I wondered who had given her the scarab brooch. Was it Tybalt?
Then a horrible thought crept into my mind. Suppose Tabitha had been free, would Tybalt have married me?
A few days later Theodosia and I visited the Temple, taking a donkey-drawn carriage and rattling on our way over the sandy soil. Here had been the ancient city of Thebes, the center of a civilization which had crumbled away leaving only the great burial chambers of long dead Pharaohs to give an indication of the splendor of those days.
Although the Temple was open to the sky it was cooler within the shadows of those tall pillars than without. We examined with wonder the lavishly carved pillars each capped with buds and calyxes. It fascinated us both to study the carvings on the pillars and to recognize some of the Pharaohs depicted there with the gods to whom they were making sacrifices.
Wandering among the pillars we came face to face with a man. He was clearly European and I thought he was a tourist who had, like ourselves, come to inspect this renowned Temple.
It was natural on such an occasion that he should speak to us and he said, "Good morning." His eyes were a tawny color like so much of the stone we saw in Egypt and his skin was tanned to a pale brown. He wore a panama hat pulled down over his eyes as a shield against the sun.
We were pleased because he was English.
"What a fascinating spot," he said. "Do you live here?"
"No. We're with a party of archaeologists working on a site in the Valley. Are you visiting?"
"In a way. I'm a merchant and my business brings me here now and then. But I am very interested to hear that you are with the archaeology party."
"My husband is leading the expedition," I said proudly.
"Then you must be Lady Travers."
"I am. Do you know my husband?"
"I've heard of him, of course. He's very well known in his field."
"And you are interested in that field?"
"Very. My business is buying and selling objets d'art. I'm staying at the hotel not far from the Chephro Palace."
"It's comfortable, I hope."
"Very adequate," he replied. He lifted his hat. "We may meet again."
Then he left us and we continued our examination of the pillars.
In due course we returned to our arabiya. As we started away we saw the man who had spoken to us getting into his.
"He seemed very pleasant," said Theodosia.
Next morning Theodosia did not feel well enough to get up; but by midday she was better. We sat on the terrace overlooking the Nile and talked desultorily.
After a while she said to me: "Judith, I think I may be going to have a baby."
I turned to her excitedly. "Why! that's wonderful news."
A frown puckered her brow. "That's what people always say. But they don't have to have the babies, do they?"
"Oh, it's uncomfortable for a while but think of the reward."
"Fancy having a baby . . . here."
"Well, you wouldn't, would you? You'd go home. Besides, if you're not sure, it must be months away."
"Sometimes I feel we shall be here forever."
"Oh, Theodosia, what an ideal It'll be a few months at the most."
"But suppose they don't find this . . . whatever it is they're looking for."
"Well, they'll have to go home. This is a very costly business. I'm sure that if they don't succeed in due course, they'll know they aren't going to and then we shall all leave."
"But suppose . . ."
"What a worrier you are. Of course it'll be all right. And it's wonderful news. You ought to be dancing for joy."
"Oh you're so capable, Judith." She began to laugh. "It's funny really. I'm Mamma's daughter and you know how she manages everyone. You'd think I'd be like her."
"She may manage everyone, but such people don't always know how to manage their own affairs."
"Mamma thought she did. And your mother was Lavinia, who was probably very meek. I ought to have been like you and you like me."
"Well, never mind about that now. You'll be all right."
"I'm frightened, Judith. It's since we've been here. I wish we could go home. I just long to see the rain. There's no green here and I want to be among normal men and women."
I laughed at her. "Yasmin would think the people in the souk were more normal than us, I do assure you. It's a simple matter of geography. You're just a bit homesick, Theodosia."
"How I wish Evan would lecture in the university and not do this sort of thing."
"No doubt he will when this is over. Now, Theodosia, you've got to stop worrying. This is the most marvelous news."
But she did continue to fret; and when it was affirmed that she was indeed pregnant, I could see that this caused her some concern.
VI
Ramadan
It was the time of Ramadan—the months of fasting and prayer. I learned that this was the most important event in the Mohammadan world and that the date varied because of the lunar reckoning of the calendar so that it was eleven days earlier each year. Tybalt, who was always restive at such times because they interfered with the progress of the work, told me that in thirty-three years Ramadan passed through all the seasons of the year successively; but originally it must have taken place during a hot season as the word ramada in Arabic means "hot."
It began with the rising of the new moon; and until the waning of that moon no food must be eaten between dawn and sunset. Few people were exempt from the rule, but babies and invalids were allowed to be fed. In the palace we tried to fall in with the rules and ate a good meal before dawn and another after sunset fortifying ourselves with herish, a loaf made with honey nuts and shredded coconut which was delicious—although one quickly grew tired of it—and we drank quantities of the refreshing and sustaining mint tea.
The aspect of the place changed with Ramadan. A quietness settled on the narrow streets. There were three days' holiday although the fast went on for twenty-eight and those three days were dedicated to prayer. Five times a day twenty shots were fired. This was the call to prayer. I was always filled with awe to see men and women stop whatever they were doing, bow their heads, clasp their hands and pay homage to Allah.
