She heard Rita scream from the hallway. And the darkness rose again.
"What the hell are you saying!" Randolph was not really fully awake. He struggled out of the tangle of covers, reaching for his crumpled silk robe at the foot of the bed." You're telling me you left your cousin there alone in that house with this thing!"
"I'm telling you it tried to kill me!" Henry roared like a madman." That's what I'm telling you! The damned thing got out of the coffin and tried to strangle me with its right hand!"
"Damn it, where are my slippers! She's alone in that house, you fool!"
Barefoot, he ran into the hall and down the stairway, his robe ballooning behind him.
"Hurry, you imbecile!" he shouted to his son, who hesitated at the top of the steps.
She opened her eyes. She was sitting on the sofa, and Rita was clinging to her. Rita was hurting her. Rita was making little whimpering sounds.
And there was the mummy, standing right there. Nothing about it imagined. Not the dark lock of hair fallen down on his smooth broad forehead. Or his deep shadowy blue eyes. He had torn loose more of the rotted stuff that covered him. He was bare to the waist, a god, it seemed at the moment. Especially with that smile. That warm and embracing smile. His hair seemed to be moving as she looked at it, as if it were growing before her eyes. It was fuller and more lustrous than it had been before she fainted. But what in God's name was she doing, staring at this creature's hair!
He drew a little closer. His bare feet were free of the cumbersome wrappings.
"Julie," he said softly.
"Ramses," she whispered back.
The creature nodded, the smile lengthening." Ramses!" he said emphatically, and he made her a very subtle bow with his head.
Dear God, she thought, this is not merely a man gifted with beauty; this is the most beautiful man I've ever seen.
In a daze, she forced herself to climb to her feet. Rita clung to her, but she struggled free of Rita, and then the mummy-the man - reached out and took her hand and helped her to stand.
The fingers were warm, dusty. She found herself staring right into his face. Skin like the skin of any other human being, only smoother, perhaps softer, and full of more high colour - like that of a man who had been running, the cheeks faintly flushed.
He turned his head sharply. She heard it too. Voices outside; argument. A motor car had pulled up in front of the house.
Rita made an awkward dash to the window as if the mummy were going to stop her.
"It's Scotland Yard, miss, thank God for that."
"No, but this is a disaster! Bolt the door at once."
"But miss!"
"Bolt it. Now."
Rita ran to obey. Julie took Ramses' hand.
"Come with me, upstairs, immediately," she said to him." Rita, put the lid on that coffin. It weighs almost nothing. Close it up fast and come."
No sooner had Rita slid the bolt than they were knocking and pulling the bell. The shrill clanging from the back of the house startled Ramses. His eyes moved quickly over the ceiling and to the back of the house as though he had heard the sound traveling the wire to the kitchen wall.
Julie tugged him gently but urgently, and to her amazement he followed easily as they made their way up the stairs.
She could hear little cries of distress coming from Rita. But Rita was doing as she had been told. Julie heard the thump as the lid of the coffin slid into place.
And Ramses, he was staring at the wallpaper, at the framed portraits, at the knickknack shelf nestled in the corner at the top of the stairs. He was looking at the stained-glass window. He looked down at the wool carpet with its pattern of feathers and twisted leaves.
The pounding was becoming quite impossible. Julie could hear her uncle Randolph calling her name.
"What shall I do, miss?" Rita called out.
"Come up at once." She looked at Ramses, who was watching her with a strange mixture of patience and amusement." You look normal," she whispered." Perfectly normal. Beautiful, but normal." She pulled him on down the hallway." The bath, Rita!" she shouted as Rita appeared, quivering and tentative, behind him." Quick. Run the bath."
She brought him on towards the front of the house as Rita hurried past. They