The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog - Elizabeth Peters [136]
The point was well taken. Now that it was too late, I wished I had thought of a different persona for Kevin—that of an illiterate deaf-mute, for instance. “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Taking my baffled silence for consent, Kevin wandered off, hands in his pockets, a cheerful whistle issuing from his lips; and I considered this latest tangle and whither it might lead.
Kevin already knew the one fact I had been most anxious to keep from him. He seemed still to be in ignorance of other equally important facts, and these I was determined to keep from him at all costs. Kevin would fall on the story of the Lost Oasis like a dog on a ripe, smelly bone, for it was just the sort of fantastic tale in which he specialized. The slightest hint would be enough to set him off; he would not bother to substantiate it, for fiction was as good as truth by the standards of his profession. Rapidly I ran through the list of persons present to reassure myself there was no danger of exposure from any of them.
Emerson knew only what I had told him of the matter and he was not inclined to believe that. In any case, Kevin was the last person with whom he would have discussed the subject. Cyrus’s discretion I did not doubt. René and Charles were unwitting, as was Abdullah. Bertha maintained her “master” had told her nothing. If she lied… well, then she had every reason to remain reticent on the subject. An admission of knowledge she claimed not to have would prove her false, and would betray the secret her master was no more anxious than we to have spread abroad.
My reasoning was irrefutable. Relieved of that anxiety (and would the others were so easily disposed of!) I went to have a look at my latest patient.
One of Cyrus’s men stood on guard outside the shelter that had been set up for Mohammed. There was no need; the wretch was so full of laudanum he would not have roused if someone had set fire to his bed. I hated to waste my medical supplies on such a vile specimen, but he had been in acute pain and even if mercy had not tempered my wrath I could not have set his broken nose while he was writhing and screaming. His jaw, I thought, was only bruised, but since I could not be absolutely certain I had wound it round with bandages too.
He was a dreadful sight as he lay there on the pile of rugs. Not even Christian charity and the ethics of the profession of which I count myself a formally unqualified but able practitioner could have forced me to touch the ragged, flea-infested robe or bathe the filthy body. The cast I had applied to his nose jutted out like the grotesque beak of some mythical monster; coarse black hairs bristled at odd angles from above and below the bandages covering most of the lower half of his face. A slit of white glistened under each eyelid. His mouth gaped open, displaying brown, rotting teeth. The light from my lantern cast shadows that intensified every ugly feature and made the open cavern of his mouth look like a black hole.
I took his pulse and listened to his breathing. There was nothing more I could do; only time, and a good deal of luck, would complete the cure. I prayed most sincerely for his recovery, but I am sorry to say that Christian charity had very little to do with that prayer.
When I emerged, dusk was far advanced, but the light of the lantern I carried showed a retreating form. The flutter of draperies betrayed her identity; none of the men walked as she did. I had not heard her address the guard, so she must have turned away as soon as she realized I was within.
I hurried after her. “Bertha! Wait, I wish to speak with you. What were you doing there?”
Her posture was submissive—hands clasped, head bowed. In a low voice she said, “I would help you nurse the man, Sitt. There is not much I can do to show my gratitude, but I am skilled at women’s work.”
It was as if she had deliberately cast off her European heritage. Voice, manner, speech were more and more Egyptian with every passing day. Naturally I found this extremely