THE SKIRTS OF CHANCE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11493, 28 January 1903, Page 3

THE SKIRTS OF CHANCE.

I Br Beatrice Hkp.os-Maxwsll. j "It ia a singular thing," said Professor Ha.st slowly, "the tendency to -superstition that fit ill dings to us—modern and . cynical us we are—especially when Oriental j traditions come in. It is almost as ineradicable as original sin, and vju happen upon it in the most practical, and nmerul people. My daughter Is sensible a.-: a rule, J but she hity conceived a worked di-st.'.*t-' to the advene of this mummy." '"I nm not surpr-st-d," answered C.tptiin Maimvarinu'. •■Cuineideute.s are unmanageable tiling, and '-here hive U.en plenty in the v.-.ik- 1 of Pescinek-Hr.i." "Tli? E4ypt.ia.nV continued the proftssor. ' believed th.it an undee.iyed body wu'.d be reanimated after a Lip.se of tlm-e tb>u*and years—hence '.be care with which they embalmed tiuir dead. TUere were tlire-. , processus amongst tho ancient laces, d'.t-fct-irjii in i>>sdine.s-s the most expensive bethat " liith included <;i'.ding of the fa-'.e and hands. The word is derived,' —tie ros-3 and went to the bookcase, lovingly some balU-ml volumes— "from die Arabic mumia—bitumen, or mum, wax. ' "Weil, I .-hall nut be sorry," avowed MaJiiwaring. with all the couraye that m* V.U. warranted, "to put u.nnp-'.ny wltli thiri particular sfeiimtn of munr.i. Wuli all due deference for poor Charlie, I think he would hive done belter to kave Hra m his hiding place, and let the scientific world by the poorer by a lnumniy, in which t-a.-r I v>,■ ini.v'ht. have "been richer. Iby a iriend —you by a brother.' , : Tho "prolessor looked troubled. | ; -It. is, of cour.s,, r.-ain.-t all rommoni ssn«« that the.-... should be any (•'■ac'ctioii between iiis Q.t'i Mid the :, ,uitH '.ju ; the- uumuiiy. Lei jii-.SvO, \ili.-.t wete lie precioe circiiiiit-f..itice> ' "To the W..<; ...f my knowledge, these. an.«we.rcd "SI umv.aiii-. "Your 'bmtii-T had hum in- al).«»c for »mn.' rmw worth isendini: t<. you, and when he K-urd of this, noihiai; would stop him from gouvj in search of it.' He was warned that Uiere wius dansrr—botli real and intan-ible—:c tlic. quest, but—you know hi.s w.iy J' toiik him a year'to ui-coniplisli it, and ro.-i him about, "live hinulred |'"Uiils be.-id-.s ' what he had f> p.iv in . onipeLsatiou to Hie i lclatives of the nun tinplnyed in tho tran s;t ,)f iX -" - i-M The professor's jrraviiy (i.-opriK-il u> you mean to say there wad locs <>f lite?" he iusked. "Veiy much en. AH the men who tooK an active part in bringing it douu iroai the interior came to an untimely end. Tlie. day if reached Cliarli«V- lwuse w;us the. very day he met me on the <(Uay 1 had landed for a few hours, and was going to hunt him up. But he was there waiting: for me. "Look heie. Gondii, old miv, , he said. 'I want you to do something for me I've cot a most valuable present for my brother, and I don't want to ship it a* cargo. Take it cm with you and see it safely through to his house.'" He looked a bit queer and fagged 1 noticed, and I advised him to take a holiday. 'Not I,' he said, 'I'm perfectly fit.' And then he sent up to his house for the case, and it was brought on boaxd aond put with my heavy luggage. Or course I heard nothing of him until i landed and wired to you to cay I was coming along with it. "and wben yon told m« the awful newe I confess I was etaggered. I had the most phenomenal illluck myself the -whole way home, and that accident at the Custom House was an ugly one." "Poor Charlie," mused the professor, 'tie must have shot himself that very night. Yet he hadn't a. trouble in the world, and he was, you cay, in good health. The.re ie no instance "of madness in our family record. It's a mystery to me." "My advice, if you will allow me to offer it, is this, ,, said Mainwaring, "send the mummy at once, tliis very to the Museum and wash your hande uf it." "Father," said Lorell Haet, looking in at the door. "I've made up my mind that we must keep the mummy alter all. He looks so splendid on the oak settle; and I have taken a fancy to him. He has a weird fascination for me. Come and translate his inscription." They followed her to the hall, where the huge oblong coffin, denuded of its outer wooden casings, reposed majeetkally. As Lorell bent over it, peering into the pictured presentment, just above where tne head reposed underneath, of this being who had lived thousands of years before, Captain Mainwaring thought for the second time how fair and fresh and sweet she w«e; one of those wholesome English girls whe are euch a delight to eyee tired of looking at dark faces and eun-ecorched skims. "The inscription has been translated lnt,f modern Arabic, and is on this label," Iμ said, and the professor, putting on hu i glasses, painstakingly, deciphered , it. I "Pesemek-Hra, son of Tchet-Ari, * Divine Father, and prophet of the Ooda : Sktrum leaner in the temple of Osirie."

