“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.”

“I understood that the Professor bought it himself.”

“So he did, but I supplied the purchase money.  Therefore I do not intend that this should be lost sight of again.  Lucy, my dear, you run home again and tell your father what we have found.  He had better bring men, to take it to his museum.  When it is there, Mrs. Jasher can then explain how it came to be in her garden.”

Without a word Lucy set off, walking quickly, anxious to fulfill her mission and gladden the heart of her step-father with the amazing news.

Archie and Mrs. Jasher were left alone, and the former lighted a cigarette, while he tapped the mummy case, and examined it as closely as the pale gleam of the moonlight permitted.  Mrs. Jasher made no move to enter the house, much as she had complained of the cold.  But perhaps she found the flimsy skirt of the tea-gown sufficient protection.

“It seems to me, Mr. Hope,” said she very tartly, “that you suspect my having a hand in this,” and she tapped the mummy coffin also.

“Pardon me,” observed Hope very politely, “but I suspect nothing, because I have no grounds upon which to base my suspicions.  But certainly it is odd that this missing mummy should be found in your garden.  You will admit that much.”

“I admit nothing of the sort,” she rejoined coolly.  “Only myself and Jane live in the cottage, and you don’t expect that two delicate women could move this huge thing.”  She tapped the case again.  “Moreover, had I found the mummy I should have taken it to the Pyramids at once, so as to give Professor Braddock some pleasure.”

“It will certainly be an acceptable wedding present,” said Archie sarcastically.

“Pardon me,” said Mrs. Jasher in her turn, “but I have nothing to do with it as a present or otherwise.  How the thing came into my arbor I really cannot say.  As I told you, Professor Braddock made no remark about it when he came; and when he left, although I was at the door, I did not notice anything in this arbor.  Indeed I cannot say if I ever looked in this direction.”