Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters [176]
“Oh, Abdullah, you know I was! We miss you very much. You will come again to comfort, if not inform me?”
He looked back at me over his shoulder, and I saw he was trying to repress a smile. “Is comfort enough?”
“In other words, that is all I can expect,” I said, laughing. “Yes, Abdullah. It is enough.”
We all slept late the following morning. I was the first to wake, and although recollection informed me that there was no longer any cause for worry, I felt the need to see with my own eyes that all those I loved (and one I did not love) were really safe and sound. I got out of bed without waking Emerson and tiptoed from room to room, finding Nefret slumbering sweetly, Daoud and Selim snoring in chorus, and Ramses, for once, where he was supposed to be. When I drew the curtain aside, he woke instantly and sat up.
“All is well,” I said quickly. “Go back to sleep. I am sorry to have disturbed you.”
He understood. One of his rare smiles warmed his tired face and he said, “Counting heads, were you? It’s all right, I was about to get up anyhow.”
I was unable to persuade him not to do so, or prevent him from following me when I looked in on Sethos. After I splinted his leg I had given him a dose of laudanum, so I was not surprised when he lay unresponsive as I checked his pulse and made sure his ear was covered.
Lounging in the doorway, Ramses said softly, “If you don’t want Father to find out, you had better get him out of here.”
“I had planned to do that this morning. How did you find out?”
“Logical deduction,” said Ramses. “I don’t quite understand, Mother, why you are being so tolerant of the—er—man. Here’s our chance to lay him by the heels once and for all.”
“We owe Nefret’s deliverance to him, Ramses. And frankly I don’t want to take the responsibility of delivering him to justice. I hate to think what he could and would do during that long ride back to civilization.”
“Hmmm,” said Ramses. “Very well, Mother, it is your decision, and I will abide by it.”
Tarek was our first visitor, though he was courteous enough to wait until he had been notified that we had breakfasted and were ready to receive callers. With him was Count Amenislo. The Reader may easily imagine our pleasure at seeing them both, and the count smiled with pardonable complacency when we expressed our admiration and thanks.
“You took me in completely,” Emerson declared, wringing Amenislo’s hand. “Well done! Where were you last night? We were concerned about you.”
“I was hiding in the underground places,” said Amenislo.
“Very sensible,” I declared. “And the poor old Priest of Isis? Is he safe?”
Tarek, who was sitting with Nefret, interrupted their low-voiced conversation long enough to reply. “Like Amenislo, he was wise enough to stay out of the way until my victory was known. He has done nothing to deserve punishment.”
We were extremely busy for a few days, what with ceremonies of honor for ourselves and everyone else who had made the victory possible. Daoud finally balked at being loaded down with collars of gold, and retreated into his room, but Selim enjoyed every moment of it.
We had agreed to stay for a few more weeks, and Emerson took full advantage of the time, rushing from temple to palace to tomb, photographing and copying as much as he could. He kept the rest of us busy too, but we managed to find time for the simple pleasures of life—chatting with friends old and new, strolling through the fine gardens of the city. Tarek and Nefret were often together. She seemed almost her old self, but she had bad dreams now and then. Hearing her cry out in her sleep, I had gone to her and soothed her as one does with a child who suffers from nightmare; and like a child she slept again without remembering what had frightened her. After two of these episodes I decided it was time we made our farewells and started for home. Nefret’s bad memories would surely fade once we were back in civilization, and there was no sense in prolonging our visit. I wanted to get back before my solicitor, Mr. Fletcher, sent my “farewell” letter to Evelyn. It