The Green Mummy

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"It seems to me," suggested Mrs. Jasher, "that it would be best
to find this sailor."

"That," remarked De Gayangos, "is impossible. It is twenty years
since he disappeared with the mummy. Let us drop the subject
until Professor Braddock returns to discuss it with me." And
this was accordingly done.

CHAPTER XII

A DISCOVERY

Three days went by, and Professor Braddock still remained absent
in London, although an occasional letter to Lucy requested such
and such an article from the museum to be forwarded, sometimes by
post and on other occasions by Cockatoo, who traveled up to town
especially. The Kanaka always returned with the news that his
master was looking well, but brought no word of the Professor's
return. Lucy was not surprised, as she was accustomed to
Braddock's vagaries.

Meanwhile Don Pedro, comfortably established at the Warrior Inn,
wandered about Gartley in his dignified way, taking very little
interest in the village, but a great deal in the Pyramids. As
the Professor was absent, Lucy could not ask him to dinner, but
she did invite him and Donna Inez to afternoon tea. Don Pedro
was anxious to peep into the museum, but Cockatoo absolutely
refused to let him enter, saying that his master had forbidden
anyone to view the collection during his absence. And in this
refusal Cockatoo was supported by Miss Kendal, who had a
wholesome dread of her step-father's rage, should he return and
find that a stranger had been making free of his sacred
apartments. The Peruvian gentleman expressed himself extremely
disappointed, so much so, indeed, that Lucy fancied he believed
Braddock had the green mummy hidden in the museum, in spite of
the reported loss from the Sailor's Rest.

Failing to get permission to range through the rooms of the
Pyramids, Don Pedro paid occasional visits to Pierside and
questioned the police regarding the Bolton murder. From
Inspector Date he learned nothing of any importance, and indeed
that officer expressed his belief that not until the Day of
judgment would the truth become known. It then occurred to De
Gayangos to explore the neighborhood of the Sailor's Rest, and to
examine that public-house himself. He saw the famous window
through which the mysterious woman had talked to the deceased,
and noted that it looked across a stony, narrow path to the
water's edge, wherefrom a rugged jetty ran out into the stream
for some little distance. Nothing would have been easier,
reflected Don Pedro, than for the assassin to enter by the
window, and, having accomplished his deed, to leave in the same
way, bearing the case containing the mummy. A few steps would
carry the man and his burden to a waiting boat, and once the
craft slipped into the mists on the river, all trace would be
lost, as had truly happened. In this way the Peruvian gentleman
believed the murder and the theft had been accomplished, but even
supposing things had happened as he surmised, still, he was as
far as ever from unraveling the mystery.

While Don Pedro searched for his royal ancestor's corpse, and
incidentally for the thief and murderer, his daughter was being
wooed by Sir Frank Random. Heaven only knows what he saw in her
--as Lucy observed to young Hope--for the girl had not a word to
say for herself. She was undeniably handsome, and dressed with
great taste, save for stray hints of barbaric delight in color,
doubtless inherited from her Inca ancestors. All the same, she
appeared to be devoid of small talk or great talk, or any talk
whatsoever. She sat and smiled and looked like a handsome
picture, but after her appearance had satisfied the eye, she left
much to be desired. Yet Sir Frank approved of her stately
quietness, and seemed anxious to make her his wife. Lucy, in
spite of the fact that he had so speedily got over her refusal to
marry him, was anxious that he should be happy with Donna Inez,
whom he appeared to love, and afforded him every opportunity of
meeting the lady, so that he might prosecute his wooing. All the
same, she wondered that he should desire to marry an iceberg, and
Donna Inez, with her silent tongue and cold smiles, was little
else. However, as Frank Random was the chief party concerned in
the love-making--for Donna Inez was merely passive--there was
no more to be said.

Sometimes Hope came to dine at the Pyramids, and on these
occasions Mrs. Jasher was present in her character of chaperon.
As Miss Kendal was helping the widow to marry Professor Braddock,
she in her turn did her best to speed Archie's wooing. Certainly
the young couple were engaged and there was no understanding to
be brought about. Nevertheless, Mrs. Jasher was a useful article
of furniture to be in the room when they were together, for
Gartley, like all English villages, was filled with
scandalmongers, who would have talked, had Hope and Lucy not
employed Mrs. Jasher as gooseberry. Sometimes Donna Inez came
with the widow, while her father was hunting for the mummy in
Pierside, and then Sir Frank Random would be sure to put in an
appearance to woo his Dulcinea in admiring silence. Mrs. Jasher
declared that the two must have made love by telepathy, for they
rarely exchanged a word. But this was all the better, as Archie
and Lucy chattered a great deal, and two pair of magpies--Mrs.
Jasher declared--would have been too much for her nerves. She
made a very good chaperon, as she allowed the young people to act
as they pleased, only sanctioning the meetings by her elderly
presence.

