"God in heaven," Samir whispered.
"No!" Julie said. "Because it wouldn't be my father. The connection has been fatally broken! A duplicate of my father would rise. A duplicate who knew perhaps all that my father had known. But my father wouldn't be there. He wouldn't know the duplicate was walking about. And what you have brought back to life is a duplicate of Cleopatra! Your lost love is not there."
Ramses was silent. This seemed to shake him as profoundly as everything else. He looked at Samir.
"What religion, sire, holds that the soul remains in the rotted flesh? It was not so with our forefathers. It is not so in any land in the world."
"You are truly immortal, my beloved," Julie said. "But Cleopatra has been dead for twenty centuries. She is still dead. The thing you resurrected must be destroyed."
O, I'M sorry, Miles. My father's not here. Yes, I will. Immediately." Alex hung up the telephone. Elliott watched him from the desk in the corner of the room. "Thank you, Alex. Lying is actually an underrated social skill. Some clever person should write a polite guide to lying. And all the charitable principles which justify lying so well."
"Father, I am not letting you go out alone."
Elliott turned back to the work at hand. His bath and brief rest had done much to restore his strength, even though it had been impossible to really sleep. He had had a quiet hour to think out what he meant to do now; and he had made his decision, though he had little hope that his scheme would work. Nevertheless the elixir was worth it. If only Samir had reached Ramses. And everything in the man's manner had indicated to him that Samir knew where Ramses was.
He sealed the last of the three envelopes, which he had just addressed, and turned again to his son.
"You will do exactly as I've told you," he said firmly. "If I do not return by tomorrow noon, post these letters. To your mother and to Randolph. And leave Cairo as soon as you possibly can. Now give me my walking stick. And I need my cloak, also. It's damned cold in this city after dark."
Walter fetched the stick immediately. He had the cloak over his arm. He put it over Elliott's shoulders, adjusting it snugly.
"Father," Alex pleaded, "for the love of--"
"Good-bye, Alex. Remember. Julie needs you. She needs you here."
"Sire, it's past six now," Samir said. "I must show you how to find this tavern."
"I can find it on my own, Samir," Ramses answered. "Go back to the hotel, both of you. I must see for myself ... the state of things. And then I shall get word to you as soon as I can."
"No," Julie said, "let me go with you."
"Unthinkable," Ramses said. "It's much too dangerous. And this is something I must face alone."
"Ramses, I'm not leaving you," she insisted.
"Julie, we must return now," Samir said. "We must be seen before they start searching for us."
Ramses rose to his feet slowly. He turned away from the flickering light of the candle, which was now the only illumination in the dark room. He lifted his hands as if in prayer. He looked for all the world like one of the Moslems in the mosque as he stood there, a tiny speck of light shining in his eyes.
"Julie," he said, turning back to her with a deep sigh. "If you go home to England now, you can still recover your old life."
"O
h, you hurt me, Ramses!" she said. "You wound me to the quick. Do you love her, Ramses? Do you love this thing you've raised from the grave?"
She had not meant to say this. She stopped, defeated, and now it was she who turned away.
"I know I love you, Julie Stratford," he whispered. "I've loved you from the first moment I saw you. I braved discovery to save you. And I want your love now."
"Then don't speak of my leaving you," she said, her voice breaking. "Ramses, if I never see you again after this night, my life is destroyed."
"On my honour, you shall see me."
He took her in his arms.
"My love, my brave love," he whispered, caressing her. "I need you--both of you--more than I can say."
"May the old gods be with you, sire," Samir whispered. "We will count the minutes until we receive some word."