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 So you must come along and tell us, and give us an opportunity to thank you for the kind things you have done.…"

All went happily, he reflected, as the ship slid out of the Bitter Lakes, past Serapium, and on between the desolate banks of the canal. For two days yet, no ship would leave Port Said for Marseilles. He was sure to find her. Chao Phya, in snug quarters below, was sleeping out the voyage. The Burmese ruby, to be sure, was gone. Only the shank of the bell, nipped off as by strong pincers, remained to prove that their past adventures were not a dream. Whether Ho Kong had won, whether Borkman had kept it and survived, or dying had given it to his friend Justine, they would never know. What odds? thought Scarlett: one jewel the less—not worth a grain of this tawny dust where, on the rim of Egypt, he should meet Laura.

It was high, dry noon by the desert sun