as that in which
in we were engaged. For my own part I had had a vague idea that there
were a large number of Egyptian objects in Mr. Trelawny's house; but
until I came to deal with them seriatim I had little idea of either
their importance, the size of some of them, or of their endless number.
Far into the night we worked. At times we used all the strength which
we could muster on a single object; again we worked separately, but
always under Mr. Trelawny's immediate direction. He himself, assisted
by Margaret, kept an exact tall of each piece.

It was only when we sat down, utterly wearied, to a long-delayed supper
that we began to realised that a large part of the work was done. Only
a few of the packing-cases, however, were closed; for a vast amount of
work still remained. We had finished some of the cases, each of which
held only one of the great sarcophagi. The cases which held many
objects could not be closed till all had been differentiated and packed.

I slept that night without movement or without dreams; and on our
comparing notes in the morning, I found that each of the others had had
the same experience.

By dinner-time next evening the whole work was complete, and all was
ready for the carriers who were to come at midnight. A little before
the appointed time we heard the rumble of carts; then we were shortly
invaded by an army of workmen, who seemed by sheer force of numbers to
move without effort, in an endless procession, all our prepared
packages. A little over an hour sufficed them, and when the carts had
rumbled away, we all got ready to follow them to Paddington. Silvio
was of course to be taken as one of our party.

Before leaving we went in a body over the house, which looked desolate
indeed. As the servants had all gone to Cornwall there had been no
attempt at tidying-up; every room and passage in which we had worked,
and all the stairways, were strewn with paper and waste, and marked
with dirty feet.

The last thing which Mr. Trelawny did before coming away was to take
from the great safe the Ruby with the Seven Stars. As he put it safely
into his pocket-book, Margaret, who had all at once seemed to grow
deadly tired and stood beside her father pale and rigid, suddenly
became all aglow, as though the sight of the Jewel had inspired her.
She smiled at her father approvingly as she said:

"You are right, Father. There will not be any more trouble tonight.
She will not wreck your ar