Agatha Christie - Death Comes as the End

"What a wonderful son I have!" she observed.

"I must not delay - there are some instructions to Hori -"

Muttering importantly, Imhotep hurried from the room. He managed to avoid meeting his mother's eye.

Esa gave an imperious nod of the head to Henet - and Henet glided obediently out of the room.

Nofret had risen. She and Esa stood looking at each other.

Esa said:

"So my son is leaving you behind? You had better go with him, Nofret."

"He wishes me to stay here."

Nofret's voice was soft and submissive. Esa gave a shrill chuckle.

"Little good that would be if you wanted to go! And why do you not want to go? I do not understand you. What is there for you here? You are a girl who has lived in cities - who has perhaps traveled. Why do you choose the monotony of day after day here - amongst those who - I am frank - do not like you - who in fact dislike you?"

"So you dislike me?"

Esa shook her head.

"No - I do not dislike you. I am old and though I can see but dimly - I can still see beauty and enjoy it. You are beautiful, Nofret, and the sight of you pleases my old eyes. Because of your beauty I wish you well. I am warning you. Go north with my son."

Again Nofret repeated:

"He wishes me to stay here."

The submissive tone was now definitely impregnated with mockery. Esa said sharply:

"You have a purpose in remaining here. What is it, I wonder? Very well, on your own head be it. But be careful. Act discreetly. And trust no one."

She wheeled abruptly and went out. Nofret stood quite still. Very slowly her lips curved upwards in a wide, catlike smile.

FIRST MONTH OF WINTER, 4TH DAY

Renisenb had got into the habit of going up to the Tomb almost every day. Sometimes Yahmose and Hori would he there together, sometimes Hori alone, sometimes there would be no one - but always Renisenb was aware of a curious relief and peace - a feeling almost of escape. She liked it best when Hori was there alone. There was something in his gravity, his incurious acceptance of her coming, that gave her a strange feeling of contentment. She would sit in the shade of the rock chamber entrance with one knee raised and her hands clasped around it, and stare out over the green belt of cultivation to where the Nile showed a pale gleaming blue and beyond it to a distance of pale soft fawns and creams and pinks, all melting hazily into each other.

She had come the first time, months ago now, on a sudden wish to escape from a world of intense femininity. She wanted stillness and companionship - and she had found them here. The wish to escape was still with her but it was no longer a mere revulsion from the stress and fret of domesticity. It was something more definite, more alarming.

She said to Hori one day: "I am afraid..."

"Why are you afraid, Renisenb?" He studied her gravely. Renisenb took a minute or two to think. Then she said slowly:

"Do you remember saying to me once that there were two evils - one that came from without and one from within?"

"Yes, I remember."

"You were speaking, so you said afterwards, about diseases that attack fruit and crops, but I have been thinking - it is the same with people."

Hori nodded slowly.

"So you have found that out... Yes, you are right, Renisenb."

Renisenb said abruptly:

"It is happening now - down there at the house. Evil has come - from outside! And I know who has brought it. It is Nofret."

Hori said slowly:

"You think so?"

Renisenb nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes, I know what I am talking about. Listen, Hori, when I came up to you here and said that everything was the same even to Satipy and Kait quarreling - that was true. But those quarrels, Hori, were not real quarrels. I mean Satipy and Kait enjoyed them - they made the time pass - neither of the women felt any real anger against each other! But now it is different. Now they do not just say things that are rude and unpleasant - they say things that they mean shall hurt - and when they have seen that a thing hurts, then they are glad! It is horrid, Hori - horrid! Yesterday Satipy was so angry that she ran a long gold pin into Kait's arm - and a day or two ago Kait dropped a heavy copper pan full of boiling fat over Satipy's foot. And it is the same everywhere - Satipy rails at Yahmose far into the night - we can all hear her. Yahmose looks sick and tired and hunted. And Sobek goes off to the village and stays there with women and comes back drunk and shouts and boasts and says how clever he is!"

"Some of these things are true, I know," said Hori slowly. "But why should you blame Nofret?"

"Because it is her doing! It is always the things she says - little things - clever things - that start it all. She is like the goad with which you prick oxen. She is clever, too, in knowing just what to say. Sometimes I think it is Henet who tells her..."

"Yes," said Hori thoughtfully. "That might well be."

Renisenb shivered.

"I don't like Henet. I hate the way she creeps about. She is so devoted to us all, and yet none of us want her devotion. How could my mother have brought her here and been so fond of her?"

"We have only Henet's word for that," said Hori dryly.

"Why should Henet be so fond of Nofret and follow her round and whisper and fawn upon her? Oh, Hori, I tell you I am afraid! I hate Nofret! I wish she would go away. She is beautiful and cruel and bad!"

"What a child you are, Renisenb."

Then Hori added quietly:

"Nofret is coming up here now."

Renisenb turned her head. Together they watched Nofret come slowly up the steep path that led up the cliff face. She was smiling to herself and humming a little tune under her breath.

When she reached the place where they were, she looked round her and smiled. It was a smile of amused curiosity.

"So this is where you slip away to every day, Renisenb."

Renisenb did not answer. She had the angry, defeated feeling of a child whose refuge has been discovered.

Nofret looked about her again.

"And this is the famous Tomb?"

"As you say, Nofret," said Hori.

She looked at him, her catlike mouth curving into a smile.

"I've no doubt you find it profitable, Hori. You are a good man of business, so I hear."

There was a tinge of malice in her voice, but Hori remained unmoved, smiling his quiet, grave smile.

"It is profitable to all of us... Death is always profitable..."

Nofret gave a quick shiver as she looked round her, her eyes sweeping over the offering tables, the entrance to the shrine and the false door.

She cried sharply:

"I hate death!"

"You should not." Hori's tone was quiet. "Death is the chief source of wealth here in Egypt. Death bought the jewels you wear, Nofret. Death feeds you and clothes you."

She stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Imhotep is a ka-priest - a mortuary priest - all his lands, all his cattle, his timber, his flax, his barley, are the endowment of a Tomb."

He paused and then went on reflectively:

"We are a strange people, we Egyptians. We love life - and so we start very early to plan for death. That is where the wealth of Egypt goes - into pyramids, into tombs, into tomb endowments."

Nofret said violently:

"Will you stop talking about death, Hori! I do not like it."

"Because you are truly Egyptian - because you love life, because - some times - you feel the shadow of death very near..."

"Stop!"

She turned on him violently. Then, shrugging her shoulders, she turned away and began to descend the path.

Renisenb breathed a sigh of satisfaction.

"I am glad she has gone," she said childishly. "You frightened her, Hori."

"Yes... Did I frighten you, Renisenb?"

"N-no." Renisenb sounded a little unsure. "It is true what you said, only I had never thought of it that way before. My father is a mortuary priest."