I must be prepared for this. It was what I had expected in any case; but I did want Tybalt to understand that my greatest wish was to share his life.

It was two o'clock in the morning when he came in. I cried out in pleasure at the sight of him and sat up in bed.

He came to me and took my hands in his.

"Why, Judith, still awake?"

"Yes, I was too excited to sleep. I was wondering what you were doing out there on the site."

He laughed. "Nothing that would make you wildly excited at the moment. They've just been marking out the proposed areas and making general preparations."

"You are going on where Sir Edward left off?"

"I'll tell you about it sometime. Now you should be asleep." He kissed me lightly and went into our dressing room.

But I was not ready for sleep. Nor was Tybalt. We lay awake talking for an hour.

"Yes," he said during the course of the conversation, "we are exploring the same ground which my father did. You know what happened. He was convinced that there was an undisturbed tomb in the area. You know, of course, that the majority were rifled centuries ago."

"I should have thought they would have tried to keep the burial places secret."

"Up to a point they did, but there were so many workmen involved. Imagine hewing out the rock, making secret underground passages, then the chambers themselves. And think of all the transport that would be needed to bring the treasures into the tombs."

"The secret would leak out," I said, "and then the robbers came. It's odd that they were not deterred by the Curse."

"No doubt they were, but the fabulous riches found in the tombs might have seemed a worthwhile reward for damnation after death; and since they had been clever enough to find the hidden treasure no doubt they thought they could be equally shrewd in escaping the ill luck."

"Yet Sir Edward, who was merely working for posterity and to place his finds in some museum, is struck down whereas robbers who seek personal gain escape."

"In the first place my father's death had nothing to do with a curse. It was due to natural causes."

"Which no one seems certain about."

"Oh come, Judith, surely you're not becoming superstitious."

"I don't think I am unduly. But everyone must be a little, I suppose, when their loved ones are in danger."

"Danger. What nonsense is this? It's just a tale."

"Yet ... he died."

He kissed my forehead. "Foolish Judith!" he said. "I'm surprised at you."

"It will teach you not to have too high an opinion of my sagacity where you are concerned. Wise men are fools in love—and you can be sure that applies to women."

We were silent for a while and then I said: "I have seen Mustapha and Absalam. They have said I should persuade you to go back home."

That made him laugh.

"It's such nonsense," he said. "It was a tale put about to frighten off robbers. But it didn't, you see. Almost every tomb that has been discovered has been tampered with. That's why it's the dream of every archaeologist to find a tomb which is just as it was when closed two thousand years ago or thereabouts. I want to be the first one to set foot in such a burial place. Imagine the joy of seeing a footprint in the dust which was made by the last person to leave the tomb, or a flower offering lying there, thrown down by a sorrowing mourner, before the door was closed, the mountainside filled in and the dead person left in peace for the centuries to come. Oh, Judith, you've no idea of the excitement this could give."

"We must try to see that your dream is realized."

"My darling, you speak as though I am a small boy who must have his treat."

"Well, there are many sides to people and even the greatest archaeologist in the world at times seems as a little boy to his doting wife."

"I'm so happy to have you here with me, Judith. You're going to be with me all the way. You're going to be the perfect wife."

"It's strange that you should say that. Did you know that Disraeli dedicated one of his books to Mary Anne, his wife. The dedication said 'To the Perfect Wife.'"

"No," he said, "I'm an ignoramus—apart from one subject."

"You're a specialist," I said, "and knowing so much about one thing you couldn't be expected to know others. He married her for her money but when they were old he would have married her for love."

"Then," said Tybalt lightly, "it must indeed have become a perfect union."

I thought: If that happened to me I should be content.

Then he started to talk, telling me of customs, fascinating me with the exotic pictures he was able to create. He told me of what had been discovered in tombs which had been partially rifled centuries ago; and I asked why the ancient Egyptians had made such a fine art of the burial of the dead.

"It was because they believed that the life of the spirit went on after death. Osiris, the God of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead, was said to be the first ever to be embalmed and this embalming was performed by the God Anubis. Osiris had been murdered by his brother Set, who was the God of Darkness, but he rose from the dead and begot the God Horus. When a man died he became identified with Osiris but to escape destruction he had successfully to traverse the mythical river Tuat which was said to end where the sun rose in the kingdom of the Sun God, Amen Ra. This river was beset by dangers and no man could navigate it without the help of Osiris. The river was supposed to grow darker as the flimsy craft, in which the soul of the deceased traveled, progressed. He soon reached a chamber which was called Amentat, the Place of Twilight, and after he passed through that the horrors of the river increased. Great sea monsters rose to threaten him; the waters boiled and were so turbulent that the boat was in danger of sinking. Only those who had led good lives on earth and were valiant and strong could hope to survive— and only they with the help of Osiris. And if they were lucky enough to survive they at length came to the final chamber where the God Osiris judged them; those whom the god decided were worthy of making a journey to Amen Ra went on; those who were not, even though they had so far survived, were destroyed. For those who lived on, the tomb was their home. Their Ka, which is the spirit which cannot be destroyed, would pass back and forth into the world and back to the mummy lying in the tomb, and that is why it was considered necessary to make these burial chambers worthy of their illustrious inhabitants that they might not miss the jewels and treasures they had enjoyed during their sojourn on earth."

I said: "I can understand why they would not be very pleased with intruders."

"They?" he said. "You mean the long dead members of a past civilization?"

"There must be many people living today who believe in these gods."

"'Allah is great and Mohammed his prophet.' You will hear that often enough."

"But there will be many who identify the old gods with Allah. Allah is all powerful as Horus, Isis, Osiris, and the rest. I think people like Mustapha and Absalam believe that Osiris will rise up and strike anyone who intrudes into his underworld."

"Superstition. My dear Judith, we are employing about a hundred men. Think what that means to these people. Some of them are very poor as you'll see. These excavations are a godsend to them."

"You take a practical view, Tybalt."

"You must too."

"I would of course, if you weren't involved."

I heard him laugh in the darkness. He said a strange thing then. "You love me too much, Judith. It's not wise."

Then I clung to him and we made love.

And at length I slept.

It was the time of Shem el Nessim, which I believe means the Smell of the Breeze and is to celebrate the first day of spring. At home it would be Easter time, I thought, and I pictured Dorcas and Alison with Miss Crewe decorating the church with daffodils and spring flowers—yellow most of them, the color, we used to say, of sunshine.

Sabina would be chattering away of church affairs and Oliver would be smiling tolerantly and my aunts would be thinking how much more satisfactorily things would have worked out if I had been the rector's wife instead of married to a man who had carried me off to share in an expedition in a foreign land.

The days since my arrival had disappointed me a little because I had seen so little of Tybalt. He spent every possible moment at the site. I had longed to accompany him but he explained that, although when there was work which I could do I should be allowed to participate, that time was not yet.

We took our meals in the great banqueting hall of the palace and many of us sat down at the long table. Tybalt was always at the head of it and with him would be the more senior members of the band. Hadrian and Evan were not very experienced, but Terence Gelding, who was several years older than Tybalt, was his right hand. He had been concerned in some of the successful excavations in England and Tybalt once told me that he had become well known in archaeological circles when he had discovered one of the finest Roman pavements in the country, and had also identified the period of some early Stone and Bronze Age relics. Tabitha had taken over the housekeeping with efficiency and it was clear she had been here before. This meant that Theodosia and I were together a good deal and we often took drives in the little horse-drawn traps called arabiyas. It was known that we were the wives of members of the archaeological party and for this reason we could more or less wander about at our will.