less talk, as she thought of all that she would +have to go through. What would he say to the idea of having an +American for a son-in-law? + +Nor was Mr. Ingram very lively. A young man when he has been just +accepted, never is so. His happiness under the present circumstances +was, no doubt, intense, but it was of a silent nature. + +And then the interior of the building had to be visited. To tell the +truth none of the party would have cared to perform this feat had it +not been for the honour of the thing. To have come from Paris, New +York, or London, to the Pyramids, and then not to have visited the very +tomb of Cheops, would have shown on the part of all of them an +indifference to subjects of interest which would have been altogether +fatal to their character as travellers. And so a party for the +interior was made up. + +Miss Damer when she saw the aperture through which it was expected that +she should descend, at once declared for staying with her mother. Miss +Dawkins, however, was enthusiastic for the journey. "Persons with so +very little command over their nerves might really as well stay at +home," she said to Mr. Ingram, who glowered at her dreadfully for +expressing such an opinion about his Fanny. + +This entrance into the Pyramids is a terrible task, which should be +undertaken by no lady. Those who perform it have to creep down, and +then to be dragged up, through infinite dirt, foul smells, and bad air; +and when they have done it, they see nothing. But they do earn the +gratification of saying that they have been inside a Pyramid. + +"Well, I've done that once," said Mr. Damer, coming out, "and I do not +think that any one will catch me doing it again. I never was in such a +filthy place in my life." + +"Oh, Fanny! I am so glad you did not go; I am sure it is not fit for +ladies," said poor Mrs. Damer, forgetful of her friend Miss Dawkins. + +"I should have been ashamed of myself," said Miss Dawkins, bristling +up, and throwing back her head as she stood, "if I had allowed any +consideration to have prevented my visiting such a spot. If it be not +improper for men to go there, how can it be improper for women?" + +"I did not say improper, my dear," said Mrs. Damer, apologetically. + +"And as for the fatigue, what can a woman be worth who is afraid to +encounter as much as I have now gone through for the sake of visiting +the last resting-place of such a king as Cheops?" And Miss Dawkins, as +she pronounced the last words, looked round her with disdain upon poor +Fanny Damer. + +"But I meant the dirt," said Mrs. Damer. + +"Dirt!" ejaculated Miss Dawkins, and then walked away. Why should she +now submit her high tone of feeling to the Damers, or why care longer +for their good opinion? Therefore she scattered contempt around her as +she ejaculated the last word, "dirt." + +And then the return home! "I know I shall never get there," said Mrs. +Damer, looking piteously up into her husband's face. + +"Nonsense, my dear; nonsense; you must get there." Mrs. Damer groaned, +and acknowledged in her heart that she must,--either dead or alive. + +"And, Jefferson," said Fanny, whispering--for there had been a moment +since their descent in which she had been instructed to call him by his +Christian name--"never mind talking to me going home. I will ride by +mamma. Do you go with papa and put him in good humour; and it he says +anything about the lords and the bishops, don't you contradict him, you +know." + +What will not a man do for love? Mr. Ingram promised. + +And in this way they started; the two boys led the van; then came Mr. +Damer and Mr. Ingram, unusually and unpatriotically acquiescent as to +England's aristocratic propensities; then Miss Dawkins riding, alas! +alone; after her, M. Delabordeau, also alone,--the ungallant Frenchman! +And the rear was brought up by Mrs. Damer and her daughter, flanked on +each side by a dragoman, with a third dragoman behind them. + +And in this order they went back to Cairo, riding their donkeys, and +crossing the ferry solemnly, and, for the most part, silently. Mr. +Ingram did talk, as he had an important object in view,--that of +putting Mr. Damer into a good humour. + +In this he succeeded so well that by the time they had remounted, after +crossing the Nile, Mr. Damer opened his heart to his companion on the +subject that was troubling him, and told him all about Miss Dawkins. + +"I don't see why we should have a companion that we don't like for +eight or ten weeks, merely because it seems rude to refuse a lady." + +"Indeed, I agree with you," said Mr. Ingram; "I should call it weak- +minded to give way in such a case." + +"My daughter does not like her at all," continued Mr. Damer. + +"Nor would she be a nice companion for Miss Damer; not according to my +way of thinking," said Mr. Ingram. + +"And as to my having asked her, or Mrs. Damer having asked her! Why, +God bless my soul, it is pure invention on the woman's part!" + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Mr. Ingram; "I must say she plays her game well; +but then she is an old soldier, and has the benefit of experience." +What would Miss Dawkins have said had she known that Mr. Ingram called +her an old soldier? + +"I don't like the kind of thing at all," said Mr. Damer, who was very +serious upon the subject. "You see the position in which I am placed. +I am forced to be very rude, or--" + +"I don't call it rude at all." + +"Disobliging, then; or else I must have all my comfort invaded and +pleasure destroyed by, by, by--" And Mr. Damer paused, being at a loss +for an appropriate name for Miss Dawkins. + +"By an unprotected female," suggested Mr. Ingram. + +"Yes, just so. I am as fond of