the widow, laughing, "else you are no
woman, my dear. I know I should be angry to see a man get over his
rejection so rapidly."

"Who is she?" asked Lucy abruptly.

"Donna Inez de Gayangos."

"A Spaniard?"

"I believe so--a colonial Spaniard, at least--from Lima. Her father, Don
Pedro de Gayangos, met Sir Frank in Genoa by chance."

"Well?" demanded Lucy impatiently.

Mrs. Jasher shrugged her plump shoulders.

"Well, my dear, can't you put two and two together. Of course Sir Frank
fell in love with this dark-hued angel."

"Dark-hued! and I am light-haired. What a compliment!"

"Perhaps Sir Frank wanted a change. He played on white and lost, and
therefore stakes his money on black to win. That's the result of having
been at Monte Carlo. Besides, this young lady is rich, I understand, and
Sir Frank--so he told me--lost much more money at Monte Carlo than he
could afford. Well, you don't look pleased."

Lucy roused herself from a fit of abstraction.

"Oh yes, I am pleased, of course. I suppose, as any woman would, I felt
rather hurt for the moment in being forgotten so soon. But, after all,
I can't blame Sir Frank for consoling himself. If I am married first,
he shall dance at my wedding: if he is married first, I shall dance at
his."

"And you shall both dance at mine," said Mrs. Jasher. "Why, there is
quite an epidemic of matrimony. Well, Donna Inez arrives here with her
father in a day, or so. They stop at the Warrior Inn, I believe."

"That horrid place?"

"Oh, it is clean and respectable. Besides, Sir Frank can hardly ask
them to stop in the Fort, and I have no room in this bandbox of mine.
However, the two of them--Donna Inez and Frank, I mean--can come here
and flirt; so can you and Archie if you like."

"I fear four people in this room would not do," laughed Lucy, rising to
take her leave. "Well, I hope Sir Frank will marry this lady and that
you will become Mrs. Braddock. Only one thing I should like to know."

"And that is?"

"Why was the mummy stolen. It was not valuable save to a scientist."

"By that argument a scientist must be the murderer and thief," said Mrs.
Jasher. "However, we shall see. Meanwhile, live every moment of love's
golden hours: they never return."

"That is good advice; I shall take it and my leave," said Lucy, and
departed in a very happy frame of mind.

CHAPTER X. THE DON AND HIS DAUGHTER

Professor Braddock was usually the most methodical of men, and tim