The outer coffin was of sycamore, ana was embellished with hieroglyphic legends ; the adoration of the emblem of Oeiris, tb* Goddeasee IsLs and Nepthys, and the four children of Horie, being represented on the sid«s, while on the lid wae painted the face of an Egyptian, nearly white in colour, with aquiline nose, curved lips, and al-mond-shaped eyes of deepest brown. A white head covering finished under Ihe chin, and below was written the name, Pesemek-Hra, followed by a prayer tor funeral offerings. Further down towards the feet were the circle and bar typifying eternity. On lifting the lid the inner coffin was disclosed, this being of cedar, brightly painted with figures of the god Anubias receiving the deceased Pesemek, and ol Lsis with her vulture. •'I should like," said the professor, mild ly, "to keep it for a day or two, and 1 think I will have it carried to thu study, Lorell." "Oh, no, father, do let mo keep it her*. I wtiftt to take its photograph to-morrow morning." , "You could do that better horizontally, said Mainwaring. "Why not stand the outer case up near this window and let youi father have the inner coffin in his study." He felt a sudden and insensate desire to separate this dead prophet of the gods from their modern daughter "most divinely fair," who had begun to take such an unaccountable interest in him. If there were bad luck to be incurred, it seemed more suitable that the professor himself should bear the brunt of it. It was owing, too, to this vague dread and doubt that he accepted the professor's invitation to make their house his headquarters during a few days' sojourn- in town; for, relieved as be wae at having shifted the burden of Charlie Haste legacy on to its rightful owner, he yet felt uneasy at the thought of pretty Lorell being involved in the untoward circumstances attending Pesemek-Hra's entry into latterday civilisation. So eager was he to avert any possible catastrophe that he himself helped to carry the weighty inner coffin to the professorY sanctum, and afterwards to dispose the outer one in an upright position on one of the old oak chests in the hall. The professor's house in Harley street was a pukkha curiosity shop, and tho mummy case found itself in good company, including devil-masks from West Africa, preserved snakes, scorpions, and spiders from the East and West Indies, grotesque geds from many remote and barbarous countries, and fossilised remains, human and bestial, from all corners of the earth. Captain Mainwaring felt the incongruity between such surroundings and the gprl who lived amongst them, and told himself that, after all. such creeds as tfhe one that had begun to take hold of his mind needed the glamour of the East to give them colour; and faded into idle folklore in the presence of a twentieth century maiden with her kodak and her bicycle. Indeed, Pesemek himself seemed to realise that he was out of date, and must consent to the inevitable march of progress, for three days passed unmarked by any dreaa misfortune. On the second morning Lorell noting the clearness of the atmosphere, decided to photograph the mummy case and as she went staging across the Hall Captain Mainwaring. following her, heard a fitU »txaPge, eharp cry, that dot* tlw

