Seeing a Large Cat (33 page)

Since I dared not speak aloud, I groped along the table for Ramses's hand, intending to press it rhythmically in order to spell out a message. The only thing I could think of was SOS, which seemed appropriate. I found his hand; before I could signal, his fingers clasped mine and squeezed them hard. I understood that message. It ordered silence and stillness.

Then I saw that Enid had glided farther into the room. With a sudden movement she flung the veil back from her face and stretched out her arms. "Through the mercy of God I have returned to you. We are one again, she and I, and we will be with you through this cycle of... ermp!"

Passion lent Donald strength enough to break the grasp of the men who held him. He rushed to Enid and caught her in an embrace that cut off her breath and-thank goodness!- brought the speech to an abrupt end.

I tried to free my hand from the grasp of Ramses, but he hung on. "Lights," he said.

The chandelier overhead lit up in a blaze of brilliance, and we blinked at one another, too dazzled to move, as Donald lifted Enid into his arms, staggered, recovered, and walked toward the door. He was looking so deeply into her eyes, he would have run headlong into the bedspread and the door if Ramses had not got there first. Deftly as a well-trained butler, he held the curtain aside and flung the panel wide. Without so much as a glance at him Donald passed through and vanished.

"Well!" I exclaimed, and for once could think of nothing more to say.

Ramses closed the door. Grasping the bedspread, he gave it a sharp tug, pulling the nails from the frame, and tossed the spread onto an armchair. Then he returned to his place at the table.

"I think," said Mrs. Jones faintly, "that I could do with a glass of wine."

We all had one. Then everyone began to talk at once-all of us except David, who had obviously been in Ramses's confidence all along.

"Why didn't you warn me?" I demanded.

Emerson said, "Of all the cursed surprises! Good Gad, Ramses-"

"It appears to have worked," Nefret said grudgingly. "But you might have-"

Cyrus kept shaking his head and uttering peculiar American ejaculations, and Mrs. Jones remarked, "Young man, you are one of the most-"

As courtesy demanded, Ramses answered me first. "You told me not to go into long-winded detail."

"Oh, good Gad!" I exclaimed.

"It seemed to me," my son explained, "that this scenario solved many of the dilemmas we faced-the possibility that Mr. Fraser might recognize his wife, the difficulty of getting her back into the room unseen by him, and the greatest peril of all-that he might break down, or fall into a fit when she left him forever."

"So it was your idea?" I inquired.

"We worked it out together, Mrs. Fraser and I."

"Hmph," said Emerson, giving Ramses a piercing look. "Well. Let us hope that matter is settled. Shall we leave Mrs. Jones to her bottle and her biscuits?"

"What are your plans?" I inquired of the lady.

She met my eyes with cool defiance. "I should rather ask you, Mrs. Emerson, what your plans are for me. I will leave Egypt as soon as possible-alone or in custody, as you decide."

"There's no particular hurry about that," Cyrus said coolly.

"Why don't you folks run along? After that experience Mrs. Jones requires more than a few crackers for sustenance; if it is agreeable to her, we will have a little late supper and a nice long talk."

After that experience, and the other exhausting activities of the day, I was in no fit state to fence with a woman like Mrs. Jones, so I was happy to leave her to Cyrus. As Emerson led me from the room I saw that Cyrus was slumped comfortably in the armchair, his long legs stretched out, and that Mrs. Jones was watching him like a duellist en garde.

"Lean on me, my dear," said Emerson, his arm encircling my waist. "Is that ankle bothering you?"

"Not at all," I said stoutly. "To tell you the truth, Emerson, I am still stupefied by the unexpected denouement. It is so like Ramses to spring it on us that way! Will he ever get over those secretive habits of his?"

The young people had preceded us and were already some distance ahead. "Hmph," said Emerson ambiguously. "Admit it, Peabody, it was an ingenious idea."

"I expect it was Enid who thought of it. Yes, it must have been she; I gave her a little lecture the other day and she obviously took it to heart."

Emerson's arm tightened, and he said fondly, "Good for you, Peabody. But can she maintain the mystique?"

"You are talking like a man again," I retorted. "It doesn't depend entirely on her; Donald will have to do his part. Hmmm, yes. I believe I will have a little talk with him too."

