and trimmed into cones of dull green. These yews possessed some
magical significance, which Professor Braddock would occasionally
explain to chance visitors interested in occult matters; for,
amongst other things Egyptian, the archaeologist searched into
the magic of the Sons of Khem, and insisted that there was more
truth than superstition in their enchantments.

Braddock used all the vast rooms of the ground floor to house his
collection of antiquities, which he had acquired through many
laborious years. He dwelt entirely in this museum, as his
bedroom adjoined his study, and he frequently devoured his
hurried meals amongst the brilliantly tinted mummy cases. The
embalmed dead populated his world, and only now and then, when
Lucy insisted, did he ascend to the first floor, which was her
particular abode. Here was the drawing-room, the dining-room and
Lucy's boudoir; here also were sundry bedrooms, furnished and
unfurnished, in one of which Miss Kendal slept, while the others
remained vacant for chance visitors, principally from the
scientific world. The third story was devoted to the cook, her
husband--who acted as gardener--and to the house parlor maid, a
composite domestic, who worked from morning until night in
keeping the great house clean. During the day these servants
attended to their business in a comfortable basement, where the
cook ruled supreme. At the back of the mansion stretched a
fairly large kitchen garden, to which the cook's husband devoted
his attention. This was the entire domain belonging to the
tenant, as, of course, the Professor did not rent the arable
acres and comfortable farms which had belonged to the
dispossessed family.