Lost trumpet

22
THE LOST TRUMPET
He seems to have done it for the fun of the thing,
the family being quite comfortably well off. Two
years went by, during which he moved from
place to place, sending home an occasional
letter to Aslaug. Then, at Rashida, while in resi¬
dence there, he was found one morning with a
slit throat.
‘Perhaps you saw in the papers something of the
fuss there was about the happening ? The mur- '
derer, however, was never caught. The Egyptian
Government sent its condolences and a handsome
cheque to Aslaug, and the matter was officially
dropped.
‘Aslaug, however, refuses to treat the matter
officially. She is going to Egypt to investigate for
herself. ‘Investigate’ is a mild word. She’s con¬
vinced the murderer can be found and intends to
find him. In fact, the conviction has become an
obsession.
‘Now, it’s only with diffidence that I’d try to
unload a monomaniac on anyone—let alone Colonel
Saloney. But Aslaug’s too good to waste on this
insane search—potentially too good. From what
little I’ve heard of Carl he was no great loss to this
planet in his untimely demise.
‘So what we want you to do—of course by way
of business—is to take Aslaug round the sights of
Cairo, if you’ve no other engagements. Show her
the Nile at sunset; show her Daybreak House;
and the pyramids and all the other oddities. Inocu¬
late her with Cairo, in fact.