In spite of newspapers and letters and tape-machines and telegrams and
such like aids to the speedy diffusion of news, the same travels
quicker in villages than in cities. Word of mouth can spread gossip
with marvelous rapidity in sparsely inhabited communities, since it is
obvious that in such places every person knows the other--as the saying
goes--inside out. In every English village walls have ears and windows
have eyes, so that every cottage is a hot-bed of scandal, and what is
known to one is, within the hour, known to the others. Even the Sphinx
could not have preserved her secret long in such a locality.
Gartley could keep up its reputation in this respect along with the
best, therefore it was little to be wondered at, that early next morning
every one knew that Professor Braddock had found his long-lost mummy in
Mrs. Jasher's garden, and had removed the same to the Pyramids without
unnecessary delay. It was not particularly late when the hand-cart, with
its uncanny burden, had passed along the sole street of the place, and
several men had emerged from the Warrior Inn ostensibly to offer help,
but really to know what the eccentric master of the great house was
doing. Braddock brusquely rejected these offers; but the oddly shaped
mummy case, stained green, having been seen, it needed little wit
for those who had caught a sight of it to put two and two together,
especially as the weird object had been described at the inquest and had
been talked over ever since in every cottage. And as the cart had been
seen coming out of the widow's garden, it naturally occurred to the
villagers that Mrs. Jasher had been concealing the mummy. Shortly the
rumor spread that she had also murdered Bolton, for unless she had
done so, she certainly--according to village logic--could not have been
possessed of the spoil. Finally, as Mrs. Jasher's doors and windows were
small and the mummy was rather bulky, it was natural to presume that she
had hidden it in the garden. Report said she had buried it and had dug
it up just in time to be pounced upon by its rightful owner. From which
it can be seen that gossip is not invariably accurate.
However this may be, the news of Professor Braddock's good fortune
shortly came to Don Pedro's ears through the medium of the landlady. As
she revealed what she had heard in the morning, the Peruvian gentleman
was spared a sleepless night. But as soon as he learned the truth--which
was surprising enough in its unexpectedness--he hastily finished his
breakfast and hurried to the Pyramids. As yet he had not intended to
see Braddock so promptly, or at least not until he had made further
inquiries at Pierside, but the news that Braddock possessed the royal
ancestor of the De Gayangoses brought him immediately into the museum.
He greeted the Professor in his usual grave and dignified manner, and
no one would have guessed from his inherent calmness that the unexpected
news of Braddock's arrival, and the still more unexpected information
about the green mummy, had surprised him beyond measure. Being somewhat
superstitious, it also occurred to Don Pedro that the coincidence meant
good fortune to him in the recovery of his long-lost ancestor.