Read Online Death Comes as the End by Agatha Christie - Free Book Online
Authors: Agatha Christie
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she felt! That is to say, she knew no words to fit the sensation. She thought, “I want - but what do I want?”
Was it Khay she wanted? Khay was dead - he would not come back. She said to herself, “I shall not think of Khay any more. What is the use? It is over, all that.”
Then she noticed another figure standing looking after the barge that was making for Thebes - and something forlorn about that figure - some emotion it expressed by its very motionlessness struck Renisenb, even as she recognised Nofret.
Nofret staring out at the Nile. Nofret - alone. Nofret thinking of - what?
With a little shock Renisenb suddenly realized how little they all knew about Nofret. They had accepted her as an enemy - a stranger - without interest or curiosity in her life or the surroundings from which she had come.
It must, Renisenb thought suddenly, be sad for Nofret alone here, without friends, surrounded only by people who disliked her.
Slowly Renisenb went forward until she was standing by Nofret's side. Nofret turned her head for a moment, then moved it back again and resumed her study of the Nile. Her face was expressionless.
Renisenb said timidly:
“There are a lot of boats on the River.”
“Yes.”
Renisenb went on, obeying some obscure impulse towards friendliness:
“Is it like this, at all, where you come from?”
Nofret laughed, a short, rather bitter laugh.
“No, indeed. My father is a merchant in Memphis. It is gay and amusing in Memphis. There are music and singing and dancing. Then my father travels a good deal. I have been with him to Syria - to Byblos beyond the Gazelle's Nose. I have been with him in a big ship on the wide seas.”
She spoke with pride and animation.
Renisenb stood quite still, her mind working slowly, but with growing interest and understanding.
“It must be very dull for you here,” she said slowly.
Nofret laughed impatiently.
“It is dead here - dead - nothing but ploughing and sowing and reaping and grazing - and talk of crops - and wanglings about the price of flax.”
Renisenb was still wrestling with unfamiliar thoughts as she watched Nofret sideways.
And suddenly, as though it was something physical, a great wave of anger and misery and despair seemed to emanate from the girl at her side.
Renisenb thought: “She is as young as I am - younger. And she is the concubine of that old man, that fussy, kindly, but rather ridiculous old man, my father...”
What did she, Renisenb, know about Nofret? Nothing at all. What was it Hori had said yesterday when she had cried out “She is beautiful and cruel and bad”?
“You are a child, Renisenb.” That was what he had said. Renisenb knew now what he meant. Those words of hers had meant nothing - you could not dismiss a human being so easily. What sorrow, what bitterness, what despair lay behind Nofret's cruel smile? What had Renisenb, what had any of them, done to make Nofret welcome?
Renisenb said stumblingly, childishly:
“You hate us all - I see why - we have not been kind - but now - it is not too late. Can we not, you and I, Nofret, can we not be sisters to each other? You are far away from all you know - you are alone - can I not help?”
Her words faltered into silence. Nofret turned slowly,
For a minute or two her face was expressionless - there was even, Renisenb thought, a momentary softening in her eyes. In that early morning stillness, with its strange clarity and peace, it was as though Nofret hesitated - as though Renisenb's words had touched in her some last core of irresolution.
It was a strange moment, a moment Renisenb was to remember afterwards....
Then, gradually, Nofret's expression changed. It became heavily malevolent, her eyes smoldered. Before the fury of hate and malice in her glance, Renisenb recoiled a step,
Nofret said in a low, fierce voice:
“Go! I want nothing from any of you. Stupid fools, that is what you all are, every one of you...”
She paused a moment, then wheeled round and
Was it Khay she wanted? Khay was dead - he would not come back. She said to herself, “I shall not think of Khay any more. What is the use? It is over, all that.”
Then she noticed another figure standing looking after the barge that was making for Thebes - and something forlorn about that figure - some emotion it expressed by its very motionlessness struck Renisenb, even as she recognised Nofret.
Nofret staring out at the Nile. Nofret - alone. Nofret thinking of - what?
With a little shock Renisenb suddenly realized how little they all knew about Nofret. They had accepted her as an enemy - a stranger - without interest or curiosity in her life or the surroundings from which she had come.
It must, Renisenb thought suddenly, be sad for Nofret alone here, without friends, surrounded only by people who disliked her.
Slowly Renisenb went forward until she was standing by Nofret's side. Nofret turned her head for a moment, then moved it back again and resumed her study of the Nile. Her face was expressionless.
Renisenb said timidly:
“There are a lot of boats on the River.”
“Yes.”
Renisenb went on, obeying some obscure impulse towards friendliness:
“Is it like this, at all, where you come from?”
Nofret laughed, a short, rather bitter laugh.
“No, indeed. My father is a merchant in Memphis. It is gay and amusing in Memphis. There are music and singing and dancing. Then my father travels a good deal. I have been with him to Syria - to Byblos beyond the Gazelle's Nose. I have been with him in a big ship on the wide seas.”
She spoke with pride and animation.
Renisenb stood quite still, her mind working slowly, but with growing interest and understanding.
“It must be very dull for you here,” she said slowly.
Nofret laughed impatiently.
“It is dead here - dead - nothing but ploughing and sowing and reaping and grazing - and talk of crops - and wanglings about the price of flax.”
Renisenb was still wrestling with unfamiliar thoughts as she watched Nofret sideways.
And suddenly, as though it was something physical, a great wave of anger and misery and despair seemed to emanate from the girl at her side.
Renisenb thought: “She is as young as I am - younger. And she is the concubine of that old man, that fussy, kindly, but rather ridiculous old man, my father...”
What did she, Renisenb, know about Nofret? Nothing at all. What was it Hori had said yesterday when she had cried out “She is beautiful and cruel and bad”?
“You are a child, Renisenb.” That was what he had said. Renisenb knew now what he meant. Those words of hers had meant nothing - you could not dismiss a human being so easily. What sorrow, what bitterness, what despair lay behind Nofret's cruel smile? What had Renisenb, what had any of them, done to make Nofret welcome?
Renisenb said stumblingly, childishly:
“You hate us all - I see why - we have not been kind - but now - it is not too late. Can we not, you and I, Nofret, can we not be sisters to each other? You are far away from all you know - you are alone - can I not help?”
Her words faltered into silence. Nofret turned slowly,
For a minute or two her face was expressionless - there was even, Renisenb thought, a momentary softening in her eyes. In that early morning stillness, with its strange clarity and peace, it was as though Nofret hesitated - as though Renisenb's words had touched in her some last core of irresolution.
It was a strange moment, a moment Renisenb was to remember afterwards....
Then, gradually, Nofret's expression changed. It became heavily malevolent, her eyes smoldered. Before the fury of hate and malice in her glance, Renisenb recoiled a step,
Nofret said in a low, fierce voice:
“Go! I want nothing from any of you. Stupid fools, that is what you all are, every one of you...”
She paused a moment, then wheeled round and
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