One evening Mrs. Jasher was due to dinner, and Hope had already
arrived. No one else was expected, as Don Pedro had taken his
daughter to the theatre at Pierside and Sir Frank had gone to
London in connection with his military duties. It was a bitterly
cold night, and already a fall of snow had hinted that there was
to be a real English Christmas of the genuine kind. Lucy had
prepared an excellent dinner for three, and Archie had brought a
set of new patience cards for Mrs. Jasher, who was fond of the
game. While the widow played, the lovers hoped to make love
undisturbed, and looked forward to a happy evening. But there
was one drawback, for although the dinner hour was supposed to be
eight o'clock, and it was now thirty minutes past, Mrs. Jasher
had not arrived. Lucy was dismayed.

"What can be keeping her?" she asked Archie, to which that young
gentleman replied that he did not know, and, what was more, he
did not care. Miss Kendal very properly rebuked this sentiment.
"You ought to care, Archie, for you know that if Mrs. Jasher does
not come to dinner, you will have to go away."

"Why should I?" he inquired sulkily.

"People will talk."

"Let them. I don't care."

"Neither do I, you stupid boy. But my father will care, and if
people talk he will be very angry."

"My dear Lucy," and Archie put his arm round her waist to say
this, "I don't see why you should be afraid of the Professor.
He is only your step-father, and you aren't so very fond of him
as to mind what he says. Besides, we can marry soon, and then he
can go hang."

"But I don't want him to go hang," she replied, laughing. "After
all, the Professor has always been kind to me, and as a
step-father has behaved very well, when he could easily have made
himself disagreeable. Another thing is that he can be very bad
tempered when he likes, and if I let people talk about us--which
they will do if they get a chance--he will behave so coldly to
me, that I shall have a disagreeable time. As we can't marry for
ever so long, I don't want to be uncomfortable."

"We can marry whenever you like," said Hope unexpectedly.

"What, with your income so unsettled?"

"It is not unsettled."

"Yes, it is. You will help that horrid spendthrift uncle of
yours, and until he and his family are solvent I don't see how we
can be sure of our money."

"We are sure of it now, dearest. Uncle Simon has turned up
trumps after all, and so have his investments."

"What do you mean exactly?"

"I mean that yesterday I received a letter from him saying that
he was now rich, and would pay back all I had lent him. I went
up to London to-day, and had an interview. The result of that is
that I am some thousands to the good, that Uncle Simon is well
off for the rest of his life and will require no more assistance,
and that my three hundred a year is quite clear for ever and ever
and ever."

"Then we can marry," cried Miss Kendal with a gasp of delight.

"Whenever you choose--next week if you like."

"In January then--just after Christmas. We'll go on a trip to
Italy and return to take a flat in London. Oh, Archie, I am
sorry I thought so badly of your uncle. He has behaved very
well. And what a mercy it is that he will require no more
assistance! You are sure he will not."

"If he does, he won't get it," said Hope candidly. "While I was
a bachelor I could assist him; but when I am married I must look
after myself and my wife." He gave Lucy a hug. "It's all right
now, dear, and Uncle Simon has behaved excellently--far better
than I expected. We shall go to Italy for the honeymoon and need
not hurry back until we--well, say until we quarrel."

"In that case we shall live in Italy for the rest of our lives,"
said Lucy with twinkling eyes; "but we must come back in a year
and take a studio in Chelsea."

"Why not in Gartley? Remember, the Professor will be lonely."

"No, he won't. Mrs. Jasher, as I told you, intends to marry
him."

"He might not wish to marry her"

"That doesn't matter," rejoined Lucy, with the cleverness of a
woman. "She can manage to bring the marriage about. Besides, I
want to break with the old life here, and begin quite a new one
with you. When I am your wife and Mrs. Jasher is my
step-father's, everything will be capitally arranged."

"Well, I hope so," said Archie heartily, "for I want you all to
myself and have no desire to share you with anyone else. But I
say," he glanced at his watch; "it is getting towards nine
o'clock, and I am desperately hungry. Can't we go to dinner?"

"Not until Mrs. Jasher arrives," said Lucy primly.

