Seeing a Large Cat (2 page)

"At the London School of Medicine for Women?" Ramses asked interestedly.

"Where else?" Nefret's blue eyes flashed. "It is the only institution in our enlightened nation where a mere female may receive medical training."

"But is that still strictly true?" Ramses persisted. "I was under the impression that Edinburgh, Glasgow, and even the University of London-"

"Confound you, Ramses, you are always destroying my fiery rhetoric with your pedantic insistence on detail!"

"I apologize," Ramses said meekly. "Your point-the unfair discrimination against females in all fields of higher education-is unaltered by the few exceptions I have mentioned, and the difficulties of actually qualifying to practice medicine are almost as great, I believe, as they were fifty years ago. I admire you, Nefret, for persisting under such adverse conditions. Let me assure you I am one hundred percent on your side and that of the other ladies."

She laughed at him and squeezed his hand. "I know you are, Ramses, dear. I was only teasing. Dr. Aldrich-Blake herself allowed me to attend her lectures! She feels I have an aptitude..."

Pleased to see them in amicable accord, I was following the conversation so intently I was unaware of the young lady's approach until she spoke-not to any of us but to her companion. It was impossible to avoid hearing her; they had stopped next to our table and her voice was piercingly shrill.

"I told you to leave me alone!"

I had not observed her approach, but Ramses must have done. He was instantly on his feet. Removing his khafiya-a courtesy he had not extended to the female members of his family-he said, "May I be of assistance?"

Hands fluttering in appeal, the girl turned to him. "Oh, thank you," she breathed. "Please-can you make him go away?"

Her companion gaped at her. A long jaw and crooked nose marred an otherwise pleasant face. He was clean-shaven, with gray eyes and hair of an indeterminate tannish color. "See here, Dolly," he began, and put out his hand.

I don't believe he meant to take hold of her, but I was not to find out. Ramses caught his wrist. The movement was apparently effortless, the grip without apparent pressure, but the young fellow squawked and buckled at the knees.

"Good Gad, Ramses," I exclaimed. "Let him go at once."

"Certainly," said Ramses. He released his hold, but he must have done something else I did not see, for the unfortunate youth sat down with a thump.

Humiliation is a more effective weapon against the young than physical pain. The youth got to his feet and retreated- but not before he had given Ramses a threatening look.

He held Ramses accountable, of course. Being a man, he was too obtuse to realize, as did I, that the girl had deliberately provoked the incident. Her little hands now rested on Ramses's arm and she had tipped her head back in order that she might gaze admiringly into his eyes. A mass of curls so fair as to be almost white framed her face, and she was dressed in the height of fashion. I guessed her to be no more than twenty, possibly less. The young ladies of America-for her accent had betrayed her nationality-are much more sophisticated and more indulged than their English counterparts. That this young lady had a wealthy parent I did not doubt. She positively glittered with diamonds-most inappropriate for the time of day and her apparent age.

I said, "Allow me to present my son, Miss Bellingham. Ramses, if Miss Bellingham is feeling faint after her terrible ordeal, I suggest you offer her a chair."

"Thank you, ma'am, I'm just fine now." She turned her dimpled smile on me. Hers was a pretty face, with no distinctive characteristics except a pair of very big, very melting brown eyes that formed a striking contrast to her silvery-fair hair. "I know you, of course, Mrs. Emerson. You and your husband are the talk of Cairo. But how do you know the name of an insignificant little person like myself?"

"We met your father last week," I replied. Emerson growled, but did not comment. "He mentioned his daughter and referred to her as 'Dolly.' A nickname, I presume?"

"Like 'Ramses,'" said the insignificant little person, offering him a gloved hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Emerson. I had heard of you, too, but I had no idea you were so ... Thank you. I sure appreciate your gallantry."

"Won't you join us?" I asked, as courtesy demanded. "And allow me to introduce Miss Forth and Mr. Todros."

Her eyes passed over David as if he had been invisible and rested, briefly, on Nefret's stony countenance.

"How do you do. I am afraid I cannot stay. There is Daddy now-late as always, the dreadful man! He will fuss at me if I keep him waiting."

After giving Ramses a last languishing look she tripped away.

