Curse of the Kings

by Виктория Холт

  "Does it matter so much?" I asked.

  "You know he has left this trust. We were relying on it. It will make a great deal of difference to the expedition. We shall be less restricted for funds with this additional income. You'll discover, Judith, how money is swallowed up in expeditions like this. We have to employ possibly a hundred workmen. Then of course there are all the other workers. They have to be paid; they have to have living quarters. That's why one cannot begin such an undertaking until all these tiresome financial matters are taken care of. We're almost always frustrated by a question of expense."

  "And you can't touch this money or the interest, or whatever it is, until the will is proved?"

  "Oh, it will be all right. With such a sum made over to us we shall be able to anticipate. But there will be formalities. I daresay I shall have to go to London. I should have to in any case, but later."

  "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? S
he'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."

  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."

  He was delighted that I shared his enthusiasm. He pointed out to me the remains of houses and reconstructed in his mind the manner in which these people had lived under the shadow of Vesuvius before that fatal day when the great mountain had erupted. The town had been buried for centuries and it had only emerged just over a hundred years ago when archaeologists discovered it.

  When we were back on the ship the discussion about the discoveries of that tragic city continued far into the night.

  At Port Said we left the ship and traveled to Cairo—just the two of us—where Tybalt had business to attend to.

  I had read a great deal about Egypt and as I had lain in my bed in Rainbow Cottage and at Keverall Court my imagination had transported me to this mysterious land. I should, therefore, have been prepared, yet none of my fancies could compare with the reality and the impact upon me was exhilarating, exciting beyond my dreams.

  It was a golden land, dominated by a sun which could be merciless; one was immediately conscious of thousands of years of antiquity. When I saw a goatherd in his long white robes I could believe I was far back in the days of the Old Testament. The country held me spellbound; I knew that here anything could happen—the most wonderful things, the most fearful. It was both beautiful and ugly; it was stimulating, thrilling, and sinister.

  We stayed at a small hotel which looked out onto the Nile. From my window I could see the riverbank and the gold colored Mokattam Hills; how different from the green of Cornwall, the misty dampness, the luxuriant vegetation. Here one was aware of the ever-present sun—relentlessly burning the land. If green was the color of England, yellow was that of Egypt. It was the ambience of antiquity which caught my imagination. The people in their white robes and sandaled feet; the smells of cooking food; the sight of disdainful camels picking their dainty ways. I listened in wonder when I first heard the muezzin from the top of his minaret calling the people to prayer; and I was amazed to see them stop where ever they were and pay homage to Allah. Tybalt took me into the souks which I found fascinating with him beside me but I think I should have felt them a little sinister had I been alone. Dark-eyed people watched us intently without staring, and one was constantly aware of their scrutiny. Through the narrow streets we wandered, and we looked into the darkened cave-like shops where bakers were making bread coated with seeds and where silversmiths worked over their braziers. There the water-seller demanded attention with the clatter of his brass cups and at the back of the dark openings men sat cross-legged weaving and stitching. In the air the heavy scent of perfumed oils mingled with that of the camel dung which was used as fuel.