"Oh, bother--!"

Hope, being quite exasperated with hunger, would have launched
out into a speech condemning the widow's unpunctuality, when in
the hall below the drawing-room was heard the sound of the door
opening and closing. Without doubt this was Mrs. Jasher arriving
at last, and Lucy ran out of the room and down the stairs to
welcome her in her eagerness to get Archie seated at the dinner
table. The young man lingered by the open door of the
drawing-room, ready to welcome the widow, when he heard Lucy
utter an exclamation of surprise and became aware that she was
ascending the stairs along with Professor Braddock. At once he
reflected there would be trouble, since he was in the house with
Lucy, and lacked the necessary chaperon which Braddock's
primitive Anglo-Saxon instincts insisted upon.

"I did not know you were returning to-night," Lucy was saying
when she re-entered the drawing-room with her step-father.

"I arrived by the six o'clock train," explained the Professor,
unwinding a large red scarf from his neck, and struggling out of
his overcoat with the assistance of his daughter. "Ha, Hope,
good evening."

"Where have you been since?" asked Lucy, throwing the Professor's
coat and wraps on to a chair.

"With Mrs. Jasher," said Braddock, warming his plump hands at the
fire. "So you must blame me that she is not here to preside at
dinner as the chaperon of you young people."

Lucy and her lover glanced at one another in surprise. This
light and airy tone was a new one for the Professor to take.
Instead of being angry, he seemed to be unusually gay, and
looked at them in quite a jocular manner for a dry-as-dust
scientist.

"We waited dinner for her, father," ventured Lucy timidly.

"Then I am ready to eat it," announced Braddock. "I am extremely
hungry, my dear. I can't live on love, you know."

"Live on love?" Lucy stared, and Archie laughed quietly.

"Oh yes, you may smile and look astonished;" went on the
Professor good-humoredly, "but science does not destroy the
primeval instincts entirely. Lucy, my dear," he took her hand
and patted it, "while in London and in lodgings, it was borne in
upon me forcibly how lonely I was and how lonely I would be when
you married our young friend yonder. I had intended to come down
to-morrow, but to-night, such was my feeling of loneliness that I
considered favorably your idea that I should find a second
helpmate in Mrs. Jasher. I have always had a profound admiration
for that lady, and so--on the spur of the moment, as I may say--
I decided to come down this evening and propose."

"Oh," Lucy clapped her hands, very well satisfied with the
unexpected news, "and have you?"

"Mrs. Jasher," said the Professor gravely, "did me the honor to
promise to become my wife this evening."

"She will become your wife this evening?" said Archie, smiling.

Braddock, with one of those odd twists of humor which were
characteristic of him, became irascible.

"Confound it, sir, don't I speak English," he snapped, with his
eyes glaring rebuke. "She promised this evening to become Mrs.
Braddock. We shall marry--so we have arranged--in the
springtime, which is the natural pairing season for human beings
as well as for birds. And I am glad to say that Mrs. Jasher
takes a deep interest in archaeology."

"And, what is more, she is a splendid housekeeper," said Lucy.

The temporary anger of the Professor vanished. He drew his
step-daughter towards him and kissed her on the cheek.

"I believe that I have to thank you for putting the idea into my
head," said he, "and also--if Mrs. Jasher is to be believed--
for aiding her to see the mutual advantage it would be to both of
us to marry. Ha," he released Lucy and rubbed his hands, "let
us go to dinner."

"I am very glad," said Miss Kendal heartily.

"So am I, so am I," replied Braddock, nodding. "As you very
truly observed, my child, the house would have gone to rack and
ruin without a woman to look after my interests. Well," he took
the arms of the two young people, "I really think that we must
have a bottle of champagne on the strength of it."

Shortly the trio were seated at the table, and Braddock explained
that Mrs. Jasher, being overcome by his proposal, had not been
able to face the ordeal of congratulations.

"But she will come to-morrow," said he, as Cockatoo filled three
glasses.

"Indeed, I shall congratulate her to-night," said Lucy
obstinately. "As soon as dinner is over, I shall go with Archie
to her house, and tell her how pleased I am."

"It is very cold for you to be out, Lucy dear," urged Archie
anxiously.

"Oh, I can wrap up warmly," she answered.

Strange to say, the Professor made no objection to the excursion,
although Hope quite expected such a stickler for etiquette to
refuse permission to his step-daughter. But Braddock seemed
rather pleased than otherwise. His proposal of marriage seemed
to have put him into excellent humor, and he raised his glass
with a chuckle.

