"John Bellingham was last seen alive by you and Mr.Jellicoe on the fourteenth of October, more than three weeks before the mummy left Queen Square.

After that date he was never seen alive or dead by any person who knew him and could identify him." Dr.Norbury reflected awhile in silence.

Then, in a faint voice, he asked: "How do you suggest that John Bellingham's body came to be inside that cartonnage ?" "I think Mr.Jellicoe is the most likely person to be able to answer that question," Thorndyke replied drily.
There was another interval of silence, and then Dr.Norbury asked suddenly: "But what do you suppose has become of Sebek-hotep?
The real Sebek-hotep, I mean ?" "I take it," said Thorndyke, "that the remains of Sebek-hotep, or at least a portion of them, are at present lying in the Woodford mortuary awaiting an adjourned inquest." As Thorndyke made this statement a flash of belated intelligence, mingled with self-contempt, fell on me.

Now that the explanation was given, how obvious it was! And yet I, a competent anatomist and physiologist and actually a pupil of Thorndyke's, had mistaken those ancient bones for the remains of a recent body! Dr.Norbury considered the last statement for some time in evident perplexity.

"It is all consistent enough, I must admit," said he, at length, "and yet--are you quite sure there is no mistake?
It seems so incredible." "There is no mistake, I assure you," Thorndyke answered.