Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [23]
Nofret laughed softly.
‘I’m sure you have, Henet. You shall do your duty! And Kameni shall do his office. And I–I shall do what it is my pleasure to do…’
But still Kameni hesitated. His face was sullen–almost angry.
‘I do not like this,’ he said. ‘Nofret, you had better take a little time to think.’
‘You say that to me!’
Kameni flushed at her tone. His eyes avoided hers, but his sullen expression remained.
‘Be careful, Kameni,’ said Nofret smoothly. ‘I have great influence with Imhotep. He listens to what I say–so far he has been pleased with you–’ She paused significantly.
‘Are you threatening me, Nofret?’ asked Kameni, angrily.
‘Perhaps.’
He looked angrily at her for a moment or two–then he bent his head.
‘I will do as you say, Nofret, but I think–yes, I think–that you will be sorry.’
‘Are you threatening me, Kameni?’
‘I am warning you…’
CHAPTER EIGHT
SECOND MONTH OF WINTER 10TH DAY
Day followed day, and Renisenb sometimes felt that she was living in a dream.
She had made no more timid overtures to Nofret. She was, now, afraid of Nofret. There was something about Nofret she did not understand.
After the scene in the courtyard that day, Nofret had changed. There was a complacency about her, an exultation, that Renisenb could not fathom. Sometimes she thought that her own vision of Nofret as profoundly unhappy must have been ridiculously wrong. Nofret seemed pleased with life and herself and her surroundings.
And yet, actually, her surroundings had very definitely changed for the worse. In the days following Imhotep’s departure, Nofret had quite deliberately, Renisenb thought, set out to sow dissension between the various members of Imhotep’s family.
Now that family had closed its ranks solidly against the invader. There were no more dissensions between Satipy and Kait–no railing of Satipy against the unfortunate Yahmose. Sobek seemed quieter and boasted less. Ipy was less impudent and offhand with his elder brothers. There seemed a new harmony between the family yet this harmony did not bring peace of mind to Renisenb–for with it went a curious, persistent undercurrent of illwill to Nofret.
The two women, Satipy and Kait, no longer quarrelled with her–they avoided her. They never spoke to her, and wherever she came they immediately gathered the children together and went elsewhere. At the same time, queer, annoying little accidents began to happen. A linen dress of Nofret’s was spoilt with an overhot iron–some dye stuff was spilt over another. Sometimes sharp thorns found their way into her clothing–a scorpion was discovered by her bed. The food that was served to her was over-seasoned–or lacking in any seasoning. There was a dead mouse one day in her portion of bread.
It was a quiet, relentless, petty persecution–nothing overt, nothing to lay hold of–it was essentially a woman’s campaign.
Then, one day, old Esa sent for Satipy, Kait and Renisenb. Henet was already there, shaking her head and rubbing her hands in the background.
‘Ha!’ said Esa, peering at them with her usual ironical expression. ‘So here are my clever granddaughters. What do you think you are doing, all of you? What is this I hear about Nofret’s dress being ruined–and her food uneatable?’
Satipy and Kait both smiled. They were not nice smiles.
Satipy said, ‘Has Nofret complained?’
‘No,’ said Esa. She pushed the wig she always wore even in the house a little awry with one hand. ‘No, Nofret has not complained. That is what worries me.’
‘It does not worry me,’ said Satipy, tossing her handsome head.
‘Because you are a fool,’ snapped Esa. ‘Nofret has twice the brains of any of you three.’
‘That remains to be seen,’ said Satipy. She looked good-humoured and pleased with herself.
‘What do you think you are all doing?’ inquired Esa.
Satipy’s face hardened.
‘You are an old woman, Esa. I do not speak with any lack of respect