de, in all the magnificence of old Theban
splendour, lay stretched at full length on the floor; her arms were
folded across her breast, her face dignified by the repose of death,
the repose of a Buddha, whose eyes have seen beyond.

This royal effigy was so magnificent, its colours were so untarnished,
that light seemed to radiate from the still figure. Here the might of
royalty had defied time.

Meg and Mike saw nothing but the bridal figure; they had eyes for it
alone, its pathos, its dignity.

Freddy pointed to a coffin which lay near the queen. It was empty; one
side of it had been smashed open. A brown and shrivelled mummy, a
ghastly object, had fallen out. It lay quite close to the brilliant
effigy. Surely this was the skeleton at the feast?

Meg shrank back. In the hot tomb a chill struck her heart. This poor
brown object was the real queen. Here time had triumphed.

She looked again, while Freddy held the torch nearer. A vulture with
outstretched wings, the ancient emblem of divine protection, cut out of
flat gold, sat upon the forehead of the mummy. Its left claw had
slipped into the empty eye-socket. A row of long white teeth gaped
threateningly up to the roof. The lips had dried and withered until
they had become as hard as brown leather. Alas for human vanity!
Those lips had once been a lover's, those lips had once responded to
human caresses and desires!

Meg's flesh shrank. It was horrible. It was wrong to pry upon this
pitiful object which centuries had hidden from man's sight, this
humiliation of royal power. Nothing could have illustrated more
vividly the mockery and the futility of human greatness. The ghastly
cheeks, covered with something which had once been human flesh, the
menacing teeth, the embalmed skull, sickened Meg.

For relief she turned her eyes once more to the sublime effigy, to the
waiting bride. Her chamber had been furnished with the lavish
indulgence of an ardent bridegroom.

Michael was standing by Margaret's side. Her hand caught his; human
contact was essential.

The coffin which had once held the mummy had rested on a beautiful
wooden trestle, which had been covered with a golden canopy. The legs
of the trestle had given way, probably with the weight of the coffin,
for the wood had become as brittle and dry as fine egg-shell. With the
fall the mummied body had rolled out and landed on the ground.

This, Freddy conjectured, was the explanation of th