Emerson laughed. An echoing peal of silvery laughter came floating back to me; Nefret was between the two lads, and as they started down the stairs arm in arm, I could see that she was chatting animatedly, though I could not make out the words. They looked well together, the three of them; I was pleased to see them so friendly.

From Manuscript H:

"You contemptible liar," Nefret exclaimed.

Ramses, who was stretched out on his bed reading, glanced up. She looked like a young, outraged goddess as she stood framed in the open window. It gave on to the deck and the night sky; moonlight outlined her straight, slim body and aureoled her hair. A Norse or Celtic goddess, Ramses thought-not Egyptian, despite the cat she held cradled in her left arm. Not with that red-gold hair.

"The window again? " he said. "You could just come up the gangplank and through the door in the ordinary way. And why did you bring the damned cat? "

"She came screaming after me. I had to bring her or she would have waked the whole household." Nefret shoved his legs out of the way and sat down on the bed. Sekhmet crawled onto Ramses, and Nefret added, "She has fallen in love with Risha, I think; she spends most of her time in the stable admiring him."

"So you rode Risha tonight."

"You don't mind, do you? "

"Would it matter if I did? No, of course I don't mind. If you insist on roaming the countryside alone at night, you are safer on his back than anywhere else."

"Where is David? " Nefret asked, ignoring the implied criticism.

"On deck, keeping an eye on the Valley of the Kings. Had you come the other way you would have seen him."

"Do you expect something will happen tonight? "

"If it does, we will be prepared for it," Ramses said evasively.

Nefret's eyes narrowed. "How fortunate that I came. I will stand my watch too, and you and David can get some sleep."

"You can't stay here all night!"

"Why not? There is plenty of room."

Ramses's hand had come to rest on the cat. He stroked it automatically, too disturbed to notice what he was doing. "Because Mother will skin us alive if she finds out."

"She will not find out." A look of maternal tenderness spread over Nefret's face. "Poor darling, she was absolutely exhausted this evening, and her ankle was very painful. You know how she is; she will not admit weakness even to herself. So I-er-I just made sure she would get a good night's sleep."

Ramses sat bolt upright. "Good Lord! You drugged her? "

"Just a little laudanum in her coffee. I did it for her own good."

Ramses collapsed against the piled-up pillows and Sekhmet moved happily from his knees to his chest. "You are beginning to sound just like her," Ramses muttered. "It was inevitable, I suppose, but the prospects are somewhat alarming. Two of you-/ only hope the same idea did not occur to Father."

If he had been looking at Nefret, he might have observed the fleeting expression that crossed her face, but he had become aware of the weight on his diaphragm and was trying to pry Sekhmet off him.

"Now then," Nefret said firmly. "Tell me the truth for a change."

"I did not lie to you."

"Well, perhaps not directly, but there is such a thing as lying by omission. You and David know something you have not told me. What do you expect will happen tonight? "

Ramses sighed and abandoned his attempt to detach the cat. All twenty of her claws were hooked into his shirt. "It may not happen tonight. There is a good chance he will try soon again, though. He is not likely to abandon his purpose, and the more often he is thwarted the more impatient he will become."

"Scudder? " Nefret asked. Ramses nodded, and she went on dryly, "You have thwarted him a bit, haven't you? Has it occurred to you, my boy, that he may be after you now? He would find his task easier if you were out of the way."

"It occurred to me, yes."

"Does he know you were Saiyid? "

"I am still Saiyid, when the occasion requires it. Tonight is one of those occasions. I was about to make the transformation when you popped in. Would you mind popping out again while I change? "

"Yes, I would mind. I want to watch how you do it."

"I wonder Father has kept his sanity all these years," Ramses murmured. "All right, my girl, don't swear. You can watch if you like, and you can listen, for a change, while I explain what David and I are going to do, and if you are a very, very good girl, I will allow you to help."

He got rid of Sekhmet by tickling her stomach until she loosened her grip and rolled over. Leaving her indignant and forlorn on the bed, he moved to a chair and began to unlace his boots. Hands clasped around her raised knees, Nefret watched interestedly while he removed shirt, boots, and stockings and rolled his trouser legs up.

