"Would you rather go out into the gallery?" I asked; for the room with its tightly shut windows was close and hot.
"No," she replied quietly. "I will stay here. I am quite well." But still she kept hold of my arm.
Thorndyke glanced at her keenly and then looked away as Dr. Norbury turned to ask him a question.
"Why is it, think you, that some of the teeth show so much whiter than others?"
"I think the whiteness of the shadows is due to the presence of metal," Thorndyke replied.
"Do you mean that the teeth have metal fillings?" asked Dr. Norbury.
"Really! This is very interesting. The use of gold stoppings--and artificial teeth, too--by the ancient Egyptians is well known, but we have no examples in this Museum. This mummy ought to be unrolled. Do you think all those teeth are filled with the same metal? They are not equally white."
"No," replied Thorndyke. "Those teeth that are perfectly white are undoubtedly filled with gold, but that grayish one is probably filled with tin."
"Very interesting," said Dr. Norbury. "_Very_ interesting! And what do you make of that faint mark across the chest, near the top of the sternum?"
"It is the Eye of Osiris!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Dr. Norbury, "so it is. You are quite right. It is the Utchat--the Eye of Horus--or Osiris, if you prefer to call it so. That, I presume, will be a gilded device on some of the wrappings."
"No; I should say it is a tattoo mark. It is too indefinite for a gilded device. And I should say further that the tattooing is done in vermilion, as carbon tattooing could cast no visible shadow."
"I think you must be mistaken about that," said Dr. Norbury, "but we shall see, if the Director allows us to unroll the mummy. By the way, those little objects in front of the knees are metallic, I suppose?"
"Yes, they are metallic. But they are not in front of the knees; they are in the knees. They are pieces of silver wire which have been used to repair fractured kneecaps."
"Are you sure of that?" exclaimed Dr. Norbury, peering at the little white marks with ecstasy; "because if you are, and if these objects are what you say they are, the mummy of Sebek-hotep is an absolutely unique specimen."
"I am quite certain of it," said Thorndyke.