family, was going up the Nile, and it was known that he had room for
two in his boat over and above his own family. Miss Dawkins had told
him that she had not quite made up her mind to undergo so great a
fatigue, but that, nevertheless, she had a longing of the soul to see
something of Nubia. To this Mr. Damer had answered nothing but "Oh!"
which Miss Dawkins had not found to be encouraging.

But she had not on that account despaired. To a married man there are
always two sides, and in this instance there was Mrs. Damer as well as
Mr. Damer. When Mr. Damer said "Oh!" Miss Dawkins sighed, and said,
"Yes, indeed!" then smiled, and betook herself to Mrs. Damer.

Now Mrs. Damer was soft-hearted, and also somewhat old-fashioned. She
did not conceive any violent affection for Miss Dawkins, but she told
her daughter that "the single lady by herself was a very nice young
woman, and that it was a thousand pities she should have to go about so
much alone like."

Miss Damer had turned up her pretty nose, thinking, perhaps, how small
was the chance that it ever should be her own lot to be an unprotected
female. But Miss Dawkins carried her point at any rate as regarded the
expedition to the Pyramids.

Miss Damer, I have said, had a pretty nose. I may also say that she
had pretty eyes, mouth, and chin, with other necessary appendages, all
pretty. As to the two Master Damers, who were respectively of the ages
of fifteen and sixteen, it may be sufficient to say that they were
conspicuous for red caps and for the constancy with which they raced
their donkeys.