“Think! think! think!” shouted the fiery little man, getting up once more to trot up and down like an infuriated poodle. “I think she is a bad woman, a wicked woman. To deceive me into thinking her rich and--” “But surely, Professor, you wished to marry her also for love?” “Nothing of the sort, sir: nothing of the sort. I leave love and such-like trash to those like yourself and Hope, who have nothing else to think about.” “But a marriage without love--” “Pooh! pooh! pooh! Don't argue with me, Random. Love is all moonshine. I did not love my first wife--Lucy's mother--and yet we were very happy. Had I made Mrs. Jasher my second, we should have got on excellently, provided the money was forthcoming for my Egyptian expedition. What am I to do now, I ask you, Random? Even the thousand pounds you pay for the mummy goes back to that infernal Hope because of Lucy's silly ideas. I have nothing--absolutely nothing, and that tomb is amongst those Ethiopian hills, I swear, waiting to be opened. Oh, what a chance I have missed!--what a chance! But I shall see Mrs. Jasher myself. She knows about this murder.” “She declares that she does not.” “Don't tell me! don't tell me!” vociferated the Professor. “She would not have written that letter had she known nothing.” “That was bluff. I explained all that.” “Bluff be hanged!” cried Braddock, only he used a more vigorous word. “I do not believe that she would have dared to act on such a slight foundation. I shall see her myself this very afternoon and force her to confess. In one way or another I shall find the assassin and make him disgorge those emeralds under the penalty of being hanged. Then I can sell them and finance my Egyptian expedition.” “But you forget, Professor, that the emeralds, when found, belong to Don Pedro.” “They don't,” rasped the little man, turning purple with rage. “I refuse to let him have them. I bought the mummy, and the contents of the mummy, including those emeralds. They are mine.” “No,” said Random sharply. “I buy the mummy, from you, so they pass into my possession and belong to De Gayangos. I shall give them to him.” “You'll have to find them first,” said Braddock savagely; “and as to the mummy, you shan't have it. I decline to sell it. So there!” “If you don't,” said Random very distinctly, “Don Pedro will bring an action against you, and Captain Hervey will be called as a witness to prove that the mummy was stolen.” “Don Pedro hasn't the money,” said Braddock triumphantly; “he can't pay lawyer's fees.” “But I can,” rejoined the young man very dryly. “As I am going to marry Donna Inez, it is only just that I should help my future father-in-law in every way. He has a romantic feeling about this relic of poor humanity and wishes to take it back to Peru. He shall do so.” “And what about me?--what about me?”