Treasure Island

   , and the Portuguee's scroll in

    King Solomon's Mines

   .—

    Ed.

   Now about this mummy case: you must know that it had been in Leonora's family ever since her ancestress, Theodolitê, Pharaoh's daughter, left Egypt, not knowing when she was well off, and settled in Ireland, of all places, where she founded the national prosperity.

    9

    9

   Is not

    this

   a little steep?—

    Publisher.

   No; it is in all the Irish histories. See Lady Wilde's

    Ancient Legends of Ireland

   , if you don't believe me.—

    Ed.

   The mummy case and a queer ring (see cover) inscribed with a duck, a duck's egg, and an umbrella, were about all that the O'Dolites kept of their ancient property. The older Leonora grew the more deeply she studied the inscriptions on the mummy case. She tried it as Zend, she tried it as Sanskrit, and Japanese, and the American language, and finally she tried it as Irish.

   We had a very rainy season that winter even for Oxford, and the more it rained the more Leonora pored over that mummy case. I kept telling her there was nothing in it, but she would not listen to me.

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