“She didn’t mean to.” He spoke in a ragged whisper, his eyes still on the dark entrance to the Khan. “She couldn’t have known what he would do.”

“Of course not. My dear boy—”

“It’s all right.” He had got his breathing under control. “I don’t blame her; how could I? It was one of those damnable, unpredictable, uncontrollable sequences of events that no one could have anticipated. All I’m saying is that there’s no need for her to know more than she does already. What could she do but worry and want to help? Then I’d have to worry about her.”

“You are being unfair,” I said. “And perhaps just a little overprotective?”

“If I had been a little more protective or a little quicker, she wouldn’t be out there in the dark alleys of Cairo with a man who is approximately as trustworthy as a scorpion.” He lit another cigarette.

“You are smoking too much,” I said.

“No doubt.”

“Give me one. Please.”

He raised his eyebrows at me, but complied, and lit it for me. The acrid taste was like a penance. “It was my fault,” I said. “Not yours. You didn’t want her to come tonight. I thought I was being clever.”

“I can’t stand this any longer,” Emerson muttered. “I am going to look for her.”

“It’s all right,” Ramses said on a long exhalation of breath. “There she is.”

She came walking out of the dark, her steps dragging a little, her head turning. Emerson’s chair went over with a crash. When she saw him running toward her she swayed forward into his outstretched arms, and he caught her to his breast.

“Thank heaven,” I whispered.

Ramses said, “And there, by God, is the confounded cat! How the hell did she—”

“Don’t swear,” I said.

Nefret would not let Emerson carry her and she refused to go home. “Not until after I’ve had something to drink,” she declared, settling into the chair Ramses held for her. “My throat is as dry as dust.”

“Nervousness,” said her brother, snapping his fingers to summon the waiter.

“Don’t be so supercilious. Are you going to claim you weren’t nervous about me?”

“I was nervous about what you might do to him,” Ramses said.

Nefret glanced pointedly at the litter of cigarette ends on the ground beside him. Her face was smudged with dust and cobwebs, and her loosened hair had been tied back with a crumpled bit of fabric I recognized as the scarf she had lent Seshat for a lead. The cat sat down next to her chair and began grooming herself.

Emerson began, “What did he—”

“Let me tell it,” Nefret said. She drank thirstily from the glass of tea the waiter had brought. We were the only customers left; it was long past the time when such places normally close, but no one would have had the audacity to mention this inconvenience to any of us.

“He didn’t hurt me,” she said, with a reassuring smile at Emerson. “After I had convinced him I wasn’t going to run away he only held my arm, to guide me. I tried to question him, but every time I spoke he hissed at me. To keep quiet, I mean. I also tried to keep track of where he was taking me, but it was hopeless; you know how the lanes wind and turn. When he finally stopped I knew we must be outside the danger area, because he seemed calmer. So I asked him who the big fish was—”

“For the love of God, Nefret, you ought not have risked it,” Emerson exclaimed. “Er—did he tell you?”

“He laughed and said something rude about women. That they were only good for two things, and that he expected me to supply one of them. He meant money, Professor,” she added quickly. Emerson’s face had gone purple. “I said I would get it first thing tomorrow and that we would meet him as we had promised. Then he said I was free to go, unless I wanted… That was when Seshat bit him.”

Ramses reached down and rubbed the cat’s head. “She was following you the whole time?”

“She must have been. I heard sounds, but I assumed it was rats. I had intended to ask him where the devil I was, but he left in rather a hurry, and it took me a while to get my bearings. Finally I decided I had better follow Seshat, who kept pushing at me, and she led me here.”

Emerson was no longer purple, he was an odd shade of grayish lavender. “He asked you… if you wanted…”

“Asked,” Nefret emphasized. “He was fairly blunt about it, but he didn’t insist. Especially after Seshat bit him. Now, Professor, promise you won’t lose your temper with him when you go to meet him. It is vitally important that we come to an agreement. Oh, curse it, I oughtn’t have told you!”

“Lose my temper?” Emerson repeated. “I never lose my temper.”

“You will deliver the money?”

“Certainly.”

“And keep your promise to give him time to get away?”

“Of course.”

Ramses, who had remained pensively silent, now remarked, “Shall I get the motorcar and bring it round?”

“We may as well all go,” Nefret said. “I am perfectly capable of walking that short distance. Professor?”

“Hmph,” said Emerson. “What? Oh. Yes.”

We paid the sleepy proprietor of the cafй lavishly and saw the lights go out as we started along the street. Emerson had his arm round Nefret and she leaned against him. Ramses and I followed; he had lifted the cat onto his shoulder. I stroked the animal’s sleek flanks and she responded with a soft purr.

“We will have to think of a suitable reward for her,” I said.

“Rewarding a cat is a waste of time. They think they deserve the best whatever they do.”

“Her behavior was extraordinary, though.”

“Not for one of Bastet’s descendants. She’s an odd one, though, I admit.”

We went on a way in silence. Then I said, “Are you going with your father when he delivers the money?”

“I think I had better. You know what he intends to do, don’t you?”

“Yes. I am a little surprised that Farouk did not set the meeting for tomorrow night.”

“He has another appointment tomorrow night,” Ramses said. “The same as mine.”

Chapter 8

After our exertions and our triumph the previous day, even Emerson was in no hurry to return to work. He allowed us to eat breakfast without mentioning more than twice that we were delaying him. Nefret’s hair glittered and blew about as it always did after she had washed it. She had spent quite a long time in the bath chamber the night before, removing not only dust and perspiration but a more intangible stain. To a woman of her sensitive temperament the mere touch of such a man would be a contamination, and I had a feeling she had, for obvious reasons, minimized the unpleasantness of the encounter.

She looked none the worse for her most recent adventure, however, and as soon as Fatima left the room she returned to the subject that we had left undecided the previous night.

“I promised Sophia I would spend the afternoon at the clinic. There are several cases requiring surgery. I will stop by the banker’s before I go there and—”

“No, you will not,” said Emerson, spreading gooseberry jam on a piece of bread. “I will go to the bank this evening.”

“But sir—”

“The responsibility is mine,” Emerson said.

For once, Nefret did not continue the argument. Cupping her chin in her hands, elbows on the table, she studied Emerson intently. “What precisely are you paying for, then? It is a large sum, as you said.”

Emerson was ready for the question and was able to give an honest, if not entirely comprehensive, answer.

“You remember what Russell told us the night we dined with him? It appears that he was right. Wardani is collaborating with the enemy. Said, or whatever his name may be, must be one of Wardani’s lieutenants. What I hope to get for my money is the name of the German or Turkish agent with whom they have been dealing.”

Nefret nodded. “That’s what I thought. He would be a big fish, wouldn’t he?”

“Or she,” said Ramses. “I am surprised, Nefret, to find you so ready to dismiss your own sex from consideration.”