The Curse of the Pharaohs - Elizabeth Peters [50]
“Precisely,” Milverton said, helping Lady Baskerville to a chair. “I remember hearing his lordship explain that. The ancient Egyptians domesticated cats because of their ability to control rodents—a useful talent in an agricultural society. When Bastet brought her mice to you, Lady Baskerville, she was paying you a delicate attention.”
“Ugh,” said Lady Baskerville, fanning herself with her handkerchief. “Get the dreadful creature out of here. And do make certain, Mr. Milverton, that it has not left me any other ‘attentions.’ Where is my maid? If she had been here, as was her duty—”
The door opened, and the apprehensive visage of a middle-aged Egyptian woman appeared.
“Oh, there you are, Atiyah,” Lady Baskerville said angrily. “Why weren’t you here? What do you mean, allowing this animal to get in?”
From the bewilderment on the woman’s face I could see that she understood very little English. Her mistress’s anger was only too apparent from her tone, however; Atiyah began to babble in Arabic, explaining that the cat had come in through the window and she had been unable to put it out. Lady Baskerville continued to berate her in English and Atiyah continued to wail in Arabic until Emerson put an end to the performance by scooping the cat up in his arms and marching to the door.
“Pull your curtains and go to bed, Lady Baskerville. Come along, Amelia. Go to your room, Mr. Milverton. Ridiculous business,” he added, and strode out. The cat peered at us from over his shoulder.
When we reached our room Emerson put the animal on the floor. It immediately jumped onto the bed and began washing itself. I advanced toward it, somewhat tentatively —not through fear, but because I had never been intimately acquainted with cats. As I put out my hand it rolled over and began to purr.
“Interesting,” said Emerson. “That is a position of submission, Amelia; by exposing its soft and vulnerable underbelly it demonstrates that it trusts you. It is unusually tame. I am surprised that it has managed to fend for itself so long.”
This aspect of the matter had not occurred to me. Scratching the cat’s stomach (a surprisingly pleasant sensation, I confess), I considered the point.
“Emerson,” I cried. “It has been with Armadale! Do you suppose it could lead us to him?”
“You know nothing of the nature of cats,” Emerson replied, unbuttoning his shirt.
As if to prove him correct, the cat wound all its limbs around my arm and sank its teeth into my hand. I gazed at it in shocked surprise.
“Release your grip at once,” I said severely. “You may mean this as another delicate attention, but I assure you it is not appreciated by the recipient.”
The cat at once obeyed and licked my fingers apologetically. It then stretched. Its body elongated to a perfectly astonishing degree, as if its muscles were made of India rubber. In a series of agile bounds it passed through the window and disappeared into the night.
I examined my hand. The cat’s teeth had left dents in the skin, but had not drawn blood.
“A curious way of demonstrating affection,” I remarked. “But it seems a most intelligent creature. Should we not go in search of it?”
“It is a nocturnal animal,” Emerson replied. “Now don’t get into one of your fits of enthusiasm, Amelia, the way you always do when some new subject captures your agile imagination. Leave the cat to do what cats do in the nighttime— an activity, let me add, that we might emulate.”
However, we did not do so. Overcome by the fatigues of the day, we were swiftly overcome by slumber so profound that no sound from without disturbed our rest. Yet at some time in the dark hours before the dawn, not far from our open window, Hassan the watchman met the jackal god of cemeteries and set out on the road to the West.
III
Unfortunately we had no chance of hiding this latest evidence of “the curse of the pharaoh.” Hassan’s body was discovered by a fellow servant, whose woeful ululations roused us from sleep. Departing unceremoniously by way of our bedroom window, Emerson was the first on the scene. I need not say that I was close behind