The Chapter of Transfixing the Heart by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

It being January in Chicago, the sun was not yet above the horizon when Elaine entered Haskell Hall three days later. This early in the morning, she was not expecting to encounter anyone, and she was startled to be accosted just inside the entrance by Doctor Vice.

“A shocking business!” he declared. “A shocking business, my dear.”

Elaine shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t know—”

Vice thrust a folded copy of the Tribune’s early edition at her, with the headline: NOTED ARCHAEOLOGIST SLAIN. A subheading asked: Did Mummy’s Curse Strike Down Egyptologist?

Elaine was almost speechless with shock and disbelief. “They mean… Doctor Ashlarkopf? Dead?”

Vice nodded gravely. “It seems that he was found last night. A very shocking business indeed.”

“I can hardly believe it!”

“Well, you know, my dear, I fear it was not wise of him to dismiss such a curse as we saw on that coffin. Even a “scientific man” should not ignore the power of the desire for immortality. It meant everything to the Egyptians, even more than life itself, and there was nothing they would not do to attain it. Nothing! Imagine! Eternal life! Beyond the grave! What would you not do to live forever!”

There was something about Vice’s avid expression as he spoke of immortality that made Elaine recoil and reach for the cross she always wore. While she prided herself on being a “scientific woman” and a modern one, with bobbed hair and skirts cut to her knees, she was still in some part the girl from Saint Scholastica’s. “I had always thought that was the message of the Church. ‘He who believeth,’ you know.”

Vice took a step backwards, saying hastily, “Yes, just so. Much the same principle, indeed.” He kept glancing out the windows, where dawn was breaking. “But I can not stay, I have arrangements to make, important arrangements. I fear we must expect the police here. And reporters. They will want to see the coffin, the mummy. We must not let this place become a circus. The artifacts here are valuable.”

“Yes, of course, I understand,” said Elaine as Vice backed rapidly away and out of sight. She repeated it to herself again, Doctor Ashlarkopf was dead. Murdered, if the report in the newspaper was to be credited. A horrible tragedy, a man so young and vigorous, with such a career ahead of him.

Yet if there were going to be police and, worse, reporters swarming around, she had best take the opportunity now that she had come here for so early this morning. Unlocking Ashlarkopf’s workroom and letting herself inside, she approached the coffin, now freed from its crate and resting on a pair of trestles. There was a strong aroma of myrrh and grave-dust, along with a fainter scent that seemed to be garlic. It was not long before she was able to make out the complete text of the curse on the lid: As for any, who shall open the coffin of this accursed one, let the light of Ra be his enemy for all eternity.

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