The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters [35]
‘It is surely too much to expect that her tomb was not robbed in antiquity,’ Ramses said.
‘We must not get our hopes up,’ Emerson agreed. ‘A number of objects belonging to royal personages of the Seventeenth Dynasty have been discovered in modern times, including the jewellery of Ahhotep. The only one bearing the name of Tetisheri is this statuette.’
There were four photographs in all, showing the statue from the front, the back, and both sides. It portrayed a young woman seated in the stiff formal pose common to such sculptures. Her garment was the simple, close-fitting shift worn by women of all ranks, supported by straps that framed her little breasts, but on her head was the vulture crown of a queen. The feathered wings framed a delicate young face.
Ramses began, ‘If it came from her tomb –’
‘It certainly came from the Theban area. I first saw it in 1889, in the shop of an antiquities dealer in Luxor,’ Emerson said. ‘It was one of a pair.’
‘I did not know that,’ Ramses admitted with chagrin.
‘Few people do. In fact, only the base of the second exists, and it is badly damaged, but it is an exact replica of the base of this statue. Before we left Cairo I went round to the French Institute, where the broken base has been rotting away ever since that moron Bouriant acquired it – God knows where or when, since he never bothered keeping records. It makes my blood boil,’ said Emerson, grinding his teeth, ‘to think how much knowledge has been lost by the carelessness of archaeologists. One can’t expect any better from illiterate tomb robbers, but scholars are almost as bad, especially that bastard –’
‘Emerson.’
‘Er – hmph,’ said Emerson, scowling at me as if it had been my fault that he had employed language no young lady should hear. He really did try, poor man, but he had not been named Father of Curses for nothing, and old habits are hard to break. I had more or less given up nagging him about it. It did not appear to bother Nefret, whose Nubian vocabulary included a number of words I had never asked to have translated.
‘It is a lovely thing,’ I said, studying the photograph and wondering what there was about it that struck me so oddly. I had seen the statue several times, for it was in the British Museum. Never before had it affected me as it did now. Frowning, I went on, ‘Mr Budge did not purchase it for the Museum until 1891, I believe. If you knew of it earlier you might have abandoned your principles just for once. A gift like that would have quite won my heart.’
‘If your protestations can be believed, your heart had already been won,’ said my husband coldly. ‘You know how I feel about buying from dealers, Amelia. Your principles are more elastic, which is why I never mentioned the statue to you. And besides –’
He broke off.
‘Besides what, Emerson?’
‘He was asking too much.’
Emerson’s forthright, candid character makes it very difficult for him to lie to me. His expression at that moment was a dead giveaway – a blend of sheepishness and attempted insouciance. He was holding something back.
Ramses had (confound the child) been absolutely correct. Emerson’s analysis had cast new light on the confused history of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and was to win acclaim when it was published several years later, but it was of no help in pinpointing the location of the tomb we were after. Emerson would not sound so confident unless he had other information he had not shared with us.
There was one source from which he could have got such information. I should have been ashamed of myself for suspecting Emerson of deceiving me, but it would not have been the first time he had done so. Supposing, I thought, Mr Shelmadine had recovered from his fit and was able to communicate with Emerson before the latter was struck unconscious? If that were the case, Emerson’s only reason for concealing the truth must be that the knowledge of it would imperil me. (At least