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The smell of incense was less perceptible here, and in his distinctive way each of the men, as he entered past the white-robed Lord Marcus, experienced a subtle sense of gratitude for this. Lord Marcus, pausing for a moment in an attitude of listening, entered after them and closed the door with a long, white, delicate hand. He indicated a settee and a deep armchair. This, they saw, was an orderly workroom, every available inch of wall space being occupied by closely stacked volumes. On a large mahogany table a green shaded lamp burned; and all the titles of those books within reach of its light reflected up from the carved and lustrous surface, indicated that Occultism and Ancient Egypt played a large part in Lord Marcus' studies.

A nearly illegible papyrus was open on this table, held flat by four unusual paperweights. These were: a black granite figure of Set, god of the dead; a fossilised fish; a lump of quartz glittering with specks of gold; and a mummied hand (that of a woman) highly varnished and mounted in a gold bangle. Before the books on some of the shelves were statuettes and tomb ornaments, with fragments of mural decorations, and there was a complete mummy in a highly painted sarcophagus standing just inside the door.