Spencer, with a glance at his watch, excused himself, nodding to
Dr. Lith to show us about, and with a good night to Miss White
which was noticeable for its sympathy with her fears, said, "I
shall be at the house for another half-hour at least, in case
anything really important develops."

A few minutes later Miss White left for the night, with apparent
reluctance, and yet, I thought, with just a little shudder as she
looked back up the staircase that led to the art-gallery.

Dr. Lith led us into a large vaulted marble hall and up a broad
flight of steps, past beautiful carvings and frescoes that I
should have liked to stop and admire.

The art-gallery was a long room in the interior and at the top of
the building, windowless but lighted by a huge double skylight
each half of which must have been some eight or ten feet across.
The light falling through this skylight passed through plate glass
of marvellous transparency. One looked up at the sky as if through
the air itself.

Kennedy ignored the gallery's profusion of priceless art for the
time and went directly to the mummy-case of the priestess Ka.

"It has a weird history," remarked Dr. Lith. "No less than seven
deaths, as well as many accidents, have been attributed to the
malign influence of that greenish yellow coffin. You know the
ancient Egyptians used to chant as they buried their sacred dead:
'Woe to him who injures the tomb. The dead shall point out the