ill he return, Miss Kendal?"

"I can scarcely say--in a week or a fortnight."

Don Pedro made a gesture of annoyance.

"It is a pity, as I am so very pressed for time. Still, I must remain
until the Professor returns. I am so anxious to hear if the mummy has
been found."

"It is not found yet," said Hope quickly, "and never will be."

Don Pedro looked at him quietly.

"It must be found," said he. "I have come all the way from Lima to
obtain it. When you hear my story you will not be surprised at my desire
to regain the mummy."

"Regain it?" echoed Hope and Random in one breath.

Don Pedro nodded.

"The mummy was stolen from my father," he said.

CHAPTER XI. THE MANUSCRIPT

It was certainly strange how constantly the subject of the missing
mummy came uppermost. Since it had disappeared and since the man who had
brought it to England was dead, it might have been thought that nothing
more would be said about the matter. But Professor Braddock harped
incessantly on his loss--which was perhaps natural--and Widow Anne also
talked a great deal as to the possibility of the mummy, being found,
as she hoped to learn by that means the name of the assassin who had
strangled her poor boy. Now Don Pedro de Gayangos appeared with the
strange information that the weird relic of Peruvian civilization had
been stolen from his father. Apparently fate was not inclined to let the
matter of the lost mummy drop, and was working round to a denouement,
which would possibly include the solution of the mystery of Sidney
Bolton's death. Yet, on the face of it, there appeared to be no chance
of the truth becoming known.

Of course, when Don Pedro announced that the Mummy had formerly belonged
to his father, every one was anxious to hear how it had been stolen. The
Gayangos family were established in Lima, and the embalmed body of Inca
Caxas had been purchased from a gentleman residing in Malta. How, then,
had it crossed the water, and how had Don Pedro learned its whereabouts,
only to arrive too late to secure his missing property? Mrs. Jasher was
especially anxious to learn these things, and explained her reasons to
Lucy.

"You see, my dear," she said to the girl on the day after Don Pedro's
arrival in Gartley, "if we learn the past of that horrid mummy, we may
gain a clue to the person who desired possession of the nasty thing, and
so may hunt down this terrible criminal. Once he is found, the mummy may
be secured again,