"Oh, it has arrived then."
"Not here exactly. My father expects it at three o'clock."
"It is now a quarter to," said Archie, consulting his watch. "As I have
been to London all yesterday I did not know that The Diver had arrived
at Pierside, How is Bolton?"
Lucy wrinkled her brows. "I am rather worried over Sidney," she said in
an anxious voice, "and so is my father. He had not appeared."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well," she looked at the ground in a pondering manner, "my father got
a letter from Sidney yesterday afternoon, saying that the ship with the
mummy and himself on board had arrived about four o'clock. The letter
was sent on by special messenger and came at six."
"Then it arrived in the evening and not in the afternoon?"
"How particular you are!" said Miss Kendal, with a shrug. "Well, then,
Sidney said that he could not bring the mummy to this place last night
as it was so late. He intended--so he told my father in the letter--to
remove the case containing the mummy ashore to an inn near the wharf at
Pierside, and there would remain the night so as to take care of it."
"That's all right," said Hope, puzzled. "Where's your difficulty?"
"A note came from the landlord of the inn this morning, saying that by
direction of Mr. Bolton--that is Sidney, you know--he was sending the
mummy in its case to Gartley on a lorry, and that it would arrive at
three o'clock this afternoon."
"Well?" asked Hope, still puzzled.
"Well?" she rejoined impatiently. "Can't you see show strange it is
that Sidney should let the mummy out of his sight, after guarding it so
carefully not only from Malta to England, but all the night in Pierside
at that hotel? Why doesn't he bring the mummy here himself, and come on
with the lorry?"
"There is no explanation--no letter from Sidney Bolton?"
"None. He wrote yesterday, as I stated, saying that he would keep the
case in the hotel, and send it on this morning."
"Did he use the word `send,' or the word `bring'?"
"He said 'send.'"
"Then that shows he did not intend to bring it himself."
"But why should he not do so?"
"I daresay he will explain when he appears."
"I am very sorry for him when he does appear," said Lucy seriously, "for
my father is furious. Why, this precious mummy, for which so much has
been paid, might have been lost."
"Pooh! Who would steal a thing like that?"
"A thing like that is worth nearly one thousand pounds," said Lucy in a
dry tone, "and if anyone got wind of it, stealing would be easy, since
Sidney, as appears likely, has sent on the case unguarded."