The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters [12]
Nefret sat up and crossed her legs. “I’m sorry, Ramses,” she said cheerfully. “I shouldn’t have accused you of spying on me.”
“No.”
“It’s your turn to apologize.”
“What for?” He caught David’s eye and got a grip on himself. “Oh, very well. I apologize.”
“All forgiven, then. I am glad I came, for I am dying of curiosity about Sethos. To be honest, I had come to think of him as . . . well, not exactly a figment of Aunt Amelia’s imagination, but an example of her tendency to exaggerate.”
“Her fondness for melodrama, you mean.” Ramses seated himself on the floor, Arab-style.
Nefret grinned and took the cigarette he offered her. “Neither of us is being entirely fair, Ramses. Aunt Amelia doesn’t have to exaggerate. Things happen to her. She was holding something back, though. You can always tell because she looks you straight in the eye and speaks briskly and firmly. The Professor was concealing something too. What is the secret about Sethos that neither of them wants known?”
“I have told you some of it.”
“Bits and pieces. It was from him you learned the art of disguise—”
“That is not entirely accurate,” said Ramses. “I fell heir to Sethos’s collection of disguises, after Father forced him to flee from his headquarters, but I had to reason out his methods for myself and improve on them.”
“I beg your pardon,” said Nefret.
“Granted.”
“Ramses,” David began.
“Yes. I have told both of you what I know of the man from my personal encounters with him. On all those occasions he was disguised, and very well, too; his impersonation of a crotchety old American lady was absolutely brilliant. At the end of that particular adventure he succeeded in abducting Mother, and held her prisoner for several hours. I don’t know what transpired during that interval. I doubt that even my father knows for certain. That is why the mere mention of Sethos maddens him so.”
Nefret’s mouth hung open. “Good Gad,” she gasped. “Are you saying he—she—they—”
“I doubt it,” Ramses said coolly. “I have never known two people so attached to one another as my parents. It is very embarrassing at times,” he added, scowling.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Nefret said with a fond smile. “No, Aunt Amelia would never be untrue to the Professor, but if she was in that evil man’s power—”
Ramses shook his head. “She would not have spoken of Sethos with such forbearance if he had forced himself on her. However, there is no doubt in my mind that he was in love with her, and it is possible that she felt a certain unwilling attraction for him. I saw the letter he sent her after we had got her back; he promised her he would never again interfere with her or anyone she loved. I suspect, though, that she and Father have encountered him again since. There were some very odd aspects about that business a few seasons ago—you remember, Nefret, when they went out to Egypt alone and we were staying with Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Walter.”*
Nefret gurgled with laughter. “Do you remember the night we let the lion out of its cage? Uncle Walter was absolutely furious!”
“With me,” Ramses said. “Not you.”
“It was your idea,” Nefret pointed out. “Well, never mind. But the villain in that case wasn’t Sethos, it was somebody else. I forget his name.”
“It is difficult to keep track of all the people who have tried to murder Mother and Father,” Ramses agreed. “This villain was a chap named Vincey, and since Father shot him during their final encounter, we may reasonably conclude he was guilty of something. Father doesn’t kill people if he can avoid doing so. But I still think Sethos was involved in that business, in a manner I can’t explain.”
Nefret scowled. “It’s ridiculous, the way we have to piece things together from bits of miscellaneous information. Why do Aunt Amelia and the Professor try to keep information from us? It’s dangerous, for them and for us. Uninformed is unarmed!”
She gestured vehemently, sprinkling the floor with ashes. Ramses removed the