Sir Frank was an young gentleman with—as the saying goes—all his goods in the shop window. Fair-haired and tall, with a well-knit, figure, a polished manner, and a man-of-the-world air, he resembled the romantic officer of Bow Bells, Family , Young Ladies' Journal fiction. But the romance was all in his well-groomed looks, as he was as commonplace a Saxon as could be met with in a day's march. Fond of sport, to his duties as captain, and to what is romantically known as the fair sex, he sauntered easily through life, very well with himself and with his agreeable surroundings. He read fiction when he did read, and those weekly papers devoted to sport; troubled his head very little about politics, save when they had to do with a possible German invasion, and was always ready to do any one a good turn. His brother-officers declared that he was not half a bad sort, which was high praise from the usually service man. His capacity may be by the fact that he did not possess a single enemy, and that every one well of him. A mortal who possesses no quality likely to be envied by those around him is certain to belong to the rank and file of humanity. But these unconsidered units of mankind can always console themselves with the undoubted fact that mediocrity is invariably happy.  
Such a man as Random would never set the Thames on fire, and certainly he had no ambition to perform that . He was fond of his profession and intended to remain in the army as long as he could. He desired to marry and a family, and retire, when set free from soldiering, to his country seat, and there perform blamelessly the congenial role of a village , until called upon to join the respectable in the Random . Not that he was a saint or ever could be one. Neither black nor white, he was simply gray, being an ordinary mixture of good and bad. As theology has provided no hereafter for gray people, it is hard to imagine where the bulk of humanity will go. But doubts on this point never troubled Random. He went to church, kept his mouth shut and his pores open and believed that it would be all right somehow. A very comfortable if superficial philosophy indeed.
 
It can easily be guessed that Random's somewhat colorless personality would never attract Lucy Kendal, since the of her own character were deeper. For this reason she was to Hope, who that aggressive , where good and bad, are in violent contrast. Random took opinions from books, or from other people, and his mind, like a looking-glass, reflected whatever came along; but Hope possessed opinions of his own, both right and wrong, and held to these in the face of all verbal . He could argue and did argue, when Random simply agreed. Lucy had similar idiosyncrasies, inherited from a clever father, so it was just as well that she preferred Archie to Frank. Had the latter young gentleman married her, he would have to Lady Random's husband, and would have found too late that he had a kind of imitation George Eliot. When he congratulated Archie on his engagement somewhat ruefully, he little thought what an escape he had had.
 
But Professor Braddock, who did not belong to the gray tribe, knew nothing of this, as his Egyptological studies did not permit him time to argue on such commonplace matters. He therefore failed in advance when he set out to persuade Random into renewing his suit. As the little man afterwards expressed himself, “I might as well have talked to a mollusc,” for Random politely declined to be used as an instrument to forward the Professor's ambition at the cost of Miss Kendal's unhappiness. The interview took place in Sir Frank's quarters at the Fort on the day after Hervey had called to propose a search for the . And it was during this interview that Braddock learned something which both startled and annoyed him.
 
Random, at three o'clock, had just changed into mufti, when the Professor was announced by his servant. Braddock, to give his host no chance of denying himself, followed close on the man's heels, and was in the room almost before Sir Frank had read the card. It was a bare room, furnished, according to the War Office's idea of comfort, and although the baronet had added a few more necessities, it still looked somewhat . Braddock, who liked comfort, shook hands carelessly with his host and cast a eye on his surroundings.
 
“Dog ! dog kennel!” the polite Professor. “Bare desolation like a damned . You might as well live in the Sahara.”
 
“It would certainly be warmer,” replied Random, who knew the scientist's snappy ways very well. “Take a chair, sir!”
 
“Hard as bricks, confound it! Hand me over a cushion. There, that's better! No, I never drink between meals, thank you. Smoke? Hang it, Random, you should know by this time that I dislike making a chimney of my throat! There! there! don't fuss. Take a seat and listen to what I have to say. It's important. the fire, please: it's cold.”
 
Random did as he was told, and then lighted a cigar, as he sat down quietly.
 
“I am sorry to hear of your trouble, sir.'”
 
“Trouble! trouble! What particular trouble?”
 
“The death of your assistant.”
 
“Oh yes. Silly young to get killed. Lost my mummy, too: there's trouble if you like.”
 
“The green mummy.” Random looked into the fire, “Yes. I have heard of the green mummy.”
 
“I should think you have,” snapped Braddock, warming his plump hands. “Every penny-a-liner has been talking about it. When did you return?”
 
“On the same day that that steamer with the mummy on board arrived,” was Random's odd reply.
 
The Professor stared suspiciously. “I don't see why you should date your movements by my mummy,” he retorted.
 
“Well, I had a reason in doing so.”
 
“What reason?”
 
“The mummy—”
 
“What about it?—do you know where it is?” Braddock started to his feet, and looked eagerly at the calm face of his host.
 
“No, I wish I did. How much did you pay for it, Professor?”
 
“What's that to you?” snapped the other, resuming his seat.
 
“Nothing at all. But it is a great deal to Don Pedro de Gayangos.”
 
“And who the deuce is he? Some Spanish Egyptologist?”
 
“I don't think he is an Egyptologist, sir.”
 
“He must be, if he wants my mummy.”
 
“You forget, Professor, that the green mummy comes from Peru.”
 
“Who denied that it did, sir? You are illogical—infernally so.” The little man rose and straddled on the hearth-rug, with his back to the fire and his hands under his coat-tails. “Now, sir,” he said, glaring at the young man like a school-master—“what the deuce are you talking about? Out with it: no .”
 
“Oh, hang it, Professor, don't jump down my throat, spurs and all,” said Random, rather annoyed by this tone.
 
“I never wear spurs: go on, sir, and don't argue.”
 
Sir Frank could not help laughing, although he knew that it was useless to induce Braddock to be civil. Not that the Professor, meant to be rude, especially as he desired to conciliate Random. But long years of fighting with other scientists and of having his own scientific way had turned him into a kind of school-master, and every one knows that they are the most domineering of the human race.
 
“It's a long story,” said the baronet, with a and a smile.
 
“Story! story! What story?”
 
“'That which I am about to tell you.” And then
 
Random began hurriedly, so as to prevent further arguments of an unprofitable kind. “I was at Genoa with my yacht, and there stopped on shore at the Casa Bianca.”
 
“What place is that?”
 
“An hotel. I there met with a certain Don Pedro de Gayangos and his daughter, Donna Inez, He was a gentleman from Lima, and had come to Europe in search of the green mummy.”
 
Braddock stared.
 
“And what did this confounded Spaniard want with my green mummy?” he demanded indignantly. “How did he know of its existence?—what reason had he to try and obtain it? Answer, sir.”
 
“I shall let Don Pedro answer himself,” said Random dryly. “He arrives in a couple of days, and intends to take rooms at the Inn along with his daughter. Then you can question him, Professor.”
 
“I question you,” snapped Braddock angrily.
 
“And I am answering to the best of my ability. Don Pedro told me nothing beyond the fact that he wanted the mummy, and had come to Europe to get it. In some way he learned that it was in Malta and was for sale.”
 
“Quite so: quite so,” rasped the Professor. “He saw the advertisement in the newspapers, as I did, and wanted to buy it over my head.”
 
“Oh, he wanted to buy it right enou............