I awoke shouting something. I sat up in bed. There was no light but that from the crescent moon, for the fire was nothing but a few embers. I got out of bed; I opened the door expecting to see the sarcophagus there, so vivid had the dream been. The room was empty. I shut the door quickly and got back to bed.
I thought: When we come back I will change this house. I will have the dark shrubs taken away; I will plant beautiful flowering shrubs like the hydrangeas which grow so luxuriantly here—lovely blues and pinks and white blooms and red fuchias dripping their bells from the hedges. We will replace the darkness by the brightest of colors.
In that mood I slept.
Every morning I went hopefully to the breakfast table looking for a note from Tybalt to say that he would be back. None came.
Tabitha had a letter in her hand when I went down.
"Oh, Judith. I'll have to go away for a few days."
"Oh?"
"Yes, a ... a relative of mine is ill. I must go."
"Of course," I said. "I haven't heard you speak before of relatives."
"This one is in Suffolk. It's a long journey. I think I ought to leave at once."
"Today?"
"Yes, I'll get the ten-thirty for London. I shall have to go to London first, of course, and from there to Suffolk. You'll manage without me."
"Yes," I said. "Of course I shall."
She left the table hurriedly. She seemed very embarrassed, I thought. Jenner, the coachman, drove her in the jingle to the station.
I watched her go and I kept thinking of Nanny Tester. What had she said? "He goes away . . . and she's called away." But how could she foresee this? But that was what she had done.
I went upstairs to Nanny's apartment. She was standing by the window, her old-fashioned flannelette dressing gown wrapped about her.
"So she's gone," she said, "eh, my lady, she's gone. Didn't I tell you?"
"How did you know?"
"There's things I know, my lady. I've got a pair of eyes in my head that see far and they see for them I care for."
"So . . . you care for me."
"Did you doubt it? I cared for you the first minute I clapped eyes on you. I said: 'I'll watch over this one all the days of my life.'"
"Thank you," I said.
"It hurts me though to see the way you're treated. It hurts right in here." She struck her hand on where she supposed her heart to be. "He goes away . . . and she goes to join him. He's sent for her. They'll be together tonight . . ."
"Stop it! That's nonsense. It's absolutely untrue."
"Oh," she said. "I've seen it. I knew it was coming. She's the one he wanted. He took you for your money. That's it. And what for? So that they can go and dig up the dead. It's not right."
"Nanny," I said, "you're not yourself."
I looked at her wild eyes, her flushed cheeks. It was not without a certain relief that I saw that she was rambling.
"Let me help you to bed."
"To bed . . . why to bed? It's for me to put you to bed, my precious."
"Do you know who I am, Nanny?"
"Know you. Didn't I have you from three weeks after you were born?"
I said, "You're mistaking me for somebody else. I'm Judith, Lady Travers . . . Tybalt's wife."
"Oh yes, my lady. You're my lady all right. And a lot of good that's done you. I'd have liked to see you wife to some simple gentleman who didn't think more of digging up the dead than his own young wife."
I said: "Now I'm going to bring you a hot drink and you're going to sleep."
"You're good to me," she said.
I went down to the kitchen and told Ellen to prepare some hot milk. I would take it up to Nanny who was not very well.
"You'd think she'd be better now Mrs. Grey's gone," said Ellen. "Goodness, my lady, she does seem to hate Mrs. Grey."
I did not comment. When I took the milk up to Nanny she was half asleep.
Tabitha came back with Tybalt. On her way back she had had to go to London and as Tybalt was ready to return they had come back together.
I was uneasy. There were so many questions I wanted to ask; but it was so wonderful to have Tybalt back and he seemed delighted to be with me.
He was in a very happy and contented state. The financial problems had been straightened out. We should be leaving in March instead of February as he had hoped— but it would only mean delaying our start by two weeks.
"Now," he said, "we shall be very busy. We must prepare to leave in earnest."
He was right. Then there was nothing to think of but the expedition.
And in March we left for Egypt.
V
The Chephro Palace
The Chephro Palace stood majestic, golden colored, aloof from the village. I was astounded that the great Hakin Pasha should have put so much magnificence at our disposal.
I was, by the time we arrived, completely under the spell of the strange, arid, and exotic land of the Pharaohs. The reality was no less wonderful than the pictures created by my imagination when I had nothing but dreams and a few pictures in the books I had read to guide me.
Several members of the working party had gone on ahead of us. They would be lodged about the site, and they had taken with them a good deal of the equipment which would be needed.
Hadrian, Evan, and Theodosia with Terence Gelding and Tabitha were sailing from Southampton with Tybalt and me, but as Tybalt had some business to settle in Cairo, he and I would spend a few days there before joining the party in the Chephro Palace.
The day before we left I went over to Rainbow Cottage. Dorcas and Alison said goodbye to me as though it was our last farewell. Sabina and Oliver had been invited to supper and I could not help knowing how much they wished that I had married Oliver and settled quietly into the life at the rectory which they had chosen for me.
I was rather glad when the evening was over, and the next day when we joined the S.S. Stalwart at Southampton my great adventure had begun.
It was a fascinating experience to be aboard ship and I couldn't help wishing that Tybalt and I were alone together. Evan and Theodosia, I daresay, felt the same for themselves; that left Hadrian, Terence, and Tabitha. Poor Theodosia was confined to her cabin for the first few days although the sea was not unduly rough considering the time of the year. Conversation was mainly about the expedition and as Theodosia was not present I couldn't help feeling the tyro because it was astonishing how much Tabitha knew.
The Bay, contrary to expectations, was fairly smooth and by the time we reached Gibraltar, Theodosia was ready to emerge. Evan was such a kind and thoughtful husband; he spent a great deal of time with Theodosia and I found myself wondering whether Tybalt would have made me his chief concern if I had suffered from the sea as my half sister did.
We had a pleasant day at the Rock and went for a trip up to the heights in little horse-drawn traps; we laughed at the antics of the apes and admired the magnificent scenery and the day was a happy one. Shortly after we arrived at Naples. As we were there for two days we took a trip as might have been expected to Pompeii. Excavations were still going on and more and more of that buried town was being revealed. As I walked arm in arm with Tybalt over those stones which until seventy-nine years after the birth of Christ had been streets I was caught up in the fascination of it all; and I said to Tybalt: "How lucky you are to have this profession which brings these treasures to the world."