"They say it will end in the divorce court. That is what comes of marrying a milkmaid. And, after all, she did not present him with a son. Ah, well, it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Young Carnarvon is his heir still, and his chances of succeeding grow rosier every day." "My dear Mrs. Belvigne, if it was not for her red hair, she would be as commonplace as--as my dear friend Mrs. Sorenson. What you men see in red hair----" "Conscience, Lady Helen, is a composition of indulgences. It is a marriage de convenance between the conventional instinct and the appetite." "Dr. Pinsent," said Miss Ottley, "is it really you?" I turned and looked into her eyes. They were all aglow and her cheeks were suffused with colour. She gave me both her hands. The room was already crowded. People entered every minute. Hubbard pointed significantly at the tea-cups. Miss Ottley and I drifted to the divan. We watched the crowd through the parted curtains, sipping our tea. We might as well have been in a box at the theatre watching the play. "I knew you would escape," she murmured, presently. "The others believe you to have perished in the desert." "They consoled themselves, no doubt?" "My father especially." "Did he recover his Arab?" "What Arab?" "The creature he had imprisoned in the sarcophagus." "The mummy, you mean. The body of Pthames? Oh, yes, that was safe enough, but he was in a fearful state until we found the punt. He feared that you would either steal or destroy the mummy, I believe." "Miss Ottley!" I cried. "You must not blame him too much," she murmured; "you know how he had set heart----" "Look here!" I interrupted. "Do you mean to tell me that you found the mummy in the sarcophagus?" "Certainly. Why?" "Did you see it?" "Yes." "The mummy?" "Why, of course." "A dead body, a mummy?" "Dr. Pinsent, how strangely you insist." "I'll tell you the reason. When I opened the sarcophagus----" "Yes." "It contained not a mummy, but a living man." "Impossible." "You think so? The Arab was the very man who frightened you so often in the temple at the Hill of Rakh." "Dr. Pinsent!" "When I removed the lid he leaped out of the sarcophagus, sprang ashore and fled to the desert. I followed him for several miles. But I could not catch him. I was compelled to give up the chase. And now you tell me that you afterwards found a mummy in the coffin which I had left empty." "One of us is dreaming," said the girl. "What was this mummy like?" "A tall man--with a curious conical-shaped head--and eyes set hideously far apart in its skull--but you have seen the Arab who frightened me--and indeed he attacked you at your camp. His mummified counterpart." "And some of his ribs were broken?" "I do not know." "But his body was bandaged. Otherwise he was almost nude."