She turned
away; and after softly closing the door of the room, went back with me
to the others who had now come into the dining-room. Here we all began
to talk over the things that had been, and that were to be. Now and again I could feel that one or other of us was forcing
conversation, as if we were not sure of ourselves. The long wait was
beginning to tell on our nerves. It was apparent to me that Mr.
Trelawny had suffered in that strange trance more than we suspected, or
than he cared to show. True, his will and his determination were as
strong as ever; but the purely physical side of him had been weakened
somewhat. It was indeed only natural that it should be. No man can go
through a period of four days of absolute negation of life without
being weakened by it somehow. As the hours crept by, the time passed more and more slowly. The other
men seemed to get unconsciously a little drowsy. I wondered if in the
case of Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck, who had already been under the
hypnotic influence of the Queen, the same dormancy was manifesting
itself. Doctor Winchester had periods of distraction which grew longer
and more frequent as the time wore on. As to Margaret, the suspense told on her exceedingly, as might have
been expected in the case of a woman. She grew paler and paler still;
till at last about midnight, I began to be seriously alarmed about her. I got her to come into the library with me, and tried to make her lie
down on a sofa for a little while. As Mr. Trelawny had decided that
the experiment was to be made exactly at the seventh hour after sunset,
it would be as nearly as possible three o’clock in the morning when the
great trial should be made. Even allowing a whole hour for the final
preparations, we had still two hours of waiting to go through, and I
promised faithfully to watch her and to awake her at any time she might
name. She would not hear of it, however. She thanked me sweetly and
smiled at me as she did so; but she assured me that she was not sleepy,
and that she was quite able to bear up. That it was only the suspense
and excitement of waiting that made her pale. I agreed perforce; but I
kept her talking of many things in the library for more than an hour;
so that at last, when she insisted on going back to her father’s room I
felt that I had at least done something to help her pass the time. We found the three men sitting patiently in silence. With manlike
fortitude they were content to be still when they felt they had done
all in their power. And so we waited. The striking of two o’clock seemed to freshen us all up. Whatever
shadows had been settling over us during the long hours preceding
seemed to lift at once; and we went about our separate duties alert and
with alacrity. We looked first to the windows to see that they were
closed, and we got ready our respirators to put them on when the time
should be close at hand. We had from the first arranged to use them
for we did not know whether some noxious fume might not come from the
magic coffer when it should be opened. Somehow, it never seemed to
occur to any of us that there was any doubt as to its opening. Then, under Margaret’s guidance, we carried the mummied body of Queen
Tera from her room into her father’s, and laid it on a couch. We put
the sheet lightly over it, so that if she should wake she could at once
slip from under it. The severed hand was placed in its true position
on her breast, and under it the Jewel of Seven Stars which Mr. Trelawny
had taken from the great safe. It seemed to flash and blaze as he put
it in its place. It was a strange sight, and a strange experience. The group of grave
silent men carried the white still figure, which looked like an ivory
statue when through our moving the sheet fell back, away from the
lighted candles and the white flowers. We placed it on the couch in
that other room, where the blaze of the electric lights shone on the
great sarcophagus fixed in the middle of the room ready for the final
experiment, the great experiment consequent on the researches during a
lifetime of these two travelled scholars. Again, the startling
likeness between Margaret and the mummy, intensified by her own
extraordinary pallor, heightened the strangeness of it all. When all
was finally fixed three-quarters of an hour had gone, for we were
deliberate in all our doings. Margaret beckoned me, and I went out
with her to bring in Silvio. He came to her purring. She took him up
and handed him to me; and then did a thing which moved me strangely and
brought home to me keenly the desperate nature of the enterprise on
which we were embarked. One by one, she blew out the candles carefully
and placed them back in their usual places. When she had finished she
said to me:

“They are done with now. Whatever comes—life or death—there will be
no purpose in their using now.”  Then taking Silvio into her arms, and
pressing him close to her bosom where he purred loudly, we went back to
the room. I closed the door carefully behind me, feeling as I did so a
strange thrill as of finality. There was to be no going back now. Then we put on our respirators, and took our places as had been
arranged. I was to stand by the taps of the electric lights beside the
door, ready to turn them off or on as Mr. Trelawny should direct. Doctor Winchester was to stand behind the couch so that he should not
be between the mummy and the sarcophagus; he was to watch carefully
what should take place with regard to the Queen. Margaret was to be
beside him; she held Silvio ready to place him upon the couch or beside
it when she might think right. Mr. Trelawny and Mr. Corbeck were to
attend to the lighting of the lamps. When the hands of the clock were
close to the hour, they stood ready with their linstocks. The striking of the silver bell of the clock seemed to smite on our
hearts like a knell of doom. One! Two! Three! Before the third stroke the wicks of the lamps had caught, and I had
turned out the electric light. In the dimness of the struggling lamps,
and after the bright glow of the electric light, the room and all
within it took weird shapes, and all seemed in an instant to change. We waited with our hearts beating. I know mine did, and I fancied I
could hear the pulsation of the others. The seconds seemed to pass with leaden wings. It were as though all
the world were standing still. The figures of the others stood out
dimly, Margaret’s white dress alone showing clearly in the gloom. The
thick respirators which we all wore added to the strange appearance. The thin light of the lamps showed Mr. Trelawny’s square jaw and strong
mouth and the brown shaven face of Mr. Corbeck. Their eyes seemed to
glare in the light. Across the room Doctor Winchester’s eyes twinkled
like stars, and Margaret’s blazed like black suns. Silvio’s eyes were
like emeralds. Would the lamps never burn up! It was only a few seconds in all till they did blaze up.