From the upper shelf he
pulled down a mummy, which he bore away with him, and laid it with
much care and solicitude upon the ground. By it he placed his
lamp, and then squatting down beside it in Eastern fashion he began
with long quivering fingers to undo the cerecloths and bandages
which girt it round. As the crackling rolls of linen peeled off
one after the other, a strong aromatic odour filled the chamber,
and fragments of scented wood and of spices pattered down upon the
marble floor.
It was clear to John Vansittart Smith that this mummy had never
been unswathed before. The operation interested him keenly. He
thrilled all over with curiosity, and his birdlike head protruded
further and further from behind the door. When, however, the last
roll had been removed from the four-thousand-year-old head, it was
all that he could do to stifle an outcry of amazement. First, a
cascade of long, black, glossy tresses poured over the workman's
hands and arms. A second turn of the bandage revealed a low, white
forehead, with a pair of delicately arched eyebrows. A third
uncovered a pair of bright, deeply fringed eyes, and a straight,
well-cut nose, while a fourth and last showed a sweet, full,
sensitive mouth, and a beautifully curved chin. The whole face was
one of extraordinary loveliness, save for the one blemish that in
the centre of the forehead there was a single irregular, coffee-
coloured splotch.
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