Susan came to me for instructions and I directed that they should be taken through to the museum, the door of which I unlocked for the purpose.

“The appearance of the cases was undeniably funereal, not in shape only but also in color; for the dealer, with an ill-timed sense of fitness, had had them painted black.  And the effect was heightened by the conduct of the two grinning carriers, who bore each case on their shoulders, coffin-wise, and proceeded to the museum at a slow, funereal walk; and when I was out of sight, though not out of earshot, I heard the leading carrier, who seemed to be somewhat of a humorist, softly whistling the ‘Dead March in Saul.’

“Meanwhile, Susan Slodger stood in the hall with a face as white as a tallow candle.  She stared with fearful fascination at the long, black cases and uttered no sound even when the facetious carrier questioned her as to the destination of ‘our dear departed brother.’  She was absolutely thunderstruck.

“When the carriers had gone I directed her to come to the museum and help me to unpack the cases, which she flatly refused to do unless supported by the cook.  To this, of course, I had no objection, and when she went off to the kitchen to fetch her colleague, I took up a position just inside the laboratory door and awaited developments.  The cases had hinged lids secured with a simple hook, so that when the binding cords were cut there would be no difficulty in ascertaining the nature of the contents.

“The two women came briskly through the lobby, the cook babbling cheerfully and the housemaid silent; but at the museum door they both stopped short and the former ejaculated, ‘Gawd! what’s this?’

“Here I stepped out and explained, ’These are some cases of specimens for the museum.  I want you to unfasten the cords.  That is all.  I will take out the things myself.’  With this I went back to the laboratory; but in less than half a minute I heard a series of shrieks, and the two women raced through the lobby and disappeared below stairs.

“After this the position grew worse than ever.  Though obviously terrified of me, these two women dogged me incessantly.  It was most inconvenient, for the excess of material kept me exceedingly busy; and to make things worse, I had received from Jamrach’s (without an order—­but I had to keep the thing) a dead hyena which had been affected with osteitis deformans.  It was a fine specimen and was useful as serving to explain my great preoccupation; but it added to my labors and made me impatient of interruptions.

“The museum wing had an entrance of its own in a side street for the delivery of material (such as the hyena), and this gave me some relief; for I could go out of the front door and slip in by the side entrance.  But Susan soon discovered this and thereafter was continually banging at the lobby door to see if I was in.  I don’t know what she thought.  She was an ignorant woman and stupid, but I think she vaguely associated my labors in the laboratory with her absent friends.