Part 3 (1/2)

Sar-box; in it was the hand wrapped in cotton wool

”Ah,” said the Director, ”a pretty, well-bred hand No doubt this Ma-Mee was the real heiress to the throne, as she describes herself

The Pharaoh was somebody of inferior birth, half-brother--she is called 'Royal Sister,' you remember--son of one of the Pharaoh's slave-women, perhaps Odd that she never et on in life, and that she was deters upon that hand, were they not?”

He replaced thenet in a cartouche, and read the inscription on the other: ”'Bes Ank, Ank Bes'

'Bes the Living, the Living Bes'

”Your Ma-Mee had sos, as you knoas the God of beauty and of the adornht reht always fit, and her rouge never cake when she was dancing before the Gods Also it fixes her period pretty closely, but then so do other things It see, does it not? The royal signet will be enough for us”

With a little bow he gave the hand back to Ser that had worn it for more than three thousand years At least, S that at the tiain

Then they parted, S to events to be described, he did not do

”Ah!” said the Master to himself, as the door closed behind his visitor

”He's in a hurry to be gone He has fear lest I should changeAlso there is the bronze Monsieur Smith was _ruse_ there It is worth a thousand pounds, that bronze Yet I do not believe he was thinking of the money I believe he is in love with that Ma-Mee and wants to keep her picture _Mon Dieu!_ A well-established affection

At least he is what the English call an odd fish, one whom I could neverStill, honest, I aht have kept every one of those jewels and no one have been the wiser And what things! What a find! _Ciel!_ what a find! There has been nothing like it for years Benedictions on the head of Odd-fish Smith!”

Then he collected the precious objects, thrust them into an inner compartment of his safe, which he locked and double-locked, and, as it was nearly five o'clock, departed frorounds, there to study Sraphs, and to tell sos that had happened

When Smith found himself outside the sacred door, and had presented its venerable guardian with a baksheesh of five piastres, he walked a few paces to the right and paused a while to watch sous upon an i rhyth, whereof each line ended with an invocation to Allah

Just so, reflected So, they dragged that very sarcophagus from the quarries to the Nile, and from the Nile to the to blocks of the pyrareat causeway and s-places Only then each line of the immemorial chant of toil ended with an invocation to Ae its e, and if to-day Allah wore the feathers of Amen one wonders whether the worshi+ppers would find the difference so very great

Thus thought Sus and those blue-robed, dark-skinned fellaheen, down the long gallery that is filled with a thousand sculptures For a moment he paused before the wonderful white statue of Queen A that his time was short, hastened on to a certain rooallery

In a corner of this roost many other beautiful objects, stood that head which Mariette had found, whereof in past years the cast had fascinated him in London Now he knehose head it was; to hiiven to find the tomb of her who had sat for that statue Her very hand was in his pocket--yes, the hand that had touched yonderout its defects to the sculptor, or perhaps swearing that he flattered her Smith wondered who that sculptor was; surely he must have been a happy man Also he wondered whether the statuette was also this ht so, but he wished to make sure

Near to the end of the room he stopped and looked about hile student or tourist could be seen, and its guardian was somewhere else He drew out the box that contained the hand Fro which the Director-General had left there as a gift to hinet, but how could he say so, especially after the episode of the statuette?

Replacing the hand in his pocket without looking at the ring--for his eyes atching to see whether he was observed--he set it upon his little finger, which it exactly fitted (Ma-Mee had worn both of theuard to the signet) He had the fancy to approach the effigy of Ma-Mee wearing a ring which she had worn and that caer to his own

Sone by since he looked upon it, and now, to his eyes, it had grown more beautiful than ever, and its s He drew out the statuette and began to compare them point by point Oh, no doubt was possible! Both were likenesses of the saht have been executed two or three years later than the statue To him the face of it looked a little older and more spiritual Perhaps illness, or some premonition of her end had then thrown its shadow on the queen He coh measurements and sketches in his pocket-book, and set himself to work out a canon of proportions

So hard and earnestly did he work, so lost was hissound which announces that the Museum is about to close Hidden behind an altar as he was, in his distant, shadowed corner, the guardian of the roolance about the place before departing till the Saturday ; for the morroas Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath, on which the Museum remains shut, and he would not be called upon to attend So he went Everybody went The great doors clanged, were locked and bolted, and, save for a watchman outside, no one was left in all that vast place except S and into the increase of shadow, first called his attention to the fact that tilanced at his watch and saw that it was ten ht to hiely silent the place seemed! Not a footstep to be heard or the sound of a huain, and saw that it was six o'clock, not five, or so the thing said But that was impossible, for the Museuot into the works The room in which he stood was that known as Room I, and he had noticed that its Arab custodian often frequented Rooallery outside He would find hi round the effigy of the wonderful Hathor cow, perhaps the finest example of an ancient sculpture of a beast in the whole world, Sallery Not a soul to be seen He ran to Room K, to Room H, and others Still not a soul to be seen Then he reat entrance