A BODY IN PAWN.
'Gin a body meet a body!'--BURNS.
Though Leonora's faith in the magician had been a good deal shaken by
his failures in his black art, she admitted that, as a clairvoyant, he
might be more inspired. We therefore went, as he had directed us, to
the neighbourhood of Clare Market, where he had prophesied that we
should find a Temple adorned with the Three Balls of Gold, which the
Lombards bore with them from their far Aryan home in Frangipani. Nor
did this part of the prophecy fail to coincide with the document on the
mummy case. Through the thick and choking darkness which has made 'The
Lights of London' a proverb, we beheld the glittering of three aureate
orbs. And now, how to win our way, without pass-word or, indeed,
pass-book, into this home of mystery?
Here, in these immemorial recesses, the natives had long been wont to
bury, as we learned, their oldest objects of interest and value. There,
when we pushed our way within the swinging portal, lay around us, in
vast and solemn pyramids of portable property, the silent and touching
monuments of human existence. The busy life of a nation lay sleeping
here! Here, for example, stood that ancestral instrument for the
reckoning of winged Time, which in the native language is styled a
'Grandfather's Clock.' Hard by lay the pipe, fashioned of the 'foam of
perilous seas in fairy lands forlorn,' the pipe on which, perchance,
some swain had discoursed sweet music near the shady heights of High
Holborn. The cradle of infancy, the gamp of decrepitude, the tricycle
of fleeting youth, the paraffin lamp which had lighted bridal gaiety,
the flask which had held the foaming malt,--all were gathered here, and
the dust lay deep on all of them!
I was about to make some appropriate moral remarks, when I heard
Leonora (whose command of tongues is simply _marvellous_) address an
attendant priestess in the local dialect.
'Here, miss,' said she, ''ow much can yer let us 'ave on this 'ere
ticker?' (producing her watch).
The priestess, whose clear-cut features and two lovely black eyes
betrayed a mixture of Semitic blood, was examining the 'turnip'--as she
called the watch--when Leonora, saying 'Mum's the word,' rather
violently called my attention (with her elbow) to a strange parcel
lying apart from the rest.
It was a long bundle, as long as a man, and was swathed in cerements of
white Egyptian tissue.
''Tis you! 'tis you!' I sneezed rapturously, recognising the object of
our search, the very mummy which, two thousand years ago, Theodolite
had prepared with her own fair but cruel hands.
There, beyond the shadow of doubt, lay all that was mortal of the
unlucky Jambres! On the tissue which wrapped the bundle I distinctly
recognised _the stencilled mark corresponding to Leonora's scarab_, a
duck, the egg of a duck, and an umbrella.[24]
[24]
See cover. Most important to have this cover bound in _sur
brochure_.--PUBLISHER.
'How much,' said I to the priestess of the temple, 'could you afford to
let me have that old bundle of rags for?'
'That old bundle of rags?' said the woman, 'Take it, dear lady, take it
and keep it (if you can), and the blessing of Abraham be on your head!'
So anxious was she to part with the mummy that we could hardly get her
to accept a merely nominal price. To give plausibility to the purchase,
we said we wanted the rags for a paper-mill. Joyously did Leonora and I
call a passing chariot, and, with the mummy between us, we drove to our
abode. I was surprised on the way by receiving a pettish push from
Leonora's foot.
'Don't tread on my toes,' she said, though I had not even stirred. I
told her as much, and we were getting a little animated when my bonnet
was twitched off and thrown out into the darkness.
'Leonora,' I said severely, 'these manners are unworthy of a lady!'
'I declare, my dear Polly,' she replied, 'that I never even moved!' and
as she was obviously in earnest I had to accept her word.
When we reached home, after a series of petty but provoking
accidents,[25] we first locked up the mummy very carefully in the spare
bedroom. To-morrow would be time enough, we said, to consult the wizard
as to our next movement. We ordered a repast of the native viands
(which included, I remember, a small but savoury fish, the Blo-ta), and
sought our couches, in better spirits than usual.
[25]
I say, are you not gliding insensibly into _The Fallen
Idol_?--PUBLISHER.
Not a bit, you wait and you'll see.--ED.
Next morning, long before Leonora was awake, the young but intelligent
Slavi (so the common people call housemaids) crept into my chamber with
a death-white face.
'Omum,' she said (it is a term of courtesy), 'wot a night we've been
having?'
'Why, what is the matter, Jemimaran?' I asked, for that was her
melodious native name.
'There's _something_ in the spare room, mum, a-carrying on horful. The
bell ringing all night, and the Thing screaming and walking up and down
as restless! I'm a-going to give warning, mum,' she added
confidentially.
'Why, you've _given_ it,' I said, to reassure her. 'Forewarned is
forearmed.'
'Four-legged It do run sometimes, like a beast, mum, wailing terrible.
Up and down, up and down It goes, and always ringing the bell, and
crying high for a brandy-and-soda, mum, like a creature tormented.'[26]
[26]
Do take care. This is copyright! Don't you remember Mr.
Hyde?--PUBLISHER.
Neither Hyde nor Hidol, you're so nervous. Do wait till the
end.--ED.
Wish it was come!--PUBLISHER.
'Well,' I asked, though every hair upon my head stood erect with horror
(adding greatly to the peculiarity of my appearance), 'well, did you
take It what It asked for?'
'Yes, mum; for very fear I dared not refuse. And when I had handed it
in by a chink in the open door, first there was a sound like drinking,
then an awful cry, "Potash again!" and then a heavy soft thud, as if
you had knocked over a bolster stuffed with lead, mum.'
Through the brown glimmer of dawn (it was about ten A.M.) I hurried
to Leonora's chamber. She was dressed, and came out. 'What do you
advise?' I asked.
'Send for Mr. Urmson, the eminent lawyer, at once,' said she, 'he is
used to this kind of thing. Nothing like taking Counsel's opinion. But
first let me knock the door open!' She applied her magnificent white
shoulder to the door, which flew into splinters.
There was not a trace of the mummy, but there, in a deprecatory
attitude, stood the philosopher Asher![27]
[27]
Please pronounce _Assha_.--ED.