The Ape Who Guards the Balance Read Online Free PDF Page B

cheeks. “The devil it is! You came sneaking round to the hospital to find out whether I was really there. Well, I wasn’t, was I?”
    “Evidently not.”
    They glared at one another. David decided it was time to intervene, before one of them said something really rude.
    “I am sure Ramses only went by to see whether you wanted to accompany him to the suffragist meeting. Isn’t that right, Ramses?”
    Ramses nodded. It was the best he could do; a spoken “yes” would have stuck in his throat.
    “You needn’t have brought it up in front of Aunt Amelia and the Professor.”
    “You started it.”
    “By teasing you about Christabel?” Nefret was never able to stay angry for long. The corners of her mouth quivered.
    “You know I don’t give a damn about the damned girl!”
    “Oh, dear, what an ungentlemanly thing to say. But she—”
    “Don’t begin again,” David exclaimed. He never knew whether to laugh or swear or sympathize when the two of them got into one of these exchanges; Nefret was one of the few people in the world who could make Ramses lose his temper, and David was probably the only person in the world who knew why. Hoping to distract them, he went on, “You came at an opportune moment, Nefret; we were discussing the reappearance of the Master Criminal, and Ramses was about to tell me what he knows of that mysterious individual.”
    Nefret sat up and crossed her legs. “I’m sorry, Ramses,” she said cheerfully. “I shouldn’t have accused you of spying on me.”
    “No.”
    “It’s your turn to apologize.”
    “What for?” He caught David’s eye and got a grip on himself. “Oh, very well. I apologize.”
    “All forgiven, then. I am glad I came, for I am dying of curiosity about Sethos. To be honest, I had come to think of him as . . . well, not exactly a figment of Aunt Amelia’s imagination, but an example of her tendency to exaggerate.”
    “Her fondness for melodrama, you mean.” Ramses seated himself on the floor, Arab-style.
    Nefret grinned and took the cigarette he offered her. “Neither of us is being entirely fair, Ramses. Aunt Amelia doesn’t have to exaggerate. Things happen to her. She was holding something back, though. You can always tell because she looks you straight in the eye and speaks briskly and firmly. The Professor was concealing something too. What is the secret about Sethos that neither of them wants known?”
    “I have told you some of it.”
    “Bits and pieces. It was from him you learned the art of disguise—”
    “That is not entirely accurate,” said Ramses. “I fell heir to Sethos’s collection of disguises, after Father forced him to flee from his headquarters, but I had to reason out his methods for myself and improve on them.”
    “I beg your pardon,” said Nefret.
    “Granted.”
    “Ramses,” David began.
    “Yes. I have told both of you what I know of the man from my personal encounters with him. On all those occasions he was disguised, and very well, too; his impersonation of a crotchety old American lady was absolutely brilliant. At the end of that particular adventure he succeeded in abducting Mother, and held her prisoner for several hours. I don’t know what transpired during that interval. I doubt that even my father knows for certain. That is why the mere mention of Sethos maddens him so.”
    Nefret’s mouth hung open. “Good Gad,” she gasped. “Are you saying he—she—they—”
    “I doubt it,” Ramses said coolly. “I have never known two people so attached to one another as my parents. It is very embarrassing at times,” he added, scowling.
    “I think it’s beautiful,” Nefret said with a fond smile. “No, Aunt Amelia would never be untrue to the Professor, but if she was in that evil man’s power—”
    Ramses shook his head. “She would not have spoken of Sethos with such forbearance if he had forced himself on her. However, there is no doubt in my mind that he was in love with her, and it is possible