The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters [57]
I was itching to get to work on the boy with a bar of soap and a scrub brush, but I decided to spare him that exercise until he was rested. A few drops of laudanum, which he was too weak to resist, assured me that he would rest. I then ordered the others to their rooms.
‘This is my room,’ said Ramses.
‘True. You can sleep on the couch in the saloon.’
‘If you will consider a suggestion, Mother, it might be best for me to sleep here, on the floor. In that way –’
‘You need not point out the advantages of the suggestion,’ I said somewhat curtly (for I thought I had detected a tinge of sarcasm in his introductory sentence). ‘It is a good one. There are extra blankets in the cupboard outside my room. Wake me if there is any change.’
‘Yes, Mother.’
I waited until Nefret had left and Emerson had gone off with Abdullah before I said, ‘Were you hurt, Ramses? Be candid, I beg. Denial, if untrue, would be foolish, not courageous.’
‘I was not hurt. Thank you for inquiring.’
‘Ramses.’
‘Yes, Mother?’
He stiffened when I put my arms around him, but it was not from pain, and after a moment he gave me an awkward hug in return.
‘Good night, Ramses.’
‘Good night, Mother.’
I met Emerson in the corridor. ‘What did Abdullah have to say?’ I inquired.
‘Nothing. He is desperately cut up about the boy but is too proud to admit it. Confound the stubborn old fool; he behaves more like an Englishman than an Egyptian! Arabs are not usually so reticent about expressing their emotions. If he had been more affectionate with the boy earlier, David might have gone to him instead of coming here. I am prepared to accept David’s explanations up to a point, but they fail to explain the ferocity of the attack on him. And I beg you, Peabody, don’t start inventing theories! I am in no mood to listen to them, and I want to have a closer look at that fragment of wall painting. Daoud has taken it to our room.’
‘Daoud hasn’t returned to Gurneh, I hope? I want him to –’
‘What sort of idiot do you take me for? He is on the deck, outside Ramses’ window. I say, Peabody, Ramses did well tonight, didn’t he? I trust you told him so.’
‘There was no need for me to tell him so. Just let me look in on Gertrude for a moment, and then I will join you.’
Gertrude was asleep, or pretending to be asleep. I went to our room.
‘She is asleep.’
‘Or pretending to be asleep.’
‘Ah,’ I said, unbuttoning my jacket. ‘So that possibility occurred to you, did it?’
‘Certainly. At this point in time I am prepared to suspect everyone of practically everything. What was she doing on deck in a dead faint?’
‘I suppose she will claim that Ramses’ cry of warning to David woke her, and that the sight of blood made her swoon. I believe we ought to dismiss her. Either she is a spy, in which case she is dangerous, or she is innocent, in which case she is a confounded nuisance.’
Having removed my outer garments I put on my dressing gown over my combinations; I felt it wise to be prepared for action in case I was summoned in the night. For once Emerson paid no attention to this activity, which usually interested him a great deal. He was bending over the table, studying the painted fragment.
‘Have a look, Peabody.’
‘Oh, dear,’ I exclaimed. ‘That is a king, Emerson, not our queen Tetisheri. The nemes headdress and the uraeus serpent on his brow –’
‘Quite. Only traces of the cartouche remain, but it is probably that of Tetisheri’s husband. He would be depicted in her tomb, and probably her grandson Ahmose would appear as well, if she lived on into his reign and was buried by him.’
‘Of course!’ I bent over to examine the details more closely. ‘It is a handsome piece of work, isn’t it? I had no idea artists of that period were so skilled.’
Emerson frowned and fingered the cleft in his chin. ‘Neither had I. It makes me wonder if . . . Oh, the devil, Peabody, I can’t be bothered delivering a lecture at this hour of the