Mrs. Jasher had thought exceedingly clever in as he had done to trap her. She would have thought him still more clever had she known that he trusted to the power of suggestion to prevent her from trying to escape. Sir Frank had not the slightest intention of setting his soldier-servant to watch, as such was not the duty for which such servants are hired. But having impressed firmly on the adventuress's mind that he would act in this way, he departed, quite certain that the woman would not attempt to run away. Although no one was watching the cottage, Mrs. Jasher, believing what had been told her, would think that sharp eyes were on her doors and windows day and night, and would firmly believe that if she tried to get away she would be captured forthwith by the Pierside police, or perhaps by the village . Like an Eastern enchanter, the baronet had placed a spell on the cottage, and it acted admirably. Mrs. Jasher, although to escape and hide herself, remained where she was, cowed by a spy who did not exist.  
The next day Random went to the Pyramids as soon as his duties permitted and saw the Professor. To the bridegroom he explained all that had happened, and displayed the letter, with an account of how he had proved Mrs. Jasher to be the writer. Braddock's hair could not stand on end, as he had none, but he lost his temper completely, and raged up and down the museum in a way which frightened Cockatoo out of his barbaric wits. When more quiet he sat down to discuss the matter, and demanded that Mrs. Jasher should be handed over to the police. But he might have guessed that Sir Frank would refuse to follow this extreme advice.
 
“She has acted badly, I admit,” said the young man. “All the same, I think she is a better woman than you may think, Professor.”
 
“Think! think! think!” shouted the little man, getting up once more to up and down like an infuriated poodle. “I think she is a bad woman, a wicked woman. To deceive me into thinking her rich and—”
 
“But surely, Professor, you wished to marry her also for love?”
 
“Nothing of the sort, sir: nothing of the sort. I leave love and such-like trash to those like yourself and Hope, who have nothing else to think about.”
 
“But a marriage without love—”
 
“Pooh! pooh! pooh! Don't argue with me, Random. Love is all moonshine. I did not love my first wife—Lucy's mother—and yet we were very happy. Had I made Mrs. Jasher my second, we should have got on excellently, provided the money was forthcoming for my Egyptian expedition. What am I to do now, I ask you, Random? Even the thousand pounds you pay for the mummy goes back to that infernal Hope because of Lucy's silly ideas. I have nothing—absolutely nothing, and that tomb is amongst those Ethiopian hills, I swear, waiting to be opened. Oh, what a chance I have missed!—what a chance! But I shall see Mrs. Jasher myself. She knows about this murder.”
 
“She declares that she does not.”
 
“Don't tell me! don't tell me!” vociferated the Professor. “She would not have written that letter had she known nothing.”
 
“That was . I explained all that.”
 
“Bluff be hanged!” cried Braddock, only he used a more vigorous word. “I do not believe that she would have dared to act on such a slight foundation. I shall see her myself this very afternoon and force her to confess. In one way or another I shall find the assassin and make him disgorge those emeralds under the penalty of being hanged. Then I can sell them and finance my Egyptian expedition.”
 
“But you forget, Professor, that the emeralds, when found, belong to Don Pedro.”
 
“They don't,” rasped the little man, turning purple with rage. “I refuse to let him have them. I bought the mummy, and the contents of the mummy, including those emeralds. They are mine.”
 
“No,” said Random sharply. “I buy the mummy, from you, so they pass into my possession and belong to De Gayangos. I shall give them to him.”
 
“You'll have to find them first,” said Braddock ; “and as to the mummy, you shan't have it. I decline to sell it. So there!”
 
“If you don't,” said Random very distinctly, “Don Pedro will bring an action against you, and Captain Hervey will be called as a witness to prove that the mummy was stolen.”
 
“Don Pedro hasn't the money,” said Braddock ; “he can't pay lawyer's fees.”
 
“But I can,” rejoined the young man very dryly. “As I am going to marry Donna Inez, it is only just that I should help my future father-in-law in every way. He has a romantic feeling about this of poor humanity and wishes to take it back to Peru. He shall do so.”
 
“And what about me?—what about me?”
 
“Well,” said Random, speaking slowly with the intention of still further irritating the little man, whose selfishness annoyed him, “if I were you I should marry Mrs. Jasher and settle down quietly in this house to live on what income you have.”
 
Braddock turned purple again and spluttered.
 
“How dare you make a proposition like that to me, sir?” he . “You ask me to marry this low woman, this adventuress, this—this—this—” Words failed him.
 
Of course Random had no intention of advising such a marriage, although he did not think so badly of Mrs. Jasher as did the Professor. But the little man was so venomous that the young man took a delight in stirring him up, using the widow's name as a red rag to this particular bull.
 
“I do not think Mrs. Jasher is a bad woman,” he remarked.
 
“What! what! what! After what she has done? ! blackmail! blackmail!”
 
“That is bad, I admit, but she has failed to get what she wanted, and, after all, you are the cause of her writing that letter.”
 
“I am?—I am? How dare you?”
 
“You see, she wanted to get five thousand out of me as her dowry.”
 
“Yes, and told me lies about her damned brother who was a Pekin merchant, when after all he never existed.”
 
“Oh, I don't defend that,” said Random coolly. “Mrs. Jasher has behaved badly on the whole. Still, Professor, I think there is good in her, as I said before. She evidently had bad parents and a bad husband; but, so far as I can gather, she is not an woman. The poor only came here to try and drag herself out of the . If she had married you I feel sure that she would have made you a most excellent wife.”
 
The Professor was in such a rage that he suddenly became calm.
 
“Of course you talk absolute rubbish,” he said . “Had I my way this woman would be whipped at a cart's tail for the way in which she has deceived us all. However, I shall see her to-day and make her confess who murdered Bolton.”
 
“Don Pedro will be greatly obliged if you do. He wants those emeralds.”
 
“So do I, and if I get them I shall keep them,” snapped Braddock; “and if you haven't anything more to say you can leave me. I'm busy.”
 
As there was nothing more to be done with the little man, Sir Frank took the hint and departed. He went forthwith to the Inn to see Don Pedro and also Donna Inez. But it so happened that the girl had gone to the Pyramids on a visit to Miss Kendal, and Random was sorry that he had missed her. However, it was just as well, as he could now talk freely to De Gayangos. To him he related the whole story of Mrs. Jasher, and discovered that the Peruvian also, as Braddock had done, insisted that Mrs. Jasher knew the truth.
 
“She would not have written that letter if she did not know it,” said Don Pedro.
 
“Then you think that she should be arrested?”
 
“No. We can deal with this matter ourselves. At present she is quite safe, as she certainly will not leave her cottage, seeing that she thinks it is being watched. Let us permit Braddock to interview her, and see what he can learn. Then we can discuss the matter and come to a decision.”
 
Random nodded absently.
 
“I wonder if Mrs. Jasher was the woman who talked to Bolton through the window?” he remarked.
 
“It is not impossible. Although that does not explain why Bolton borrowed a female disguise from this mother.”
 
“Mrs. Jasher might have worn it.”
&............