The Deeds of the Disturber - Elizabeth Peters [163]
From the first Percy, ably abetted by Violet, had set out to get Ramses in trouble. It may seem incredible that there are individuals whose chief pleasure in life is making someone else suffer; but the annals of crime, not to mention the ordinary history of the human race, contain too many examples for the conclusion to be doubted. Initially Ramses had found himself unable to deal with these machinations; he was used to murderers and thieves, but he had never encountered anyone like Percy before. His attempts to explain himself only seemed to make matters worse, and although he was wise enough not to say so, I could see he felt I had been a trifle too quick to assume he was at fault. I had to agree; but I would like to point out that Ramses’ past history tended to confirm such an assumption. Percy had early on discovered that Ramses was creeping out of the house without permission and in disguise; Ramses had been forced (as he put it) to resort to bribery in order to keep his cousins silent. Percy had stripped him of all his pocket money and most of his valuables, including the watch and the knife, and then, having decided the cupboard was bare, had prepared his last trick.
I gave myself the satisfaction of returning Percy and Violet to their mama. She had been in Birmingham the whole time. That was just another example of my brother James’s penuriousness, for if he had not been too miserly to send his wife abroad, it would have taken me longer to discover the plot. I found her squatting like a toad in her house; she had dismissed all the servants except for a single overworked housemaid, and when I forced my way past this poor creature I discovered Elizabeth in the drawing room with a novel and a box of chocolates. The sight of me caused her to choke on the one she had just popped into her mouth, and I had to smack her on the back several times before her colour returned to normal.
‘But what the devil was the point of it all?’ Emerson demanded upon my return. ‘Just to save a few sovereigns on their food and care?’
‘No doubt James would consider that worth the effort,’ I replied in disgust. ‘But there was more to it than that, Emerson; Elizabeth frankly admitted it when I demanded the truth, she is even stupider than James and has less gumption. It was those newspaper stories that spoke of Ramses’ frail health and dangerous exploits. Percy was supposed to worm his way into our affections, so that if anything should happen to Ramses, we would make Percy our heir.’
Emerson turned bright crimson. ‘What? What? Curse the murderous little –’
‘No, no, Emerson, I don’t believe for a moment that Percy was a precocious killer. Though some of the tricks he played might well have had fatal results . . . He was only supposed to be engaging and adorable and lovable.’
‘A role quite beyond his powers,’ Emerson grunted.
‘But James has not enough imagination to realize that, Emerson. He felt it was worth a try, at any rate.’
Emerson thought it over. ‘Then it is Mr O’Connell we have to thank for those ghastly children being foisted upon us,’ he said in an ominous voice. ‘It was he who wrote that story –’
What a pity, I thought; just when Kevin and Emerson had been getting on so well. I decided this was not the time to tell Emerson about my hopes for the young people. There was no real barrier to separate them; she was an aristocrat, but poor