The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters [191]
“It’s a fake,” Emerson said curtly. “He knows it. Obviously he didn’t know when he purchased it. Whom did you consult, Renfrew?”
From Renfrew’s parted lips came a dry, rustling sound—his version of a laugh, I surmised. “I thought you’d spot it, Emerson. You are right, I had no idea it was a fake; I wanted an accurate translation, so I sent a tracing of the inscription to Mr. Frank Griffith. Next to your brother and your son he is the foremost translator of ancient Egyptian. His opinion was the same as yours.”
“Ah.” Emerson tossed the scarab onto the table. “Then you didn’t need a second opinion.”
“A sensible man always gets a second opinion. Do you want the scarab or don’t you? I don’t intend to be out of pocket by it. I’ll sell it to someone else—without mentioning Griffith’s opinion—and sooner or later someone will find out it isn’t genuine, and they will trace it back to the seller as I did, and they will learn his name. I don’t think you would want that to happen, Professor Emerson. You think well of the boy, don’t you? I understand he is about to marry into your family. It would be embarrassing, to say the least, if he were caught forging antiquities.”
“You dastardly old—old villain,” I cried. “How dare you imply that David would do such a thing?”
“I am not implying anything, Mrs. Emerson. Go to the dealer from whom I got this, and ask him the name of the man who sold it to him.”
About the Author
Elizabeth Peters was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago’s famed Oriental Institute. She was named Grandmaster at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lives in an historic farmhouse in Western Maryland with six cats and two dogs.
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Books by Elizabeth Peters
HE SHALL THUNDER IN THE SKY*
THE FALCON AT THE PORTAL*
THE APE WHO GUARDS THE BALANCE*
SEEING A LARGE CAT*
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS POOL*
NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS
THE SNAKE, THE CROCODILE AND THE DOG*
THE LAST CAMEL DIED AT NOON*
NAKED ONCE MORE
THE DEEDS OF THE DISTURBER*
TROJAN GOLD • LION IN THE VALLEY*
THE MUMMY CASE*
DIE FOR LOVE • SILHOUETTE IN SCARLET
THE COPENHAGEN CONNECTION
THE CURSE OF THE PHARAOHS*
THE LOVE TALKER • SUMMER OF THE DRAGON
STREET OF THE FIVE MOONS
DEVIL-MAY-CARE • LEGEND IN GREEN VELVET
CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK*
THE MURDERS OF RICHARD III
BORROWER OF THE NIGHT • THE SEVENTH SINNER
THE NIGHT OF FOUR HUNDRED RABBITS
THE DEAD SEA CIPHER
THE CAMELOT CAPER • THE JACKAL’S HEAD
*Amelia Peabody mysteries
Credits
Jacket Illustration by Phil Singer
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Copyright © 2000 by MPM Manor, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © APRIL 2002 ISBN: 9780061801723
First Avon Books paperback printing: April 2001
First William Morrow hardcover printing: June 2000
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