s of
Meiser and his disciple, does not exist; if it really existed, they say,
one could not understand how it can leave a man and a tardigrade when
they are desiccated, and return to them again when they are soaked.'
Now, if there be no vital principle, all the metaphysical and moral
theories which have been hypothecated on its existence, must be
reconstructed. These ladies have listened to you patiently, it is but
justice to them to admit; but all that they have been able to gather
from your slightly Latinish discourse, is that you have given them a
dissertation instead of the romance you promised. But we all forgive you
for the sake of the mummy you are going to show us. Open the colonel's
box."

"We've well earned the sight!" cried Clementine, laughing.

"But suppose you were to get frightened?"

"I'd have you know, sir, that I'm not afraid of anybody, not even of
live colonels!"

Leon took his bunch of keys and opened the long oak box on which he had
been seated. The lid being raised, they saw a great leaden casket which
enclosed a magnificent walnut box carefully polished on the outside, and
lined on the inside with white silk, and padded. The others brought
their lamps and candles near, and the colonel of the 23d of the line
appeared as if he were in a chapel illuminated for his lying in state.

One would have said that the man was asleep. The perfect preservation of
the body attested the paternal care of the murderer. It was truly a
remarkable preparation, and would have borne comparison with the finest
European mummies described by Vicq d'Azyr in 1779, and by the younger
Puymaurin in 1787.

The part best preserved, as is always the case, was the face. All the
features had maintained a proud and manly expression. If any old friend
of the colonel had been present at the opening of the third box, he
would have recognized him at first sight.

Undoubtedly the point of the nose was a little sharper, the nostrils
less expanded and thinner, and the bridge a little more marked than in
the year 1813. The eyelids were thinned, the lips pinched, the corners
of the mouth drawn down, the cheek bones too prominent, and the neck
visibly shrunken, which exaggerated the prominence of the chin and
larynx. But the eyelids were closed without contraction, and the sockets
much less hollow than one could have expected; the mouth was not at all
distorted like the mouth of a corpse; the skin was slightly wrinkled but
had not ch