Page:Chetyates00yateiala.pdf/118

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and then she stood, again, staring into the glass case. The cover of the mummy-case had been removed, and one could see the winding strips of brown cloth, frayed and torn in places. She stood for so long that we grew tired of waiting, and the other girl called to her; but she didn't turn around. "Well, what do you think of that," said her friend. "I didn't suppose Belle had enough imagination to stand dreaming over a mummy-case in that sort of a way! We'll have to go back after her."

I knew that it wasn't imagination; for no girl with a genuinely empty face ever spends any time dreaming; but I didn't say anything, and we walked back.

As we came up to her, she turned, and her face was all knotted up with perplexity. "Grace," she exclaimed, "What did you say this thing is?"

Grace started to speak, and then stopped and looked helplessly at Bess and me. "Why, Belle," she said at last, "we've told you three times that it is a mummy—an Egyptian mummy—the mummy of an Egyptian princess! Can't you understand that?"

Belle brought her hand down on the case,