separate the two
parts of the cartonnage of the mummy, looked like one of those funeral
genii which wear a bestial mask and which are seen in the paintings of
the hypogea crowding around the dead in the performance of some
frightful and mysterious rite; the clean profile of Lord Evandale, calm
and attentive, made him look like the divine Osiris awaiting the soul to
be judged.

The operation having been at length completed--for the doctor wished not
to scale off the gilding,--the box, resting on the ground, was separated
into two parts like the casing of a cast, and the mummy appeared in all
the brilliancy of its death toilet, coquettishly adorned as if it had
wished to charm the genii of the subterranean realms. On opening the
case, a faint, delightful, aromatic odour of cedar liquor, of sandal
powder, of myrrh and cinnamon spread through the cabin of the vessel;
for the body had not been gummed up and hardened with the black bitumen
used in embalming the bodies of ordinary persons, and all the skill of
the embalmers, the former inhabitants of Memnonia, seemed to have been
directed to the preservation of these precious remains.

The head was enveloped in a network of narrow bands of fine linen,
through which the face showed faintly. The essences in which they had
been steeped had dyed the tissue a beautiful tawny tint. Over the breast
a network of fine tubes of blue glass, very like the long jet beads
which are used to embroider Spanish bodices, with little golden drops
wherever the tubes crossed, fell down to the feet and formed a pearly
shroud worthy of a queen. The statuettes of the four gods of Amenti in
hammered gold shone brilliantly, and were symmetrically arranged along
the upper edge of the network, which ended below in a fringe of most
tasteful ornaments. Between the statuettes of the funeral gods was a
golden plate, above which a lapis-lazuli scarabaeus spread out its long
golden wings. Under the mummy's head was placed a rich mirror of
polished metal, as if it had been desired to give the dead soul an
opportunity of beholding the spectre of its beauty during the long night
of the tomb. By the mirror lay a coffer of enamelled ware, of most
precious workmanship, which contained a necklace composed of ivory
rings alternating with beads, gold, lapis-lazuli, and cornelian. By the
side of the beauty had been placed also a narrow, square sandal-wood
basin in which, during her lifetime, the dead woman had performe