The Golden One

The Golden One Read Online Free PDF

Book: The Golden One Read Online Free PDF
Author: Elizabeth Peters
said. ‘You don’t suppose I would allow my helpless, timid little wife to go alone to el-Wasa?’
    Nefret put out her tongue at Ramses. She had never entirely abandoned such childish gestures. This one appeared to amuse Ramses a great deal.
    ‘Ah,’ said Emerson, brightening. ‘Good. What about you, Peabody? Are you going with them?’
    ‘I have other plans,’ I said, folding my napkin.
    Emerson’s eyes narrowed into sapphirine slits. ‘Oh, no, you don’t, Peabody. You are coming with me. Or,’ he added, ‘to put it another way, I am going with
you.’
    The children left us and I sent Emerson off to finish dressing. I knew the process would take him some time, so I went to see how Sennia and her entourage were getting on. She and Basima and
Gargery – and the cat – were still at breakfast. Sennia had a perfectly astonishing appetite for so small a person. When she saw me, she dropped her slice of toast – jam-side down
– and ran to throw her arms round me, demanding to know where we were going that day.
    ‘You and Gargery and Basima will have to amuse yourselves today,’ I replied, in the tone that brooked no argument. ‘The rest of us have errands. I suggest a visit to the
Museum, or perhaps you would like to hire a carriage and go out to Giza.’
    ‘I do not believe that is a good plan, madam,’ said Gargery, winking furiously and wrinkling up his face in a most alarming manner. ‘After what happened last year –

    ‘That was last year, Gargery. The people responsible for that incident are no longer a threat to us.’
    ‘But, madam! She will want to take the da– the cat with us.’
    He scowled at Horus, who was sitting by Sennia’s chair cleaning his whiskers. Horus left off long enough to sneer at Gargery. All cats can sneer, but Horus did it better than most. He had
a very large head and the dark stripes on his face reminded one of a gargoyle.
    ‘Shall we go to Atiyeh?’ Basima asked. ‘Others of the family will want to see the Little Bird.’
    ‘And you will want to see them,’ I said, realizing I ought to have thought of it. Basima was a devoted and dedicated woman who seldom asked anything for herself. In fact, it was an
admirable idea; the village near Cairo where the northern branch of Abdullah’s family lived was not far off, and Sennia would be under the close supervision of dozens of affectionate friends
who would prevent her from getting into mischief. I expressed my approval, and Gargery was pleased to agree. Nobody asked Horus for his opinion.
    ‘Where is Ramses going?’ demanded Sennia, who was nothing if not persistent.
    ‘Somewhere you cannot go. We will be back in time for tea.’
    I left her pouting and Gargery fingering some object in his pocket which I hoped was not a pistol, though I feared it was. He took his duties as Sennia’s guard very seriously.
    After I had collected Emerson and made him put on a waistcoat and tie, and had changed my blouse, which bore several sticky handprints, we left the hotel and strolled along the Muski, waving
away offers from cabdrivers.
    ‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
    ‘Don’t be coy with me, Peabody,’ said Emerson amiably. ‘You are going to the suk, aren’t you, to bully, harass, and interrogate antiquities dealers about
Sethos.’
    ‘I thought I might ask a few questions of a few people, yes. Wouldn’t that be preferable to having the children prowling about the city after nightfall, with Nefret decked out as
Ramses’s – er – his – um – ’
    Emerson shuddered. ‘Good Gad, yes. But – but she didn’t mean it, did she?’
    ‘She meant it.’
    It is a nice healthy stroll from Shepheard’s to the Khan el Khalili, along the Muski and through the old Fatimite city with its mosques and gateways. Yet how the character of the city had
changed! Motorcars and motorbicycles wove hazardous paths among horse-drawn cabs and donkey-drawn carts and caravans of camels. Uniforms were everywhere, the men who
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