The Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters

Author:Elizabeth Peters
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780380731954
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 2000-01-06T08:00:00+00:00

IX

HOW long the discussion continued I cannot say; but I know that the housemaids complained next day of the strong smell of pipe smoke and beer in Ramses’ room, and I was obliged, in all fairness, to clear him of the imputed accusation. When I awoke, Emerson was at my side, sleeping as sweetly as if he had nothing whatever on his conscience, and smiling in a way that roused the direst suspicions. He had taken care not to disturb me when he came to bed.

Though I had slept only a few hours, I felt quite fresh and full of ambition. Righteous indignation has that effect on my character.

As I sat at breakfast looking through the morning post I was pleased to find letters from Evelyn and from Rose. The latter elaborated on the recovery of Bastet in terms that made plain the writer’s affection for that estimable animal, and reassured me as to its health. Rose’s conjectures concerning the reasons for the cat’s absence and subsequent return need not be repeated here, for I have already touched upon them; and succeeding events were to prove her – and me – quite correct. (Though no one has ever explained, to my satisfaction, why a feline of such outstanding intelligence should have been so retarded in this particularly interesting area.)

Evelyn’s letter contained the usual amiable domestic news, but unfortunately she had seen the reports of the riot at the Museum, and her alarm and distress filled several pages of notepaper. She urged me to leave London at once; ‘for,’ as she wrote, ‘one cannot be sure what will happen when persons of unsound mind are involved, and you, my dearest Amelia, have an extraordinary propensity for attracting such persons.’

I promised myself I must write her immediately to reassure her – not only about what she had read in the newspapers, but what she was about to read. I could only hope she and Walter did not take the Morning Mirror. Not that the unkempt individual in the photograph bore the slightest resemblance to my handsome husband. His ruffianly costume, his ferocious snarl, and the loosened false beard (whose position gave the impression that a small furry animal had seized him by the throat) would have rendered him unrecognizable, were it not for the fact that the caption underneath the photograph removed any possible misapprehensions on the part of the reader. (‘Professor Radcliffe Emerson, the well-known Egyptologist, knocking down a constable at the Bow Street police station.’) The accompanying text made a number of libellous allegations and did not fail to mention the establishment in which we had been found. (I could almost hear my dear Evelyn’s cry of horror: ‘An opium den! Walter, what will they do next?’)

Kevin’s story in the Daily Yell made no reference to the Bow Street affair (for reasons which should be evident); but he made a nice, lurid yarn out of the Affair of the Sinister Statues, as he termed it. The shawabtys had been received by several other scholars, but, as might have been expected, Emerson was again the featured player.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.