"It is altogether comfortable, madame," said Don Pedro, rising to make
a courtly bow. In fact, so agreeable was the foreigner that Mrs. Jasher
dreamed for one swift moment of throwing over the dry-as-dust scientist
to become a Spanish lady of Lima.
"You flatter me, Don Pedro," she said, waving a wholly unnecessary fan
out of compliment to her guest's Spanish extraction. "Indeed, I am very
glad that you are pleased with my poor little house."
"Pardon, madame, but no house can be poor when it is a casket to contain
such a jewel."
"There!" said Lucy somewhat satirically to the young men, while
Mrs. Jasher blushed and bridled, "what Englishman could turn such a
compliment? It reminds one of Georgian times."
"We are more sober now than my fathers were then," said Hope, smiling,
"and I am sure if Random thought for a few minutes he could produce
something pretty. Go on, Random."
"My brain is not equal to the strain after dinner," said Sir Frank.
As for Donna Inez, she did not speak, but sat smiling quietly in her
corner of the room, looking remarkably handsome. As a young girl Lucy
was pretty, and Mrs. Jasher was a comely widow, but neither one had the
majestic looks of the Spanish lady. She smiled, a veritable queen amidst
the gim-crack ornaments of Mrs. Jasher's parlor, and Sir Frank, who was
fathoms deep in love, could not keep his eyes off her face.
For a few minutes the conversation was frivolous, quite the Shakespeare
and musical glasses kind of speech. Then Mrs. Jasher, who had no idea
that her good dinner should be wasted in charming nothings, introduced
the subject of the mummy by a reference to Professor Braddock. It was
characteristic of her cleverness that she did not address Don Pedro, but
pointed her speech at Lucy Kendal.
"I do hope your father will return with that mummy," she observed, after
a dexterous allusion to the late tragedy.
"I don't think he has gone to look for it," replied Miss Kendal
indifferently.
"But surely he desired to get it back, after paying nearly one thousand
pounds for it," said Mrs. Jasher, with well-feigned astonishment.
"Oh, of course; but he would scarcely look for it in London."
"Has Professor Braddock gone to search for the mummy?" asked Don Pedro.
"No," answered Lucy. "He is visiting the British Museum to make some
researches in the Egyptian department."
"When do you expect him back, please?"
Lucy shrugged her shoulders.
"I can't say, Don Pedro. My father comes and goes as the whim takes
him."
The Spanish gentleman looked thoughtfully into the fire.
"I shall be glad to see the Professor when he returns," he said in his
excellent, slow-sounding English. "My concern about this mummy is deep."