He Shall Thunder in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters [213]
“Calm yourself, Emerson,” I said soothingly. “It has all come out right in the end.”
“No thanks to you,” snarled Emerson.
“I beg to differ, Father,” Ramses said. “Events got a bit out of hand, but then they always do, don’t they, when we’re all involved? We may not go about it in the most efficient manner, but we get the job done.”
Nefret turned to look at him. “You will keep that in mind, I hope? If you ever do this to me again—”
“Or you to me. What in God’s name were you thinking of, letting him take you to that place, letting him—”
“I didn’t let him do very much.”
“How much?”
Nefret’s cheeks were crimson. “Stop talking like some damned ancient Roman! Are you suggesting that my so-called virtue is worth more than your life? I’d have done anything—anything!—to trap him.”
“Did you?”
“What would you do if I said yes?”
“Ah.” Ramses let his breath out. “You didn’t. I don’t know that I could have accepted that. I’d have had to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. Groveling gets to be hard on the knees after a year or two.”
How good it was to hear them arguing again! However, there was a good deal more I wanted to know.
“How did you know it was Percy?”
“It?” Nefret gave me a quizzical look and laughed. “I didn’t know what he was or what he was trying to do; but when he began praising Ramses to all and sundry I knew he was up to no good, and when he had the infernal gall to come round smirking and fawning at me—as if I would be naive enough ever to trust him again!—I got really angry. And frightened. I was aware that Ramses was playing Wardani and that David was backing him up, that Mr. Russell was party to the scheme and that it was horribly dangerous; but I didn’t realize how dangerous until that night after the opera. . . .” She broke off, biting her lip. She was still holding Ramses’s hand. He raised the other hand and brushed her cheek lightly with his fingertips. That was all; but it was enough to assure me that they had come to terms with that misunderstanding and others.
“I had to pretend I didn’t know how badly he was hurt,” she went on unsteadily. “I did, though. I always do. You arranged it very cleverly, all of you, but when the Professor came up with that ingenuous lie about sending Ramses to Zawaiet, I understood what you were doing, and of course I recognized David that evening, even with Aunt Amelia doing her damnedest to distract me by wriggling and squirming. I tried to keep out of the way to make it easier for you.”
“My dear girl,” I said, much moved as I recalled several small incidents that had meant nothing to me at the time. “Your deliberate and, if I may say so, uncharacteristic obtuseness did make it easier for us, but it must have been horribly difficult for you.”
“Yes,” Nefret said simply. She gave her lover—for so I must call him—a tender look, and he smiled at her. Even the distortion of his classic features could not spoil the sweetness of that smile. “I didn’t understand fully why it was so important that no one else should know,” Nefret continued. “But what else could I do but play along, since that was what you wanted?”
“I am filled with admiration for your forbearance and fortitude,” I exclaimed.
“It was high time, don’t you think? I had to prove to you, and to myself, that I had learned my lesson. Underneath I was wild with worry. I encouraged Percy, since that was the only thing I could think of to do, but it wasn’t until after our encounter with Farouk that it dawned on me that Percy might be the traitor Farouk had proposed to betray. From whom else could Farouk have learned about the house in Maadi? I had no proof, though.”
“So you set out to get it,” I said. “Good gracious, my dear, it was very courageous of you, if somewhat foolhardly.”
“Not as foolhardy as you might