Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [35]
‘Trouble? What kind of trouble?’
Henet gave her a quick, sideways glance.
‘None, I hope. None that need concern us, anyway. You and I, Renisenb, we’ve nothing to reproach ourselves with. That’s a great consolation to me.’
‘Do you mean that Satipy–what do you mean?’
‘I don’t mean anything at all, Renisenb–and please don’t start making out that I do. I’m little better than a servant in this house, and it’s not my business to give my opinion about things that are nothing to do with me. If you ask me, it’s a change for the better, and if it stops at that, well, we’ll all do nicely. Now, please, Renisenb, I’ve got to see that they’re marking the date properly on the linen. So careless as they are, these women, always talking and laughing and neglecting their work.’
Unsatisfied, Renisenb watched her dart away into the weaving shed. She herself walked slowly back to the house. Her entry into Satipy’s room was unheard, and Satipy sprang round with a cry as Renisenb touched her shoulder.
‘Oh you startled me, I thought–’
‘Satipy,’ said Renisenb. ‘What is the matter? Won’t you tell me? Yahmose is worried about you and–’
Satipy’s fingers flew to her lips. She said, stammering nervously, her eyes wide and frightened: ‘Yahmose? What–what did he say?’
‘He is anxious. You have been calling out in your sleep–’
‘Renisenb!’ Satipy caught her by the arm. ‘Did I say–What did I say?’
Her eyes seemed dilated with terror.
‘Does Yahmose think–what did he tell you?’
‘We both think that you are ill–or–or unhappy.’
‘Unhappy?’ Satipy repeated the word under her breath with a peculiar intonation.
‘Are you unhappy, Satipy?’
‘Perhaps…I don’t know. It is not that.’
‘No. You’re frightened, aren’t you?’
Satipy stared at her with a sudden hostility.
‘Why should you say that? Why should I be frightened? What is there to frighten me?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Renisenb. ‘But it’s true, isn’t it?’
With an effort Satipy recovered her old arrogant pose. She tossed her head.
‘I’m not afraid of anything–of anyone! How dare you suggest such a thing to me, Renisenb? And I won’t have you talking me over with Yahmose. Yahmose and I understand each other.’ She paused and then said sharply, ‘Nofret is dead–and a good riddance. That’s what I say. And you can tell anyone who asks you that that’s what I feel about it.’
‘Nofret?’ Renisenb uttered the name questioningly.
Satipy flew into a passion that made her seem quite like her old self.
‘Nofret–Nofret–Nofret! I’m sick of the sound of that name. We don’t need to hear it any more in this house–and thank goodness for that.’
Her voice, which had been raised to its old shrill pitch, dropped suddenly as Yahmose entered. He said, with unusual sternness:
‘Be quiet, Satipy. If my father heard you, there would be fresh trouble. How can you behave so foolishly?’
If Yahmose’s stern and displeased tone was unusual, so too was Satipy’s meek collapse. She murmured: ‘I am sorry, Yahmose…I did not think.’
‘Well, be more careful in future! You and Kait made most of the trouble before. You women have no sense!’
Satipy murmured again: ‘I am sorry…’
Yahmose went out, his shoulders squared, and his walk far more resolute than usual as though the fact of having asserted his authority for once had done him good.
Renisenb went slowly along to old Esa’s room. Her grandmother, she felt, might have some helpful counsel.
Esa, however, who was eating grapes with a good deal of relish, refused to take the matter seriously.
‘Satipy? Satipy? Why all this fuss about Satipy? Do you all like being bullied and ordered about by her that you make such a to do because she behaves herself properly for once?’
She spat out the pips of the grape and remarked:
‘In any case, it’s too good to last–unless Yahmose can keep it up.’
‘Yahmose?’
‘Yes. I hoped Yahmose had come to his senses at last and given his wife a good beating. It’s what she needs–and she’s the kind of woman who would probably enjoy it. Yahmose, with his meek, cringing ways, must have been a great trial