She had joined Imhotep at his request to discuss the question of Renisenb's marriage before he himself spoke to his daughter.
Imhotep, shrunken and fretful, was a shadow of his former self.
His manner had lost its pomposity and assurance.
He leaned now on his mother's indomitable will and determination.
As for Esa, she had been fearful - very fearful - of saying the wrong thing.
Lives might hang on an injudicious word.
Yes, she said at last, the idea of marriage was wise.
And there was no time to go far afield for a husband amongst more important members of the family clan.
After all, the female line was the important one - her husband would be only the administrator of the inheritance that came to Renisenb and Renisenb's children.
So it came to a question of Hori - a man of integrity, of old and long-proved friendship, the son of a small landowner whose estate had adjoined their own - or young Kameni, with his claims of cousinship.
Esa had weighed the matter carefully before speaking.
A false word now - and disaster might result.
Then she had made her answer, stressing it with the force of her indomitable personality. Kameni, she said, was undoubtedly the husband for Renisenb.
Their declarations and the necessary attendant festivities - much curtailed owing to the recent bereavements - might take place in a week's time. That is, if Renisenb was willing.
Kameni was a fine young man - together they would raise strong children.
Moreover, the two of them loved each other.
Well, Esa thought, she had cast her die.
The thing would be pegged out now on the gaming board.
It was out of her hands.
She had done what she thought expedient.
If it was hazardous as well, Esa liked a match at the gaming board quite as well as Ipy had.
Life was not a matter of safety - it must be hazarded to win the game.
She looked suspiciously round her room when she returned to it.
Particularly she examined the big wine jar.
It was covered over and sealed as she had left it.
She always sealed it when she left the room, and the seal hung safely round her neck.
Yes - she was taking no risks of that kind. Esa chuckled with malicious satisfaction.
Not so easy to kill an old woman.
Old women knew the value of life - and knew most of the tricks too.
Tomorrow - She called her little maid.
"Where is Hori? Do you know?"
The girl replied that she thought Hori was up at the Tomb in the rock chamber.
Esa nodded satisfaction.
"Go up to him there.
Tell him that tomorrow morning, when Imhotep and Yahmose are out on the cultivation, taking Kameni with them for the counting, and when Kait is at the lake with the children, he is to come to me here.
Have you understood that?
Repeat it."
The little maid did so, and Esa sent her off.
Yes, her plan was satisfactory.
The consultation with Hori would be quite private, since she would send Henet on an errand to the weaving sheds.
She would warn Hori of what was to come and they could speak freely together.
When the black girl returned with the message that Hori would do as she said, Esa gave a sigh of relief.
Now, these things settled, her weariness spread over her like a flood.
She told the girl to bring the pot of sweet-smelling ointment and massage her limbs.
The rhythm soothed her, and the unguent eased the aching of her bones.
She stretched herself out at last, her head on the wooden pillow, and slept - her fears for the moment allayed.
She woke much later with a strange sensation of coldness.
Her feet, her hands, were numbed and dead... It was like a constriction stealing all over her body.
She could feel it numbing her brain, paralyzing her will, slowing down the beat of her heart.
She thought: "This is death..."