The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters [138]
“Impossible, Emerson.”
“Is it? I wonder, Amelia, if you yourself know why you are so intransigent.”
I had put out all the lamps but one. Shadows crept into the room. I went to Emerson. He drew me into his arms and I laid my aching head on his breast. It had been an unpleasant scene.
“You’ll have to come to grips with it sooner or later, my dear,” Emerson said gently. “I cannot help you this time. Confound it, I could have done without this! Life is complicated enough, with a maniacal killer on the loose and Davis wrecking that damned tomb!”
From Manuscript H
Holding him firmly by the hand, Nefret led the way to David’s room. Ramses was still dazed. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied with his own selfish feelings, he might have noticed certain things: the way Lia had clung to David the day she arrived, the look on David’s face as he held her; Nefret’s efforts to give them some time alone; even the girl’s deference toward Abdullah, like that of an expectant bride trying to ingratiate herself with her future father-in-law. No wonder she had trusted so unhesitatingly in Daoud! He had underestimated the child. There wasn’t a scrap of false pride in her, and he honored her for it.
His mother hadn’t noticed anything either. He found that amusing. She prided herself on her perception in romantic matters. Well, this wasn’t the only one she had missed.
David’s gloomy face brightened when he saw who it was. “What happened?” he asked.
“Just about what you might have expected,” Nefret said. “Damn, I should have brought the whiskey.”
“I don’t need it, dear,” David said with an affectionate smile.
“I do.” Nefret dropped onto the bed and kicked off her shoes. “Give me a cigarette, Ramses, I need something to quiet my nerves. I’m still furious. Why are they acting this way?”
“You don’t understand,” David said bitterly. “It’s one thing to take a stray dog off the street and train him to sit and fetch and carry, and boast of his accomplishments; but he’s still a dog, isn’t he?” He hid his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You don’t understand,” Ramses said. He couldn’t have explained why he was moved to defend his mother; he had criticized her himself, to her face. His mother was wrong and Nefret was right, but . . . He went on, “I expect Mother is feeling rather wretched just now. She’s come smack up against prejudices she never knew existed because they were buried so deep. The same is true of Uncle Walter and Aunt Evelyn. That sense of superiority isn’t so much taught as taken for granted; it would require an earthquake to shake feelings that are the very foundation of their class and nationality. It isn’t easy for them.”
“Harder for David,” Nefret snapped.
“At least he has the satisfaction of knowing that he’s in the right and they are not,” Ramses said. “Don’t be so self-righteous, Nefret. Have you forgot that the people of your Nubian oasis treated their servant class like animals—referring to them as ‘rats,’ depriving them of the most basic necessities? Prejudice of one sort or another seems to be a universal human weakness. Few individuals are completely free of it, including the ones who pride themselves on being open-minded.”
“The Professor isn’t like that.”
“Father despises people quite impartially and without prejudice,” Ramses said.
Even David smiled at that, but he shook his head. “He is different, Ramses. And so are you.”
“I hope so. How did I fail you, David, that you were unable to tell me?”
“You have never failed me, my brother,” David muttered. “I tried—I wanted to—but . . .”
“But you feared I would think you unworthy of my cousin? For the love of God, David, you ought to know me better than that!”
“I didn’t! I do! I . . . Damn it, Ramses, don’t make me feel more of a worm than I already feel. It was what you said one night, about taking advantage of a girl—expecting her to keep her promise even if she stopped caring for you—”
“Have a cigarette,” Ramses said.
“Oh. Uh . . . Thank you.”
“You two certainly have interesting conversations when I’m not around,” Nefret