"I drink to your happiness, my dear Lucy, and to that of Mrs.
Jasher's."

"And I drink to Archie's and to yours, father," she replied. "I
am glad that you will not be lonely when we are married. Archie
and I wish to become one in January."

"Yes," said Hope, finishing his champagne, "my income is now all
right, as my uncle has paid up."

"Very good, very good. I make no objection," said Braddock
placidly. "I will give you a handsome wedding present, Lucy, for
you may have heard that my future wife has money left to her by
her brother, who was lately a merchant in Pekin. She is heart
and hand with me in our proposed expedition to Egypt."

"Will you go there for the honeymoon, sir?" asked Hope.

"Not exactly for the honeymoon, since we are to be married in
spring, and my expedition to the tomb of Queen Tahoser cannot
start until the late autumn. But Mrs. Braddock will come with
me. That is only just, since it will be her money which will
furnish the sinews of war."

"Well, everything is arranged very well," said Lucy. "I marry
Archie; you, father, make Mrs. Jasher your wife; and I suspect
Sir Frank will marry Donna Inez."

"Ha!" said Braddock with a start, "the daughter of De Gayangos,
who has come here for the missing mummy. Mrs. Jasher told me
somewhat of that, my dear. But I shall see Don Pedro myself
to-morrow. Meanwhile, let us eat and drink. I must go down to
the museum, and you--"

"We shall go to congratulate Mrs. Jasher," said Lucy.

So it was arranged, and shortly Professor Braddock retired into
his sanctum along with the devoted Cockatoo, who displayed lively
joy on beholding his master once more. Lucy, after being
carefully wrapped up by Archie, set out with that young man to
congratulate the bride-elect. It was just half-past nine when
they started out.

The night was frosty and the stars twinkled like jewels in a
cloudless sky of dark blue. The moon shone with hard brilliance
on the ground, which was powdered with a light fall of snow. As
the young people walked briskly through the village, their
footsteps rang on the frosty earth and they scrunched the snow in
their quick tread. The Warrior Inn was still open, as it was not
late, and lights shone from the windows of the various cottages.
When the two, following the road through the marshes, emerged
from the village, they saw the great mass of the Fort bulking
blackly against the clear sky, the glittering stream of the
Thames, and the marshes outlined in delicate white. The fairy
world of snow and moonlight appealed to Archie's artistic sense,
and Lucy approving of the same, they did not hurry to arrive at
their destination.

But shortly they saw the squarely fenced acre of ground near the
embankment, wherein Mrs. Jasher's humble abode was placed. Light
shone through the pink curtains of the drawing-room, showing that
the widow had not yet retired. In a few minutes the lovers were
at the gate and promptly entered. It was then that one of those
odd things happened which would argue that some people are
possessed of a sixth sense.

Archie closed the gate after him, and, glancing right and left,
walked up the snowy path with Lucy. To the right was a leafless
arbor, also powdered with snow, and against the white bulked a
dark form something like a coffin. Hope out of curiosity went up
to it.

"What the deuce is this?" he asked himself; then raised his voice
in loud surprise. "Lucy! Lucy! come here!"

"What is it?" she asked, running up.

"Look"--he pointed to the oddly shaped case--"the green mummy!"

CHAPTER XIII

MORE MYSTERY

Neither Lucy nor Archie Hope had ever seen the mummy, but they
knew the appearance which it would present, as Professor
Braddock, with the enthusiasm of an archaeologist, had often
described the same to them. It appeared, according to Braddock,
that on purchasing the precious corpse in Malta, his dead
assistant had written home a full description of the treasure
trove. Consequently, being advised beforehand, Hope had no
difficulty in recognizing the oddly shaped case, which was made
somewhat in the Egyptian form. On the impulse of the moment he
had proclaimed this to be the long-lost mummy, and when a closer
examination by the light of a lucifer match revealed the green
hue of the coffin wood, he knew that he was right.

But what was the mummy in its ancient case doing in Mrs. Jasher's
arbor? That was the mute question which the two young people
asked themselves and each other, as they stood in the chilly
moonlight, staring at the grotesque thing. The mummy had
disappeared from the Sailor's Rest at Pierside some weeks ago,
and now unexpectedly appeared in a lonely garden, surrounded by
marshes. How it had been brought there, or why it should have
been brought there, or who had brought it to such an unlikely
place, were questions hard to answer. However, the most obvious
thing to do was to question Mrs. Jasher, since the uncanny object
was lying within a stone-throw of her home. Lucy, after a rapid
word or two, went to ring the bell, and summon the lady, while
Archie stood by the arbor, wondering how the mummy came to be
there. In the same way George III had wondered how the apples
got into the dumplings.

