Lady Carter is not a person but a lie in the form of a person: the invention Teddy Bennet improvises in December 1928 to save the group, claiming that the archaeologist’s wife holds the dagger.
| Type | Concept (narrative device) |
| Chronicle | ldc |
| Location | Morand’s penthouse, Cairo |
| Spanish entry | Lady Carter |
The lie
Held captive in the suite of Morand, with Monteverdi hanging from the terrace, Teddy swears the dagger is no longer with them: Lady Carter, the archaeologist’s wife, has it. The surname is the bait; Morand accepts it as legitimate because of the fame of Howard Carter. Morand, who smells liars because he is one, swallows it precisely because it is too good.
Significance
The turning point of Teddy’s arc: the first time his words change reality. Teddy says: “Truth is my profession, Mr. Morand.” Months later, at the scales of Maat, he confesses he lied only once. This was that time.
Open questions
- The sources also record the variant “Lady Carnarvon” (after Lord Carnarvon, Carter’s patron); “Lady Carter” is the fixed form.
- Whether there is a real connection to the Carnarvon/Carter family remains open.