made a further raid upon the case. As soon as he
had seen the cigarette lighted and myself comfortably seated, Pharos
installed himself in an armchair, while his ward wrapped the inevitable
rug about his knees. Having done this she took her violin from its case,
and, when she had tuned it, took up her position and commenced to play.
I had still the same feeling, however, that she was doing it under
compulsion, but how that force was being exerted, and for what reason,
was more than I could tell. Once more the same gentle languor I had felt
at the dinner-table began to steal over me and again my senses became
abnormally acute. Under the influence of the music, new ideas, new
inspirations, new dreams of colour, crowded upon me thick and fast. In
the humour in which I was then, I felt that there was nothing I could
not do, no achievement of which I was not capable. What I had done in
the past was as nothing compared with what I would do in the future.
With this man's help I would probe the very heart of Wisdom and make
myself conversant with her secrets. Through half-closed eyes I could see
the violinist standing before me, and it was as if her white hands were
beckoning me along the road of Fame. I turned from her to Pharos, and
found him still seated in his chair with his eyes fixed steadfastly upon
me. Then the cigarette came to an end, the music ceased, and with a
choking sob the violinist, unable to control herself any longer, fled
from the room. I sprang to my feet and hastened to open the door for
her, but was too late. She was gone.

"Mr. Forrester," said Pharos, after we had been alone together for a few
moments, "I am going to make a proposition to you which I shall be very
much honoured if you can see your way to accept."

"I shall be better able to tell you when I know what it is," I answered.

"It is eminently simple," he continued. "It is neither more nor less
than this. I am the possessor of a steam-yacht--a comfortable craft, my
friends tell me--and in her my ward and I start to-morrow for Port Said,
_en route_ for Cairo."

"For Cairo?" I cried in amazement.

"For Cairo," he answered, with a smile. "And why not? Cairo is a most
delightful place, and I have important business in Egypt. Perhaps you
can guess what that business is."

"The mummy?" I answered at a hazard.

"Exactly," he replied, nodding his head; "the mummy. It is my intention
to restore it to the tomb from which your father sto--from wh