“Oh, Mr. Tanos! What exquisite verses. What a wonderful gift of improvisation!” Tanos bowed again. He made a deprecatory gesture, murmuring as he did so something about the meter of the second line. Mrs. Gardiner shot a covert glance in the direction of her husband. The minx, thought he. He well knew that she had recognized the true authorship of the verses. Mrs. Gardiner had been a former student of her husband at the University of London, where he taught Semitics. These small social amenities attended to, Tanos ushered his visitors into the innermost room. In another moment all four were seated about a low Turkish table. Upon this reposed two objects, a turquoise-blue goblet of ancient Egyptian pottery and a linen roll, seemingly of great antiquity, if one might judge by its condition. Meeting the Gardiners in the tea-house of the Gardens, Professor Ranney had urged them to walk over to the shop, in order that they might see the contents of this linen roll, a papyrus scroll of greatest importance, not alone on its own account, but, more especially, for the remarkable document which it contained. Professor Ranney carefully unrolled the frail, discolored linen in which, three thousand years before, the scroll had been wrapped. At once the air was filled with a strange, aromatic perfume. At sight of the brightly painted vignettes which ornamented each and every page of the closely written sheets, Mrs. Gardiner burst into repeated exclamations of rapture. Even Dr. Gardiner, her husband, who may be said to have lived in an atmosphere charged with the odor of ancient parchments, could not repress his interest. This interest was intensified when he read, on the front page of the manuscript, the names of an ancient Egyptian monarch “_Nibmara Amenhotep, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Triumphant_.” “This is indeed a treasure, Steven! A perfect copy of the Book of the Dead. You did well to purchase it before I got wind of it. By Jove! It is in better condition than the Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum!” Without replying Steven Ranney turned to the last two pages of the scroll. Inserted between them was a brown stained sheet of hieroglyphics written in red ink. “Read this, Clem. To me it appears to be a find of far more importance than the Ritual itself.” Gardiner translated aloud the lines of somewhat tremblingly written hieroglyphics: “_A Contract which the Hereditary Prince, the Count, Sole Companion of the King, Instructor of the Royal Princess, and Chief Royal Architect, Amenhotep, son of Hap, made with Hotepra, Great High Priest of Amen._ “_It is ordained that there be given to the statue of Amenhotep which is in his tomb on the western shore, 1,000 loaves of bread, 1,000 fatted geese, 1,000 jars of wine and 100 bulls, upon the 1st day of the 1st month of the year, what time the servants bring presents to their lord, and lights are lit in house, in tomb and in temple!_