He dare not, therefore, afford any unusual behavior..."
"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 have 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 brother 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 children."
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.
Chapter 17 SECOND MONTH OF SUMMER, 1ST DAY
"So you have been outside the house?" said Henet, bustling in as Esa limped into her 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?