by 'that's all'? The matter couldn't possibly have
ended there, or else why this appeal to me?"

"It ended for me, so far as her affectionate treatment of me was
concerned; for in the midst of it the unexpected happened. Her father
died, forgiving her, as Ulchester had hoped, but doing more than his
wildest dreams could have given him cause to imagine possible. In a
word, sir, the caliph not only bestowed his entire earthly possessions
upon her, but had them conveyed to England by trusted allies and placed
in her hands. There were coffers of gold pieces, jewels of fabulous
value--sufficient, when converted into English money, as they were
within the week, and deposited to her credit in the Bank of England, to
make her the sole possessor of nearly three million pounds."

"Phew!" whistled Cleek. "When these Orientals do it they certainly do it
properly. That's what you might call 'giving with both hands,' Major,
eh?"

"The gift did not end with that, sir," the Major replied with a gesture
of repulsion. "There was a gruesome, ghastly, appalling addition in the
shape of two mummy cases--one empty, the other filled. A parchment
accompanying these stated that the caliph could not sleep elsewhere but
in the land of his fathers, nor sleep _there_ until his beloved child
rested beside him. They had been parted in life, but they should not be
parted in death. An Egyptian had, therefore, been summoned to his
bedside, had been given orders to embalm him after death, to send the
mummy to Zuilika, and with it a case in which, when her own death should
occur, _her_ body should be deposited; and followers of the prophet had
taken oath to see that both were carried to their native land and
entombed side by side. Until death came to relieve her of this ghastly
duty, Zuilika was charged to be the guardian of the mummy and daily to
make the orisons of the faithful before it, keeping it always with its
face towards the East."

"By George! it sounds like a page from the 'Arabian Nights,'" exclaimed
Cleek. "Well, what next? Did Ulchester take kindly to this housing of
the mummy of his father-in-law and the eventual coffin of his wife? Or
was he willing to stand for anything so long as he got possession of the
huge fortune the old man left?"

"He never did get it, Mr. Cleek--he never touched so much as one
farthing of it. Zuilika took nobody into her confidence until everything
had been converted into English gold and deposited in the ba