“How badly is she hurt?” called Elizabeth.
“I cannot tell in this gloom. I think her arm may be broken,” said Edward. “We must get her out of here as quickly as possible. I will look around down here and see if there is anything that will help, a piece of rope perhaps or something similar.”
His torch began to move, and suddenly they heard him give an exclamation.
“Good lord!” he said. “There is something down here. Can you see this?” He moved the torch until it lit something large and made of gold. “It is a small sarcophagus. And lying on top of it… the necklace. Almost as if it led us here,” he added musingly.
“Were the Egyptian dead not often buried with objects that would be useful to them in the afterlife?” asked Elizabeth. “Perhaps there will be something in the sarcophagus we can use.”
“It is worth a try,” said Edward as he knelt and examined the gold box. “There are no carvings of any kind on it and the lid is far heavier than I would have expected. I cannot remove it—hello, what’s this?” He sat back on his heels. “Really, I can hardly—”
“What is it, Edward?” Elizabeth shouted impatiently.
“The sarcophagus,” breathed Edward. “The markings on the lid are quite clear. This is the sarcophagus of Aahotep.”
***
Back at the camp, Mrs Bennet sat beside Sir Matthew’s bedside with a cloth in her hand.
“…and as soon as Mr Bingley moved into the neighbourhood, I knew he would end up marrying one of my girls, for as I said to Mr Bennet—”
“Grandmama,” protested Beth, trying to halt Mrs Bennet’s endless flow of words.
But Mrs Bennet was enjoying herself and ignored her.
“‘Jane cannot be so beautiful for nothing.’ And so it proved, for…”
Beth gave up and took the cloth out of her grandmama’s hand so that she could bathe Sir Matthew’s head, while outside, she heard William speaking in a dignified voice to Saeed. He, like Beth, had taken quiet charge when Mrs Bennet had proved to be unequal to the task. And while the younger children played, they helped Saeed restore some calm to the camp.
But as the day progressed, Beth was painfully aware how inadequate her actions were. Sir Matthew occasionally roused himself and apologised for inconveniencing her, but he was getting worse and there was little she could do. Mrs Bennet, tiring of the sickroom, retired to her tent with her nerves, so that Beth hoped her parents would be back soon.
As she sat and pondered, Saeed entered the tent. To her relief, Beth saw that he was accompanied by a new arrival, the camp physician.
“Here is Mr Knight,” said Saeed as the physician took in the situation at a glance.
“Well, well, young lady, and so you are the nurse? And doing a very good job, I see. If I can just…” Mr Knight made a quick examination of Sir Matthew and then smiled reassuringly at Beth. “We’ll have him up and about again in no time, you just leave him to me. Now you go off and play, my dear, or whatever it is young ladies like to do.” He smiled kindly at her and Beth gladly gave up her place at Sir Matthew’s side, going out of the tent and looking for William so that she could give him the news.
But when she found him, she found that her troubles, far from being over, were only just beginning.
“Have you seen Meg?” he asked.
“No. Why?” asked Beth.
“Because she seems to be missing.”
“Are you sure?” asked Beth. “Is she not with her nurse?”
“No. She complained of a headache and her nurse took her to rest in her tent, but when Laurence and Jane wanted to play with her, having been set free by their tutors for an hour, they could not find her. They called John to help them but he could not find any trace of her either.”
They exchanged worried glances as Saeed joined them. There was a small commotion by the girls’ tent. Margaret’s nursemaid, Jenny, was in tears.
“I swear I don’t know what happened, miss. One minute she was sleeping like an angel and I only popped out for a moment, and when I returned I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
As Beth tried to calm her down and make sense of what she was saying, Saeed glanced over at the fellahs congregating nearby, their murmurings unquiet.
“Please excuse me one moment, Miss Darcy,” he said and walked over to them.
Beth nodded distractedly as William and John appeared with Laurence and Jane.
“It’s no good; we can’t find her anywhere,” Laurence said.
“When do you last remember seeing her?” Beth asked, her mind whirling with this new problem on top of Sir Matthew and the fellahs.
“Not since breakfast,” said John.
Beth noticed Jane’s expression and said, “What is it?”
“I think Aahotep’s been talking to her again,” Jane said.
“What do you mean?” asked Beth.
“I know it’s silly, but Meg thinks that horrid doll talks to her and whenever she does, Meg goes all red and hardly speaks to anyone. She’s been all right for the past few days, but a few hours ago she started acting strange, and she was carrying her doll again. And just before I saw her last, she was arguing with the horrid thing and saying she didn’t like the tomb because it smelled, but I think that’s where she’s gone.”
From behind John’s arm, Laurence seemed about to make some rude remark about girls and their dolls, before he was wrestled away by his older brother.
Beth was troubled but sent Jane and Laurence to find Mrs Bennet. “Tell Grandmama it is time for luncheon,” she said.
“But what about Meg?”
“William and I will decide what to do, and Mr Massri will help us.”
As she said this, Saeed came back to her. His expression was, if anything, even graver, and Beth felt her heart sink. But she was a Darcy, with the true Darcy spirit, and she was not about to give way to nerves like her grandmama. Instead, she was determined to make her parents proud.
“This is very bad, Miss Darcy. The fellahs say they saw the little girl wandering into the desert some time ago.”
“Why did they not stop her?” she asked.
“Because they believe she is being influenced by great magic, and it would be bad luck to interfere with the vessel the spirits are working through.”
“What nonsense!” said William, with an arrogance that made him sound just like his father. “She is probably looking for Mama and Papa. She never likes to be left behind and once followed them halfway down the street in London when they were going to walk in the park because she wanted to go too.”
Beth was not sure whether he believed it, but she was glad of William’s calm sense and commonplace explanation.
“William is right,” she said. “We must find her and bring her back to the camp before we make any other decisions.”
Saeed looked anxiously back at the fellahs. “They won’t wait much longer.”
“I can’t help that, Mr Massri. Leaving Mama and Papa is one thing, but we cannot just allow Meg to wander the desert alone. You must do as you think fit, but William and I will look for her.”
Saeed looked at her intently. She was so young and yet so much more sensible than Mrs Bennet, who had refused to speak to him after he had tried to get her to understand the gravity of the situation.
“Very well,” he said reluctantly. “I will come with you and leave Josef in charge. He is reliable and will take care of those left in the camp, though I fear he will not be able to stop the fellahs leaving if they make their minds up to it.”
“Then let us leave with all speed, Mr Massri,” said Beth lifting her chin stubbornly, “and pray it does not come to that.”
***
Elizabeth and Darcy sat in the damp silence of the tomb, listening to the soft murmurings of Sophie and Edward beneath them. Elizabeth dared not ask Darcy again what the time was. She had done so already three times, and it was still barely two in the afternoon. She leaned a little closer to him and he put an arm around her shoulder.