The Mummy Case

***The Mummy Case*** [Excavation Season 1894-95]

> Fortunately this miserable state of uneventfulness was not to last long. - Amelia Peabody
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"Amelia and Emerson bring their young son Ramses along on this adventure, where they find themselves investigating the mysterious death of a dealer in illegal antiquities. Before long, mummy cases start appearing and disappearing and a second murder complicates the mystery. When it becomes clear that a Master Criminal is behind the mysterious goings on, Amelia determines to unmask the dastardly mastermind."

## Characters

*in alphabetical order*

* Abdullah ibn Hassan al Wahhab
* Amelia Peabody
* The Baroness
* Charity Jones
* David Cabot
* Ezekiel Jones
* Father Girgis
* John, the Footman
* Kalenischeff, Prince
* Master Criminal, The
* Selim ibn Hassan al Wahhab
* Sheikh Mohammed Bashoor
* Radcliffe Emerson
* Walter Emerson
* Walter "Ramses" Emerson

## Notable Animals

### The Cat Bastet

Ramses had not insisted on bringing the cat; he had simply taken it for granted that she would accompany him. - Amelia Peabody

We went first to the bazaar of the leathermakers, where we purchased not one but two collars for Bastet. One was plain and well constructed (my selection); the other was bright-red, adorned with fake scarabs and imitation turquoise. I was surprised to see Ramses exhibit such tawdry tase, but decided the issue was not worth arguing about. Ramses immediately decorated Bastet with the bejeweled collar and attached the matching crimson lead. - Amelia Peabody

### Lion

“Ah, here they are. Just as I suspected—Ramses has let the lion in the room, after I strictly forbade it.” - Amelia Peabody

I would like to say, Mama, that I am fully cognizant of your support and forbearance regarding de lion. I will endeavor to discover some way of proving my gratitude. - Ramses Emerson

## Locations

* Brindisi, Italy
* Alexandria, Egypt
* Cairo, Egypt (Khan el Khaleel, Shepheard's Hotel)
* Dashur, Egypt
* Mazghuna, Egypt

> MAZGHUNAH. Mazghunah! Mazghunah ... No, there is no magic in the name, punctuate it as one will. Not even a row of exclamation points can lend charm to such an uncouth collection of syllables. Giza, Sakkara, Dashoor are no more euphonious, perhaps, but they evoke the lure of antiquity and exploration. Mazghunah has nothing whatsoever to recommend it. - Amelia Peabody
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### Amelia Describes Egypt

Our room was on the third floor of the hotel, with a small iron-rail balcony overlooking the gardens of Ezbekieh Square. The mimosa trees were in bloom; chrysanthemums and poinsettias mingled in riotous profusion’ the famous roses formed velvety masses of crimson and gold and snowy white. - Amelia Peabody

As we rode across the desert, my spirits rose--not, as evil-minded persons have suggested, at the prospect of interfering in matters which were not my concern, but at the imminence of the exquisite Dahshoor pyramids. My spirits were bound to them by an almost physical thread; the nearer I came the gladder I felt, the farther I went the more that tenuous threat was stretched, almost to the point of pain. - Amelia Peabody

Despite its ruined state, one of the these brick pyramids--the southernmost--dominates the terrain, and from some aspects it appears to loom even larger than its stone neighbors. Stark and almost menacing it rose up as we approached, as dark as the great pyramids were pale. - Amelia Peabody

## Archaeological Fever

Wallis Budge of the British Museum took positive delight in outwitting the antiquities officials. The Amarna Tablets, the papyrus of Ani, and the great Greek manuscript of the Odes of Bacchylides are among the valuable smuggled out of Egypt by this so-called scholar. - Amelia Peabody

It may seem strange to some that we should carry on a scholarly discussion at a time when our sole preoccupation should have been bent toward escape from deadly peril. Yet the act of crawling does not in itself engage all the critical faculties, and what better way to pass the time than in conversation? Archaeological passion burns brightly in our family, thank heaven, and I sincerely trust that my penultimate breath will be employed in speculating on the latest Egyptological theories. The ultimate breath, I hardly need say, will be reserved for the affectionate descendants who stand by my couch. - Amelia Peabody

As to precisely where he may be, I cannot answer, thanks to your refusal to let me supervise his activities. You spoil the boy, Emerson. How many children of his age have their own archaeological excavations? - Amelia Peabody

“I would not take dat rubbish mummy case,” he exclaimed. “I am deeply hurt, Mama, dat you should t’ink me capable of such ignorance.” - Ramses Emerson

## Historical Cameos

* Howard Carter (1874-1939)
* (Henri) Edouard Naville (1844-1926)
* Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan (M. de Morgan) (1857-1924)
* Jan Herman Insinger (1854-1918)

## Budge Trash Talk

“I cannot imagine where you get such ideas,” Emerson said in mild surprise. “I am a particularly even-tempered man, and to suggest that I would threaten the Director General of the Department of Antiquities with physical violence--even if he was the most consummate fool in the entire universe--really, Amelia, you astonish me.” - Radcliffe Emerson

