The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog - Elizabeth Peters [25]
“I am still of the opinion—” Sayce began angrily.
“Well, well.” Emerson waved his opinion away. “Amarna does offer temptations. The Royal Tomb has never been properly investigated, and there are certainly other tombs in that remote wadi.”
He took a bite of fish. Mr. Vincey, who had been listening in modest silence, now spoke. “I too have heard rumors of other tombs, but such rumors are common in Egypt. Have you any evidence?”
His voice was mild and the question was certainly reasonable; I could not understand why Emerson shot him such a hard look. “I don’t deal in rumors, Vincey, as you should know. I knew of the Royal Tomb at least a decade before its ‘official’ discovery.”
It was a testimonial to Emerson’s reputation that no one expressed doubt of this statement, but Newberry exclaimed, with unusual heat, “You might have had the courtesy to inform your friends, Emerson. Petrie and I spent hours looking for the confounded place in the winter of ‘91, and I got myself in hot water when I wrote that letter to The Academy accusing Grebaut of falsely claiming credit for discovering the tomb.”
“What’s a little hot water, when the cause is just?” demanded Emerson, who might be said to have spent most of his life up to his neck in boiling liquid. “Grebaut is the most incompetent, stupid, tactless nincompoop who ever called himself an archaeologist. Except for Wallis Budge, of course. I do not announce discoveries until I am in a position to deal with them myself. The depredations of the natives are hard enough on the antiquities; the depredations of archaeologists are even worse. Heaven only knows what meaningful objects were kicked aside by Daressy and Sayce when they—”
Sayce began to sputter, and Mr. Reisner said quickly, “Then you won’t be returning to the Sudan? That region fascinates me. There is so much to be done there.”
“It tempts me,” Emerson admitted. “But Meroitic culture is not my field. Curse it, I can’t be everywhere!”
I had hoped to avoid mentioning the Sudan, for I knew what would follow. Archaeologists are no more immune to idle curiosity than the next man. A general stiffening of attention ran round the table, but before anyone could frame a question we were distracted by the arrival of a short, stout individual who swept up to our table with the regal manner of a viceroy—which, in a professional sense, he was.
“M. Maspero!” I exclaimed. “How delightful! I did not know you were in Cairo.”
“Only passing through, dear lady. I cannot stay; but upon hearing of your arrival I could not deny myself the pleasure of welcoming you back to the scene of your many triumphs.” Ogling me in his amiable Gallic fashion, he continued, “You have the secret of eternal youth, chère madame; indeed you are younger and lovelier than you were that day of our first meeting in the halls of the museum. Little did I know what a momentous day it was! You may not think, gentlemen, that I resemble the little god of love, but I had the honor that day to play Cupid, for it was I who introduced madame to the gentleman who was to win her heart and hand.”
With a grandiloquent flourish of his hand he indicated Emerson, who responded to the amused smiles of the others with a stony stare. He had been extremely critical of Maspero when the latter was Director of the Department of Antiquities, but he had detested the latter’s successors even more. Now he said grudgingly, “You had better come back to the job, Maspero. The cursed Department has fallen apart since you left. Grebaut was a disaster, and de Morgan—”
“Ah, well, we will talk of that another time,” said Maspero, who had learned from painful experience that it was necessary to cut Emerson short when he began talking about the failings of the Department of Antiquities. “I am in haste; I must go on to another appointment. So you must tell me at once, madame, what all Cairo aches to know. How fares the interesting young lady who owes you so much? Of all your triumphant adventures, this was surely the most magnificent!”
“She is in excellent health and spirits,” I said. “How kind