The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second CenturyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Science
The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Feminist fiction; Science fiction; Twenty-second century -- Fiction
During their ride home, Lord Gustavus could talk of nothing but the
graciousness of the Queen, upon which he was still expatiating, when
the balloon stopped; and Edric, who, though he felt grateful for her
kindness, was annoyed by hearing so much said of it, hastened to leave
him as soon as he possibly could with propriety. On his road to his
own apartment, however, he heard a strange and fearful noise, like the
voice of some one screaming in an agony of rage and pain, which seemed
to proceed from the chamber appropriated to his learned tutor; and he
was going there to ascertain the cause, when the agitated form of the
unfortunate philosopher burst upon him.
Sad, indeed, was the condition in which this splendid ornament of the
twenty-second century now presented himself before the eyes of his
astonished pupil. His face glowed like fire; his hat was off, and water
streamed from every part of his body till he looked like the effigy of
a water deity in a fountain.
"Here is management!" cried he, as soon as his rage permitted him to
speak; "here is treatment for one devoted to the service of mankind!
But I will be revenged, and centuries yet to come, shall tremble at my
wrath."
In this manner he continued, and being too much occupied in these awful
denunciations, to be able to give any information as to what calamity
had brought him into this unseemly plight, it will be necessary to go
back a little to explain it for him.
When Dr. Entwerfen left the breakfast-room of Lord Gustavus, which
he did not do till a considerable time after the rest of the party
had quitted it, he was so absorbed in meditation that he did not know
exactly which way he was going; and, happening unfortunately to turn
to the right when he should have gone to the left, to his infinite
surprise he found himself in the kitchen, instead of his own study.
Absent as the doctor was, however, his attention was soon roused by the
scene before him. Being, like many of his learned brotherhood, somewhat
of a gourmand, his indignation was violently excited by finding the
cook comfortably asleep on a sofa on one side of the room, whilst the
meat intended for dinner, a meal it was then the fashion to take about
noon, was as comfortably resting itself from its toils on the other.
The chemical substitute for fire, which ought to have cooked it, having
gone out, and the cook's nap precluding all reasonable expectation
of its re-illumination, the doctor's wrath was kindled, though the
fire was not, and in a violent rage he seized the gentle Celestina's
shoulder, and shook her till she woke.
"Where am I?" exclaimed she, opening her eyes.
"Any where but where you ought to be," cried the doctor, in a fury.
"Look, hussy! look at that fine joint of meat, lying quite cold and
sodden in its own steam."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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