Ramadan meant that I saw more of Tybalt.
"One must never offend them on a religious issue," he told me. "But it's galling. I need these workers desperately at the moment." He went through some papers with me and then he put an arm about me and said: "You've been so patient, Judith, and I know it isn't quite what you expected, is it?"
"I had such absurdly romantic ideas. I imagined myself discovering the entry to a tomb, unearthing wonderful gems, discovering sarcophagi."
"Poor Judith. I'm afraid it doesn't work out like that. Is it any compensation if I tell you that you have been of enormous help to me?"
"It's the greatest consolation."
"Listen, Judith, I'm going to take you to the site, tonight. I'm going to show you something rather special."
"Then you have made a discovery! It is what you came for!"
"It's not as easy as that. What I do think is that we may be on the trail of something important. Maybe not. We could work for months following what appears to be a clue and find it leads to nothing. But that's the luck of the game. Few know of this, but I'm going to take you into the secret. We'll go down after sunset. Ramadan moon is nearly full, so there'll be enough light; and the place will be deserted."
"Tybalt, it's so exciting!"
He kissed me lightly. "I love your enthusiasm. I wish that your father had had you thoroughly trained so that I could have had you with me at critical moments."
"Perhaps I can learn."
"You're going to get a grounding tonight. You'll see."
"I can't wait."
"Not a word to anyone. They would think I was being indiscreet or such an uxorious husband that I was carried away by my wish to please my wife."
I felt dizzy with happiness. When I was with him I wondered how I could ever have doub
ted his sincerity.
He pressed me to him and said: "We'll slip away this evening."
The moon was high in the sky when we left the palace. What a beautiful night it was! The stars looked solid in the indigo velvet and no slight breeze stirred the air; it was not exactly hot but delightfully warm—a relief after the torrid heat of the days. Up in the sky instead of blazing white light which was the sun was the glory of Ramadan moon.
I felt like a conspirator, and that my companion in stealth should be Tybalt was a great joy to me.
We took one of the boats down the river and then an arabiya took us to the site.
Tybalt led me past the mounds of earth over the brown hard soil to an opening in the side of the hill. He slipped his arm through mine and said, "Tread warily."
I said excitedly, "You discovered this then, Tybalt?"
"No," he answered, "this tunnel was discovered by the previous expedition. My father opened this up." He took a lantern which was hanging on the wall and lighted it. Then I could see the tunnel which was some eight feet in height. I followed him and at the end of the tunnel were a few steps.
"Imagine! These steps were cut centuries ago!" I said.
"Two thousand years before the birth of Christ to be exact. Imagine how my father felt when he discovered this tunnel and the steps. But come on and you will see."
"How thrilled he must have been! This must have been a miraculous discovery."
"It led, as so many miraculous discoveries have led be-fore, to a tomb which was rifled probably three thousand years ago."
"So your father was the first to come here after three thousand years."
"That may well be. But he found little that was new. Give me your hand, Judith. He came through here into this chamber. Look at the walls," said Tybalt holding the lantern high. "See those symbols? That is the sacred beetle—the scarab—and the man with a ram's head is Amen Ra, the great Sun God."
"I recognized him and I am wearing my beetle at the moment. The one you gave me. It will preserve me, won't it, in my hour of danger?"
He stopped still and looked at me. In the light from the lantern he seemed almost a stranger.
"I doubt it, Judith," he said. Then his expression lightened and he went on: "Perhaps I can do that. I daresay I would manage as well as a beetle."
I shivered.
"Are you cold?" he asked.
"Not exactly . . . but it is cool in here." I think I felt then as they say at home as though someone was walking over my grave.
Tybalt sensed this for he said: "It's so awe inspiring. We all feel that. The man who was buried here belonged to a world whose civilization had reached its zenith when in Britain men lived in caves and hunted for their food in the primeval forests."
"I feel as though I'm entering the underworld. Who was the man who was buried here ... or was it a woman?"
"We couldn't discover. There was so little left. The mummy itself had been rifled. The robbers must have known that often valuable jewels were concealed beneath the wrappings. All that my father found here when he reached the burial chamber was the sarcophagus, the mummy, which had been disturbed, and the soul house, which the thieves thought was of no value."
"I haven't seen a soul house," I said.
"I hope I will be able to show you one one day. It's a small model of a house usually with colonnades in white stone. It is meant to be the dwelling house of the soul after death and it is left in the tomb, so that when the Ka returns to its home after its journeyings it has a comfortable place in which to live."
"It's fascinating," I said. "I seem to gather fresh information every day."
We had come to another flight of steps.
"We must be deep in the mountainside," I said.
"Look at this," said Tybalt. "It is the most elaborate chamber as yet and it is a sort of anteroom to the one in which the sarcophagus was found."
"How grand it all is!"
"Yet the person buried here was no Pharaoh. A man of some wealth possibly, but the entrance to this tomb shows us that he was not of the highest rank."
"And this is the tomb which was excavated by your father."
