Curse of the Kings

XI The Great Discovery

During the days that followed I lived in a kind of daze.

There were times when I was not sure where I was and then Tybalt would be beside me, always Tybalt, holding me in his arms, reassuring me.

I had suffered a severe shock; and I was constantly told that everything was all right. All I had to do was remember that. And Tybalt was with me. He had come to me and rescued me; and that was all I must think of as yet.

"It is enough," I said.

I would lie still clinging to his hand; but when I dozed I would often awaken shouting that the black bat was in the ceiling and that his eyes were glittering. I would find myself crying: "Help. Help. God . . . Allah . . . Tybalt . . . help me."

It had been a terrible ordeal. There could be few who had been buried in one of the tombs of the Pharaohs and come out alive.

Who had done this to me? That was what I wanted to know. Where was Leopold Harding? And why had he taken me down into that underground vault and left me there?

Tybalt said: "We shall know in time. He has disappeared. But we shall find him."

"Why did he do it, Tybalt? Why? He said he was taking me to you. He said you had asked for me to come."

"I don't know. It is a mystery to us all. We are trying to find him. But he has disappeared. All you need think about now is that you are safe and I shall never allow you to be lost again."

"Oh, Tybalt," I said, "that makes me happy."

Tabitha was by my bed.

"I want to tell you something, Judith," she said. "You've been talking a great deal. We were shocked to know what was in your mind, how you could have believed such things possible. Tybalt knows I'm talking to you. We think it best so that you should understand right away. You thought that Tybalt and I were lovers. My dear Judith, how could you? I love Tybalt, yes ... I always have ... as I would love a son if I had one. I came to the household, as you know, when my husband was put into a home. Sir Edward's wife was alive then, but ill. Oh, I know it was wrong but Sir Edward and I loved each other. Nanny Tester knew it and spied on us. She was devoted to Sir Edward's wife and she hated me. She hated Sir Edward too. When Lady Travers died she blamed me. She all but suggested that I had murdered her. Sir Edward and I were lovers. As you know I accompanied him on some of his expeditions. We would have married had I been free. But I was not . . . until it was too late . . ."

"I understand now," I said.

"My dearest Judith. You were always so in love with Tybalt. He realizes how lucky he is. You never did things by halves as your aunts used to say. So you had to love Tybalt with that fierce possessiveness. Such determination as yours had to have its effect. Even Tybalt was vulnerable. He confided to me long before he asked you that he wanted to marry you . . . that was when you were Lady Bodrean's companion . . . and I must admit you didn't fit into the role very comfortably. There was nothing meek about you, which is a quality one always associates with companions."

"I can see," I said, "that my wild and foolish imagination built up the situation."

"It was not a real one. It did not exist outside your imagination, remember that. I've something else to tell you too. Terence Gelding has asked me to marry him."

"And you've accepted?"

"Not yet. But I think I shall."

"You'll be happy, Tabitha. At last."

"And you will be happy too. I never saw Tybalt work so hard or so fervently as when they were pulling down that door which separated him from you, not even when he believed himself to be on the verge of the biggest discovery of his career. No, I have never before seen that purpose, that desperate need . . ."

I laughed. "I do believe I must be of greater importance to him than a Pharaoh's undisturbed tomb after all."

"I am sure of it," said Tabitha.

Tybalt was by my bed.

"As soon as the doctor has seen you we are going home. I have asked Dr. Gunwen to come out and make sure that you are fit to travel."

"You have sent for Dr. Gunwen! And we are going home. Then is the expedition over?"

"Yes, it's over for me."

"My poor Tybalt."

"Poor. When you are here, alive and well."

Then he held me against him.

"At least," I said, "I found happiness that I never dreamed possible."

He did not answer but the way in which he held me told me that he shared my joy.

"Where is Hadrian?" I said. "Why doesn't Hadrian come to see me?"

"Do you want to see Hadrian?" asked Tybalt.

"But of course. He is all right, isn't he?"

"Yes," he said, "I'll send him to you."

I saw the change in Hadrian at once. I had never seen him so sober before.

"Oh, Hadrian!"

"Judith." He took my hands, kissed me on both cheeks. "That! To happen to you. It must have been frightful."

"It was."

"The swine!" he said. "The utter swine. Better to have put a bullet through your head than that. Judith, you'll forget it in time."

"I wonder whether one ever does forget such an experience."

"You will."

"Why did he do it, Hadrian?"

"God knows. He must be a madman."

"He seemed sane, an ordinary merchant who was excited to come across an expedition like ours because in a way it was a link with his business. What could have been his motive?"

"That we shall have to find out. Thank God, the conference ended when it did, about the time you and Harding entered that place. They had agreed that there was to be an extension of a few more weeks and when we came back to the palace, Tybalt wanted to tell you this. One of the servants had overheard Harding telling you that Tybalt wanted him to take you to him on the site and that you had gone off with him. Tybalt was alarmed. I think he has been more uneasy than he has let us know about a lot of things. We went to the site. We searched for you. We thought it was hopeless but Tybalt wouldn't give up. He kept going over and over the same ground. And finally we heard the knocking."

