"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 you took leave of Braddock?"
"No," snapped the widow. "If I had I should certainly have come
to look. Also Professor Braddock, who is so anxious to recover
it, would not have allowed it to remain here."
"Then the case was not here when the Professor left you to-night?"
"No! He left me at eight o'clock to go home to dinner.
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