Have you nothing better to do than bleat out curses against an unfortunate girl who took your fancy and who indulged in a little feminine spite and malice, goaded by the stupid behavior of the stupid wives of your stupid sons?"
"A little spite and malice - is that what you call it, Esa? When, of my three sons, two are dead and one is dying!
Oh! that my mother should say such things to me!"
"It seems necessary that someone should say them, since you cannot recognize facts for what they are.
Wipe out of your mind this silly superstitious belief that a dead girl's spirit is working this evil.
It was a live hand that held Ipy's head down in the lake to drown, and a live hand that dropped poison into the wine that Yahmose and Sobek drank.
You have an enemy, yes, Imhotep, but an enemy here in this house.
And the proof is that since Hori's advice was taken and Renisenb herself prepares Yahmose's food, or a slave prepares it while she watches, and that her hand carries it to him, since then, I say, Yahmose has gained health and strength every day.
Try to stop being a fool, Imhotep, and moaning and beating your head - in all of which Henet is being extremely helpful -"
"Oh, Esa, how you misjudge me!"
"In which, I say, Henet assists you - either because she is a fool too, or for some other reason -"
"May Re forgive you, Esa, for your unkindness to a poor lonely woman!"
Esa swept on, shaking her stick in an impressive gesture.
"Pull yourself together, Imhotep, and think. Your dead wife Ashayet, who was a very lovely woman and not a fool, by the way, may exert her influence for you in the other world but can hardly be expected to do your thinking for you in this one!
We have got to act, Imhotep, for if we do not, then there will be more deaths."
"A live enemy?
An enemy in this house?
You really believe that, Esa?"
"Of course I believe it, because it is the only thing that makes sense."
"But then we are all in danger?"
"Certainly we are.
In danger, not of spells and spirit hands, but of human agency - of live fingers that drop poison. In food and drink, of a human figure that steals up behind a boy who returns late at night from the village and forces his head down into the waters of the lake!"
Imhotep said thoughtfully: "Strength would be needed for that."
"On the face of it, yes, but I am not sure.
Ipy had drunk much beer in the village. He was in a wild and boastful mood.
It may be that he returned home unsteady on his feet and that, having no fear of the person who accosted him, he bent of his own accord to bathe his face in the lake.
Little strength would be needed then."
"What are you trying to say, Esa?
That a woman did this thing?
But it is impossible - the whole thing is impossible - there can be no enemy in this house or we should know it.
I should know it!"
"There is an evil of the heart, Imhotep, that does nor show in the face."
"You mean that one of our servants, or a slave -"
"No servant and no slave, Imhotep."
"One of ourselves?
Or else - do you mean Hori or Kameni?
But Hori is one of the family. He has proved himself faithful and trustworthy.
And Kameni - he is a stranger, true, but he is of our blood and he has proved his devotion by his zeal in my service.
Moreover, he came to me only this morning and urged that I should consent to his marriage with Renisenb."
"Oh, he did, did he?" Esa showed interest.
"And what did you say?"
"What could I say?" Imhotep was fretful.
"Is this a time to talk of marriage?
I said as much to him."
"And what did he say to that?"
"He said that in his opinion this was the time to talk of marriage. He said that Renisenb was not safe in this house."
"I wonder," said Esa.
"I very much wonder... Is she? I thought she was - and Hori thought so - but now..."
Imhotep went on. "Can one have marriages and funeral ceremonies going on side by side?
It is not decent.