"What could have been his motive? I believe he tried to kill me in the Temple one day."

"But how could your death possibly profit him?"

"It's so mysterious."

"There was Theodosia. Do you think that was Leopold Harding?"

"No, that was the Pasha and his servants."

"The Pasha!"

"One of the workmen . . . Yasmin's lover . . . warned me. Yasmin was discovered in the tomb and they killed her. She was there on the day the Pasha came to us. You remember the Feast of the Nile."

"Good God, Judith. We're in a maze of intrigue."

"Theodosia's death could have been anyone's death. She was the unfortunate one. The bridge had been tampered with because the Pasha wanted a victim. It didn't matter which."

"But the Pasha has helped us."

"He wants us out of this place. It may well be that he will attempt to kill another of us."

Tybalt came in and sitting on my bed regarded me anxiously.

"You've been tiring Judith," he accused Hadrian.

I reveled in his concern but insisted that I was not tired and that we had been talking of Leopold Harding and the Pasha and once again looking for a reason why this attempt had been made on my life.

Tybalt said: "In the first place Harding must have known something about the layout of the ground."

"He had been there on several occasions," I reminded him.

"He knew too much. He must have acquired the knowledge from somewhere."

"It is certain," I said, "that Leopold Harding was not what he seemed. Tybalt, I wonder if that boy, Yasmin's lover, knows anything. It was he who told me that the Pasha wanted to drive us away."

"We'll send for him," said Tybalt.

"On some pretext," I warned. "No one must know that he is suspected of helping us. How can we be sure who is watching us."

The boy stood before us. We had decided that I should be the one who questioned him because I had won his confidence.

"Tell me what you know of Leopold Harding," I said.

The manner in which he looked over his shoulder assured me that he knew something.

"He comes at times to Egypt, Lady."

"He has been here often then? What else?"

"He is friend of the Pasha. Pasha give him beautiful things."

"What beautiful things?"

"All beautiful things. Jewels, stones, furniture ... all kinds. Leopold Harding goes away and comes back to the Pasha."

"He is a servant of the Pasha then?"

The boy nodded.

"Thank you," I said. "You have served me well."

"You very good lady," he said. "You good to Yasmin. You were shut in the tomb." His big dark eyes filled with horror.

"But I came out," I said.

"You very great wise lady. You and the great Sir will go back to the land of the rain. There you will live in peace and joy."

"Thank you," I said. "You have done me good service."

Dr. Gunwen arrived. He sat by my bed and talked to me. I asked how Dorcas and Alison were and he said: "Making preparations for your return."

I laughed.

"Yes, I'm going to prescribe an immediate return. I've spoken to your husband. I want you to be back there . . .a nice long rest in the country you know well. Help the rector's wife with the bazaar and jam-making sessions."

"It sounds wonderful," I said.

"Yes, get away from these foreign parts for a bit. I think then I shall be able to pronounce an immediate cure. There's nothing wrong with you, you know. Only that sort of incarceration can have a devastating effect. I think you're strong minded enough to suffer fewer ill effects than most."

"Thanks," I said. "Ill live up to that."

"Tybalt," I said, "we're going home."

"Yes," he answered. "Doctor's orders."

"Well, the expedition was over, wasn't it?"

"It's over," he said.

I lay against him and thought of green fields. It would be autumn now and the trees would be turning golden brown. The apple tree in Rainbow Cottage would be laden with russets and the pears would be ready for gathering. Dorcas and Alison would be fussing about the size of the plums.

I felt an inexpressible longing for home. I would turn Giza House into the home I wanted it to be. Darkness should be banished. I never wanted darkness again. I would have bright colors everywhere.

I said: "It will be wonderful to be home with you."

Now that I was well and we were making our preparations I learned more of what had happened.

Mustapha and Absalam had disappeared. Had they heard my explanations of how I suspected the Pasha? There was more than that. There was great excitement because in that narrow passage, which I had stumbled into and which they had entered when they broke the wall of the alcove in which Yasmin had been discovered, there was evidence that there was something beyond, and that the passage was not a blind alley after all.

It was the greatest discovery of the expedition and it was clear that Sir Edward had been aware of this on the night that he died.

Tabitha told me that Terence was taking over the leadership because Tybalt had decided to come home with me.

I said: "No. I can't allow it."

I stormed into our bedroom where he was putting some papers together.

"Tybalt," I said, "you're staying."

"Staying?" He wrinkled his brow.

"Here."

"I thought we were going home."

"Did you know that they are probably on the verge of one of the greatest discoveries in archaeology?"

"As a budding archaeologist you must learn never to count your chickens before they are hatched."

