Curse of the Kings (15 page)

shan because it going to be my work too. I going to join him in everything he does. I as excited as he is about all this.

hat as it should be,she said. hope when you become mistress of Giza House you will not wish me to leave.

ow could I? Wee friends.

have always been a close friend of Tybalt and his father. If I may continue here in my role as housekeeper I should be very happy. On the other hand if you should prefer

hat nonsense!I cried. want you to be here. Youe my friend too.

hank you, Judith.

Tybalt said he would show me the house but when he did we didn get farther than that room in which the sarcophagus had once stood because he would show me books his father had written and plans of sites they had excavated. I didn mind. I was just so happy to be with him, to listen and be able to make intelligent comments.

It was Tabitha who showed me the house and introduced me to the staff. Emily, Ellen, Jane, and Sarah were the maids, normal girls all four of them and so like others of their kind that it took me some time to know which was which. But there were three strange people in that house.

I had seen the two Egyptian servants, Mustapha and Absalam, strange, alien, and, I had heard, even sinister; I had listened avidly to the stories I had heard of them in the village.

Tabitha explained that Sir Edward liked them to look after him. They would cook him exotic dishes such as she knew nothing of. He had employed them on digs in Egypt and for some reason had taken a fancy to them; he had kept them with him and brought them to England.

She said they had been desolate but fatalistic about his death. They were certain it had come about because he had incurred the Curse of the Pharaohs.

hey are very concerned because Tybalt plans to carry on where his father left off. I think if it were possible for them to dissuade him they would do so.

When I was presented to them as the future Lady Travers they eyed me with suspicion. They would have seen me some years before racing up the path or round the garden.

I was prepared for them. Janet Tester was another matter. She was the old woman who had been nurse to Tybalt and Sabina, after fulfilling the same role for their mother; but she remained with them after Lady Travers death. I remembered Sabina saying that Old Nanny Tester went off into unny fits,and her chatter about the old woman had been so interspersed with other mattersn Sabina habitual mannerhat I had not really taken a great deal of notice, because there was so much at Giza House to concern me. I had seen Nanny Tester on one or two occasions and had thought her a peculiar old woman, but as there was so much that was strange in Giza House, she did not seem so unusual as she would have elsewhere.

I had heard stories that the house gave the maids he creeps and this I had thought had something to do with the strange objects it containedhe sarcophagus, for instance, and that never-to-be-forgotten mummy. Mustapha and Absalam clearly had something to do with it toond I began to realize, so had Nanny Tester.

must explain Janet Tester to you,said Tabitha, before she took me up to introduce us. he a strange woman. She is really quite old now. She came as nurse to Sir Edward wife, to whom of course she was devoted. She stayed on to look after Tybalt and Sabina; but when Lady Travers died she was almost demented. We have to be a bit careful with her, and treat her gently. Her mind wanders a bit. Sir Edward would have pensioned her off but she didn want to go. She said she always been with the family and wanted to stay. There was the ideal apartment at the top of this house, completely shut off from the house. Janet was struck with it and asked to have it. She keeps to herself, although of course we keep an eye on her.

hat an unusual arrangement.

oul find youe marrying into an unusual family. Tybalt is like his father, far from conventional. Sir Edward never wanted to be bothered with everyday things. He brushed them aside and took the easy way out. Tybalt is very like him in that and lots of ways. It was either a matter of having Janet Tester here or sending her to some sort of home. That would have made her really unhappy. Tybalt goes up to see her, when he remembers her existence. Sabina comes in quite often. That keeps her happy. Sabina is her pet. It used to be Tybalt but since he following in his father footsteps she turned to Sabina.

We mounted the stairs. What a silent house it was; our feet sunk into those thick carpets which covered every space of floor.

I commented on them and Tabitha said: ir Edward could not endure noise while he was working.

The house was a tall one, and Janet Tester apartment consisted of several attic-type rooms above the fourth story.

I was unprepared for the white-haired, gentle-looking woman who opened the door when we knocked. She wore a crisply laundered sprigged muslin blouse and a black bombazine skirt.

