Death Comes as the End

  ‘Yes–yes, that is true enough.’

  Esa gave a dry chuckle.

  ‘You have both eyes and ears in your head, most excellent Hori.’

  Renisenb argued:

  ‘But my father believes in her and is fond of her.’

  ‘My son is a fool and always has been,’ said Esa. ‘All men like flattery–and Henet applies flattery as lavishly as unguents are applied at a banquet! She may be really devoted to him–sometimes I think she is–but certainly she is devoted to no one else in this house.’

  ‘But surely she would not–she would not kill,’ Renisenb protested. ‘Why should she want to poison any of us? What good would it do her?’

  ‘None. None. As to why–I know nothing of what goes on inside Henet’s head. What she thinks, what she feels, that I do not know. But I sometimes think that strange things are brewing behind that cringing, fawning manner. And if so, her reasons are reasons that we, you and I and Hori, would not understand.’

  Hori nodded. ‘There is a rottenness that starts from within. I spoke to Renisenb once of that.’

  ‘And I did not understand you,’ said Renisenb. ‘But I am beginning to understand better now. It began with the coming of Nofret–I saw then how none of us were quite what I had thought us to be. It made me afraid…And now–’ she made a helpless gesture with her hands–‘everything is fear…’

  ‘Fear is only incomplete knowledge,’ said Hori. ‘When we know, Renisenb, then there will be no more fear.’

  ‘And then, of course, there is Kait,’ proceeded Esa.

  ‘Not Kait,’ protested Renisenb. ‘Kait would not try to kill Sobek. It is unbelievable.’

  ‘Nothing is unbelievable,’ said Esa. ‘That at least I have learned in the course of my life. Kait is a thoroughly stupid woman and I have always mistrusted stupid women. They are dangerous. They can see only their own immediate surroundings and only one thing at a time. Kait lives at the core of a small world which is herself and her children and Sobek as her children’s father. It might occur to her quite simply that to remove Yahmose would be to enrich her children. Sobek has always been unsatisfactory in Imhotep’s eyes–he is rash, impatient of control and not amenable. Yahmose was the son on whom Imhotep relied. But with Yahmose gone, Imhotep would have to rely on Sobek. She would see it, I think, quite simply like that.’

  Renisenb shivered. In spite of herself she recognized a true description of Kait’s attitude to life. Her gentleness, her tenderness, her quiet loving ways were all directed to her own children. Outside herself and her children and Sobek, the world did not exist for her. She looked at it without curiosity and without interest.

  Renisenb said slowly: ‘But surely she would have realized that it was quite possible for Sobek to come back, as he did, thirsty and also drink the wine?’

  ‘No,’ said Esa. ‘I don’t think that she would. Kait, as I say, is stupid. She would see only what she wanted to see–Yahmose drinking and dying and the business being put down to the magical intervention of our evil and beautiful Nofret. She would see only one simple thing–not various possibilities or probabilities, and since she did not want Sobek to die, it would never occur to her that he might come back unexpectedly.’

  ‘And now Sobek is dead and Yahmose is living! How terrible that must be for her if what you suggest is true.’

  ‘It is the kind of thing that happens to you when you are stupid,’ said Esa. ‘Things go entirely differently from the way you planned them.’

  She paused and then went on:

  ‘And now we come to Kameni.’

  ‘Kameni?’ Renisenb felt it necessary to say the word quietly and without protest. Once again she was uncomfortably aware of Hori’s eyes on her.

  ‘Yes, we cannot exclude Kameni. He has no known motive for injuring us–but then what do we really know of him? He comes from the North–from the same part of Egypt as Nofret. He helped her, willingly or unwillingly, who can say?–to turn Imhotep’s heart against the children that had been born to him. I have watched him sometimes and in truth I can make little of him. He seems to me, on the whole, a commonplace young man with a certain shrewdness of mind, and also, besides being handsome, with a certain something that draws after him the eyes of women. Yes, women will always like Kameni and yet I think–I may be wrong–that he is not one of those who have a real hold on their hearts and minds. He seems always gay and lighthearted and he showed no great concern at the time of Nofret’s death.

