Six months later Sir Frank came into the small San Remo where Mr. and
Mrs. Hope lived, with his wife on his arm. Lady Random looked singularly
charming and was assuredly more conversational. This was the first time
the two sets of lovers had met since the tragedy, and now each girl had
married the man she loved. Therefore there was great joy.
"My yacht is over at Monte Carlo," said Random, "and I am, going with
Inez to South America. She wants to see her father."
"Yes, I do," said Lady Random; "and we want you to come also, Lucy--you
and your dear husband."
Archie and his wife looked at one another, but declined unanimously.
"We would rather stay here in San Remo," said Mrs. Hope, becoming
slightly pale. "Don't think me unkind, Inez, but I could not bear to
go to Peru. It is associated too much in my own mind with that terrible
green mummy."
"Oh, Don Pedro has taken that back to the Andes," explained Sir Frank,
"and it is now reposing in the sepulchre in which it was placed,
hundreds of years ago, by the Indians, faithful to Inca Caxas. Inez and
I are going up to a kind of forbidden city, where Don Pedro reigns as
Inca, and I expect we shall have a jolly time. I hear there is some big
game shooting there."
"What about your soldiering?" asked Hope, rather, surprised at this
extended tour being arranged.
"Oh, my husband has left the army," pouted Inez. "His duties kept him
away from me nearly all the day, and I grew weary of being left alone."
"So you see, Mrs. Hope," laughed Random gayly, "that I have had to
succumb to my fireside tyrant. We shall go and see this fairy city and
then return to my home in Oxfordshire. There Inez will settle down as
a real English wife and I'll turn a country squire. So, after all our
troubles, peace will come."
"And as you will not come to my country," said Lady Random to her
hostess, "you cannot refuse to visit Frank and myself at the Grange.
We have had so much trouble together that we cannot lose sight of each
other."
"No," said Lucy, kissing her. "We will come to Oxfordshire."
So it was arranged, and the next day Mr. and Mrs. Hope went over to
Monte Carlo to see the last of Sir Frank and his wife. They stood on
the heights watching the pretty little steamer making for South America.
Archie noticed that his wife's face was somewhat sad.
"Are you sorry we did not go, sweetheart?"
"No," she replied, placing her arm within his own. "I only want to be
with you."
"That is all right." He patted her hand. "Now that we have sold all the
furniture in the Pyramids, and have got rid of the lease, there will be
nothing to remind you of the green mummy."