Tabitha said: anet, Ie brought Miss Osmond to see you.

She looked at me and her eyes were misty with emotion. ome in, come in,she said.

It was a charming room with its sloping roof, and it was prettily furnished with handmade rugs on the floor and lots of embroidered cushion covers. There was a fire burning and the kettle on a hob was beginning to sing.

oul take some tea with me,she said, and I replied that I should love to.

oue heard of me then?I said.

hy bless you, yes. Tybalt told me and I said to him ow you tell me what she like, Tybalt,and all he could say was he enthusiastic about the work.How like him! But I knew. Ie seen you often tearing about down in the gardens there. What a one for mischief you were! Il make the tea.

hall I do that,asked Tabitha, hile you and Miss Osmond have a chat?

The expression in the gentle old face changed startlingly. The eyes were almost venomous, the lips tightened. l do it, thank you,she said. l make my own tea in my own room.

When she was making it Tabitha gave me a glance. I imagined she was preparing me for the strangeness she had mentioned in Janet Tester.

The tea was made. always stir it,she told me, nd let it stand five minutes. It the only way to get the right brew. Warm the pot, I used to say to Miss Ruth

hat Lady Travers,explained Tabitha and this remark brought forth another venomous glance.

nd the tea must go into a dry pot,went on Janet Tester. hat very important.

She purred as she poured out the tea.

ell, I hope youl be happy, my dear,she said. ybalt used to be such a good boy.

sed to be?I asked.

hen he was a little one he was always with me. He was his mother boy then. But when he went away to school and started to grow up he turned to his father.

She shook her head sadly.

ybalt had a natural bent for archaeology right from the start,explained Tabitha. his delighted Sir Edward, and naturally Tybalt had so many advantages because of his father.

Janet Tester was stirring the spoon round and round in her cup. I could sense an uneasy atmosphere.

nd now youe going to marry him,she said. ow time flies. It seems only yesterday I was playing peekaboo with him.

The thought of Tybalt playing peekaboo was so funny that I couldn help laughing. e come a long way since then,I said.

hope it not on the road to ruin,said Janet Tester stirring fiercely.

I looked at Tabitha who had lifted her shoulders. I decided then that Tybalt and his father profession was not a happy subject so I asked about his childhood.

That pleased her. e was a good boy. He didn get into all that much mischief. Miss Ruth doted on him. He was her boy all right. Ie got some pictures.

I reveled in them. Tybalt sitting on a furry rug all but in the nude; Tybalt a wondering two year old; Tybalt and Sabina.

sn she a little pet?doted Nanny Tester.

I agreed. uch a little chatterbox. Never stopped.

I remarked that it was a trait which had remained with her.

ittle minx!said Nanny Tester fondly.

There was a picture of Tybalt, standing beside a rather pretty woman with a lot of fluffy hair who was holding a baby on her lap. here they are with their mother. Oh, and here Tybalt at school.He was holding a cricket bat. e wasn good at sports,said Nanny Tester in a disappointed voice. t started to be all study. Not like Sabina. They all said she couldn concentrate. But of course he walked off with all the prizes. And then Sir Edward who scarcely noticed the children before, started to prick up his ears.

She conveyed her feelings by so many gestureshe tone of her voice, a contemptuous flick of the hand, a turning down of the lips, a half closing of the eyes. I had been with her a very short time but I had learned that she disliked Tabitha, and Sir Edward; she had adored Miss Ruth and while Tybalt, the child, had qualified for her devotion I was not so sure how she regarded the man.

I was interestedreatly sond I did get the impression that had Tabitha not been with me, I should have understood so much more about Janet Tester.

I sensed Tabitha relief when we could politely leave; Tabitha went on ahead of me and Janet suddenly caught my hand in hers when we were in the little hall. Her fingers were dry and strong.

ome again, Miss Osmond,she said, and whispered: lone.

