painting
representing a woman of past days famous for her beauty. It seemed to
him that he would have loved, had he lived three thousand years earlier,
that beauty which nothingness had refused to destroy; and the
sympathetic thought perhaps reached the restless soul that fluttered
above its profaned frame.

Far less poetic than the young nobleman, Dr. Rumphius was making the
inventory of the gems, without, however, taking them off; for Evandale
had ordered that the mummy should not be deprived of this last frail
consolation. To take away gems from a woman, even dead, is to kill her a
second time. Suddenly a papyrus roll concealed between the side and arm
of the mummy caught the doctor's eye.

"Oh!" said he, "this is no doubt a copy of the funeral ritual placed in
the inner coffin and written with more or less care according to the
wealth and rank of the person."

He unrolled the delicate band with infinite precautions. As soon as the
first lines showed, he exhibited surprise, for he did not recognise the
ordinary figures and signs of the ritual. In vain he sought in the usual
places for the vignettes representing the funeral, which serve as a
frontispiece to such papyri, nor did he find the Litany of the Hundred
Names of Osiris, nor the soul's passport, nor the petition to the gods
of Amenti. Drawings of a peculiar kind illustrated entirely different
scenes connected with human life, and not with the voyage of the shade
to the world beyond. Chapters and paragraphs seemed to be indicated by
characters written in red, evidently for the purpose of distinguishing
them from the remainder of the text, which was in black, and of calling
the attention of the reader to interesting points. An inscription placed
at the head appeared to contain the title of the work, and the name of
the grammat who had written or copied it,--so much, at least, did the
sagacious intuition of the doctor make out at the first glance.

"Undoubtedly, my lord, we have robbed Master Argyropoulos," said he to
Evandale, as he pointed out the differences between the papyrus and the
usual ritual. "This is the first time that an Egyptian manuscript has
been found to contain anything else than hieratic formulae. I am bound to
decipher it, even if it costs me my sight, even if my beard grows thrice
around my desk. Yes, I shall ferret out your secret, mysterious Egypt!
Yes, I shall learn your story, you lovely dead; for that papyrus pressed
close to your hea