j sv.-eetiw« of the kiil-.ui. and iaw her stop I a.-, though rrcjiliiig in ahnn ;U something. A-* he hastened tow: :u- iitr *he s-treU-h----ed out a kind t> iu:r,. ;.nd said in a low voice, "Did you see if: i "See v.lint":" lie in concern, for ! l.fr f'l-e \v;i« pie and hri- lips were shakI in -'- I "The- face," slit- -whispered. "It sbon- j all bri-ht and i-.isJ the <-y< s ! flit-bed like white, iian;*—it looked as ;: it weie alive and t.hren teiiinjr Jin-'. I &u]>• pose. - .she added, with a l;Li!e strained lauirh and an attempt, at lightness, "that it w;<s the sunshine glancing m:m«s it. but it startled me for ;i moment." Uuiiiih Miiinwajiiu ha-stened to r.ssuiv her tb.it this was the solution, ar.d pio- j tV-<.d to Lave lurnsdf the ;>[>• j peirunce s!io ue.-ciibei. but the old uiit::i*iness, foolish yet persistent, ittumed, ;-tul he tiied to dis-n.uu- her from her pruje.:t. . . "You surt'V wouldn't. siUL-e.«t my up the photograph. " l.urell said, reproachfully, "lor the >-ike ot a silly fancy. Ot i.-rui-e. it was only t!iSo .-he adjusted her Uoduk. and the photog,r,t|.'h wa.s taken. "1 can't ni:ike it out.' sho F.iid latei- in •i puzzled toil.-. Avhei). ufter dtvelupinij ;i third with Ooujhs assi*to.iu>?. the sjme losult w;is arrived at. "Do yo'i sve?" und she held up tho fl-iss between him and the li^ht. The outline vi the coffin \r>>n quite distinct, and all the p.untiiii.'s to the minuU'st detail hud tome out dearly and slmrplvdefined—there was a|>p.«rentiv no detect of hk'ht or ."hade. :md she had taken the photograph fiom three different points of view." Yet iv ea.uh of them the tani..' (ifticiencr. CHUired Wiiue the poittait i.l' I'cseinek-Hi.v s-houid h:tve appeared there was nothiUki; a blank, the .--hape and sii" lof the face, but a.s devoid of features as • ihou/h a piete of white paper had bt-en i >iaNi«d over them. "It in almost in-ivd-!ble," .said Lorell: "what do you think ~,•! he the explanation of it, Captain Mainu.irini;''" Bui' he had none to offer, and tould on «- siiu'ijeat that us this "Divine father" was mi unsatisfactory •« every re-peet it might be well to ignore liini. ■■1 ."uii't lik.' to be btiti-n.' , objected Lorell. "I shall try ag-un " And on the following morning she dovoted herself to the endeavour, but. in vain—negative alter negative was developed, proof after proof printed, without sueI'e.oi. Meanwhile the professor. absorbed with Li-« new toy. sp»nt hotlis poung over it, and had a'ghi* , lid made to replace the original one of the inner cofiin. so that he could view the mummy unhindered. Lorell found him examining his treasure through a powerful magnifying glass when she went with her story of tins photographs. ' The professor smiled indulgently. "I "can give you a very matter-of-fact solution to your mystery," he eaid. "1 ■have no doubt the "face was covered with creusinum, a transparent vam&h purer and clearer than even glass itself, the secret of which perished about five hundred years B.C. Its object was to render the action of light null and void, and aa light is such a dominating agent in photography this would account for tflie blank fats?, whe> t tho varnish comes " But, reassuring as this argument seem ed, Lorell found herself dissatisfied with it and the mummy continued to occupy the foreground of her thoughts, while a sin gular depression crept over her that sht wus powerless to shake off. It was on tho fourth and last night o Captain Mainwanng's stay that the firsl of two awful events happened. The professor had withdrawn after din ncr to his study, and when Lorell caxriet in some coffee" for him She found hin kneeling beside the coffin, the glass lid o which was resting at its foot, and carefull; unwrapping the wrist of one of the foldei hands. "I think this is a very unusual case o embalming," he eaid, "And I want to fi: the date of it. I should say that thi nrummy was nearly three thousand year old. and its preservation is certainly in credible. See how firm aad filled out th flesh still is." Hβ had unrolled a long strip of th inner bandage and a rim of skin, pal brown, polished like stone, yet withou the parched and shrivelled aapect of imin mied limbs, shone from between the fold on either side. "Most extraordinary, nrunmrred the professor, passing liis fmgei i round it, "it feels cold and firm, yet nc wholly unimpressionable."

