Death Comes as End - Agatha Christie [46]
Kait gave a short laugh.
‘Do not wait too long. Men are always the same–Yes, even priests! Everything must be done according to law and precedent. But I say, act quickly–or there will be more dead beneath this roof.’
She turned and went out.
‘An excellent woman,’ murmured Imhotep. ‘A devoted mother to her children, a dutiful wife–but her manners, sometimes, are hardly what they should be–to the head of the house. Naturally at such a time I forgive her. We are all distraught. We hardly know what we are doing.’
He clasped his hands to his head.
‘Some of us seldom do know what we are doing,’ remarked Esa.
Imhotep shot an annoyed glance at her. The physician prepared to take his leave and Imhotep went out with him on to the porch, receiving instructions for the care of the sick man.
Renisenb, left behind, looked inquiringly at her grandmother.
Esa was sitting very still. She was frowning and the expression on her face was so curious that Renisenb asked timidly:
‘What is it that you are thinking, grandmother?’
‘Thinking is the word, Renisenb. Such curious things are happening in this house that it is very necessary for someone to think.’
‘They are terrible,’ said Renisenb with a shiver. ‘They frighten me.’
‘They frighten me,’ said Esa. ‘But not perhaps for the same reason.’
With the old familiar gesture, she pushed the wig on her head askew.
‘But Yahmose will not die now,’ said Renisenb. ‘He will live.’
Esa nodded.
‘Yes, a Master Physician reached him in time. On another occasion, though, he may not be so lucky.’
‘You think–there will be other happenings like this?’
‘I think that Yahmose and you and Ipy–and perhaps Kait too, had better be very careful indeed what you eat and drink. See always that a slave tastes it first.’
‘And you, grandmother?’
Esa smiled her sardonic smile.
‘I, Renisenb, am an old woman, and I love life as only the old can, savouring every hour, every minute that is left to them. Of you all I have the best chance of life–because I shall be more careful than any of you.’
‘And my father? Surely Nofret would wish no evil to my father?’
‘Your father? I do not know…No, I do not know. I cannot as yet see clearly. Tomorrow, when I have thought about it all, I must speak once more with that herd boy. There was something about his story–’
She broke off, frowning. Then, with a sigh, she rose to her feet, and helping herself with her stick, limped slowly back to her own quarters.
Renisenb went into her brother’s room. He was sleeping and she crept out again softly. After a moment’s hesitation she went to Kait’s quarters. She stood in the doorway unnoticed, watching Kait sing one of the children to sleep. Kait’s face was calm and placid again–she looked so much as usual that for a moment Renisenb felt that the whole tragic occurrences of the last twenty-four hours were a dream.
She turned slowly away and went to her own apartment. On a table, amongst her own cosmetic boxes and jars, was the little jewel case that had belonged to Nofret.
Renisenb picked it up and stood looking at it as it lay on the palm of her hand. Nofret had touched it, had held it–it was her possession.
And again a wave of pity swept over Renisenb, allied to that queer sense of understanding. Nofret had been unhappy. As she had held this little box in her hand perhaps she had deliberately forced that unhappiness into malice and hatred…and even now that hatred was unabated…was still seeking revenge…Oh no, surely not–surely not!
Almost mechanically, Renisenb twisted the two buttons and slid back the lid. The carnelian beads were there and the broken amulet and something else…
Her heart beating violently, Renisenb drew out a necklace of gold beads with gold lions in front…
CHAPTER FOURTEEN