Eye of Thoth Chapter 2 The Party

Abby and Professor Calhoun

         

The Eye of Thoth

Chapter Two

The Party

         

Abby was tingling with excitement when she entered the museum's ballroom on Jerome's arm. There was a string quartet playing from a low stage on the far side of the great room. More than a hundred people in formal wear were gathered in the room and it was becoming hazy from cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke. Men were in black tuxedos and the women were a large pallet of colors.

She knew a lot of the people at least by sight, they were mostly from the society in which she had grown up.

There were some raised eyebrows. Jerome attended much fewer of these gatherings than most of the other attendees. Abby had attended few such things since losing her parents and most had been with her mother's sister Melanie and her Cousin Louisa.

Jerome had shown her a couple of newspaper photos of Calhoun. He looked younger in person. his dark hair in black and white was light brown in person. He was a tall slim man in his forties with a long face accented with a van dyke beard salted with grey, a large nose which looked to have been broken at some point and thin almost colorless lips.

She noticed the large man standing near him. That would be his bodyguard. He was obviously not there for social reasons. His arms were thickly muscled visible even in the tuxedo. He had broad shoulders, short dark hair, and a long scar on the left side of his face.

She had seen such men before with some important politicians, entrepreneurs with questionable methods and other very important people.

Calhoun was speaking to Mrs. Mary Lowe, who had been a friend of her mother. She was a plump widow with three grown children who Abby did not see in the crowd. Her broad face was overly made up. She was in her sixties, around Calhoun's age and was smiling, and talking, probably trying to be amusing.

Abby let Jerome to take her arm and lead her slowly through the crowd toward Calhoun.

Calhoun gave Mrs. Lowe a polite smile and turned to speak to a lean man who had just approached them. His skin had the dusky skin and black hair of the near east. Calhoun apparently introduced them.

The man took her hand and bent over to kiss it. She beamed at him, smiling broadly.

Calhoun said something to her gesturing at the new comer. Her lips thinned ever so slightly as she moved away.

Jerome slowed their approach by pausing to take champagne for Abby and himself.

Abby had never had it before and sipped it experimentally. The bubbles were interesting, she decided that she liked it.

"That's Ahmed Al-Farsi with Calhoun," Jerome said softly, "He'll probably be bidding for the amulet too. He and I know each other slightly. He thinks me a dilettante with little real knowledge of any kind about antiquities real value or significance.

"It's the view of myself which I cultivate."

Abby exchanged niceties with Mrs. Lowe as she happened by.

"That Calhoun is a strange one," she told Abby, after talking about her children for several minutes, "I've heard it said that his dealings are questionable at times, but he has managed a position on the museum board."

"Interesting," answered Abby, knowing that it was his position on the board that had attracted Mrs. Lowe. "My Uncle Jerome knows him slightly and about his auction house."

"His partner, Ernest Stuart, was questioned by the police about one of his dealings. I can't believe that Calhoun did not know what went on."

She went on for a bit, but without encouraging questions or comments from Abby she soon drifted away for a more attentive audience.

Some of the gossip of the old woman could be useful, thought Abby, if you had the stamina to listen to a lot of nonsense in between. She had not asked her for details about the auction house, Jerome obviously knew more accurate information than Mrs. Lowe.

"Stuart sold a papyrus of the Book of the Dead," Jerome said quietly almost whispering in her ear after they had escaped the dowager, "It was tied to the worship of Sutekh, an ancient Egyptian god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners meaning anyone from outside the kingdom or beyond the usual boundaries of the Egyptian idea of the world, He was as close as they came to Satan.

"I would like to have seen it, but it was sold for a ludicrous price," he went on then added as they neared Calhoun, "Now laugh as if I'd said something very funny."

"Oh, Uncle Jerome," she giggled a little too loudly, as if she'd had too much wine, "You should know better than that."

Jerome smiled chuckling. They were now only eight or ten feet from Calhoun.

