idn't
have women's rights or lady doctors in ancient Egypt, my dear! And
besides," he went on more freely, seeing that she was accepting his
argument, if not yielding to it, "we men are accustomed to such things.
Corbeck and I have unrolled a hundred mummies; and there were as many
women as men amongst them. Doctor Winchester in his work has had to
deal with women as well of men, till custom has made him think nothing
of sex. Even Ross has in his work as a barrister..." He stopped
suddenly.

"You were going to help too!" she said to me, with an indignant look.

I said nothing; I thought silence was best. Mr. Trelawny went on
hurriedly; I could see that he was glad of interruption, for the part
of his argument concerning a barrister's work was becoming decidedly
weak:

"My child, you will be with us yourself. Would we do anything which
would hurt or offend you? Come now! be reasonable! We are not at a
pleasure party. We are all grave men, entering gravely on an
experiment which may unfold the wisdom of old times, and enlarge human
knowledge indefinitely; which may put the minds of men on new tracks of
thought and research. An experiment," as he went on his voice
deepened, "which may be fraught with death to any one of us--to us all!
We know from what has been, that there are, or may be, vast and unknown
dangers ahead of us, of which none in the house today may ever see the
end. Take it, my child, that we are not acting lightly; but with all
the gravity of deeply earnest men! Besides, my dear, whatever feelings
you or any of us may have on the subject, it is necessary for the
success of the experiment to unswathe her. I think that under any
circumstances it would be necessary to remove the wrappings before she
became again a live human being instead of a spiritualised corpse with
an astral body. Were her original intention carried out, and did she
come to new life within her mummy wrappings, it might be to exchange a
coffin for a grave! She would die the death of the buried alive! But
now, when she has voluntarily abandoned for the time her astral power,
there can be no doubt on the subject."

Margaret's face cleared. "All right, Father!" she said as she kissed
him. "But oh! it seems a horrible indignity to a Queen, and a woman."

I was moving away to the staircase when she called me:

"Where are you going?" I came back and took her hand and stroked it as
I answered:

"I shall come back when the