The Snake, The Crocodile, And The Dog Part 60

"We will never know the truth, but I feel certain my reconstruction of Sethos's activities is fairly accurate. He had got wind of the Forth affair early on, as we both realized, he was the most likely person to have done so. He- curse it, I hate to give the fellow credit, but I must- he held his hand.

He had promised you he would not interfere with you again, and he kept his promise (d.a.m.n him!) until the moment when he realized that others were after Forth's treasure and that you might be in danger from them. That gave him the excuse he wanted to break his sworn word.

"As soon as news of the attempted abduction at the ball reached him he was on the scene, organizing his men. In one guise or another he must have been watching you day and night. Mind you, he felt no obligation to protect ME. From his point of view the most desirable result of the business would be your survival and my demise, but he was (curse the swine!) honorable enough to refrain from direct action against me. All the attacks on us were instigated by Vincey. Sethos only intervened to protect you from harm. In order to do that he was forced to a.s.sist me as well, but he must have prayed to whatever G.o.ds he favors that Vincey would succeed in doing away with me.

"At last he got his wish. I was gone, and you, he hoped, were or soon would be a grieving widow.

Cyrus Vandergelt, an old and trusted friend, appeared on the scene, overflowing with tender sympathy and very little else. It was due to the efforts of you, my dearest Peabody, and our devoted friend Abdullah, that I survived. I could almost feel sorry for Vandergelt-Sethos, what a blow it must have been to him when you dragged me back into the land of the living!

"He was quick to recover- d.a.m.n his eyes- and with characteristic ingenuity found a means, as he hoped, to rid himself of me while remaining within the letter if not the spirit of his vow. I must admit Schadenfreude was a brilliant inspiration. There is such a man, I suppose? Yes, but surely it ought to have struck you as a strange coincidence that he happened to be, at that moment, in Luxor? Well, well, I understand, I would have been in the same state of perturbation had our positions been reversed.

"The Schadenfreude who visited me was another of Sethos's confederates, well primed in his role.

What an absurd concoction of lunatic theories he presented! The aim, of course, was to keep us apart and antagonistic to one another. Peabody, you adorable idiot, if you had had the sense to- er- force your attentions upon me, as you would probably express it... But I believe I understand the mixture of modesty and quixotic romanticism that prevented you from doing so. Though how you could ever have doubted . . ."

(A brief interlude interrupted the even course of the narrative.)

"So there we were at Amarna, with Vincey still on our heels and Vandergelt-Sethos wooing you with every device of luxury and devoted attention he could find. It was a pretty contrast to my behavior, I confess! Any sensible woman, my dear, would have given me up as a bad job and accepted the devoted attentions of a youngish, adoring American millionaire. He hoped his wiles would prevail, and he hoped even more that Vincey would succeed in doing away with me. But you remained steadfast. Not only did you repel his advances ... at least I hope you did, Peabody, because if I thought you had considered yielding, for even a split second ... I will accept your a.s.surances, my dear. Not only did you repel him, you followed me like a devoted hound and risked your life over and over to keep me from the nasty consequences of my reckless behavior. You must have driven Sethos wild.

"At the end he could bear it no longer. You ought to have realized that I had not the slightest suspicion of Vandergelt, or I would not have conspired with him to set up an ambush for Vincey. Even then- confound him!- he refrained from taking direct action against me. However, he did as much as he could to ensure my death without firing the actual shot. The two men he sent with me had been ordered not to interfere with Vincey, they also prevented Abdullah from coming to my a.s.sistance. Nor could I have defended myself. As you observed, the rifle he lent me had only one bullet. The significance of that little touch still eludes me. Perhaps 1 was meant to use it on myself rather than face capture! Or perhaps he expected me to test the weapon, if I had found it was unloaded I might have retreated from a position that was clearly untenable.

"I rather imagine that once Vincey had killed me, the two guards would have dispatched Vincey. A happy ending from Sethos's point of view, with your enemy and your inconvenient husband dead, you would eventually find consolation in the arms of your devoted friend. Sooner or later- if I read his character aright- he would have confessed his true ident.i.ty and restored Vandergelt to his own place.

He could not have continued the masquerade indefinitely, nor would it have suited him to do so. He would have sworn to abandon his criminal activities- told you, as he did once before, that you and you alone could turn him from evil to good . . . d.a.m.n the fellow's vanity!

"Thanks to your inveterate habit of meddling, my dearest Peabody, things did not work out quite as Sethos had planned. I had an inkling of the truth in that moment when we confronted one another, with the evidence of his betrayal of me unmistakable, and his devotion to you equally plain. He did not speak to me as Vandergelt in those last moments. I hope you don't believe, Peabody, that I was making a n.o.ble gesture when I handed you over to him. I fully intended to get out of that ambush with a whole skin and beat Vandergelt- or whoever he was- to a pulp.