Lorell, standing by the -writing table < with the tray otill in her hand, wae staring ] fascinated at the supine form, which swathed almost into shapelessness as it was, yet expressed both strength and life. * "I must examine this under the microscope," said the professor, snipping off a ] Hale piece of the linen, and rising quickly he was about to step towards heir. But the lid, projecting a few inches beyond the coffin, caught his foot as he strode forward, and stumbling, he fell iheadlong down, catching in his descent at the glass, which broke into a thousand pieces under him. LoreU's cry of alarm brought Gougji Mainworing to her sidte instantly, and together they raised her father; Lorell breaking into choking, silent tears wken she haw the ghastly wound on his forehead. It seemed at first, and for many hours that night, as though the professor's life was to be sacrificed to this apparently trivial accident of a moment, and when Lorell told her story to the doctor, she saw in Gough Mainwaring's face the reflection of a horrible certainty that had come to her. In the darkened room upstairs lay the Professor, his life which had nearly ebbed, only flickering faintly in his unconscious form; below, in the" study, lay the inert shadow of a substance that had been mighty in its day, and that possessed still—as it. seemed impossible to doubt—the power of a lurking Nemesis to avenge the outrage of tampering with its sanctity, and violating its prescribed time of ivpose. Already the wings of death liad brushed aside more than one of those who ventured to trespass on the peace of I'esemekHia, and now it hung like a cloud over the house that was his tempoiary resting

place. With the dawn the professor came back to consciousness, and, presently opining his eyes, asked faintly why it was so dark. Lorell told him gently that the room was light, but he said he could see nothing: he was surrounded by blackness. The doctor and nurse exchanged significant looks: the wound on the head had affected the evvs and the professor was blind! " It' was left to Captain Muinwaring to break this news to Lore!!, and brave soldier as he woe, he shrank in eoul from tUe ordeal before him.

But he got through it at last, and she sobbed her heart out on his shoulder, while he s-trove to comfort her, and then she dried her eyes and went back to her father's bedside. George Mainwaring had no resource but to leave, for hie visit was to have ended that day, and he felt an intruder in a house of such sorrow as this. But he determined to remain in town, and to watch over Lorell as far as was

possible. As the day drew to its close and night came on. he- grew more and more restless wMi anxiety about her, an'l found himself at midnight quite unable to keep away from Harky street. The studv-wnere Pesemek-Hra stiU slept the of eternity-was in dark-

to he looked, Lorell lun-eU carrymg a candle, crossed his vision and went toward* the mummy, and his heart beat with a sudden apprehension that he could not longer control. ** i^u He ran m> the steps and rang the bell, and ac the housemaid opened it there wa* a crash, a blaze of bght through the stud} door, and the next instant Lorell ruebed Met liim a sheet of flame, mad wrtn !S£/I5 making straight for the open her in his arms, and throwin* her down, literally beat the ««*■«* with hk hands, rolhng her m a Pj*J*J wfcch be W free its fike* oa tie w»u.

