"I really think we may defy Fate on that point, little sweetheart. Now, to business! We can have eight besides our charming selves. Let's ask the Varesios--see what they gain by being able to speak English. Then there are those rowdy Philmers from London--that's four. Then Giuseppe--he'll keep us lively too; he's like a jolly English boy, isn't he? Not too overwhelmingly polite. Then there's Tom Talling--we must have some more women, mustn't we?" "I think equal numbers are best." "Oh, wise young judge! Well, look here, we can transport Talling to heaven as well as Egypt if we like to give him permission to invite that little French girl he's so mad over--Justine Feronnier, she's called. She's a quiet, demure little minx, with curious, flaxen hair. She looks down the side of her nose all the time, as if she had just come out of a convent school. I'm sure you can't dislike her, and I should be glad to do Tom a good turn. Do you mind?" "Not a bit. Who else?" "Um-m-m, who? Good gracious, I was forgetting Tony Belmont." "The man you were with so much in Paris last month?" "That's it. He must come, and we will tell him to bring Lucinda." "Is Lucinda another little minx, like Tom's friend?" "Well, she chooses to describe herself as Mrs. Belmont, and it wouldn't be kind to show undue curiosity concerning the date and place of the wedding ceremony. We've settled upon one too many, haven't we? But Guiseppe is well accustomed to being tucked in as a sort of makeweight, so I declare this parliament prorogued." "Tell me, what is the dahabeah called?" "'The Waterfowl' at present, but that's only fit for a houseboat on the Thames. I shall rechristen her 'Evarne the Beautiful,'" and Morris smiled indulgently. But the girl shook her head, declaring with a touch of coquettish self-confidence that she could not consent to such a name being chosen. One Evarne the Beautiful was quite enough to occupy all his thoughts. "Then, Lady Vanity, you must exercise your own ingenuity," he answered, and after a moment's solemn hesitation over the rival merits of "The River Queen" and "The Radiant Isis," Evarne decided on the latter name as more appropriate to a craft destined to breast the waters of Old Nile. Each desired guest accepted the invitation with flattering alacrity, and ere long "The Radiant Isis" was fairly off upon her voyage up the great river of the land of the Pharaohs. CHAPTER VIII LUCINDA BELMONT