As we descended the stairs I said: hat a strange little woman!

o you sensed that.

thought she was not exactly what she seemed. At times she was so gentlet others quite the reverse.

he has a bit of an obsession.

gathered that. Miss Ruth, I suppose.

ou know what these old nurses are like. They are like mothers to their charges. Far closer to them than their own mothers. She disliked Sir Edward. I suppose she was jealous and because her Miss Ruth had no interest in his work she blamed him for doing it. Very illogical as you can see. Tybalt mother wanted him to go into the Church. Of course he was quite unsuited to that profession and from an early age had made up his mind to follow his father. Sir Edward delight more than made up for Lady Traversnd Janet isappointment. But they bore a grudge against Sir Edward for it. I afraid Lady Travers was a rather hysterical woman and Ie no doubt she confided a great deal in Janet who could see no wrong in her. It was a disastrous marriage in many wayslthough Lady Travers brought a big fortune with her when she married.

oney again,I said. t odd how that subject seems to crop up continually.

ell, it a very useful commodity, you must admit.t seems to have a big part to play in certain marriages.hat the way of the world,said Tabitha lightly. t good to be out of Janet rooms. They stifle me.

Later I thought a good deal about that encounter. I understood Janet dislike of Sir Edward, but I did wonder why she felt so stronglynd her attitude had betrayed to me that she didbout Tabitha.

The weeks before my wedding were flying past. Dorcas and Alison wanted quite a celebration. They seemed so relieved that they no longer had to preserve the secret of my birth that they were almost like children let out of school. Moreover, anxieties for the future had been swept away. The cottage was theirs; I was going to give them an allowance; my future was settled althoughn spite of their efforts to hide thishey had misgivings about my bridegroom. Tybalt had little to say to them and their meetings were always uneasy. When I was present I would keep the conversation going but when I went out of the room and returned I would be aware of the awkward pauses when none of them had anything to say. Yet they could chatter away to Oliver naturally about parish affairs and with Evan would talk of the old days and the pranks we used to get up to.

Tybalt was always so relieved when he and I were alone. I was so besottedly in love, always making the affectionate gesture, that his lack of demonstrativeness was not so noticeable as it might have been. Sometimes we would sit close together looking at plans, his arm about me while I nestled close and asked myself whether this was really happening to me; but the conversation was almost always of the work he and his father had been doing.

Once he said: t wonderful to have you with me, Judith.And then he added: oue so absolutely keen. I never knew anyone who was so exuberantly enthusiastic as you.

ou are,I said. our father must have been.

ut in a quieter way.

ut very intense,I said.

He kissed me then lightly on the forehead. ut you express yourself so forcefully,he said. like it, Judith. In fact I find it wonderful.

I threw my arms about him and gathered him to me as I used to Dorcas and Alison. I hugged him and cried: so happy.

Then I would tell him about how I had decided to hate him when Sabina had spoken of him in such glowing terms. imagined you stooped and wore spectacles and were pale with lank greasy hair. And then you burst upon us, in the mummy room, looking fierce and vengeful like some Egyptian god come to wreak vengeance on one who had desecrated the old sarcophagus.

id I really look like that?

xactlynd I adored you from that moment.

ell, I must remember to look fierce and vengeful sometimes.

nd that you should have chosen me is a miracle.

h Judith, surely you are too modest.

ar from it! As you know, I used to dream about you how you suddenly discovered my worth.

hich I did in due course.

hen did you discover it?

hen I knew that you had come to borrow the books and were so interested. Or perhaps it began when I saw you emerging from those bandages. You looked as though you had suffered a fatal accident rather than embalmment. But it was a good effort.

I took his hand and kissed it.

ybalt,I said, am going to look after you all the days of your life.

hat a comforting thought,he said.

going to make myself so important to you that you will hate every moment you spend away from me.

e reached that stage already.

s it true? Is it really true?

He took my hands in his. nderstand, Judith, I lack your powers of expression. Words flow from you expressing your innermost thoughts.

know I speak without thinking. I sure you never do.

e patient with me.

ell me one thing. Are you happy?

o you think I not?