st! No
explanation was needed, as he said:

"It would have been better if master Silvio had not broken his parole!"

We were all silent for a little while. Suddenly Miss Trelawny said:

"But Silvio was not in here last night!"

"Are you sure? Could you prove that if necessary?" She hesitated
before replying:

"I am certain of it; but I fear it would be difficult to prove. Silvio
sleeps in a basket in my room. I certainly put him to bed last night;
I remember distinctly laying his little blanket over him, and tucking
him in. This morning I took him out of the basket myself. I certainly
never noticed him in here; though, of course, that would not mean much,
for I was too concerned about poor father, and too much occupied with
him, to notice even Silvio."

The Doctor shook his head as he said with a certain sadness:

"Well, at any rate it is no use trying to prove anything now. Any cat
in the world would have cleaned blood-marks--did any exist--from his
paws in a hundredth part of the time that has elapsed."

Again we were all silent; and again the silence was broken by Miss
Trelawny:

"But now that I think of it, it could not have been poor Silvio that
injured Father. My door was shut when I first heard the sound; and
Father's was shut when I listened at it. When I went in, the injury
had been done; so that it must have been before Silvio could possibly
have got in." This reasoning commended itself, especially to me as a
barrister, for it was proof to satisfy a jury. It gave me a distinct
pleasure to have Silvio acquitted of the crime--possibly because he was
Miss Trelawny's cat and was loved by her. Happy cat! Silvio's
mistress was manifestly pleased as I said:

"Verdict, 'not guilty!'" Doctor Winchester after a pause observed:

"My apologies to master Silvio on this occasion; but I am still puzzled
to know why he is so keen against that mummy. Is he the same toward
the other mummies in the house? There are, I suppose, a lot of them.
I saw three in the hall as I came in."

"There are lots of them," she answered. "I sometimes don't know
whether I am in a private house or the British Museum. But Silvio
never concerns himself about any of them except that particular one. I
suppose it must be because it is of an animal, not a man or a woman."

"Perhaps it is of a cat!" said the Doctor as he started up and went
across the room to look at the mummy more closely. "Yes," he went on,
"it is th