"We must be deep in the mountainside," I said.

"Look at this," said Tybalt. "It is the most elaborate chamber as yet and it is a sort of anteroom to the one in which the sarcophagus was found."

"How grand it all is!"

"Yet the person buried here was no Pharaoh. A man of some wealth possibly, but the entrance to this tomb shows us that he was not of the highest rank."

"And this is the tomb which was excavated by your father."

"Months of hard work, expectation, and excitement, and this is what he found. That someone had been here before. We had opened up the mountainside, found the exact spot which led to the underground tunnel and when we found it ... Well, you can imagine our excitement, Judith. And then, just another empty tomb!"

"Then your father died."

"But he discovered something, Judith. I'm certain of it. That was why I came back. He wanted me to come back. I knew it. That was what he was trying to tell me. It could only mean one thing. He must have discovered that there was another tomb—the entrance to which is here somewhere."

"If it were, wouldn't you see it?"

"It could be cunningly concealed. We could find nothing here that led beyond this. But somewhere in this tomb, I felt sure, there was a vital clue. I may have found it. Look!

You see this slight unevenness in the ground. There could be something behind this wall. We are going to work on it ... keeping it as secret as we can. We may be wasting our time, but I don't think so."

"Do you think that because your father discovered this he was murdered?"

Tybalt shook his head. "That was a coincidence. It may have been the excitement which killed him. In any case, he died and because he had decided not to tell anyone, not even me, death caught up with him and there was no time."

"It seems strange that he should die at such a moment."

"Life is strange, Judith." He held the lantern and looked down at me. "How many of us know when our last moment has come."

I felt a sudden shiver of fear run down my spine.

I said: "What an eerie place this is."

"What do you expect of a tomb, Judith?"

"Even you look different here."

He put his free hand to my throat and touched it caressingly. "Different, Judith, how different?"

"Like someone I don't know everything about."

"But who does know everything about another person."

"Let's go," I said.

"You are cold." He was standing very close to me and I could feel his warm breath on my face. "What are you afraid of, Judith? Of the Curse of the Pharaohs, of the wrath of the gods, of me . . . ?"

"I'm not afraid," I lied. "I just want to be out in the air. It's oppressive in here."

"Judith . . ."

He stepped towards me. I couldn't understand myself. I sensed evil in this place. All my instincts were crying out for me to escape. Escape from what! This mystic aura of doom? From Tybalt!

I was about to speak but his hand was over my mouth.

"Listen," he whispered.

Then I heard it distinctly in the silence of this place . . . a light footfall.

"Someone is in the tomb," whispered Tybalt.

Tybalt released me. He stood very still listening.

"Who is there?" he called. His voice sounded strange and hollow, eerie, unnatural.

There was no answer.

"Keep close to me," said Tybalt. We mounted the staircase to the chamber, Tybalt holding the lantern high above his head, cautiously going step by step resisting the impulse to hurry, which might have been dangerous I supposed.

I followed at his heels. We went into the tunnel.

There was no one there.

As we passed through the door and stepped over the heaps of brown earth, the warm night air enveloped me with relief and a pleasure that was almost bliss.

My legs felt numb; my skin was damp and I was trembling visibly.

There was no one in sight.

Tybalt turned to me.

"Poor Judith, you look as if you've had a fright."

"It was rather alarming."

"Someone was in there."

"Perhaps it was one of your fellow workers."

"Why didn't he answer when I called?"

"He might have thought you would have been displeased with him for prowling about there at night."

"Come on," he said, "we'll get the arabiya, and go back to the palace."

Everything was normal now—the Nile with its strange beauty and its odors, the palace, and Tybalt.

I could not understand what had come over me in the depth of that tomb. Perhaps it was the strangeness of the atmosphere, the knowledge that three thousand years or so before a dead man had been laid there; perhaps there was something in the powers of these gods which could even make me afraid of Tybalt.

Afraid of Tybalt! The husband who had chosen me as his wife! But had he not chosen me rather suddenly—in fact, so unexpectedly that the aunts, who loved me dearly, had been apprehensive for me? I was a rich woman. I had to remember that. And Tabitha, what of Tabitha? I had seen her and Tybalt together now and then. They always seemed to be in earnest conversation. He discussed his work with her more than he did with me. I still lacked her knowledge and experience in spite of all my efforts. Tabitha had a husband . . .

There was evil in that tomb and it had planted these thoughts in my mind. Where was my usual common sense? Where was that trait in my character which had always looked for the challenge in life and been so ready to grasp it?

Idiot! I told myself. You're as foolish as Theodosia.

On the river side of the palace was a terrace and I liked to sit there watching the life of the Nile go by. I would find a spot in the shade—it was getting almost unbearably hot now—and idly watch. Very often one of the servants would bring me a glass of mint tea. I would sit there, sometimes alone, sometimes joined by some member of our party. I would watch the black clad women chattering together as they washed their clothes in the water; the river seemed to be the center of social life rather like the sales of work and the socials over which Dorcas and Alison used to preside in my youth. I would hear their excited voices and high-pitched laughter and wondered what they talked of. It was exciting when the dahabiyehs with their sails shaped like curved Oriental swords sailed by.

