The Deeds of the Disturber - Elizabeth Peters [110]
‘No,’ Emerson said shortly.
‘Then we can return to the discussion of predynastic pottery.’
Mr Wilson pulled his watch from his pocket, glanced at it, and jumped to his feet. ‘Dear me, I had no idea it was so late. I must be running along. I have to assist Mr Budge with his lecture tonight –’
‘Is it tonight?’ I asked. ‘I had quite forgotten.’
‘Yes, he moved the date up, for some reason. He doesn’t explain himself to me,’ Wilson added, with his attractive smile. ‘He tells me what I am to do and I do it. Tonight I am to assist him with the famous mummy. Perhaps I will see you there. Thank you, Mrs Emerson – Professor – it has been most enjoyable – next time you must come to me.’
‘I will hold you to that,’ I said, giving his hand a hearty shake.
‘You may count on it,’ said Mr Wilson, smiling.
After he had taken his departure, Emerson growled, ‘Well, Peabody, curse you, I hope you are proud of yourself. You worried the devil out of me –’
‘And Gargery,’ I said. ‘I am particularly sorry to have worried Gargery.’
Emerson ground his teeth, but curiosity overcame his anger. ‘Did you find anything of interest in Mr Wilson’s rooms?’
‘No.’
‘Would you tell me if you had?’
‘Of course, Emerson. You would do the same for me, would you not?’
Emerson’s eyes fell. Struggling to conquer my emotions, I said, ‘I will have cook put dinner up half an hour. You are planning to attend the lecture, I assume?’
‘Yes. Will you come?’
I smothered a yawn. ‘I think not, Emerson. I am a trifle fatigued, and as you know, mummies hold little attraction for me. Run along and enjoy yourself.’
Emerson started for the stairs. Then he stopped. ‘If you change your mind, Amelia, you won’t be able to get in. This is not a lecture but a scientific demonstration; it is not open to the general public, and it is by invitation only.’
‘It is?’ Curiosity was throttling me, but I would rather have died than admit it. ‘Well, you will tell me all about it when you get home.’
I waited a full ten minutes after Emerson left before I rang for Gargery and asked him to order the carriage. Emerson had gone on foot; the Royal Society, where the demonstration was to be held, was at Somerset House, not far away.
I had my reasons for using the carriage, and they had nothing to do with the danger or the propriety of a lady walking alone through the darkened London streets. Emerson was up to something. He had not gone to Somerset House to hear Mr Budge expound on the subject of mummification. He would not have crossed the room to hear Mr Budge on the subject of mummification. He had, on an early occasion, explained to me why he felt it would be expedient to unwrap the mummy, but I had suspected even then that he had other motives he had not explained. Whatever these might be, I knew he did not want me to go. If he had, he would have forbidden me to attend.
There was another possibility, which I hated to contemplate, but for which I was prepared. Emerson might not mean to attend the lecture. He might go . . . elsewhere. If I did not see him at Somerset House, I would follow him, and . . . I was not sure what I would do. If my suspicions proved to be correct, I refused to be responsible for what I might do.
XI
THE naïveté of the male sex never ceases to amaze me. I thought I knew why Budge had moved up the date of his lecture. He hoped thereby to avoid the attentions of the false priest, his last encounter with that individual having proved embarrassing in the extreme; and perhaps he also hoped to avoid the attentions of Emerson. This was, of course, a vain hope. Emerson was an acknowledged expert on the subject, and he was bound to hear of the changed date from someone, as indeed he had.
If Emerson had been managing the affair – as ought to have been the case – he would have made certain the ‘priest’ did not have a previous engagement. He had not admitted it to me, but it required very little intelligence