Loretta Chase - Mr. Impossible

A Note on Spelling

An 1898 edition ofBaedeker's guide toEgyptlaments the difficulties of rendering Arabicinto English spelling. "It is greatly to be wished that theArabs would adopt a simpler alphabet," says the author, "witha regular use of the vowel-signs, and that they would agree to writethe ordinary spoken language." In the ordinary spoken language,furthermore, he complains, not everyone pronounces vowels the sameway. The consonants are consistent, but some have no equivalentEnglish sound.

More than a centurylater, we still encounter a mad variety of ways for spelling Arabicand Egyptian words using the English alphabet. I ended up choosingone approach for place names (familiar modern spellings) and one forwords and phrases (easiest to read). A number of these words andphrases, like customsand many monuments have changed ordisappeared since the early 1800s.

Chapter 1

OutskirtsofCairo,Egypt,2 April 1821

THANKSTO HIS MOTHER, RUPERT CARSINGTON had hair and eyes as dark as anyEgyptians. This did not mean he blended in with the crowd onthe bridge. In the first place, he was easily the tallest man there.In the second, both his manner and attire marked him as anEnglishman. The Egyptians and Turks, who judged men by the quality oftheir dress, noticed, too, that he was not a man of low birth.

Thelocals had the advantage of the Earl of Hargates fourth son.

Havingarrived inEgypt onlysix weeks ago, Rupert was not yet able to distinguish among thenumerous tribes and nationalities. Certainly he couldnt sizeup social status at a glance.

He could, however,recognize an unequal match when he saw one.

Thesoldier was largea few inches shy of Ruperts six-plusfeetand armed like a man-of-war. Three knives, a pair ofswords, a pair of pistols, and ammunition protruded or hung from hiswide belt. Oh, yes, he brandished a heavy staff, tooin anunfriendly way at the moment, at a bruised, limping, filthy fellow infront of him.

Thepoor devils crime, as far as Rupert could see, was being tooslow. The soldier roared some foreign threat or curse. Stumblingaway, the terrified peasant fell. The soldier swung his staff at themans legs. The wretch rolled to one side, and the staff struckthe bridge, inches away. Enraged, the soldier raised the weapon andaimed for the unfortunates head.

Rupertbroke through the gathering crowd, shoved the soldier, and yanked thestaff from his hand. The soldier reached for a knife, and Rupertswung, knocking the blade to the ground. Before his adversary coulddraw another weapon from his arsenal, Rupert swung the staff at him.The man dodged, but the edge of the weapon caught him in the hip, andover he went. He reached for his pistol as he fell, and Rupert againswung the staff. His opponent howled in pain, dropping the pistol.

Go!Rupert told the dirty cripple, who must have understood theaccompanying gesture if not the English word, because he scrambled tohis feet and limped away. The crowd parted to let him through.

Rupertstarted after him a moment too late. Soldiers were forcing their waythrough the growing mob. In an instant, theyd surrounded him.

NEWS OF THEaltercation, greatly embroidered, traveled swiftly from the bridge toel-Esbekiya. This quarter ofCairo, about half a mile away, was whereEuropean visitors usually lodged.

During theinundation, in late summer, the overflowingNileturned the square ofthe Esbekiya into a lake where boats plied to and fro. The riverbeing low at present, the area was merely a stretch of groundenclosed with buildings.

In one of thelarger houses, a mildly anxious Daphne Pembroke awaited her brotherMiles. The day was fading. If he did not arrive soon, he would notget in, because the gates were locked after dark. They were also keptlocked during times of plague or insurrection, both regularoccurrences inCairo.

Daphne was onlyhalf-listening for her brothers arrival, though. She gave thebetter part of her attention to the documents in front of her.

Among them was alithographic copy of the Rosetta Stone, a recently acquired papyrus,and a pen-and-ink copy of the latter. She was nearly nine and twentyyears old, and had been trying to solve the mystery of Egyptianwriting for the last ten years.

The first timeshed seen Egyptian hieroglyphs, Daphne had fallen madly,desperately, and hopelessly in love with them. All her youthfulstudies had aimed at unlocking then-secretive little hearts. She hadbecome infatuated with and wed a man nearly thrice her age because hewas (a) poetically handsome, (b) a language scholar, and (c) theowner of a collection of books and documents for which she lusted.

At the time, shedbelieved they were ideally suited.

At the time, shedbeen nineteen years old, her vision obscured by the stars in hereyes.

She soon learnt,among other painful lessons, that her brilliant scholar husband,exactly like stupider men, believed that intellectual endeavors puttoo great a strain on the inferior female brain.

Claiming to haveher best interests at heart, Virgil Pembroke forbade her studyingEgyptian writing. He said that even male scholars familiar withArabic, Coptic, Greek, Persian, and Hebrew had no hope of decipheringit in her lifetime. This he deemed no great loss: Egyptiancivilization being primitivegreatly inferior to that ofclassicalGreecedecipherment would contribute little to thestore of human knowledge.

Daphne was aclergymans daughter. Shed made a sacred vow to love,honor, and obey her husband, and she did try. But when it becameclear that she must pursue her studies or go mad with boredom andfrustration, she chose to risk perdition and disobey her husband.Thereafter, she continued her work in secret.

Virgil had diedfive years ago. Sadly, prejudice against women scholars did not diewith him. This was why, even now, only her indulgent brother and aselect group of friends knew the secret. Everyone else believed herbrother Miles was the linguistic genius of the family.

Had he been, hemight have known better than to pay two thousand pounds for thepapyrus she was studying. However, a merchant named Vanni Anaz hadclaimed it described the final resting place of a young pharaoh, nameunknownas was the case at present for most Egyptian royalty.The story was clearly the product of the romantic Easternimagination. No educated person could possibly believe it.Nonetheless, it had apparently captivated Miles, much to hersurprise.

He had even gonetoGizaagain to study the interior of the second pyramid, because, hesaid, it would help him understand the thinking of ancient tombbuilders and aid in locating the young kings tomb and itstreasures.

Though Daphne wascertain the pyramids could tell him nothing, she held her tongue. Hedelighted in exploringEgypts monuments. Why spoil his fun? Shemerely made sure he took sufficient supplies for the overnight stayhe planned.

She declined toaccompany him. Shed gone with him once toGizaand explored thetwo pyramids it was possible to enter. Neither contained anyhieroglyphic writing, although various visitors had scratched theirprofound thoughts upon the stones, e.g., Suverinus lovesClaudia. Equally important, she was not eager for anothersqueeze through the pyramids long, small, hot, smellypassageways.

At the moment,however, the pyramids were far from Daphnes thoughts. She wasdeciding that Dr. Young had incorrectly interpreted the hook and thethree tails signs when her maidservant Leena burst through the door.

Abloodbath! Leena cried. Stupid, stupid English hothead!Now the streets will run with blood!

She tore off thehead and face veils she despised but must wear in public, revealingthe dark hair and hazel eyes of an older woman of mixed Mediterraneanorigins. Daphne had hired her inMalta, after her English maid provedunequal to the rigors of foreign travel.

Leena not onlyspoke English, Greek, Turkish, and Arabic, but could read and write alittle in these languages unheard-of accomplishments for awoman in this part of the world. She was, on the other hand, deeplysuperstitious and fatalistic, with a tendency to discern the darkcloud attached to every silver lining.