The man who awaited her near the top of the stairs wore an old-fashioned frock coat and snowy stock. Since his military title, as I had been informed, derived from service in the Southern forces during the American Civil War, he must be at least sixty years of age, but one would have supposed him to be younger. He had the erect carriage and lean limbs of a cavalryman, and his white hair, worn rather longer than was the fashion, shone like a silver helmet. His neatly trimmed beard and mustache recalled photographs I had seen of General Lee, and I supposed he had deliberately cultivated the resemblance.

However, the benevolence that beamed from the countenance of that hero of the Confederacy was not apparent on the face of the Colonel. He must have observed the encounter, or part of it; he shot us a long look before drawing the girl's arm through his and leading her away.

"Interesting," said Ramses, resuming his chair. "From your reaction to the mention of his name I gather your earlier meeting with Colonel Bellingham was not altogether friendly, Father. What precisely did he do to provoke your ire?"

Emerson said forcibly, "The fellow had the audacity to offer me a position as his hired lackey. He is another of those wealthy dilettantes who are amusing themselves by pretending to be archaeologists."

"Now, Emerson, you know that was not his real object," I said. "His offer to finance our work-an error on his part, I confess-was in the nature of a bribe. What really concerned him was-"

"Amelia," said Emerson, breathing heavily through his nose. "I told you I refuse to discuss the subject. Certainly not in front of the children."

"Pas devant les enfants?" Nefret inquired ironically. "Professor, darling, we are no longer 'enfants,' and I'll wager I can guess what the Colonel wanted. A chaperone, or governess, or nursery maid for that doll-faced girl! She certainly needs one."

"According to the Colonel, it is a bodyguard she needs," I said.

"Peabody!" Emerson roared.

One of the waiters dropped the tea tray he was carrying, and everyone within earshot stopped talking and turned to stare.

"It's no use, Emerson," I said calmly. "Nefret is not guessing; she knows what the Colonel was after, though how she knows I am reluctant to consider. Eavesdropping-"

"Is cursed useful at times," said Nefret. She gave Ramses a comradely grin, and he responded with the slight curl of the lips that was his version of a smile. "Don't scold me, Aunt Amelia, I was not eavesdropping. I happened to be passing the saloon while you were talking with the Colonel, and I could not help overhearing the Professor's comments. It was not difficult to deduce from them what the subject of the conversation must be. But I cannot believe that little ninny is in danger."

"From whom?" Ramses asked. "Surely not the fellow who was with her?"

"I shouldn't think so," said Nefret. "Colonel Bellingham said he could not keep a female attendant for her; three of them have fallen ill or been injured under mysterious circumstances. In the last case, he claimed, a carriage driver tried to seize Dolly, and would have dragged her into the vehicle if her maid had not prevented it. He denied knowing who might have been responsible, or why anyone would want to make off with darling little Dolly."

"Ransom?" David suggested. "They must be wealthy; she was wearing a fortune in jewels."

"Revenge," said Ramses. "The Colonel may have enemies."

"Frustrated love," murmured Nefret, in a saccharine voice.

Emerson's fist came down on the table. Since I had expected this would happen I was able to catch the teapot as it tottered.

"Enough," Emerson exclaimed. "This is precisely the kind of idle, irrelevant speculation in which this family is fond of engaging-with the sole exception of myself! I don't give a curse whether the entire criminal population of Charleston, South Carolina, and Cairo, Egypt, are after the girl. Even if it were not stuff and nonsense, it is none of our affair! Bodyguard, indeed. Change the subject."

"Of course," Nefret said. "Ramses-how did you do that?"

"Do what?" He glanced at the slim hand she had extended. "Oh. That."

"Show me."

"Nefret!" I exclaimed. "A young lady should not-"

"I am surprised that you should take that attitude, Mother," Ramses said. "I will show you too, if you like; the trick might come in useful, in view of your habit of rushing headlong ... Er, hmm. Well, it is simply a matter of pressure on certain nerves."

He took hold of Nefret's wrist, raising it so we could see where his fingers rested. "Your wrist is too narrow for me to get a good grip, as I would with a man," Ramses said. "The thumb presses here, the index finger here; and..."