"At the end ... I cannot a.s.sess his character fairly. Yet he attacked, barehanded, an a.s.sa.s.sin with a rifle, and took the bullet meant for us- for you. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it.

"In fact," Emerson concluded, "nothing else in his life became him in the slightest. I only hope, my dear Peabody, that you are not in danger of succ.u.mbing to that sloppy sentimentality I sometimes observe in you. If I find you have set up a little shrine with fresh flowers and candles, I will smash it to bits."

"As if I would do anything so absurd! Yet he did have a code of honor, Emerson. And surely his last act must atone in some measure-"

Emerson put an end to the discussion in a particularly forceful manner.

Sometime later I lay watching the slow drift of moonlight across the floor and enjoying the most exquisite of sensations. I knew I risked breaking that heavenly mood if I spoke, and yet I felt I must say one more thing. "You must admit that Sethos was capable of inspiring considerable devotion in his subordinates, and that they carried out his last wishes as he would have done- freeing Cyrus and sending him to us in order that our grief might be a.s.suaged at the earliest possible moment. I wonder where they took- "

Emerson's shoulder was by now as rigid as a rock. "You might set up a cenotaph," he suggested with ineffable sarcasm. "A coiled snake, I think, would make an appropriate adornment."

"It is odd you should mention that, Emerson. You remember the little fairy tale I have been translating-The Tale of the Doomed Prince'?"

"What about it?" Emerson's tone was slightly more affable, but I had had time to reconsider what I had started to say. He would taunt me for the rest of my life if I admitted to the superst.i.tious fancies I had entertained about that harmless story.

"I think I know how it ended."

"Oh?" Emerson replaced the arm he had withdrawn when 1 began speaking.

"The princess saved him, of course. Defeating the crocodile and the dog as she had done the snake."

"That is quite an un-Egyptian ending, Peabody." He drew me close. "There are some interesting, if coincidental, parallels in the two cases, though, aren't there? The prince was as reckless and obtuse as a certain other individual I could name, and I have no doubt the brave princess saved his worthless neck as persistently and cleverly as you did mine, my darling. Even the dog . . . We encountered no crocodiles or snakes, however. Unless Sethos could be considered- "

"My dear." Though every nerve in my body thrilled with rapture at his eloquent and generous tribute, I felt obliged to remonstrate. "We have spoken enough about Sethos. 'De mortuis nil nisi bonum,' 'De mortuis nil nisi bonum,' you know." you know."

"I don't know, though," Emerson muttered. "I wish I did."

"1 don't understand, Emerson."

"Good," said Emerson.

Before I could inquire further he proceeded to inst.i.tute certain activities that required my complete attention and ended the discussion. Emerson's powers in that particular area have always been extraordinary, and, as he had occasion to point out in the course of the proceedings, we had a lot of lost time to make up for.

STOP PRESS. From our special correspondent in Luxor. ASTONIs.h.i.+NG

RESURRECTION OF AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE ARCHAEOLOGIST. Mrs. Amelia P. Emerson: "Divine Providence Answered My Prayers." Professor Emerson: "Mrs. Emerson's Brilliant Medical Talents Have Wrought a Miracle."

"The earlier dispatch from this correspondent reporting the tragic death of American millionaire archaeologist Cyrus Vandergelt turns out to have been somewhat inaccurate. Mr. Vandergelt's injuries, received in the course of the exciting events described in yesterday's Yell, Yell, were not as severe as was presumed. The news was received in archaeological quarters with..." were not as severe as was presumed. The news was received in archaeological quarters with..."

Dearest Mama and Papa,

It is with rapture unalloyed that I antic.i.p.ate the joy you will experience when I tell you that within a few days of your receipt of this letter you will be able to clasp me in your arms.

You will be able to clasp Gargery too, if you should be so inclined, though I think such demonstrations would embarra.s.s him a good deal. You owe him forty-one pounds six s.h.i.+llings.

GLOSSARY OF ARABIC WORDS AND PHRASES.

afreet: evil demon

Allah yimessik.u.m bil-kheir: G.o.d give you a good evening

Amerikani: American

Alemani: German

baksheesh: tip, present

burko: face veil

dahabeeyah: houseboat

effendi: sir

essalamu 'aleik.u.m: peace be with you

fahddle: gossip

fellah (pi. fellahin): peasant

Feransdwi: French, Frenchman

galabeeyah: loose man's robe