"So it is only a minor irritation."
He smiled at me. "That's true, but minor irritations can mean delays."
He then began to talk to me in the way I loved and he told me that he believed his father had discovered the way into an unbroken tomb.
"He was so excited. I remember his coming to the house. He had rented a house from one of the most influential men in Egypt who was interested in our operation and allowed us to have his palace, which was a great concession. It's a very grand and beautiful residence with magnificent gardens and a band of servants to look after us. It's called the Chephro Palace. We pay a nominal rent—a concession to independence; but the Pasha is really very interested in what we are doing and eager to help. We shall use this palace again."
"You were telling me of your father?"
"He came in from the hills. It was night. There was a moon and it was almost as light as day. It's impossible, of course, to work in the heat of the afternoon and those moonlit nights were made full use of. He was riding a mule and as he came into the courtyard, I saw him from my window, and I guessed something had happened. He was a man who rarely showed his feelings, but he showed something then. He seemed exuberant. I thought I would wait until he had washed and changed and had had a light meal which Mustapha and Absalam always prepared for him. Then I would go down and wait for him to tell me. I knew I would be the one he would tell first. I said nothing to anyone for it might have been something he wished kept secret. I knew that a few days before we had been in despair. It was several months earlier that we had discovered the door in the rock; we had penetrated through a corridor only to be led to a tomb which had been rifled probably two thousand years earlier. It had seemed then as though we had come to the end of our quest and all the work and expense would lead to nothing. But my father had had this strange feeling. He would not give up. He was certain we had not discovered all. I was of the opinion that only some tremendous discovery could have made him excited on that day."
Tabitha had joined us.
"I am telling Judith about my father's death," he said.
Tabitha nodded gravely; she sat down at the table and propping her elbows on the table leaned her chin on her hands. Her eyes were misty as Tybalt went on:
"I went down when I thought he would be refreshed and then I found him ill. I did not believe it was serious. He was a man of immense physical as well as mental vitality. He complained of pains and I saw that his limbs trembled. I suggested to Absalam and Mustapha, who were very upset, that we get him to bed. This we did. I thought: In the morning he will tell me. That night he died. Before he did I was sent for. As I knelt by his bed I could see that he was trying to tell me something. His lips moved. I was certain he was saying 'Go on.' That is why I am determined."
"But why did he die at precisely that moment?"
"There was talk of the Curse which was absurd. Why should he be cursed for doing what many had done before him? He had merely been to the site on which we were working. It was not as though he had violated one of the tombs. It was ridiculous."
"But he died."
"The climate is hot; he may have eaten tainted food. That, I can assure you, has happened more than once."
"But to die so suddenly."
"It was the greatest tragedy of my life. But I intend to carry out my father's wishes."
I put out my hand and pressed his. I had forgotten Tabitha. Then I saw that there were tears in her beautiful eyes; and I thought peevishly I must admit, why are there always the three of us!
During the cold spell Nanny Tester caught a chill which turned to bronchitis, as in the case of Dorcas. I was quite useful nursing her, having had experience with Dorcas. The old woman would lie in bed watching me with her bright beady eyes; I think she liked to have me there which was fortunate, for she had what seemed to me an unreasoning dislike for Tabitha. It was really most unfair because Tabitha was considerate in the extreme, but sometimes she would become really restless when Tabitha was in her room.
In February Tybalt went to London to make further arrangements about supplies and to see the lawyers; I had hoped to go with him but he had said that he would have so much to do that he would be able to spend little time with me.
I waved him off at Plymouth station and I couldn't help thinking of Lavinia's going on that same journey with her baby in her arms and Dorcas and Alison seeing her off. And then an hour later she was dead.
To love intensely was a mixed blessing I decided. There are moments of ecstasy but it seems that these have to be paid for with anxiety. One was completely happy only when one had the loved one safe beside one. When he was absent one's imagination seemed to take a malicious delight in presenting all kinds of horrors which could befall him. Now I must visualize the piled-up carriages, the cries of the injured, the silence of the dead.
Foolish! I admonished myself. How many people travel on the railways? Thousands! How many accidents are there? Very few!
I went back and threw myself into the nursing of Nanny Tester.
That evening as I sat with Tabitha I told her of my fears.
She smiled at me gently. "Sometimes it is painful to love too well."
She spoke as though she knew and I wondered afresh what her life had been. I wondered why she never spoke of it. Perhaps she will one day, I thought, when she gets to know me better.
Nanny Tester was recovering.
"But," said Tabitha, "these attacks always leave their mark. After she's been ill she always seems to emerge a little more feeble. Her mind wanders quite a bit."
I had noticed that. I noticed too that my presence seemed to soothe her, so I used to take up her food and sometimes I sat with her. I would take a book and read or do odd bits of needlework. Sabina used to call often. I would hear her chattering away to Nanny Tester and her visits were always a success.
One day I was sitting by her bed when she said: "Watch her. Be careful."
I guessed she was wandering in her mind and said: "There's no one here, Nanny." She had asked me to call her this. "People in the family do," she explained.
"I could tell you some things," she murmured. "I was always one to keep my eyes open."
"Try to rest," I said.
"Rest! When I see what's going on in this house. It's him and it's her. She eggs him on. Housekeeper! Friend of the family! What is she? Tell me that."
I knew then that she was talking about Tabitha, and I had to hear what it was she wanted to tell me.
"Him and her . . . ?" I prompted.
"You don't see. That's how it often is. Those it concerns most don't see what's under their very eyes. It's the one who looks on, who sees."
"What do you see, Nanny?"
"I see the way things are between them. She's sly. We can do without her. There's nothing she does I couldn't do."
That was hardly true but I let it pass.
"I never knew housekeepers like that one. Sitting down to dinner every night with the family; running the house. You'd think she was the mistress. Then he goes away and what happens. She's called away. Oh it's some family affair. Family! What family? She'll be called away now he's away, I can see it coming."
She was wandering obviously. "You watch out, my lady," she murmured. "You're nursing a viper in your bosom."
The term made me smile; and when I thought of all Tabitha did in the house and how charming and helpful she was I was sure that the old woman had got an obsession, probably because she was jealous.
The house seemed different without Tybalt; the bedroom was full of shadows. A fire was lighted every night and I lay in bed watching the shadows. I often fancied I heard noises in the next room and one night got out of bed to see if anyone was there. How ghostly it looked with the light of the crescent moon faintly illuminating it; the books, the table at which Sir Edward had often worked, the spot where the sarcophagus had stood. I half expected Mustapha and Absalam to materialize. I went back to bed and dreamed that I went into the room and the sarcophagus was there and from it rose a mummy from which the wrapping suddenly disintegrated to show Mustapha and Absalam. They kept their dark eyes on me as they advanced pointing to me; I heard their voices distinctly as they echoed through emptiness. "Stop him. A man listens to his beloved. The Curse of the Kings will come upon you."