My dear Betty,
The Memphis area is quite stunning. Saqqara holds a plethora of pyramids, and there is an incredible statue of Ramses II, an ancient Pharoah. Egypt is rapidly making me examine the mortality of man, not with our own small lives, but in the greatnesses that we can produce. It is humbling to think of these great structures built so very long ago.
Louis wanted to climb the step pyramid of Djoser, as did Violet, but after seeing the lifting process necessary to reach the first step, I stayed happily on the ground. He got into some trouble with the local guards for his excursion, but fortunately, money talks. I would hate to imagine what having to get him out of an Egyptian prison. Even my persuasive abilities might be pushed at that.
There was a letter in the affirmative to Doctor Webber on our return. I am quite relieved, as I do believe I would have made a poor weilder of any weapon, but less a magical sword. I realise this sounds outlandish, but somehow it seems less unlikely than it might have. I went with him to the mosque in case any translation is required, but I admit to also being quite curious at the thing itself. Sadly, they insisted my translation was not necessary, so I left him with the imam for instruction.
Today we tracked down Mr Vanheuvelen, a former member of the Clive Expedition and an inveterate drunk. He seems quite the cheerful fellow and would be, I imagine, quite a fascinating companion if one appreciated his interests. Sadly, his drinking is what got him tossed from the Expedition, although he doesn't seem to bear them too much bitterness. He says that the scrolls the Expedition found with the supposed Queen mummy were actually in quite good shape- this being contrary to the "illegible and damaged" report we had recieved from those of the Expedition. Unfortunately, he could not tell us what they contained.
He also claims to have found a hidden temple within Cairo itself with the help of that dreadful Mr Winfield. One has to wonder what Mr Winfield could be up to helping this man as he does not seem to be the type to just give such information away. Indeed, I would have thought that anything Mr Winfield did was for his own good, and giving information that would lead to such a find would seem too valuable to give away. I am forced to wonder whether Winfield is taking advantage of Vanheuvelen's good nature and using him in some way.
At any rate, this temple may be in use still, and the scrolls he spoke of included worship of Bast, the cat goddess. Covington was quite excited about some of the scrolls, even going so far as to set the man up in Shepheard's Hotel next to us for greater access to the scrolls.
But of greater import, Louis and Violet went on a romantic interlude this evening. Covington had his scrolls to interest him, Webber is deep in a copy of the Koran and my Arabic/English dictionary, and thus I feigned tiredness rather than go out with the two.
It is nearing midnight and they have not returned to my knowledge. I am conflicted. While I would love to see them happy, the timing seems... misplaced. I worry for them both for entirely different reasons. I shall, of course, report any interesting news.
Wistfully yours,
Rose
PS- We are dashing off to visit an Omar Shakti and I am unsure when I'll get to send this, so I thought I'd let you know that I have been unable to determine what precisely happened during Louis and Violet's evening together. I fell asleep shortly after penning this letter and at breakfast it was business as usual between them. Either they have already begun a secret affair and thus nothing new is going on between them, or else nothing of note beyond two friends having dinner occurred. I'm not sure whether I am disappointed or not.
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