For here again Fortune
favoured me. The whole of the back of the mummy-case was coated with
bitumen, and it would be easy when once the deceased was safely inside
to apply a fresh coat, which would cover up not only the cracks but also
the new lacing.
"After careful consideration, I decided to adopt the plan. I went
downstairs and sent the caretaker on an errand to the Law Courts. Then I
returned and carried the deceased up to one of the third-floor rooms,
where I removed his clothes and laid him out on a long packing-case in
the position in which he would lie in the mummy-case. I folded his
clothes neatly and packed them, with the exception of his boots, in a
suit-case that he had been taking to Paris and which contained nothing
but his night-clothes, toilet articles, and a change of linen. By the
time I had done this and thoroughly washed the oilcloth on the stairs
and landing, the caretaker had returned. I informed him that Mr.
Bellingham had started for Paris and then I went home. The upper part of
the house was, of course, secured by the Chubb lock, but I had also--_ex
abundantia cautelae_--locked the door of the room in which I had
deposited the deceased.
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