Ramadan moon had waned and now it was the time of the Little Bairam. Houses had been spring cleaned and I had seen rugs put on the flat roofs of the houses to dry in the sun. I had seen the slaughter of animals on those rooftops and I knew that this was part of a ritual, and that there would be feasting and salting of animals which were to be eaten throughout the year.

I was becoming immersed in the customs of Egypt and yet I could never grow used to its strangeness. ,

One late afternoon just as the palace was awaking after the siesta Hadrian came out and sat beside me.

"It seems ages since we've had one of our little chats," he said.

"Where have you been all the time?"

"Your husband is a hard taskmaster, Judith."

"It's necessary with slothful disciples like you."

"Who said I was slothful?"

"You must be or you wouldn't complain. You'd be all agog to get on as Tybalt is."

"He's the leader, my dear Judith. His will be the kudos when the great day comes."

"Nonsense. It will belong to you all. And when is the great day coming?"

"Ah, there's the rub. Who knows? This new venture may lead to nothing."

"The new venture?"

"Tybalt mentioned that he had told you or I should not have spoken of it."

"Oh yes, he showed me."

"Well, you know that we think we have a lead."

"Yes."

"Well, who shall say? And if we do find something tremendous, that is going to bring glory to the world of archaeology but little profit to us."

"Not still worried about money, Hadrian?"

"You can depend on my always being in that state."

"Then you are highly extravagant."

"I have certain vices."

"Couldn't you curb them?"

"I will try to, Judith."

"I'm glad of that. Hadrian, why did you become an archaeologist?"

"Because my uncle—your papa—ordained it."

"I don't believe you have any deep feeling for it."

"Oh, I'm interested. We can't all be fanatics, like some people I could name."

"Without the fanatics you wouldn't get very far."

"Did you know, by the way, that we are to have a visit from the Pasha?"

"No."

"He has sent word. A sort of edict. He will honor his palace with his presence."

"That will be interesting. I suppose I shall have to receive him ... or perhaps Tabitha."

"You flatter yourselves. In this world women are of small importance. You will sit with hands folded and eyes lowered, and speak when you are spoken to—a rather difficult feat for our Judith."

"I am not an Arab woman and I shall certainly not behave like one."

"I didn't think you would somehow, but when you're in Rome you do as the Romans do ... and I believe that is a rule for any place you might mention."

"When is the great man coming?"

"Very soon. I've no doubt you will be informed."

We talked for some time about the old days at Keverall Court.

"A closely knit community," he said. "Sabina and the parson, Theodosia and Evan, you and Tybalt. I am the odd man out."

"Why, you are one of the party and always will be."

"I'm one of the unlucky ones."

"Luck! That's not in our stars but in ourselves, so I've heard."

"I've heard it too and I'm sure both you and Shakespeare can't be wrong. Didn't I tell you I was one who never seized my opportunities."

"You could begin now."

He turned to me and his eyes were very serious.

"In certain circumstances I could." He leaned forward and patted my hand suddenly. "Good old Judith," he went on. "What a bully you were! Do you bully Tybalt? I'm sure you don't. Now I'm the sort of man who needs a bully in my life."

I was uneasy. Was this Hadrian's flippant way of telling me that in the past he had thought that he and I would be the ones to share our lives?

"You used to complain of me enough."

"It was a bitter sweet sort of complaint. Promise you won't stop bullying me, Judith."

"I'll be frank with you, as I always have been."

"That's what I want," he said.

From the minaret came the voice of the muezzin.

The women by the river stood up heads bowed; an old squatting beggar on the roadside tottered to his feet and stood in prayer.

We silently watched.

A subtle change had crept over the palace because the Pasha was coming. There was a growing tension in the kitchens where one heard excited voices; floors were washed with greater vigor than ever before; and brass was polished to look like gleaming gold. The servants lent to us by Hakim Pasha knew that the tolerant reign of the visitors was temporarily at an end.

Tybalt told me what we must expect.

"He is the governor of these parts, one might say. He owns most of the land. It is because he has lent us his palace that we are treated so well. He has made it easy for us to get our workmen, and they will know that to work well for us is to work well for the Pasha. So they dare do no other. He was of great assistance to my father. You will see that he comes like a great potentate."

"Shall we be able to entertain him in the manner to which he is accustomed?"

"We'll manage. After all we are entertaining him in his own palace and his servants will know what is expected. I remember when he came before it worked quite smoothly. That was about three weeks before my father's death."

"How fortunate that he is interested in archaeology."

"Oh there is no doubt of his interest. I remember my father's taking him on a tour of the site. He was completely fascinated by everything he saw. I expect I shall do the same."

"And what will my role be?"

"Just to behave naturally. He is a much traveled man and does not expect our customs to be the same as his. I think you will be amused by his visit. Tabitha will tell you about it. She will remember how he came here when my father was alive."

I asked Tabitha and she told me that they had been apprehensive but they need not have been for the Pasha had been goodness itself and as eager to please them as they to please him.