A little squeak escaped Nefret's lips, and Ramses immediately released his grip and cradled her hand in bis. "I beg your pardon, Nefret. I was endeavoring to exert the least possible pressure."

"Ha," said Nefret. "Let me try it on you."

Before long she was laughing and-I regret to say- swearing, as she tried, unsuccessfully, to duplicate his hold.

"Your hands, as I suspected, are too small," Ramses said, submitting equably to her pinches and squeezes. "I would be the last to deny that a woman can equal a man in everything except physical size and strength, but you must admit- Damn it!"

She took his hand in hers and raised it to her lips. "There, I have kissed it and made it well."

David burst out laughing. "Bravo, Nefret. What did you do?"

"It is simply a matter of pressure on certain nerves," Nefret said demurely, as Ramses ruefully examined his wrist. Even from where I sat I could see the impressions of Nefret's nails.

"Enough of that," I said severely-reminding myself that I must ask Nefret later to show me how she had located the vulnerable points. It would have taken more than a random jab of the fingernails to wring a cry of pain out of Ramses. "We should return to the dahabeeyah."

"Yes, let's go home, where we can be comfortable together," Nefret said, jumping to her feet. "How rude these people are!

They are all staring. I want to get out of this ridiculous frock and into my trousers."

"It is very becoming to you," David said gallantly.

"It is very uncomfortable," Nefret grumbled, inserting a slim finger into the high net collar.

"You aren't wearing corsets," Ramses remarked, looking her up and down.

"Ramses," I said wearily.

"Yes, Mother. We'll go ahead, shall we, and hire a cab."

They went off arm in arm, Nefret between the two lads. I could not blame people for staring; they made a handsome and unusual trio. The boys were almost of a height; their crops of curly black hair might have belonged to brothers. Both had turned to look down at Nefret, the crown of whose golden-red head barely reached the level of their ears. Shaking my head but smiling, I retrieved her hat from the floor where she had left it and took the arm Emerson offered me.

There was something of a little bustle when we caught the others up. A carriage was waiting; Nefret and David had already taken their seats, but Ramses was deep in conversation with the driver, who had turned out to be an old acquaintance of his. He and his father had old acquaintances, many of them the sort of individuals a respectable person would not care to know, all over Egypt. The driver was exclaiming, in the exaggerated way Arabs have, over Ramses's changed appearance. "Tall and handsome and fearless, like your admired father! Strong of arm when you strike with the clenched hand! Pleasing the women with your-"

At this point Emerson, rather red in the face, cut the compliments short with a curt phrase. Quite a little crowd had assembled; he had to shove a number of other old acquaintances out of the way before he could lead me to the cab. I had just put my foot on the step when Emerson suddenly let go my arm and whirled, clapping his hand to his pocket. "Who did that?" he barked, and repeated the question in Arabic.

David's hand steadied me and drew me into the carriage, depositing me neatly on the seat between him and Nefret. Looking back, I saw that the audience of beggars, vendors, and gaping tourists had hastily retreated. The power of Emerson's voice, as well as his command of invective, had earned him the title of "Father of Curses," and his infuriated demand could have, been heard forty yards away.

There was no response, however, and after a moment Emerson said, "Oh, the devil with it!" and climbed into the cab. He was followed by Ramses, who had lingered to complete a financial transaction-or so I believed-with one of the flower vendors. Seating himself next his father, he handed a pretty little nosegay to me and another to Nefret, and then proceeded to destroy the nice effect of the gesture by ignoring our thanks.

"What did the fellow do?" he asked his father.

Emerson drew a crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket. Scanning it in a glance, he said, "Bah!" and would have tossed it away had I not snatched it from him.

The message was written in a crabbed hand-obviously disguised. It read: "Stay away from tomb Twenty-A."

"What is the meaning of this, Emerson?" I demanded.

Emerson ignored the question. "Ramses, did Yussuf see the man who shoved the paper into my pocket? For I suppose your primary reason for buying flowers from him was to question him."

"Why, no, sir," Ramses said righteously. "My primary reason was to please my mother and sister. However, during the transaction I did inquire of Yussuf, since he was nearest to you, and from your startled exclamation and gesture I thought perhaps some individual had attempted to pick your pocket or-"