Wallis Budge of the British Museum took positive delight in outwitting the antiquities officials. The Amarna Tablets, the papyrus of Ani, and the great Greek manuscript of the Odes of Bacchylides are among the valuable smuggled out of Egypt by this so-called scholar. - Amelia Peabody

## Rescues

* Ramses attempts to rescue his parents (Chapter 11)

## Quotes to Remember

Marriage, in my view, should be a balanced stalemate between equal adversaries. - Amelia Peabody

Next morning at breakfast I reminded Emerson of his promise to give me a pyramid. He looked at me reproachfully. - Amelia Peabody

“Do as you like, Amelia. You will in any case. Only try not to be assaulted, kidnapped, or murdered, if you can possibly do so.” - Radcliffe Emerson

Some persons cannot be rescued, even by me. - Amelia Peabody

> Ramses must have sensed the pain that filled my heart, for as I was crawling up the last long passageway he said, “It is too bad Papa was not able to obtain de firman for Dashoor, Mama.”
> “No one is perfect, Ramses, not even your papa.”
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Emerson folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I never object to any of Mrs. Emerson’s schemes. It would be a waste of time and energy.” - Radcliffe Emerson

“Mrs. Emerson never jokes about pyramids." -Radcliffe Emerson

“I believe this is our first Master Criminal, is it not? I don’t care for them, Peabody. The noble amateur villain is much more to my taste.” - Radcliffe Emerson

I have never had the least difficulty getting people to do what I want them to do. It only requires a firm manner and a determination not to be distracted from the matter at hand. That is Emerson’s trouble, and, in fact, the trouble with most men. They are easily distracted. - Amelia Peabody

“Peabody, I adore you and I meant it when I said I would not be averse to dying in your arms, but you do have a habit of running on and on, which is particularly trying at a time like this.” - Radcliffe Emerson

An individual who has been kidnapped, bound and gagged, suffocated and tossed into a seemingly bottomless pit in the heart of an unexplored pyramid–that individual is a fool if she is not afraid. I am not a fool. - Amelia Peabody

Though thwarted in your heart's desire, you defend me nobly. When you told de Morgan the other day that you doted on Roman mummies, I could hardly contain my emotion. - Radcliffe Emerson

"Bribed--or intimidated? I sense the sinister shadow of the Master Criminal, Emerson. How far his evil web must stretch!" - Amelia Peabody

In the end Ramses got his way. - Amelia Peabody

And he marched off, his shoulders squared and his eyes lifted to the horizon. He looked so splendid I didn’t have the heart to point out the disadvantages of this posture; when one is striding bravely into the future one cannot watch one’s footing. Sure enough, he stumbled into Ramses’ pile of potsherds and went sprawling. - Amelia Peabody

I am accustomed to nocturnal alarms. For some reason they occur frequently with me. - Amelia Peabody

I would not have kicked him in de shin if he had been more courteous. To refer to me as a meddlesome imp of Satan was uncalled for. - Ramses Emerson

In this, as in all our adventures, we were equal partners. Few men could have accepted that arrangement. Emerson is a remarkable man. But then, if he had not been a remarkable man, I would not have married him. - Amelia Peabody

## Amelia Words

Rose’s fondness for Ramses is absolutely unaccountable. I cannot calculate how many cubic feet of mud she has scraped off carpets and walls and furniture as a result of his activities, and mud is the least disgusting of the **effluvia** Ramses trails in his wake. - Amelia Peabody

[Ramses helped distract Evelyn from her troubles] because it required the concentrated attention of every adult in the household to restrain Ramses from **self-immolation** and a widespread destruction of property. - Amelia Peabody

I was bitterly **chagrined**. - Amelia Peabody

I let him enjoy his illusory sense of tranquility, but I knew, with that intuitive intelligence upon which I have often been commended, that the peace could not last-that the calm was only a thin surface over a **seething** caldron of passions that must eventually erupt. - Amelia Peabody

I let him grumble on. Time would prove me right; the **inexorable** pressure of events would force our involvement. So why argue? - Amelia Peabody

Those were my precise words. I recall them well. Had I but known under what hideous circumstances they would recur to me, like the slow **tolling** of a funeral bell, a **premonitory** shudder would have rippled through my limbs. But it did not. - Amelia Peabody

## Fashion

“At any rate, Madame lends beauty to an otherwise dismal site,” he said. “What a fetching costume!”

“I did not come here to talk about women’s clothing,” said Emerson, scowling fiercely as the Russian studied my booted calves.

## Foreshadowing

### King Tut

“But you were wrong about de identification of de tomb,” said Ramses, turning to his father. “I am of de opinion dat Tutankhamon’s sepulcher is yet to be discovered.”

Seeing that an argument was about to ensure--for Emerson brooks criticism of his Egyptological expertise from no one, not even his son--Walter hastened to change to subject.

## References

1. ↑ “Amelia Peabody Books”. barbaramertz.org. May 1, 2023.