Far and wide spread the marshes, flatly towards the shore of the
river on one side, but on the other sloping up to Gartley
village, which twinkled with many lights on the rising ground.
Some distance away the Fort rose black and menacing in the
moonlight, and the mighty stream of the Thames glittered like
polished steel as it flowed seaward. As there were only a few
leafless trees dotted about the marshy ground, and as that same
ground, lightly sprinkled with powdery snow, revealed every
moving object for quite a mile or so, Hope could not conceive how
the mummy case, which seemed heavy, could have been brought into
the silent garden without its bearers being seen. It was not
late, and soldiers were still returning through Gartley to the
Fort. Then, again, some noise must have been caused by so bulky
an object being thrust through the narrow wicket, and Mrs.
Jasher, inhabiting a wooden house, which was a very sea-shell for
sound, might have heard footsteps and voices. If those who had
brought the mummy here--and there was more than one from the
size of the case--could be discovered, then the mystery of
Sidney Bolton's death would be solved very speedily. It was at
this moment of his reflections that Lucy returned to the arbor,
leading Mrs. Jasher, who was attired in a tea-gown and who looked
bewildered.

"What are you talking about, my dear?" she said, as Lucy led her
towards the arbor. "I declare I was ever so much astonished,
when Jane told me that you wished to speak to me. I was just
writing a letter to the lawyer who has my poor brother's property
in hand, announcing my engagement to the Professor. Mr. Hope?
You here also. Well, I'm sure."

Lucy grew impatient at all this babble.

"Did you not hear what I said, Mrs. Jasher?" she cried irritably.
"Can't you use your eyes? Look! The green mummy is in your
arbor."

"The--green--mummy--in--my--arbor," repeated Mrs. Jasher,
like a child learning words of one syllable, and staring at the
black object before which the three were standing.

"As you see," said Archie abruptly. "How did it come here?"

He spoke harshly. Of course, it was absurd to accuse Mrs. Jasher
of knowing anything about the matter, since she had been writing
letters. Still, the fact remained that a mummy, which had been
thieved from a murdered man, was in her arbor, and naturally she
was called upon to explain.

Some suspicion in his tone struck the little woman, and she
turned on him with indignation.

"How did it come here?" she repeated. "Now, how can I tell, you
silly boy. I have been writing to my lawyer about my engagement
to Mr. Braddock. I daresay he has told you."

"Yes," chimed in Miss Kendal, "and we came here to congratulate
you, only to find the mummy."

"Is that the horrid thing?" Mrs. Jasher stared with all her
eyes, and timidly touched the hard green-stained wood.

"It's the case--the mummy is inside."

"But I thought that the Professor opened the case to find the
body of poor Sidney Bolton," argued Mrs. Jasher.

"That was a packing case in which this"--Archie struck the
old-world coffin--"was stored. But this is the corpse of Inca
Caxas, about which Don Pedro told us the other night. How does
it come to be hidden in your garden?"

"Hidden." Mrs. Jasher repeated the word with a laugh. "There is
not much hiding about it. Why, every one can see it from the
path."

"And from the door of your house," remarked Hope significantly.
"Did you not see it when you took leave of Braddock?"

"No," snapped the widow. "If I had I should certainly have come
to look. Also Professor Braddock, who is so anxious to recover
it, would not have allowed it to remain here."

"Then the case was not here when the Professor left you to-night?"

"No! He left me at eight o'clock to go home to dinner."

"When did he arrive here?" questioned Hope quickly.

"At seven. I am sure of the time, for I was just sitting down to
my supper. He was here an hour. But he said nothing, when he
entered, of any mummy being in the arbor; nor when he left me at
the door and I came to say good-bye to him--did either of us see
this object. To be sure," added Mrs. Jasher meditatively, "we
did not look particularly in the direction of this arbor."

"I scarcely see how any one entering or leaving the garden could
fail to see it, especially as the snow reflects the moonlight so
brightly."

Mrs. Jasher shivered, and taking the skirt of her tea-gown, flung
it over her carefully attired head,

"It is very cold," she remarked irritably. "Don't you think we
had better return to the house, and talk there?"

"What!" said Archie grimly, "and leave the mummy to be carried
away as mysteriously as it has been brought. No, Mrs. Jasher.
That mummy represents one thousand pounds of my money."

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