brought the mummy here--and there was more than one from
the size of the case--could be discovered, then the mystery of Sidney
Bolton's death would be solved very speedily. It was at this moment of
his reflections that Lucy returned to the arbor, leading Mrs. Jasher,
who was attired in a tea-gown and who looked bewildered.

"What are you talking about, my dear?" she said, as Lucy led her towards
the arbor. "I declare I was ever so much astonished, when Jane told
me that you wished to speak to me. I was just writing a letter to
the lawyer who has my poor brother's property in hand, announcing my
engagement to the Professor. Mr. Hope? You here also. Well, I'm sure."

Lucy grew impatient at all this babble.

"Did you not hear what I said, Mrs. Jasher?" she cried irritably. "Can't
you use your eyes? Look! The green mummy is in your arbor."

"The--green--mummy--in--my--arbor," repeated Mrs. Jasher, like a child
learning words of one syllable, and staring at the black object before
which the three were standing.

"As you see," said Archie abruptly. "How did it come here?"

He spoke harshly. Of course, it was absurd to accuse Mrs. Jasher of
knowing anything about the matter, since she had been writing letters.
Still, the fact remained that a mummy, which had been thieved from a
murdered man, was in her arbor, and naturally she was called upon to
explain.

Some suspicion in his tone struck the little woman, and she turned on
him with indignation.

"How did it come here?" she repeated. "Now, how can I tell, you silly
boy. I have been writing to my lawyer about my engagement to Mr.
Braddock. I daresay he has told you."

"Yes," chimed in Miss Kendal, "and we came here to congratulate you,
only to find the mummy."

"Is that the horrid thing?" Mrs. Jasher stared with all her eyes, and
timidly touched the hard green-stained wood.

"It's the case--the mummy is inside."

"But I thought that the Professor opened the case to find the body of
poor Sidney Bolton," argued Mrs. Jasher.

"That was a packing case in which this"--Archie struck the old-world
coffin--"was stored. But this is the corpse of Inca Caxas, about which
Don Pedro told us the other night. How does it come to be hidden in your
garden?"

"Hidden." Mrs. Jasher repeated the word with a laugh. "There is not much
hiding about it. Why, every one can see it from the path."

"And from the door of your house," remarked Hope significantly. "Did you
not see it when