The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

TALES OF PSEUDO-SCIENCE

there came a furious ringing at the street-door bell,
and then an impatient thumping at the knocker,
which awakened me at once. In a minute afterward,
and while I was still rubbing my eyes, my wife thrust
in my face a note from my old friend, Doctor Ponnonner. It ran thus:"Come to me, by all means, my dear good friend, as
soon as you receive this. Come and help us to rejoice.
At last, by long persevering diplomacy, I have gained
the assent of the Directors. of the City Museum to my
examination of the Mummy-you know the one I mean.
I have permission to unswathe it and open it, if desirable.
A few friends only will be present -you, of course. The
Mummy is now at my house, and we shall begin to unroll
it at eleven to-night.
"Yours ever,
" PONNONNER."
By the time I had reached the "Ponnonner," it
struck me that I was as wide awake as a man need
be. I leaped out of bed in an ecstasy, overthrowing
all in my way; dressed myself with a rapidity truly
marvellous; and set off, at the top of my speed, for
the Doctor's.
There I found a very eager company assembled.
They had been awaiting me with much impatience;
the Mummy was extended upon the dining-table;
and, the moment I entered, its examination was
commenced.
It was one of a pair brought, several years previously, by Captain Arthur Sabretash, a cousin of
Ponnonner's, from a tomb near Eleithias, in the Lybian
Mountains, a considerable distance above Thebes on
the Nile. The grottos at this point, although less
magnificent than the Theban sepulchres, are of higher
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