The next day Random went to the Pyramids as soon as his duties permitted and saw the Professor.  To the prospective bridegroom he explained all that had happened, and displayed the anonymous letter, with an account of how he had proved Mrs. Jasher to be the writer.  Braddock’s hair could not stand on end, as he had none, but he lost his temper completely, and raged up and down the museum in a way which frightened Cockatoo out of his barbaric wits.  When more quiet he sat down to discuss the matter, and promptly demanded that Mrs. Jasher should be handed over to the police.  But he might have guessed that Sir Frank would refuse to follow this extreme advice.

“She has acted badly, I admit,” said the young man.  “All the same, I think she is a better woman than you may think, Professor.”

“Think! think! think!” shouted the fiery little man, getting up once more to trot up and down like an infuriated poodle.  “I think she is a bad woman, a wicked woman.  To deceive me into thinking her rich and—­”

“But surely, Professor, you wished to marry her also for love?”

“Nothing of the sort, sir:  nothing of the sort.  I leave love and such-like trash to those like yourself and Hope, who have nothing else to think about.”

“But a marriage without love—­”

“Pooh! pooh! pooh!  Don’t argue with me, Random.  Love is all moonshine.  I did not love my first wife—­Lucy’s mother—­and yet we were very happy.  Had I made Mrs. Jasher my second, we should have got on excellently, provided the money was forthcoming for my Egyptian expedition.  What am I to do now, I ask you, Random?  Even the thousand pounds you pay for the mummy goes back to that infernal Hope because of Lucy’s silly ideas.  I have nothing—­absolutely nothing, and that tomb is amongst those Ethiopian hills, I swear, waiting to be opened.  Oh, what a chance I have missed!—­what a chance!  But I shall see Mrs. Jasher myself.  She knows about this murder.”

“She declares that she does not.”

“Don’t tell me! don’t tell me!” vociferated the Professor.  “She would not have written that letter had she known nothing.”

“That was bluff.  I explained all that.”

“Bluff be hanged!” cried Braddock, only he used a more vigorous word.  “I do not believe that she would have dared to act on such a slight foundation.  I shall see her myself this very afternoon and force her to confess.  In one way or another I shall find the assassin and make him disgorge those emeralds under the penalty of being hanged.  Then I can sell them and finance my Egyptian expedition.”

“But you forget, Professor, that the emeralds, when found, belong to Don Pedro.”

“They don’t,” rasped the little man, turning purple with rage.  “I refuse to let him have them.  I bought the mummy, and the contents of the mummy, including those emeralds.  They are mine.”

“No,” said Random sharply.  “I buy the mummy, from you, so they pass into my possession and belong to De Gayangos.  I shall give them to him.”