"She would." Philip was striding swiftly down the hall toward the salon. "Order the car ready, Raoul. We're about to clean house."
"Oh yes, sir. That would be splendid," Raoul said with heartfelt relief. "I'll see to it at once."
The sight that met Philip's eyes when he walked into the salon was enough to set his head spinning.
Two musicians dressed in brightly striped robes were sitting in the center of the Aubusson carpet, one playing a zither, the other a kettledrum. The wailing woman was huddled in a heap on the couch, her face covered with a portion of her brown robe. The scarlet-garbed water vendor, with his traditional girdle of copper cups and goatskin water bag, was arguing volubly with a young man in a white turban by the window. In the midst of the tempest, Pandora sat cross-legged on the floor by the musicians, calmly playing with a dark-haired baby of perhaps seven months.
"Pandora." Philip tried to keep his voice level. "Would you be so good as to tell me what is going on here?"
She looked up with an expression of relief. "Oh, Philip, I'm so glad you're home." She jumped to her feet, snatched up the baby, and hurried across the room. "They won't listen to me. I showed them the medallion, but I'm a woman and they don't seem to have the least respect for our sex. I don't really think Hanar likes the idea of the snakes, but they won't listen to her either, and she's afraid of her father-in-law." She stopped to catch her breath. "You run this damn country. Tell them they can't do it."
"Can't do what?" he asked blankly.
"Put a snake in his playpen," Pandora said impatiently. "I don't care if it is only a harmless little grass snake. It can't be sanitary." She shivered.
"Besides, the whole idea is creepy." Her hand was rubbing the baby's back caressingly. "Imagine putting one of those things in with this darling."
"I don't want to imagine anything at all," he said, trying to hold on to his patience. "I want to be told, very clearly and precisely."
"But I am telling you," she said indignantly. "They put a snake in the baby's playpen. There was actually one curled up on the mat sleeping in the sun when I first saw the baby by the booth at the bazaar, but I snatched it out and threw it away."
"It's obvious that we're going to have to play question and answer." He stabbed his finger at the weeping woman, who broke off in midwail, her eyes wide with apprehension. "Who's that?"
"Hanar, the baby's mother. She's really quite nice, if a trifle wishy-washy."
"The one who is afraid of her father-in-law and allows snakes to be put in the baby's playpen. Now, who is the father in question?"
Pandora pointed to the young man standing by the window being berated by the huge, bearded water vendor. "Beldar, the snake charmer, and that's his father, Damien, the water vendor."
Philip gestured to the musicians sitting on the floor, then gritted his teeth as the zither emitted a particularly shrill shriek. "Do they have to do that?"
"Well, I couldn't stop them. They're Beldar's brothers and absolutely crazy about the baby. It's the first boy born in the family. They think their music soothes the baby." She glanced down at the docile little boy in her arms. "You know, theymay be right. Maybe he has a thing for heavy metal."
"Well, I do not." Philip said decisively. "Now that we have the cast of characters, let's have the scenario. You were at the bazaar this morning. You saw the snake in the baby's playpen and you took it out. What happened next?"
"Beldar came running up and tried to put it back in the playpen." Pandora's eyes were flashing with indignation. "I couldn't let him do that, could I? So I snatched up the baby and brought him here, until we could pound some sense into Beldar's head. He picked up the rest of the family as we went through the bazaar. I really think it's his father's fault. According to Hanar, he's very ambitious for his sons."
"Why does Beldar want the snake in the playpen?" The absurd picture was at last becoming clear. Only a few more pieces to the puzzle and he would be able to restore order to this madhouse.
"His father told him he should do it to get the baby accustomed to reptiles. You see, Beldar's the success in the family, and his father wants the baby to follow in Beldar's footsteps." She lowered her voice. "Just between you and me, those musicians will never make it beyond the poverty level."
"I can see why. Their music has all the charm of a rusty nail being scraped across a blackboard."
"That's why Damien wants his grandson to go into the snake-charming business," Pandora said reasonably. "I can see that. Musicians have to be damn good to make it, while snake charmers don't have to—"
"Pandora," Philip interrupted. "Just tell me what I have to do to get these people out of my salon."
"It's very simple. Just do the voodoo you do so well. In short, intimidate the hell out of them. Make them promise not to put a snake back into the baby's playpen on pain of instant beheading or something."
"Is that all? Why didn't you say so?" He brushed by her and strode into the center of the confusion. Pandora jiggled the baby on her hip as she watched Philip draw a royal cloak of arrogance about himself. No one could be more menacing than Philip when he set his mind to it. He moved from the musicians to the snake charmer to the water vendor to the weeping mother, speaking incisively and leaving no room for argument. Then he crossed back to Pandora and took the baby from her arms. "Stand aside," he said. "I hope we're going to have a parade."
She shifted to the side of the archway. He put the baby in the chastened mother's arms and returned to stand beside Pandora. He crossed his arms over his chest, his legs slightly astride. She had a sudden vision of Yul Brynner standing in that same pose in The King and I and had to smother a smile. All they needed was the "March of the Siamese Children," but thank heavens these musicians weren't going to supply it. They were scrambling to their feet and snatching up their instruments. The two men nodded nervously to her as they practically ran out of the room. Damien followed, scowling, his shoulders set and proud. The last to leave were Beldar with Hanarand the baby. The young mother gave her a tentative smile and scurried from the room.
"You did that very well." Pandora turned to Philip with a satisfied smile. "Of course. I'll have to go visit the booth periodically to make sure they don't backslide."
"No! I don't want you anywhere near that clan again."
"But I can't just let—"
He held up his hand. "I'll send a man down to check it out every other day," he said. "But you stay out of it."
"If you insist." Her expression was suddenly wistful. "I would like to see the baby again, though. Wasn't he sweet? Such big, dark eyes ..." She broke off as her gaze fell on something across the room. "Oh, dear."
Philip frowned. "What's wrong now?"
"Beldar forgot something." She ran across the room and snatched up the small covered wicker basket on the floor by the window. "I hope I can catch him before he leaves." She hurried past him through the archway into the foyer.
"Pandora." Philip's voice was ominously quiet. "What is in that basket?"
She looked over her shoulder in surprise. "Beldar forgot his cobra." Her steps quickened. "I'll be right back."