Murder on the Marmora by Conrad Allen Read Free Book Online Page B

went into the theater to see Major Barbara but I came out remembering her father.”
    “That’s odd. So did we.”
    “It’s the way that Underwood’s part is written, Miss Goss. He’s a villain who’s made to sound like a hero. I think that Shaw was making the point that the devil always has the best tunes.” He looked over at Goss. “Do you agree?”
    “Don’t ask me, Mr. Dillman. I slept through the last act.”
    “Morton!” scolded his wife. “You always do that.”
    “I get tired, Rebecca. And I don’t have the same interest in theater as you.”
    The first course arrived and they suspended the conversation while they were being served. Dillman found the Goss family pleasant companions. Rebecca Goss hailed from Boston and her husband had been born only forty miles away. At their first encounter with Dillman, they had been able to trade comments about the city and its people. Goss was on his way to Cairo to return some relics that had been loaned to the museum in Boston. Since his wife and daughter had come with him, he had decided to visit London en route to Egypt. After a first spoonful of soup, he peered over his glasses at Dillman.
    “You never did tell us what you’re doing on this cruise,” he said.
    “Exactly the same as everyone else, Mr. Goss,” said Dillman. “Enjoying myself. As you may recall, I worked in the family business for some years, designing and constructing yachts. I decided that it was time I saw what steam-powered vessels could do. Sailing with P and O gives me the ideal opportunity to do that.”
    Rebecca beamed at him. “I’ll bet you didn’t expect to do so with royalty.”
    “No, Mrs. Goss. That’s an added bonus.”
    “I was hoping that we’d see them in here this evening but they must be dining in their own cabin. We simply must catch sight of them before we get to Egypt. It will be something to boast about when we get back to Boston.”
    “Yes,” said Polly. “I never thought I’d travel with members of a royal family.”
    “But that’s exactly what you did on the voyage to England,” said her father.
    “No, it wasn’t. We had no princesses aboard the
Saxonia
.”
    “You had something far better, Polly.”
    “Did I?”
    “Of course,” said Goss. “What’s more, you got much closer to them than you’ll ever get to the royal party on the
Marmora
. You sailed in the company of two pharoahs of ancient Egypt—or, at least, with treasures from their respective reigns. They had far more power than a mere princess. Amenemhet was founder of the great eleventh dynasty and Rameses I founded the nineteenth dynasty. These men were like gods in their day.”
    “But all they left behind,” said Polly, “was a handful of carved stones.”
    “Wait till you get to Egypt. You’ll see some of the greatest monuments ever built by men with supreme power over a civilization. A handful of stones?” Morton Goss gave a dry laugh. “That’s not how I’d describe the Pyramids or the Sphinx.”
    “How many times have you been to Egypt?” asked Dillman.
    “Too many,” replied Rebecca.
    “Now, that’s unfair,” her husband protested. “In my dreams, Mr. Dillman, I’ve been a hundred times. In actuality, alas, I’ve only made five trips.”
    “Five extremely long trips, Morton,” his wife reminded him.
    “It’s a requirement of my job, Rebecca. You understood that.”
    “I didn’t understand how lonely Boston could be while you were away.”
    “That’s why I brought you with me this time, my love,” he said, trying to appease her. “And I included a visit to England so that you could see what the Old Country was like. Except that, compared to Egypt, of course, England is not really old.”
    “Don’t start again, Father,” begged his daughter. “Please!”
    “I can see that you’re not going to follow in your father’s footsteps,” observed Dillman. “Does archaeology hold no interest for you, Miss Goss?”
    “Not really, Mr.