The Mummy and Miss Nitocris

many years? Something like five thousand, isn't it? And doesn't she lo

one of the most celebrated mathematicians and physicists in Europe, stood herself

s mine. Of course, you don't know what colour her eyes are-just fancy, Dad! they have been shut for nearly five thousand yea

my. "I don't want to banish you too unceremoniously, but I really have a lot of work to do to-night, and, as you might know, Bachelor of Science of London as you ar

his shoulder as he stood facing the Mummy; "I have reason enoug

ote of awe in it, "that when Pythagoras thought out that problem-which, of course, i

the edge of time into eternity, and that-well, of course, that is q

hich had not spoken for fifty centuries to answer the question that was shaping itself in his mind. "What Hartley means, dear, is this-that whe

your night-cap, and do get to bed in something like respectable time. Don't worry your dear old head about forty-seventh propositions and fourth dimensions and mummies and that sort of thing, even if this Mummy does happ

cient unto the brain are the thoughts thereof. Sometimes they are more th

ve another pipe, and drink your whisky and go to bed. There's something in you

d a laughing nod towards the Mummy, vanished through the closing study door to go and dream her dreams, whi

hich had been running in his head all the evening, c

reds of years

ands of mile

hreshold of the Inmost Sanctuary of Knowledge: you who, if your footsteps had not turned aside into the way of temptation and trodden the bl

un seemed to him to put the Cl

ts in Europe, but he was also an ex-President of the Royal Society, a Member of the Psychical Research Society, and, moreover, Chairman of a recently appointed Commission on Comparative Insanity, the object of

here and yet from everywhere, and it had a faint and far-away echo in it which harmonised mo

nct memories of tragedies long forgotten, even by him? Why did they instantly draw before the windows of his soul a long panorama of vast cities, splendid palaces, sombre temples, and tower

Nitocris, that daughter of the Pharaohs who had so terribly avenged her

tightly-drawn lips very gently, then turned away with a smile, saying aloud to himself: "No, no, I must have been allowing what they call my scientific imagination to play tricks with me. Perhaps I have been worrying a little too much about this confounded fourth dimension problem,-and yet the thing is exceedingly fascinating. If the hand of Science could only reach across the frontier line! If we c

ss stern mental training than he had had, would have been nothing less than terrifying. His daughter came in

ell bring this myself," said Miss Nitocris, walking to

s the exact counterpart in feature, stature, and colouring of Nitocris, the daughter of Professor Marmion. In her hands she carried a slender, long-necked jar of brilliantly enamelled earthenware and a golde

iddle that Ma-Rimōn may even now learn, since his soul has been purified and his spirit s

tely and comprehended both utterances perfectly. He felt a cold grip of fear at his heart as he looked towards the mummy-case, and, as

ost; but I suppose it's only that silly fourth dimension puzzle that's worrying you. Now, look here, you must really take your whisky and go to bed. If you go

same place, and poured out the usual modicum of whisky into the glass, which was standing just where the flagon was. Then she pre

y the same space, and that, come from somewhere or nowhere, there were two plainly material objects through which his daughter's hand, without her even knowing it, had passed as easily as it would

and I promise you that I will be off very soon; I will just have one more pipe, and drink my whisky,

bler, and the syphon of soda-water were still standing on the corner of the table, occupying the same space as the enamelled

er experienced before; but his worst fears were not fulfilled. Nitocris the Queen had vanished

een, or thought he had seen, that the soul would return, that the long-closed eyes would open again, and that the long-silent lips would speak to him. But no! For

e over-strained intellect sometimes plays with us. Perhaps I have been thinking too much lately.

o take the whisky decanter h

in just the same place as that other thing-and I remember that, too. Look here, Franklin Marmion, my friend, if you were not a rather over

a little, and, as it seemed, an echo came

ble, imp

castic note of interroga

the mummy-case. Her long-dead Majesty was

hanged! It strikes me that this way madness lies if you only

anter, and as he drew back his arm he saw that i

king at it half-angrily, "

of wine, which glittered with a pale ruby radiance in the light of the electric cluster that hung above his writing-desk. He

et ever. Nitocris the Queen, in the name of Nebzec I greet t

hinking that he had been doing now for several days and half-nights; but he certainly thought that the Queen's head suddenly became endowed with life, that the eyes opened, and the grey of the parchment skin softened into a delicate olive tinge with a faint rosy blush sh

int of bewilderment," he went on. "I wonde

d poured out another gob

ine of Cos. I drank it. I, Ma-Rimōn, the priest-student of the Higher Mysteries; I, whose feet faltered on the threshold of the

ginning to see that, after all, Hartley might very possibly be right about that forty-seventh proposition. Well, I will do as the Russians say, take my thoughts to bed with me, since the morning is wiser than the evening. It is all very

en to him on his last birthday by Lord Lester Leighton, a wealthy and accomplished young nobleman who had devoted his learned leisure to Egyptian exploration and research. It was he who had sent the Mummy of Queen

means Her Highness's promise is to be actually fulfilled, I ought to be able to take thi

-and, to his amazement, the ring came off whole. T

ring. "Then it is true!" He was silent for a full minute; then he put the ring down on the dressing-table and

The things of his own life, the life that he was then living, seemed to drift behind him. The facts which he had learned in his long and minute study of Egyptian history came up in his mind, no longer as facts learned from books and monuments, wall-paintings, and

he best of all medicines. I should not wonder if I were to dream of Memphis again to-night. A wonderfully beautiful m