Page:Weird Tales Volume 26 Number 03 (1935-09).djvu/25

"Maybe," Celia laughed lightly. "Hadn't you better ask him, as you seem so anxious? I'm sure it doesn't worry me," she went on, turning and looking the other woman full in the face. "After all, we are not so poor that a few thousands one way or the other will make much difference. Why, I've heard that Daddy spent a small fortune on his Egyptian researches—far more than the actual value of the Golden Mummy, great as that is."

Thelma's finely arched brows drew down in a sudden frown as she turned away, biting her lips. There were not very many years' difference in the ages of Celia and her stepmother, and, owing to the artificial aids to beauty affected by the latter, such difference as did exist was by no means apparent in the softly shaded glow of the lights. A stranger might have taken them to be sisters.

That Thelma was beautiful Celia did not for a moment deny. Yet, strangely enough, the general effect of her appearance was far from pleasing. Why this should be is difficult to explain, for the most captious critic could not have found fault with any detail of her appearance. Paradoxical as it may seem, it was the very perfection of her face and form that marred her attractiveness. Although her features were flawless in their classical symmetry, her figure as delicately molded as that of a Grecian nymph, hers was the cold, dead beauty which appealed to the eye alone. Beautiful as a statue of some goddess of old, Thelma Mounthead was as soulless as the sculptured marble of which it was composed.

At the mention of her husband's hobby, Thelma's lips curved in a faint sneer.

"It passes my comprehension what your father can see in such things. Ugh! a lot of old dried-up bones! If I had my way I'd throw the whole lot out of doors."

Celia's white teeth showed in a hearty laugh.

"Better not let his lordship hear you say so!" she cried in mock dismay. "That mummy is covered from head to foot with plates of solid gold. And I heard Wilmer say once that there might be other jewels inside—sometimes there are, you know——"

"Indeed?" There was a curious hardening of the lines about Thelma's mouth as she said the word. A moment later she turned the matter off with a laughing shrug. "But there! I fear the subject of Egyptian mummies, jeweled or plain, is a little too musty for my taste."

Her stepdaughter was regarding her with mischievous eyes.

"That's because you don't know how romantic and thrilling they really are," Celia bantered. "I must ask Wilmer to tell you the story of what happened when he discovered the mummy."

Thelma Mounthead rose to her feet with an abrupt movement.

"If by 'Wilmer' you mean that vulgar American, Wilmer Denton, then I have no desire to be enlightened on the subject," she said with icy insolence.

A quick flush came into the cheeks of the younger girl and her usually serene eyes began to smolder with a light which boded danger.

"I don't know what right you have to say that Wilmer is vulgar," she said, speaking calmly with an effort. "His mode of expressing himself may be a little more snappy than ours at times, but not more so than you hear occasionally in good society."

Thelma raised her eyebrows.

"Really?" she cried with thinly veiled sarcasm. "Why, I declare, you are quite upset. Well, Mr. Denton may count himself lucky in having such an enthusiastic advocate as you. But I was not alluding to his illiteracies. You would do