The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog - Elizabeth Peters [41]
“Wilkins [our former butler, now employed by Evelyn and Walter] has not been well since we arrived. He seems very nervous. The least little thing makes him start. When I let the lion out of its cage yesterday…”
My body lost its purchase on the surface of the tub and my head went under water. When I emerged, sputtering and choking, I found that Emerson had continued reading.
“… no danger, since as you know I had been acquainted with the lion since it was a cub and had taken pains to renew the acquaintance whenever possible. Uncle Walter was not nervous but his remarks were pejorative in the extreme and he set me an additional ten pages of Caesar to construe. He added that he was sorry I was too old to spank. He has agreed to build a larger cage for the lion.”
I will spare my Reader Ramses’s detailed descriptions of the health and habits of the other servants (I had not been aware of the cook’s fondness for gin, nor, I imagine, had Evelyn). He saved HER for last.
“She has improved in health and spirits since we came here, I believe, though in my opinion [As I later discovered, Ramses had scratched the last three words out, but Emerson read them anyhow] she spends too much time at her studies. I have come round to your view that mens sana in corpore sano is a good rule, and have adopted it myself. Toward that end I determined to take up the sport of archery. It is a sport in which young ladies are encouraged to participate. Aunt Evelyn agreed with me and Uncle Walter, who can be obliging when he chooses, set up the butts for us. I discovered that Nefret is already acquainted with that sport. She has agreed to instruct me. In return I am teaching her to ride and to fence.”
“He doesn’t know how to fence,” I exclaimed indignantly.
“Er,” said Emerson.
I decided not to pursue the subject. I had suspected Emerson was taking fencing lessons on the sly, but he never likes admitting he needs instruction in anything, and his original motive for taking up this sport was not to his credit, for it arose out of jealousy of an individual concerning whom he had not the slightest cause to feel that emotion. I had to admit his skill had proved useful on several occasions thereafter, though. Apparently he had allowed Ramses to be instructed as well. He knew I would not have approved; the idea of Ramses’s wielding a long, flexible, sharp instrument made my blood run cold.
Two more paragraphs described Nefret’s activities in far more detail than they merited. After Emerson had finished he remarked, in tones fatuous with parental pride, “How well he writes. Quite literary, upon my word.”
“It sounds as if things are going well,” I replied. “Hand me that towel, Emerson, will you please?”
Emerson handed me the towel. He then returned to the sitting room to peruse the remainder of the post.
“Well, where next?” Emerson inquired, as we sat down to dinner that evening. “Luxor or Amarna?”
“Have you eliminated Meidum?”
“No, not at all. But I feel we ought to look at the other possibilities before we make a decision.”
“Very well.”
“What is your preference?”
“It is a matter of complete indifference to me.”
Emerson peered at me over the top of the ornate menu the waiter had handed him. “Are you annoyed about something, Peabody? Ramses’s letter, perhaps? You have scarcely spoken to me since I read it.”
“What possible cause for annoyance could I have?”
“I can think of none.” He waited for a moment. When I did not respond he shrugged—one of those irritating masculine shrugs that dismisses a woman’s behavior as incomprehensible and/or irrelevant—and resumed the discussion. “I suggest we go direct to Luxor, then. I am rather impatient to rid myself of certain objects as promptly as I can.”
“That makes sense,” I agreed. “Have you any ideas as to where we might—er—discover them?”
We discussed alternatives