And as tii ■ charred eilk and mu.-lin fell away in tlakti*. a terrible moan of anguish fiom lwr rent his hetut, and he realised suddenly that lie lovod her. and that- thi< of hers woise than death to him.

suddenly that lie loved her. ami that- tlii< of hers was woise than death to him. The days that followed were like- a nightma s-e fnim whidi Ciuunh prayed not to v,a!;e. lest the reality should prove wore* than tlit , dream. H.nir by hour he the same question: H'iw Ls Loieil? niwuys to receive the Miint , a«.«\v«r—jui't the same; no bstter Olid Tilt W(.1 , .** , . At Inst, when the bums on his hand v.rre 'b.ai-'d and in: could demand an audience of her, they told him the truth, 'it irs for she would not know you. She is L:eitinu' well slowly and gradually, but Mip remembers nothing; tlve shock has h.id the erica of de.-nroyin;; memory.' . The was stilt in a very weak state and the doctors had i;o hope of savin £ hLs eyesight. To the outride world the double tragedy seemed only an unusual sequence of bad t'-.Hiuiif. without any connecting :ink between ih" two accidents. But Captain Mjiinvum..' no longer doubted that some occult power for evil, airainst- which human wills ueie hapless, re-ted with PesemeKHra.'.s .presence, and that as long as Ins tomb w.us desecrated, his vengeance would continue to do its deadly wk. For himself ho held the injury to trs , hands as a, li<.-;h» mit-tui'tune compared with his tortMie vi ir.iiid about Lorell. He resolved at any eo.s; or risk to save botii himself and "others from further mischance. It was impossible for him to leave England ; he wa.s under orders to join the Depot of hirt regiment in the north; but he telegraphed to an agent at Cairo with fuil directions as to what was to be done with a packing curse that would arrive wi:iiin a menth. It wa < u> be forwarded up country as rapidly as possible to th- plate from winch i» had* originally com-—no expense, was to be spared to en.sure its journey being swilt and sure. Then h: proceeded to Harley street, wheiv, under ln« directions, the mummy in itK collin was iv-torod to the outer .sUoll, and the wind- enclosed in a huge ca.se. Having despatched it uinler tile charge of an intelligent whotse orders were io tak..' it tv Cairo, and report it« | .sal'-.' ,!irivcil hy (iuu.li .Maiinvaririi; wiiii a. heavy he.'tit wen; ;'«ay North and liiniMdf to the grief that had fallen 1 >k<■ a blmht on his bu>v contented li-e. Thrice iliivin'r the eiinuinfr weeks he sent enquiries to Harley street; the answer each tune being that th» professor anil Miss Ha.<t were only better; iv> marked improvement having taken place in either case. Then came a day when the whole world was changed for him by two telegrams, one an-j nouncing the safe transport of the mummy to its original abiding-place; the other from Harley street, which said: " Father much better, would like to see you. Please come if possible. I have quite recovered.—Lorell.'" " Thank God "he said. " The spell of that accursed ia lifted at last. M" little Lorell!" # * • * • But the professor has never even mad? an enquiry about the mummy; and only once has Lorell spoken of it —when sh a . told Gough of the strange fascination it exercised over her, and that drew her irresistibly towards it on that night. " I found this little scroll in father's pocket-book," she said. "He had evidently taken it from the mummy-case in order to decipher its meaning. I felt I must, go. and when I got there I was afraid—horribly afraid. The creature seemed almost alive! I tried to run away, and then I dropped the candle." And v.'hen she broke off, shuddering at the remembrance, Gough entreated her never to speak, never even to think of it again. " But I must tell you what was on the scroll," Lorell said. " Father had written a translation of it, and. I learnt the words by heart before I threw it on the fire. "' The curse of Pesemek-Hra shall rest on him who dares to gaze upon my faco or break my sleep before the time of my expiation be past. , I have sinned against great Isis; I have unveiled that which should be for ever hidden, and it may be that my punishment begun here on earth *hall last through the ages. But these things rest with the gods. Let no rash mortal come 'twixt them and me. It may be that I shall yet win pardon and return to finish my appointed term on earth, which now i" cut short with violent hands. Therefore disturb me not. , " "It is one of those things which admit of neither argument nor explanation, but Pesemek-Hra is hundreds of miles aw-ay now," Gough said; " long let him remain there. Peace be to his unhallowed soul!"

The days that followed were lik*> a niglit-m:i!-e fnim vhidi Ciuunh prayed not to v,.i!;e lest, the reality should prove wore* than tilt , dream.