"Archaeology is all counting chickens before they're hatched. How could you go on with this continual work if you didn't believe it was going to be successful? That passage leads somewhere. You know it. It leads into a tomb. A very important one, because if it wasn't important why would they have gone to all the trouble with the subterfuge of blind alleys all over the place?"

"As usual, Judith, you are exaggerating. There were three blind alleys."

'"What does it matter? Three is a great many. It must be a wonderful tomb. You know it. Confess."

"I think that maybe they are on the verge of a great discovery."

"Which was the purpose of this expedition."

"Why yes."

"The expedition which you had been planning ever since your father died."

He nodded.

"And he died because he got too close. He was there in that place where I was."

"And because you were there we have been led to this."

"Then it wasn't in vain."

"My God, I'd rather never have found the way."

"Oh, Tybalt, I believe that. But you're going to stay now."

"Dr. Gunwen wishes you to go back as soon as possible." 1 wont go.

"But you must."

"I won't go alone and you are not coming with me."

"I'm getting ready to leave now."

"I will not have it," I said. "I will not let you go now. You are going on. It's your expedition. When finally you reach that tomb when you see the dust there undisturbed for three thousand years . . . and perhaps the footprint of the last person to leave . . . You are going to be the first. Do you think I would allow Terence Gelding to have that honor?"

"No," he said firmly. "We are going back."

But I was determined that it should not be so.

That was a battle of wills. I was exultant. It seemed so incongruous. I was standing out against his giving up that which I thought he would rather sacrifice anything for than miss.

I thought: I am loved . . . even as I love.

I simply refused to go. I wanted to stay. I could not possibly be happy if we left at this stage. I made Dr. Gunwen agree with me and I finally won the day.

It is well known what happened. That was not the discovery of the century.

Tybalt's expedition found the tomb a few days before the Pasha's men working from a different part of the hillside reached the burial chamber.

What treasures there would have been! It was clearly the burial place of a great King.

The Pasha had been working towards it for some time; he knew that there was a way in through the chambers in which I had spent those terrifying hours; that was why when Sir Edward discovered it he had died. He knew too that the alcove in which Yasmin had been discovered was a way in to the corridor and it may have been that he thought she had discovered something. Her death was a warning to any of his workpeople who might have thought of exploring the subterranean passages.

Alas, for Tybalt's great ambition. There was the sarcophagus, the mummy of the Pharaoh but robbers—perhaps the Pasha's ancestors—had rifled the tomb two thousand years before; and all that was left was a soul house in stone which they had not thought worth taking.

We heard that the Pasha had left for Alexandria. He did not come to bid us farewell. He would know through his servants that we had unraveled the mystery of Sir Edward's death and that of Theodosia.

We came back to England.

There was great rejoicing at Rainbow Cottage. I had asked that the aunts should not be told of my adventures because as I said to Tybalt, we shall go off to other places together and they would fret all the time and say "I told you so"—which is what I could not endure.

A few days after we had arrived home there was a paragraph in the press about an Englishman, a successful dealer in antiquities—mainly Egyptian—who had been found drowned in the Nile. His name was Leopold Harding. Whether his death was due to foul play was not certain. Head injuries had been discovered but these could have been caused by his striking his head against the boat when it was overturned. As a dealer in rare objects his clients had been mainly private collectors.

It was clear that he had been one of the Pasha's servants, just as those who had tampered with the bridge, the soothsayer, and Mustapha and Absalam had been. Harding disposed of priceless objects which the Pasha may have taken from tombs in the past, for naturally it would take him years to dispose of articles of this nature. Many would have to be broken up and if there were jewels decorating them, these would have to be sold separately, and these transactions would be carried out under the cover of legitimate business.

The Pasha had clearly been hoping to make the discovery of a lifetime. Sir Edward had found the same trail, so he had died through Mustapha and Absalam. Then Tybalt had arrived to take up where his father had left off and Theodosia had died as a warning. As we remained, Leopold Harding had been ordered to kill me. He had failed. The Pasha did not like failures; moreover he was no doubt afraid that Harding, over whom he would have less control than he had over his Egyptian servants, might betray the fact that he had been commanded to kill me. So Leopold Harding had been murdered as Yasmin had.

The adventure was behind me. Leopold Harding had attempted to take my life and had instead taken away my fears. Because of what he had done to me I had greater understanding than I had ever had before.

And Tybalt too. He will never of course be the man to show his feelings; and when perhaps he is most moved he is most reticent.

But for Leopold Harding and the Egyptian expedition, I might have gone on for years doubting Tybalt's love for me for he could never have expressed in words what he did when he came to get me and when he was ready to give up his life's ambition when he believed it—erroneously it turned out—to be within his reach.

"My poor Tybalt," I said, "I did want you to make the great discovery."

"I made a greater one."

"I know. Before you thought you wanted more than anything in the world to find the greatest treasure ever known to the world."

"But I did that," he said. "I discovered what you meant to me."

So how could I but be grateful to all that had gone before? And how could I not rejoice when I looked forward to the richness of the life we would lead together?