"Some Words With a Mummy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

1850
SOME WORDS WITH A MUMMY
by Edgar Allan Poe

THE SYMPOSIUM of the preceding evening had been a little too much
for my nerves. I had a wretched headache, and was desperately
drowsy. Instead of going out therefore to spend the evening as I had
proposed, it occurred to me that I could not do a wiser thing than
just eat a mouthful of supper and go immediately to bed.
A light supper of course. I am exceedingly fond of Welsh rabbit.
More than a pound at once, however, may not at all times be advisable.
Still, there can be no material objection to two. And really between
two and three, there is merely a single unit of difference. I
ventured, perhaps, upon four. My wife will have it five;- but,
clearly, she has confounded two very distinct affairs. The abstract
number, five, I am willing to admit; but, concretely, it has reference
to bottles of Brown Stout, without which, in the way of condiment,
Welsh rabbit is to be eschewed.
Having thus concluded a frugal meal, and donned my night-cap, with
the serene hope of enjoying it till noon the next day, I placed my
head upon the pillow, and, through the aid of a capital conscience,
fell into a profound slumber forthwith.
But when were the hopes of humanity fulfilled? I could not have
completed my third snore when there came a furious ringing at the
street-door bell, and then an impatient thumping at the knocker, which
awakened me at once. In a minute afterward, and while I was still
rubbing my eyes, my wife thrust in my face a note, from my old friend,
Doctor Ponnonner. It ran thus:

Come to me, by all means, my dear good friend, as soon as you
receive this. Come and help us to rejoice. At last, by long
persevering diplomacy, I have gained the assent of the Directors of
the City Museum, to my examination of the Mummy- you know the one I
mean. I have permission to unswathe it and open it, if desirable. A
few friends only will be present- you, of course. The Mummy is now
at my house, and we shall begin to unroll it at eleven to-night.

Yours, ever, PONNONNER.

By the time I had reached the "Ponnonner," it struck me that I was
as wide awake as a man need be. I leaped out of bed in an ecstacy,
overthrowing all in my way; dressed myself with a rapidity truly
marvellous; and set off, at the top of my speed, for the doctor's.
There I found a very eager company assembled. They had been awaiting
me with much impatience; the Mummy was extended upon the dining-table;
and the moment I entered its examination was commenced.
It was one of a pair brought, several years previously, by Captain
Arthur Sabretash, a cousin of Ponnonner's from a tomb near
Eleithias, in the Lybian mountains, a considerable distance above
Thebes on the Nile. The grottoes at this point, although less