  ‘But all this is outward seeming. Who can tell what goes on in the human heart? A determined man could easily play a part…Does Kameni in reality passionately resent Nofret’s death, and does he seek to exact revenge for it? Since Satipy killed Nofret, must Yahmose, her husband, also die? Yes, and Sobek too, who threatened her–and perhaps Kait who persecuted her in petty ways, and Ipy who also hated her? It seems fantastic, but who can tell?’

  Esa paused. She looked at Hori.

  ‘Who can tell, Esa?’

  Esa peered at him shrewdly.

  ‘Perhaps you can tell, Hori? You think you know, do you not?’

  Hori was silent for a moment, then he said:

  ‘I have an idea of my own, yes, as to who poisoned that wine and why–but it is not as yet very clear–and indeed I do not see–’ He paused for a minute, frowning, then shook his head. ‘No, I could make no definite accusation.’

  ‘We talk only suspicion here. Go on, Hori, speak.’

  Hori shook his head.

  ‘No, Esa. It is only a nebulous thought…And if it were true then it is better for you not to know. The knowledge might be dangerous. And the same applies to Renisenb.’

  ‘Then the knowledge is dangerous to you, Hori?’

  ‘Yes, it is dangerous…I think, Esa, that we are all in danger–though Renisenb, perhaps, least.’

  Esa looked at him for some time without speaking.

  ‘I would give a great deal,’ she said at last, ‘to know what is in your mind.’

  Hori did not reply directly. He said, after a moment or two during which he seemed to be thinking:

  ‘The only clue to what is in people’s minds is in their behaviour. If a man behaves strangely, oddly, is not himself–’

  ‘Then you suspect him?’ asked Renisenb.

  ‘No,’ said Hori. ‘That is just what I mean. A man whose mind is evil and whose intentions are evil is conscious of that fact and he knows that he must conceal it at all costs. He dare not, therefore, afford any unusual behaviour…’

  ‘A man?’ asked Esa.

  ‘Man or woman–it is the same.’

  ‘I see,’ said Esa. She threw him a very sharp glance. Then she said: ‘And what of us? What of suspicion where we three are concerned?’

  ‘That, too, must be faced,’ said Hori. ‘I have been much trusted. The making of contracts and the disposal of crops has been in my hands. As scribe I have dealt with all the accounts. It could be that I had falsified them–as Kameni discovered had been done in the North. Then Yahmose, it may be, might have been puzzled, he might have begun to suspect. Therefore it would be necessary for me to silence Yahmose.’ He smiled faintly at his own words.

  ‘Oh, Hori,’ said Renisenb, ‘how can you say such things! No one who knew you would believe them.’

  ‘No one, Renisenb, knows anyone else. Let me tell you that yet once more.’

  ‘And I?’ said Esa. ‘Where does suspicion point in my case? Well, I am old. When a brain grows old, it turns sick sometimes. It hates where it used to love. I may be weary of my children’s children and seek to destroy my own blood. It is an affliction of an evil spirit that happens sometimes to those who are old.’

  ‘And I?’ asked Renisenb. ‘Why should I try to kill my brothers whom I love?’

  Hori said:

  ‘If Yahmose and Sobek and Ipy were dead, then you would be the last of Imhotep’s children. He would find you a husband and all here would come to you–and you and your husband would be guardians to Yahmose’s and Sobek’s c
hildren.’

  Then he smiled.

  ‘But under the sycamore tree, we do not suspect you, Renisenb.’

  ‘Under the sycamore tree, or not under the sycamore tree, we love you,’ said Esa.

  III

  ‘So you have been outside the house?’ said Henet, bustling in as Esa limped into the room. ‘A thing you have not done for almost a year!’

  Her eyes looked inquisitively at Esa.

  ‘Old people,’ said Esa, ‘have whims.’

  ‘I saw you sitting by the lake–with Hori and Renisenb.’

  ‘Pleasant company, both of them. Is there ever anything you do not see, Henet?’

  ‘Really, Esa, I don’t know what you mean! You were sitting there plain enough for all the world to see.’

  ‘But not near enough for all the world to hear!’

