Seeing a Large Cat Read Online Free PDF

caught up on the news. They had become an annual custom and were, I had been assured, greatly enjoyed by all who participated. Emerson enjoyed them too; he only complained because he had got in the habit of complaining.
    My principal reasons for delaying our departure were, however, precisely the ones I have mentioned. We were busy all next day laying in supplies and buying new clothes for the boys. At least / was busy. Ramses grudgingly agreed to have his measurements taken by boot makers and tailors; after that he and David went off together, ostensibly to finish their shopping. When they returned to the dahabeeyah that evening the dusty, wrinkled condition of their garments strongly suggested they had been prowling the narrow alleys of the old town. Both reeked of tobacco.
    They got away from me before I could deliver the lecture I intended, with the disingenuous excuse that it was late and they wanted to wash up and change before dinner. I turned in exasperation to Emerson, who was placidly sipping his whiskey and stroking the cat. The cat in question was Sekhmet, who had coolly pushed her father, Anubis, off Emerson's knee in order to take his place. Anubis, growling under his breath, had gone off to a corner to sulk.
    "Emerson, you must talk to them. Heaven only knows where they went today, and I suspect they were smoking cigarettes."
    "We can count ourselves fortunate if that is all they were smoking," Emerson said. "I don't approve of young people indulging in tobacco either." He paused to fill his pipe. "But it is not so harmful as hashish."
    "I didn't smell that on their clothes," I admitted.
    "Or-er-anything else?" Emerson inquired.
    "I don't know what you mean, Emerson. That is ... Good gracious! You are not suggesting they may have gone to.. . .
    To be with . . . They are only boys, they aren't old enough to..."
    "Now, Peabody, calm yourself and listen. I know it is difficult for a fond mother to admit that her little boy is growing up, but you cannot go on treating Ramses like a child. He has led an unusual life. One might say he stands astride two worlds. In one of them he is still a schoolboy-but let me assure you, Peabody, lads of his age even in England are old enough to-er-well, you understand me. In Egypt, where Ramses has spent most of his life, some of his contemporaries are already husbands and fathers. The experiences of this past summer have surely strengthened the influence of that second world. You may be certain the sheikh gave him the full responsibilities and privileges of an adult."
    "Heavens!" I exclaimed. "I cannot believe you mean . . . What do you mean?"
    Emerson patted my hand. "I mean that Ramses-and David- are now of an age where they are more likely to heed my advice than yours. I am convinced they are not so lacking in good sense or moral fortitude as to consort with those poor, wretched women in El Was'a, but you may be sure I will raise the subject with both of them. Suppose you leave the lectures to me, eh? That goes for you, too, Nefret."
    "Oh, good Gad," I exclaimed. She had been so quiet I had forgot she was there-curled up in her favorite place on the divan, reading-or I would never have allowed Emerson to refer, however obliquely, to such a shocking subject.
    Nefret said coldly, "If I believed either of them would so degrade himself, I would do more than lecture."
    "They wouldn't," Emerson said, sounding a little rattled. "So don't. Enough of this. I cannot imagine how we get onto such subjects."
    The arrival of the steward with the daily post ended the discussion, though it certainly did not stop me thinking about it. Emerson sorted through the letters and messages and passed on the ones directed to me or to Nefret. "Two for you, Ramses," he said as the boys came in. "And one for David."
    The aura of attar of roses, which I had not, thank heaven, detected on Ramses's clothes, now wafted strongly to me from the dainty pink envelope he held in his hand. "Whom is that from?" I