pleasant company as anybody; but then I +like to choose it myself." + +"So do I," said Mr. Ingram, thinking of his own choice. + +"Now, Ingram, if you would join us, we should be delighted." + +"Upon my word, sir, the offer is too flattering," said Ingram, +hesitatingly; for he felt that he could not undertake such a journey +until Mr. Damer knew on what terms he stood with Fanny. + +"You are a terrible democrat," said Mr. Damer, laughing; "but then, on +that matter, you know, we could agree to differ." + +"Exactly so," said Mr. Ingram, who had not collected his thoughts or +made up his mind as to what he had better say and do, on the spur of +the moment. + +"Well, what do you say to it?" said Mr. Damer, encouragingly. But +Ingram paused before he answered. + +"For Heaven's sake, my dear fellow, don't have the slightest hesitation +in refusing, if you don't like the plan." + +"The fact is, Mr. Damer, I should like it too well." + +"Like it too well?" + +"Yes, sir, and I may as well tell you now as later. I had intended +this evening to have asked for your permission to address your +daughter." + +"God bless my soul!" said Mr. Damer, looking as though a totally new +idea had now been opened to him. + +"And under these circumstances, I will now wait and see whether or no +you will renew your offer." + +"God bless my soul!" said Mr. Damer, again. It often does strike an +old gentleman as very odd that any man should fall in love with his +daughter, whom he has not ceased to look upon as a child. The case is +generally quite different with mothers. They seem to think that every +young man must fall in love with their girls. + +"And have you said anything to Fanny about this?" asked Mr. Damer. + +"Yes, sir, I have her permission to speak to you." + +"God bless my soul!" said Mr. Damer; and by this time they had arrived +at Shepheard's Hotel. + +"Oh, mamma," said Fanny, as soon as she found herself alone with her +mother that evening, "I have something that I must tell you." + +"Oh, Fanny, don't tell me anything to-night, for I am a great deal too +tired to listen." + +"But oh, mamma, pray;--you must listen to this; indeed you must." And +Fanny knelt down at her mother's knee, and looked beseechingly up into +her face. + +"What is it, Fanny? You know that all my bones are sore, and I am so +tired that I am almost dead." + +"Mamma, Mr. Ingram has--" + +"Has what, my dear? has he done anything wrong?" + +"No, mamma: but he has;--he has proposed to me." And Fanny, bursting +into tears, hid her face in her mother's lap. + +And thus the story was told on both sides of the house. On the next +day, as a matter of course, all the difficulties and dangers of such a +marriage as that which was now projected were insisted on by both +father and mother. It was improper; it would cause a severing of the +family not to be thought of; it would be an alliance of a dangerous +nature, and not at all calculated to insure happiness; and, in short, +it was impossible. On that day, therefore, they all went to bed very +unhappy. But on the next day, as was also a matter of course, seeing +that there were no pecuniary difficulties, the mother and father were +talked over, and Mr. Ingram was accepted as a son-in-law. It need +hardly be said that the offer of a place in Mr. Damer's boat was again +made, and that on this occasion it was accepted without hesitation. + +There was an American Protestant clergyman resident in Cairo, with +whom, among other persons, Miss Dawkins had become acquainted. Upon +this gentleman or upon his wife Miss Dawkins called a few days after +the journey to the Pyramid, and finding him in his study, thus +performed her duty to her neighbour, - + +"You know your countryman Mr. Ingram, I think?" said she. + +"Oh, yes; very intimately." + +"If you have any regard for him, Mr. Burton," such was the gentleman's +name, "I think you should put him on his guard." + +"On his guard against what?" said Mr. Burton with a serious air, for +there was something serious in the threat of impending misfortune as +conveyed by Miss Dawkins. + +"Why," said she, "those Damers, I fear, are dangerous people." + +"Do you mean that they will borrow money of him?" + +"Oh, no; not that, exactly; but they are clearly setting their cap at +him." + +"Setting their cap at him?" + +"Yes; there is a daughter, you know; a little chit of a thing; and I +fear Mr. Ingram may be caught before he knows where he is. It would be +such a pity, you know. He is going up the river with them, I hear. +That, in his place, is very foolish. They asked me, but I positively +refused." + +Mr. Burton remarked that "In such a matter as that Mr. Ingram would be +perfectly able to take care of himself." + +"Well, perhaps so; but seeing what was going on, I thought it my duty +to tell you." And so Miss Dawkins took her leave. + +Mr. Ingram did go up the Nile with the Damers, as did an old friend of +the Damers who arrived from England. And a very pleasant trip they had +of it. And, as far as the present historian knows, the two lovers were +shortly afterwards married in England. + +Poor Miss Dawkins was left in Cairo for some time on her beam ends. +But she was one of those who are not easily vanquished. After an +interval of ten days she made acquaintance with an Irish family--having +utterly failed in moving the hard heart of M. Delabordeau--and with +these she proceeded to Constantinople. They consisted of two brothers +and a sister, and were, therefore, very convenient for matrimonial +purposes. But nevertheless, when I last heard of Miss Dawkins, she was +still an unprotected female. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of An Unprotected Female, by Trollope + |