Now, if this gentleman should never reappear, dead or alive, the question as to what was the latest moment at which he was certainly alive will turn upon the further question: 'Was he or was he not wearing a particular article of jewellery when he called at that relative's house ?'" He paused with a reflective eye bent upon the stump of chalk that he still held; then, noting the expectant interest with which we were regarding him, he resumed: "The circumstances in this case are very curious; in fact, they are highly mysterious; and if any legal issues should arise in respect of them, they are likely to yield some very remarkable complications.

The gentleman who has disappeared, Mr.John Bellingham, is a man well known in archaeological circles.

He recently returned from Egypt, bringing with him a very fine collection of antiquities--some of which, by the way, he has presented to the British Museum, where they are now on view--and having made this presentation, he appears to have gone to Paris on business.

I may mention that the gift consisted of a very fine mummy and a complete set of tomb-furniture.

The latter, however, had not arrived from Egypt at the time when the missing man left for Paris, but the mummy was inspected on the fourteenth of October at Mr.Bellingham's house by Dr.Norbury of the British Museum, in the presence of the donor and his solicitor, and the latter was authorised to hand over the complete collection to the British Museum authorities when the tomb-furniture arrived; which he has since done.
"From Paris he seems to have returned on the twenty-third of November, and to have gone direct from Charing Cross to the house of a relative, a Mr.Hurst, who is a bachelor and lives at Eltham.