and should I be able to return it to your father, out
of gratitude he would certainly marry me."

"You seem to think that the assassin is a man," said Lucy dryly; "yet
you forget that the person who talked to Sidney through the window of
the Sailor's Rest was a woman."

"An old woman," emphasized Mrs. Jasher briskly: "quite so."

Lucy contradicted.

"Eliza Flight did not say if the woman was old or young, but merely
stated that she wore a dark dress and a dark shawl over her head. Still,
this mysterious woman was connected in some way with the murder, else
she would not have been speaking to Sidney."

"I don't follow you, my dear. You talk as though poor Mr. Bolton
expected to be murdered. For my part, I hold by the verdict of wilful
murder against some person or persons unknown. The truth is to be found,
if anywhere, in the past of the mummy."

"We can discover nothing about that."

"You forget what Don Pedro said, my dear," remarked Mrs. Jasher hastily,
"that the mummy had been stolen from his father. Let us hear what he has
to say and we may find a clue. I am anxious that the Professor should
regain the green mummy for reasons which you know of. And now, my hear,
can you come to dinner to-night?"

"Well, I don't know." Miss Kendal hesitated. "Archie said that he would
look in this evening."

"I shall ask Mr. Hope also, my love. Don Pedro is coming and his
daughter likewise. Needless to say Sir Frank will follow the young lady.
We shall be a party of six, and after dinner we must induce Don Pedro to
relate the story of how the mummy was stolen."

"He may not be inclined."

"Oh, I think so," replied; Mrs. Jasher quickly. "He wants to get the
mummy back again, and if we discuss the subject we may see some chance
of securing it."

"But Don Pedro will not wish it to be restored to my father."

Mrs. Jasher shrugged her plump shoulders.

"Your father and Don Pedro can arrange that themselves. All I desire is,
that the mummy should be found. Undoubtedly it belongs by purchase to
the Professor, but as it has been stolen, this Peruvian gentleman may
claim it. Well?"

"I shall come and Archie also," assented Lucy, who was beginning to be
interested in the matter. "The affair is somewhat romantic."

"Criminal, my dear, criminal," said Mrs. Jasher, rising to take her
leave. "It is not a matter I care to mix myself up with. Still"--she
laughed--"you know, why I am doing so."

"If I had to take all this troubl