Read Online The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters - Free Book Online

were a spear and the fish were Mr. Petrie, boiled, flayed and at his mercy.
    "He lied to me," he grunted. "His publication was not ready. It was late this year. Did you know that, Amelia?"
    I did know. He had told me approximately fifteen times. Emerson brooded darkly on the iniquities of Petrie and de Morgan. "He did it deliberately, Amelia. Mazghunah is close to Dahshoor; he will make sure I receive daily reports of his discoveries while I dig up Roman mummies and degenerate pottery."
    "Then don't take Mazghunah. Demand another site."
    Emerson ate in silence for a time. Gradually his countenance lightened and a smile curved his well-shaped lips. I knew that smile. It boded ill for someone—and I thought I knew for whom.
    At last my husband said slowly, "I will accept Mazghunah. You don't mind, do you, Peabody? When I visited the site some years ago I determined to my own satisfaction that the remains were those of pyramids. The superstructures have entirely disappeared, but there are surely passageways and chambers underground. There is not a chance of anything better; Firth has Sakkara, and the Giza pyramids are so popular with tourists, one can't work there."
    "I don't mind. 'Whither thou goest,' you know, Emerson; but I do hope you are not planning any ill-advised assaults on M. de Morgan."
    "I cannot imagine what you mean," said Emerson. "Naturally I will offer the gentleman the benefit of my experience and superior knowledge whenever the opportunity presents itself. I am determined to turn the other cheek, and render good where..."
    He broke off, catching my skeptical eye upon him; and after a moment his great hearty laugh boomed out across the dining salon, stopping conversation and making the crystal chime. Emerson's laugh is irresistible. I joined him, while Ramses watched with a faint smile, like an elderly philosopher tolerant of the antics of the young. It was not until after we had returned to our room that I discovered Ramses had taken advantage of our distraction to conceal his fish under his blouse as a present for Bastet. She enjoyed it very much.
     
     
                  
     
    Though I attempted to conceal my feelings, I was exceedingly put out. It seemed hard indeed that I should have to suffer from Emerson's blunder, for it was nothing less. De Morgan had dug at Dahshoor the year before. It would have required considerable tact and persuasion to convince him to yield the site to another excavator, and Emerson's methods of persuasion were not calculated to win over an opponent. Though I had not been present, I knew only too well what had transpired. Emerson had marched into de Morgan's office, unannounced and uninvited; rested his fists on the director's desk; and proclaimed his intent. "Good morning, monsieur. I will be working at Dahshoor this season."
    De Morgan had stroked his luxuriant mustache. "Mais, mon cher collegue, c'est impossible. I will be working at Dahshoor this season."
    Emerson's response would have been an indignant shout and a crash of his fist on the table; de Morgan would have continued to stroke his mustache and shake his head until Emerson stamped out of the door, annihilating small tables and miscellaneous chairs as he went.
    I looked through the reference books we had brought with us in a vain attempt to find something about Mazghunah. Few of the authorities so much as mentioned it, and if there were pyramids at the site, that fact was not widely known. If Emerson had not confirmed their existence, I would have suspected de Morgan of inventing them, to taunt Emerson.
    Emerson exaggerates, in his humorous fashion, when he says I have a passion for pyramids. However, I admit to a particular affection for these structures. On my first visit to Egypt as a tourist I had fallen victim to the charm of their dark, stifling passageways, carpeted with rubble and bat droppings. Yet, since taking up the practice of archaeology I had never been able to investigate a pyramid