{"product_id":"2940013693555","title":"A Professor of Egyptology","description":"From seven o'clock in the evening until half past, that is to say for\u003cbr\u003ethe half-hour preceding dinner, the Grand Hall of the Hotel Occidental,\u003cbr\u003ethroughout the season, is practically a lounge, and is crowded with the\u003cbr\u003emost fashionable folk wintering in Cairo. The evening I am anxious to\u003cbr\u003edescribe was certainly no exception to the rule. At the foot of the fine\u003cbr\u003emarble staircase--the pride of its owner--a well-known member of the\u003cbr\u003eFrench Ministry was chatting with an English Duchess whose pretty, but\u003cbr\u003esomewhat delicate, daughter was flirting mildly with one of the Sirdar's\u003cbr\u003eBimbashis, on leave from the Soudan. On the right-hand lounge of the\u003cbr\u003eHall an Italian Countess, whose antecedents were as doubtful as her\u003cbr\u003ediamonds, was apparently listening to a story a handsome Greek attaché\u003cbr\u003ewas telling her; in reality, however, she was endeavouring to catch\u003cbr\u003escraps of a conversation being carried on, a few feet away, between a\u003cbr\u003ewitty Russian and an equally clever daughter of the United States.\u003cbr\u003eAlmost every nationality was represented there, but unfortunately for\u003cbr\u003eour prestige, the majority were English. The scene was a brilliant one,\u003cbr\u003eand the sprinkling of military and diplomatic uniforms (there was a\u003cbr\u003eReception at the Khedivial Palace later) lent an additional touch of\u003cbr\u003ecolour to the picture. Taken altogether, and regarded from a political\u003cbr\u003epoint of view, the gathering had a significance of its own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the end of the Hall, near the large glass doors, a handsome, elderly\u003cbr\u003elady, with grey hair, was conversing with one of the leading English\u003cbr\u003edoctors of the place--a grey-haired, clever-looking man, who possessed\u003cbr\u003ethe happy faculty of being able to impress everyone with whom he talked\u003cbr\u003ewith the idea that he infinitely preferred his or her society to that of\u003cbr\u003eany other member of the world's population. They were discussing the\u003cbr\u003equestion of the most suitable clothing for a Nile voyage, and as the\u003cbr\u003elady's daughter, who was seated next her, had been conversant with her\u003cbr\u003emother's ideas on the subject ever since their first visit to Egypt (as\u003cbr\u003eindeed had been the Doctor), she preferred to lie back on the divan and\u003cbr\u003ewatch the people about her. She had large, dark, contemplative eyes.\u003cbr\u003eLike her mother she took life seriously, but in a somewhat different\u003cbr\u003efashion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne who has been bracketed third in the Mathematical Tripos can scarcely\u003cbr\u003ebe expected to bestow very much thought on the comparative merits of\u003cbr\u003eJger, as opposed to dresses of the Common or Garden flannel. From this,\u003cbr\u003ehowever, it must not be inferred that she was in any way a blue\u003cbr\u003estocking, that is, of course, in the vulgar acceptation of the word. She\u003cbr\u003ewas thorough in all she undertook, and for the reason that mathematics\u003cbr\u003einterested her very much the same way that Wagner, chess, and, shall we\u003cbr\u003esay, croquet, interest other people, she made it her hobby, and it must\u003cbr\u003ebe confessed she certainly succeeded in it. At other times she rode,\u003cbr\u003edrove, played tennis and hockey, and looked upon her world with calm,\u003cbr\u003eobservant eyes that were more disposed to find good than evil in it.\u003cbr\u003eContradictions that we are, even to ourselves, it was only those who\u003cbr\u003eknew her intimately, and they were few and far between, who realised\u003cbr\u003ethat, under that apparently sober, matter-of-fact personality, there\u003cbr\u003eexisted a strong leaning towards the mysterious, or, more properly\u003cbr\u003espeaking, the occult. Possibly she herself would have been the first to\u003cbr\u003edeny this--but that I am right in my surmise this story will surely be\u003cbr\u003esufficient proof.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069095690480,"sku":"2940013693555","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013693555_p0.jpg?v=1763584452","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013693555","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}