To Simpkins' first aggrieved feeling that his confidence had been
abused, the certainty that he had stumbled on something of importance
quickly succeeded. He concluded a second and more careful scrutiny of
the letter with the exclamation, "Cipher! all right, all right," and,
after a third, he jumped up excitedly and rushed off to Columbia
University.
An hour later, Professor Ashmore, whose well-known work on "Hieratic
Writings" is so widely accepted an authority on that fascinating
subject, looked across to Simpkins, who for some minutes had been
sitting quietly in a corner of his study, and observed dryly:
"This is a queer jumble of hieroglyphics and hieratic writing, and is
not, I should judge," and his eyes twinkled, "of any great antiquity."
"Quite right, Professor," Simpkins assented cheerfully. "The lady who
wrote it is interested in Egyptology, and is trying to have a little fun
with me."
"If I may judge from the letter, she seems to be interested in you as
well," the professor went on smilingly. "In fact, it appears to
be--ahem--a love-letter."
"Eh! What?" exclaimed Simpkins, suddenly serious, "Let's have it."
"Well, roughly, it goes something like this: 'My heart's dearest, my
sun, my Nile duck--the hours are days without thee, the days an aeon. The
gods be thanked that this separation is not for long.
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