ery fine collection of antiquities--some of which, by the
way, he has presented to the British Museum, where they are now on
view--and having made this presentation, he appears to have gone to
Paris on business. I may mention that the gift consisted of a very
fine mummy and a complete set of tomb-furniture. The latter, however,
had not arrived from Egypt at the time when the missing man left for
Paris, but the mummy was inspected on the fourteenth of October at Mr.
Bellingham's house by Dr. Norbury of the British Museum, in the
presence of the donor and his solicitor, and the latter was authorized
to hand over the complete collection to the British Museum authorities
when the tomb-furniture arrived; which he has since done.

"From Paris he seems to have returned on the twenty-third of November,
and to have gone direct to Charing Cross to the house of a relative, a
Mr. Hurst, who is a bachelor and lives at Eltham. He appeared at the
house at twenty minutes past five, and as Mr. Hurst had not yet come
down from town and was not expected until a quarter to six, he
explained who he was and said he would wait in the study and write some
letters. The housemaid accordingly showed him into the study,
furnished him with writing materials, and left him.

"At a quarter to six Mr. Hurst let himself in with his latchkey, and
before the housemaid had time to speak to him he had passed through
into the study and shut the door.

"At six o'clock, when the dinner bell was rung, Mr. Hurst entered the
dining-room alone, and observing that the table was laid for two, asked
the reason.

"'I thought Mr. Bellingham was staying to dinner, sir,' was the
housemaid's reply.

"'Mr. Bellingham!' exclaimed the astonished host. 'I didn't know he
was here. Why was I not told?'

"'I thought he was in the study with you, sir,' said the housemaid.

"On this a search was made for the visitor, with the result that he was
nowhere to be found. He had disappeared without leaving a trace, and
what made the incident more odd was that the housemaid was certain that
he had not gone out by the front door. For since neither she nor the
cook was acquainted with Mr. John Bellingham, she had remained the
whole time either in the kitchen, which commanded a view of the front
gate, or in the dining-room, which opened into the hall opposite the
study door. The study itself has a French window opening on a narrow
grass plot, across which is a side-gate that