"Aren't you going to take off your trousers? " she inquired as he slipped on a worn galabeeyah.

"Not with you looking on." Quickly and expertly he wound the long cloth of his turban round his head and then turned to the mirror.

"There are only three men on board," he explained as he worked. "The others live in Luxor or on the West Bank, and they go home at night. The three will be snoring by midnight; I don't anticipate any activity before then. Saiyid is waiting for me on shore, where Bellingham stationed him."

"That is not very sensible," Nefret exclaimed. "Scudder can avoid Saiyid by the simple expedient of approaching by water-swimming, or in a small boat. What was the Colonel thinking of? "

"The Colonel knows quite well what he is doing, Nefret."

Ramses turned from the mirror, and she gasped. "Good Lord! What did you... Standstill, I want a look at you."

"The wrinkles are drawn on," Ramses said as she inspected his face at uncomfortably close quarters. "Sethos, the man I told you of, had developed several varieties of greasepaint; I am using a water-soluble type, since the other kind is devilish hard to remove, and Mother has eyes like a hawk. The warts are constructed of another substance Sethos invented; it adheres like glue unless subjected to prolonged immersion in water."

"What do you do, put your head in a bucket? " Nefret asked, running an inquiring finger along one of his eyebrows.

"Or a washbasin. And no, you may not watch me do it. I have lightened my eyebrows and mustache with another sort of paint; Saiyid is beginning to go gray, and a lighter color along the edges of the brows makes them appear less heavy. My face is longer and thinner than Saiyid's, so I use pads to round out my cheeks." He obligingly opened his mouth in response to her probing finger. "The stain on my teeth has to be removed with alcohol. It is not such an exact resemblance, you see; Bellingham never looks at the face of a servant, and the real trick is in imitating Saiyid's posture and mannerisms."

He crooked his elbow and scratched his side with clawed fingers.

"That is just how he does it," Nefret admitted. "Can you show me how to- "

"If you like," Ramses said. He turned quickly away from the lovely, eager face that looked up at him.

However, as he retreated to a safe distance he remembered to walk with Saiyid's loose-kneed shuffle, and Nefret laughed appreciatively.

"Excellent," she said. "Wait for me; I need to get something from my room."

"What?"

"My other knife. I left it in the cupboard."

"Must you?"

"Decidedly. I will join you in a moment."

"Not me, I am going to meet Saiyid. Go to David. Perhaps you can persuade him to snatch a few hours' sleep, though I doubt it."

"Thank you, my boy." She smiled at him and started for her room. Ramses slammed his door in Sekhmet's face and went out, followed by her mournful howls.

When Nefret crept on deck she saw David as a dark, motionless silhouette against the moonlight. She coughed gently to warn him of her approach; a startled outcry would have resounded through the still night.

"Ramses told me you were here," David said without turning.

"Are you going to scold me too? " She spoke in the same semi-whisper and went to stand next to him.

"What would be the use? But I am not going to go to bed and leave you here alone."

"I would not be alone. Hassan and Mustafa and several of the others are below. My eyes are as keen as yours."

"The moonlight is bright." As was his habit, David avoided an argument. "Even a swimmer's head would be visible from here."

Nefret nodded. "When-if-you see him, what will you do? Call out?"

He turned his head to look down at her and she saw the flash of white teeth. "Mew," he said.

"What?"

"Mew. Or is it me-ow? Everyone in Luxor knows about the cats; a sound from one of them will alert Ramses without frightening our visitor away."

"Oh, dear," said Nefret.

"What is wrong? "

"Back in a minute."

She could hear Sekhmet quite clearly even through the closed door. She is stupid, Nefret thought with rueful amusement; the window is wide open. Anubis or Bastet would have been out it long since. They would not have howled, either.

The howls stopped as soon as she opened the door. Sekhmet fell fondly at Nefret's feet, and the girl stooped to pick her up.

"What am I going to do with you? " she demanded. "If I shut you in a cupboard, you will yell loud enough to be heard a mile away."

Carrying the cat, she went back to David, who was not at all pleased to see them. "You will have to take the creature away," he insisted. "Ramses will kill her if she spoils his plan."