"Months of hard work, expectation, and excitement, and this is what he found. That someone had been here before. We had opened up the mountainside, found the exact spot which led to the underground tunnel and when we found it ... Well, you can imagine our excitement, Judith. And then, just another empty tomb!"
"Then your father died."
"But he discovered something, Judith. I'm certain of it. That was why I came back. He wanted me to come back. I knew it. That was what he was trying to tell me. It could only mean one thing. He must have discovered that there was another tomb—the entrance to which is here somewhere."
"If it were, wouldn't you see it?"
"It could be cunningly concealed. We could find nothing here that led beyond this. But somewhere in this tomb, I felt sure, there was a vital clue. I may have found it. Look!
You see this slight unevenness in the ground. There could be something behind this wall. We are going to work on it ... keeping it as secret as we can. We may be wasting our time, but I don't think so."
"Do you think that because your father discovered this he was murdered?"
Tybalt shook his head. "That was a coincidence. It may have been the excitement which killed him. In any case, he died and because he had decided not to tell anyone, not even me, death caught up with him and there was no time."
"It seems strange that he should die at such a moment."
"Life is strange, Judith." He held the lantern and looked down at me. "How many of us know when our last moment has come."
I felt a sudden shiver of fear run down my spine.
I said: "What an eerie place this is."
"What do you expect of a tomb, Judith?"
"Even you look different here."
He put his free hand to my throat and touched it caressingly. "Different, Judith, how different?"
"Like someone I don't know everything about."
"But who does know everything about another person."
"Let's go," I said.
"You are cold." He was standing very close to me and I could feel his warm breath on my face. "What are you afraid of, Judith? Of the Curse of the Pharaohs, of the wrath of the gods, of me . . . ?"
"I'm not afraid," I lied. "I just want to be out in the air. It's oppressive in here."
"Judith . . ."
He stepped towards me. I couldn't understand myself. I sensed evil in this place. All my instincts were crying out for me to escape. Escape from what! This mystic aura of doom? From Tybalt!
I was about to speak but his hand was over my mouth.
"Listen," he whispered.
Then I heard it distinctly in the silence of this place . . . a light footfall.
"Someone is in the tomb," whispered Tybalt.
Tybalt released me. He stood very still listening.
"Who is there?" he called. His voice sounded strange and hollow, eerie, unnatural.
There was no answer.
"Keep close to me," said Tybalt. We mounted the staircase to the chamber, Tybalt holding the lantern high above his head, cautiously going step by step resisting the impulse to hurry, which might have been dangerous I supposed.
I followed at his heels. We went into the tunnel.
There was no one there.
As we passed through the door and stepped over the heaps of brown earth, the warm night air enveloped me with relief and a pleasure that was almost bliss.
My legs felt numb; my skin was damp and I was trembling visibly.
There was no one in sight.
Tybalt turned to me.
"Poor Judith, you look as if you've had a fright."
"It was rather alarming."
"Someone was in there."
"Perhaps it was one of your fellow workers."
"Why didn't he answer when I called?"
"He might have thought you would have
been displeased with him for prowling about there at night."
"Come on," he said, "we'll get the arabiya, and go back to the palace."
Everything was normal now—the Nile with its strange beauty and its odors, the palace, and Tybalt.
I could not understand what had come over me in the depth of that tomb. Perhaps it was the strangeness of the atmosphere, the knowledge that three thousand years or so before a dead man had been laid there; perhaps there was something in the powers of these gods which could even make me afraid of Tybalt.
Afraid of Tybalt! The husband who had chosen me as his wife! But had he not chosen me rather suddenly—in fact, so unexpectedly that the aunts, who loved me dearly, had been apprehensive for me? I was a rich woman. I had to remember that. And Tabitha, what of Tabitha? I had seen her and Tybalt together now and then. They always seemed to be in earnest conversation. He discussed his work with her more than he did with me. I still lacked her knowledge and experience in spite of all my efforts. Tabitha had a husband . . .
There was evil in that tomb and it had planted these thoughts in my mind. Where was my usual common sense? Where was that trait in my character which had always looked for the challenge in life and been so ready to grasp it?
Idiot! I told myself. You're as foolish as Theodosia.
On the river side of the palace was a terrace and I liked to sit there watching the life of the Nile go by. I would find a spot in the shade—it was getting almost unbearably hot now—and idly watch. Very often one of the servants would bring me a glass of mint tea. I would sit there, sometimes alone, sometimes joined by some member of our party. I would watch the black clad women chattering together as they washed their clothes in the water; the river seemed to be the center of social life rather like the sales of work and the socials over which Dorcas and Alison used to preside in my youth. I would hear their excited voices and high-pitched laughter and wondered what they talked of. It was exciting when the dahabiyehs with their sails shaped like curved Oriental swords sailed by.
Ramadan moon had waned and now it was the time of the Little Bairam. Houses had been spring cleaned and I had seen rugs put on the flat roofs of the houses to dry in the sun. I had seen the slaughter of animals on those rooftops and I knew that this was part of a ritual, and that there would be feasting and salting of animals which were to be eaten throughout the year.
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