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III
Renisenb came out on to the porch and stood there for a moment,
shielding her eyes against the sudden glare.
She felt sick and shaken and full of a nameless fear. She said to herself,
repeating the words over and over again mechanically:
‘I must warn Nofret…I must warn her…’
Behind her, in the house, she could hear men’s voices, those of Hori and
Yahmose blending into each other, and above them, shrill and clear, the
boyish tones of Ipy.
‘Satipy and Kait are right. There are no men in this family! But I am a
man. Yes, I am a man in heart if not in years. Nofret has jeered at me,
laughed at me; treated me as a child. I will show her that I am not a child. I
am not afraid of my father’s anger. I know my father. He is bewitched–the
woman has put a spell on him. If she were destroyed his heart would
come back to me–to me! I am the son he loves best. You all treat me as a
child–but you shall see. Yes, you shall see!’
Rushing out of the house he collided with Renisenb and almost knocked
her down. She clutched at his sleeve.
‘Ipy, Ipy, where are you going?’
‘To find Nofret. She shall see whether she can laugh at me!’
‘Wait a little. You must calm down. We must none of us do anything
rash.’
‘Rash?’ The boy laughed scornfully. ‘You are like Yahmose. Prudence!
Caution! Nothing must be done in a hurry! Yahmose is an old woman. And
Sobek is all words and boasting. Let go of me, Renisenb.’
He twitched the linen of his sleeve from her grasp.
‘Nofret, where is Nofret?’
Henet, who had just come bustling out from the house, murmured:
‘Oh dear, this is a bad business–a very bad business. What will become
of us all? What would my dear mistress say?’
‘Where is Nofret, Henet?’
Renisenb cried: ‘Don’t tell him,’ but Henet was already answering:
‘She went out the back way. Down towards the flax fields.’
Ipy rushed back through the house and Renisenb said reproachfully:
‘You should not have told him, Henet.’
‘You don’t trust old Henet. You never have confidence in me.’ The whine
in her voice became more pronounced. ‘But poor old Henet knows what
she is doing. The boy needs time to cool off. He won’t find Nofret by the
flax fields.’ She grinned. ‘Nofret is here–in the pavilion–with Kameni.’
She nodded her head across the courtyard.
And she added with what seemed rather disproportionate stress:
‘With Kameni…’
But Renisenb had already started to cross the courtyard.
Teti, dragging her wooden lion, came running from the lake to her
mother and Renisenb caught her up in her arms. She knew, as she held
the child to her, the force that was driving Satipy and Kait. These women
were fighting for their children.
Teti gave a little fretful cry.
‘Not so tight, mother, not so tight. You are hurting me.’
Renisenb put the child down. She went slowly across the courtyard. On
the far side of the pavilion Nofret and Kameni were standing together.
They turned as Renisenb approached.
Renisenb spoke quickly and breathlessly.
‘Nofret, I have come to warn you. You must be careful. You must guard
yourself.’
A look of contemptuous amusement passed over Nofret’s face.
‘So the dogs are howling?’
‘They are very angry–they will do some harm to you.’
Nofret shook her head.
‘No one can harm me,’ she said, with a superb confidence. ‘If they did, it
would be reported to your father–and he would exact vengeance. They
will know that when they pause to think.’ She laughed. ‘What fools they
have been–with their petty insults and persecutions! It was my game they
played all the time.’
Renisenb said slowly:
‘So you have planned for this all along? And I was sorry for you– I
thought we were unkind! I am not sorry any longer…I think, Nofret, that
you are wicked. When you come to deny the forty-two sins at the hour of
judgement you will not be able to say “I have done no evil.” Nor will you
be able to say “I have not been covetous.” And your heart that is being
weighed in the scales against the feather of truth will sink in the balance.’
Nofret said sullenly:
‘You are very pious all of a sudden. But I have not harmed you, Renis-
enb. I said nothing against you. Ask Kameni if that is not so.’
Then she walked across the courtyard and up the steps to the porch.
Henet came out to meet her and the two women went into the house.
Renisenb turned slowly to Kameni.
‘So it was you, Kameni, who helped her to do this to us?’
Kameni said eagerly:
‘Are you angry with me, Renisenb? But what could I do? Before Imhotep
left he charged me solemnly that I was to write at Nofret’s bidding at any
time she might ask me to do so. Say you do not blame me, Renisenb. What
else could I do?’
‘I cannot blame you,’ said Renisenb slowly. ‘You had, I suppose, to carry
out my father’s orders.’
‘I did not like doing it–and it is true, Renisenb, there was not one word
said against you.’
‘As if I cared about that!’
‘But I do. Whatever Nofret had told me, I would not have written one
word that might harm you, Renisenb–please believe me.’
Renisenb shook her head perplexedly. The point Kameni was labouring
to make seemed of little importance to her. She felt hurt and angry as
though Kameni, in some way, had failed her. Yet he was, after all, a
stranger. Though allied by blood, he was nevertheless a stranger whom
her father had brought from a distant part of the country. He was a junior
scribe who had been given a task by his employer, and who had obedi-
ently carried it out.
‘I wrote no more than truth,’ Kameni persisted. ‘There were no lies set
down, that I swear to you.’
‘No,’ said Renisenb. ‘There would be no lies. Nofret is too clever for that.’
Old Esa had, after all, been right. That persecution over which Satipy
and Kait had gloated had been just exactly what Nofret had wanted. No
wonder that she had gone about smiling her cat-like smile.
‘She is bad,’ said Renisenb, following her thoughts. ‘Yes!’
Kameni assented. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘She is an evil creature.’
Renisenb turned and looked at him curiously.
‘You knew her before she came here, did you not? You knew her in
Memphis?’
Kameni flushed and looked uncomfortable.
‘I did not know her well…I had heard of her. A proud girl, they said, am-
bitious and hard–and one who did not forgive.’
Renisenb flung back her head in sudden impatience.
‘I do not believe it,’ she said. ‘My father will not do what he threatens.
He is angry at present–but he could not be so unjust. When he comes he
will forgive.’
‘When he comes,’ said Kameni, ‘Nofret will see to it that he does not
change his mind. You do not know Nofret, Renisenb. She is very clever
and determined–and she is, remember, very beautiful.’
‘Yes,’ admitted Renisenb. ‘She is beautiful.’
She got up. For some reason the thought of Nofret’s beauty hurt her…
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