  Esa grinned and Henet bridled angrily.

  ‘I don’t know why you’re so unkind to me, Esa! You’re always suggesting things. I’m much too busy seeing that things are done as they should be in this house to listen to other people’s conversations. What do I care what people say!’

  ‘I’ve often wondered.’

  ‘If it were not for Imhotep who does appreciate me–’

  Esa cut in sharply:

  ‘Yes, if it were not for Imhotep! It is on Imhotep you depend, is it not? If anything were to happen to Imhotep–’

  It was Henet’s turn to interrupt.

  ‘Nothing will happen to Imhotep!’

  ‘How do you know, Henet? Is there such safety in this house? Something has happened to Yahmose and Sobek.’

  ‘That is true–Sobek died–and Yahmose nearly died–’

  ‘Henet!’ Esa leaned forward. ‘Why did you smile when you said that?’

  ‘I? Smile?’ Henet was taken aback. ‘You are dreaming, Esa! Is it likely I should smile–at such a moment–talking of such a terrible thing!’

  ‘It is true that I am nearly blind,’ said Esa. ‘But I am not quite blind. Sometimes, by a trick of light, by a screwing up of the eyelids, I see very well. It can happen that if anyone is talking to a person they know cannot see well, they are careless. They permit themselves an expression of face that on other occasions they would not allow. So I ask you again: Why do you smile with such secret satisfaction?’

  ‘What you say is outrageous–quite outrageous!’

  ‘Now you are frightened.’

  ‘And who would not be with the things going on in this house?’ cried Henet shrilly. ‘We’re all afraid, I’m sure, with evil spirits returning from the dead to torment us! But I know what it is, you’ve been listening to Hori. What did he say about me?’

  ‘What does Hori know about you, Henet?’

  ‘Nothing–nothing at all. You’d better ask what do I know about him?’

  Esa’s eyes grew sharp.

  ‘Well, what do you know?’

  Henet tossed her head.

  ‘Ah, you all despise poor Henet! You think she’s ugly and stupid. But I know what’s going on! There are a lot of things I know–indeed there’s not much I don’t know of what goes on in this house. I may be stupid, but I can count how many beans are planted to a row. Maybe I see more than clever people like Hori do. When Hori meets me anywhere he has a trick of looking as though I didn’t exist, as though he saw something behind me, something that isn’t there. He’d better look at me, that’s what I say! He may think me negligible and stupid–but it’s not always the clever ones who know everything. Satipy thought she was clever, and where is she now, I should like to know?’

  Henet paused triumphantly–then a qualm seemed to pass over her, and she visibly cringed a little, glancing nervously at Esa.

  But Esa seemed lost in some train of thought of her own. She had a shocked, almost frightened look of bewilderment on her face. She said slowly and musingly:

  ‘Satipy…’

  Henet said in her old whining tone:

  ‘I’m sorry, Esa, I’m sure, for losing my temper. Really, I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean anything of what I’ve been saying…’

  Looking up, Esa cut her short.

  ‘Go away, Henet. Whether you meant what you said, or did not mean what you said does not really matter. But you have uttered one phrase which has awakened new thoughts in my mind…Go, Henet, and I warn you–Be careful of your words and actions. We want no more deaths in this house. I hope you understand.’

  IV

  Everything is fear…

  Renisenb had found those words rising to her lips automatically during the consulation by the lake. It was only afterwards that she began to realize their truth.

  She set out mechanically to join Kait and the children where they were clustered by the little pavilion, but found that her footsteps lagged and then ceased as if of their own volition.

  She was afraid, she found, to join Kait, to look into that plain and placid face, in case she might fancy she saw there the face of a poisoner. She watched Henet bustle out on the porch and back again and her usual sense of repulsion was, she found, heightened. Desperately she turned towards the doorway of the courtyard, and a moment later encountered Ipy striding in, his head held high and a gay smile on his impudent face.

  Renisenb found herself staring at him. Ipy, the spoilt child of the family, the handsome, wilful little boy she remembered when she had gone away with Khay…

  ‘Why, Renisenb, what is it? Why are you looking at me so strangely?’