Calhoun turned his head toward the giggling and gave a broad smile to Abby and stepped closer. It was an appraising smile which Abby connected to a lechery rather than polite interest.

"Mr. Woollcott ," he said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, "Who is your lovely companion?"

"My ward and niece , Miss Abbigail Woollcott." he smiled back, "Abby this is Professor Calhoun of the Calhoun and Stuart Auction House here in Manhattan."

Calhoun bowed and took her right hand and kissed it.

"Enchanté, Mademoiselle," he said and straightened. "Your Uncle has told me that you are fascinated with the ancient Egyptians."

"Oh, yes," she said excitedly, "Ever since Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. The idea that he had lived and died more than three thousand years ago fascinates me. Especially when I read that he was from the New Kingdom era, the 18th dynasty. It's amazing that there was so much history of Egypt thousands of years even before him."

"Indeed," smiled Calhoun, sipping his glass of wine, "I agree.

"As a matter of fact we have an item in the auction house that is believed to have belonged to Imhotep, A Vizier of the Old Kingdom. He was the architect of the first of the pyramids."

"Oh, my," she grinned turning toward Jerome. Calhoun smiled first at her then at Jerome.

"It is a private auction of course but I know you would be interested. I'll add you and your lovely niece to the invitation list.

"It's at 7 o'clock on the 23rd. Starting bid is $10,000."

"We will be there by all means. Otherwise Abby will pout for a month." Jerome smiled.

"Well, we cannot have that," Calhoun grinned shaking Jerome's hand then bowing over Abby's hand kissing it again, sighing, "Au revoir, Mademoiselle."

"Monsieur," she simpered shamelessly.

"We'll see you then," Jerome said smiling and giving Calhoun a half bow.

He led Abby away from most of the crowd. They stood looking at a display of Egyptian jewelry being ignored by the crowd who were more interested in champagne and social posturing than in the exhibits of the gallery.

"That is one lecherous old man," she said quietly turning to face her uncle, which let her see the crowd.

"That is also a potentially very dangerous man," Jerome said seriously, "don't lead him on too much."

"I sensed that," she nodded, "his smile is cold, calculating."

"I can't imagine that he has really smiled in decades about anything but money," he said and sipped his wine.

"You gave him a wonderful impression of an emptyheaded debutant," he added smiling.

"Thank you. Remember that I've seen it all my life," she smiled back.

"Not all the ladies here can be that empty headed," he observed, "But training and experience makes them believe that it the correct behavior for the setting."

"True, several of my friends are fairly well read," she said cocking her head at Jerome. "Mostly fiction or things reviewed in the Times."

"You seem to be able to turn into that sort of social butterfly easily enough," he observed approvingly.

"It can be wearisome," she sighed sipping her champagne.

"Now what we do we do?" she asked facing back to the crowd with a vacant smile.

"Mingle with some of the right people for a bit then drift out and go home.

"Couldn't we go to one of the clubs for a few more drinks," she asked hopefully.

"I don't think so," he said seriously, "Most people in those places are as vacuous as here and some of them are gangsters. We would be out of place in a tuxedo and an evening gown."

"You know for a worldly man you can be such a prude sometimes" she pouted.

"I've been in such places, as I suspect have you," he frowned, "full of people trying too hard to be seen, a bit like this or guzzling too much bootleg alcohol, some of which can be dangerous if distilled improperly.

"We'll go home and you can have a couple more glasses of wine."

"Will you tell me more about the Eye then?" she asked looking up at him imploringly.

"After a couple more drinks," he said seriously, "It's not a comfortable story."

Ho met them at the door with to take Jerome's overcoat. Liz was there as well to take the wrap and Abby's tiny pocket book.

" How did it go," she asked quietly as Jerome and Ho walked toward the drawing room.

"Wonderful, we've got an invitation for the auction," Abby told her as they followed the men.

Jerome had sent Ho off to get the wine and Liz walked to recover the book she was reading from the settee.

"I'll see you later, Miss," she smiled and walked off to Abby's rooms.