“Madame! Oh, there you are! We've been looking out for you for ages! They've arrived! A message came to say they were on their way an hour after you'd left. The Captain said not to send after you…better to let you go ahead and do your duties. He could wait…”
Aline almost collapsed with relief. She was hardly listening as the maid chattered on. “We didn't know quite what to do…the state they were in! But it's all right…we've managed! They're all bedded in and we've got their mucky uniforms off their backs and into the tub.”
Aline spoke calmly to counter the girl's gushing excitement. “Quite right, Pauline. And—lye? Have you used plenty of lye? You'll find supplies on the bottom shelf of the pantry. Pay special attention to the seams. I understand that is where the lice gather.” This was the
maîtresse de maison
speaking. At last she allowed herself to ask: “Now, tell me—where is the Captain?”
“He's out the back. Gone to take a stroll round the estate with Master Georges. He said as I was to tell you where he'd be the minute you got home. I put the men in the summer salon. Six of 'em. They're in there playing cards. Seem glad enough to be under a roof. I hope that was all right, madame?”
“Yes, of course. Offer them tea, Pauline. There's a caddy full on the top shelf of the housekeeper's dresser.”
She dismissed the girl with a nod, turned and managed six stately steps before breaking into a run. As she tore along, she pulled off her bloodstained apron and her auxiliary nurse's cap and threw them to the floor. Her starched cap followed and she shook her hair loose as she went, weaving her way down cool corridors heading towards the stable yard. She knew where she'd find him. Clovis wouldn't have wasted time waiting for her to return. He'd be at work already.
At an open door she heard the clank of a pail, a cheerful whistling and a child's excited squeal. And then, there he was, the familiar tall shape at the end of the corridor, his fair hair freshly washed and gleaming in the sunshine, his dog at his heels. With his uniform discarded and in the tub, he'd put on his old working clothes and yard boots. And, naturally, he'd been out to inspect the cellars; he was returning, carrying a bottle of champagne in each hand.
All hesitations and doubts abandoned, shaking with excitement and caught out by an unexpected rush of affection, she called out his name. His was blinded by the sunlight and it was a moment before he saw her standing in the shadows. She ran to him, hugging him, breathing in the familiar smell of his brown linen shirt, moving her arms up around his neck and teetering on her toes to reach his lips.
The bottles crashed to the marble floor, frothing in scented eddies around their feet as he put both arms around her and lifted her up, swinging her round and laughing with delight.
THE TOMB OF ZEUS
A Delta Trade Paperback / November 2007
Published by
Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2007 by Barbara Cleverly
Delta is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.,
and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cleverly, Barbara.
The tomb of Zeus / Barbara Cleverly.
p. cm.
1. Women archaeologists—Fiction. 2. Crete (Greece)—Fiction.
3. Murder—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6103.L48T66 2007
823'.92—dc22
2007000128
eISBN: 978-0-440-33725-6
v3.0