  ‘Was I?’

  Ipy laughed.

  ‘You are looking as half-witted as Henet.’

  Renisenb shook her head.

  ‘Henet is not half-witted. She is very astute.’

  ‘She has plenty of malice, that I know. In fact she’s a nuisance about the house. I mean to get rid of her.’

  Renisenb’s lips opened and closed. She whispered, ‘Get rid of her?’

  ‘My dear sister, what is the matter with you? Have you, too, been seeing evil spirits like that miserable, half-witted black child?’

  ‘You think everyone is half-witted!’

  ‘That child certainly was. Well, it’s true I’m inclined to be impatient of stupidity. I’ve had too much of it. It’s no fun, I can tell you, being plagued with two slow-going elder brothers who can’t see beyond their own noses! Now that they are out of the way, and there is only my father to deal with, you will soon see the difference. My father will do what I say.’

  Renisenb looked up at him. He looked unusually handsome and arrogant. There was a vitality about him, a sense of triumphant life and vigour, that struck her as above the normal. Some inner consciousness seemed to be affording him this vital sense of well-being.

  Renisenb said sharply:

  ‘My brothers are not both out of the way, as you put it. Yahmose is alive.’

  Ipy looked at her with an air of contemptuous mockery.

  ‘And I suppose you think he will get quite well again?’

  ‘Why not?’

  Ipy laughed.

  ‘Why not? Well, let us say simply that I disagree with you. Yahmose is finished, done for–he may crawl about for a little and sit and moan in the sun. But he is no longer a man. He has recovered from the first effects of the poison, but you can see, yourself, he makes no further headway.’

  ‘Then why doesn’t he?’ Renisenb demanded. ‘The physician said it would only take a little time before he was quite strong and himself again.’

  Ipy shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Physicians do not know everything. They talk wisely and use long words. Blame the wicked Nofret if you like–but Yahmose, your dear brother Yahmose, is doomed.’

  ‘And have you no fear yourself, Ipy?’

  ‘Fear? I?’ The boy laughed, throwing back his handsome head.

  ‘Nofret did not love you overwell, Ipy.’

  ‘Nothing can harm me, Renisenb, unless I choose to let it! I am young still, but I am one of those people who are born to succeed. As for you, Renisenb, you would do well to
be on my side, do you hear? You treat me, often, as an irresponsible boy. But I am more than that now. Every month will show a difference. Soon there will be no will but mine in this place. My father may give the orders, but though his voice speaks them, the brain that conceives them will be mine!’

  He took a step or two, paused, and said over his shoulder: ‘So be careful, Renisenb, that I do not become displeased with you.’

  As Renisenb stood staring after him, she heard a footstep and turned to see Kait standing beside her.

  ‘What was Ipy saying, Renisenb?’

  Renisenb said slowly:

  ‘He says that he will be master here soon.’

  ‘Does he?’ said Kait. ‘I think otherwise.’

  V

  Ipy ran lightly up the steps of the porch and into the house.

  The sight of Yahmose lying on a couch seemed to please him. He said gaily:

  ‘Well, how goes it, brother? Are we never to see you back on the cultivation? I cannot understand why everything has not gone to pieces without you!’

  Yahmose said fretfully in a weak voice:

  ‘I do not understand it at all. The poison is now climinated. Why do I not regain my strength? I tried to walk this morning and my legs would not support me. I am weak–weak–and what is worse, I seem to grow weaker every day.’

  Ipy shook his head with facile commiseration.

  ‘That is indeed bad. And the physicians give no help?’

  ‘Mersu’s assistant comes every day. He cannot understand my condition. I drink strong decoctions of herbs. The daily incantations are made to the goddess. Special food full of nourishment is prepared for me. There is no reason, so the physician assures me, why I should not rapidly grow strong. Yet instead, I seem to waste away.’

  ‘That is too bad,’ said Ipy.

  He went on, singing softly under his breath till he came upon his father and Hori engaged with a sheet of accounts. Imhotep’s face, anxious and careworn, lightened at the sight of his much-loved youngest son.

  ‘Here is my Ipy. What have you to report from the estate?’