Mr. Cowper received him graciously, if a little vaguely. Burton wasted
no time, however, in announcing the nature of his errand. Directly he
produced the sheets, the professor became interested. The faint odor
which seemed shaken out from them into the room stimulated his
curiosity. He sniffed at it with great content.
"Strange," he remarked, "very strange. I haven't smelt that perfume
since I was with the excavators at Chaldea. A real Oriental flavor,
young man, about your manuscript."
"There is very little of it," Burton said,--"just a page or so which
apparently the writer never had time to finish. The sheets came into my
hands in rather a curious way, and I should very much like to have an
exact translation of them. I don't even know what the language is. I
thought, perhaps, that you might be able to help me. I will explain to
you later, if you will allow me, the exact nature of my interest in
them."
Mr. Cowper took the pages into his hand with a benevolent smile. At
the first glance, however, his expression changed. It was obvious that
he was greatly interested. It was obvious, also, that he was
correspondingly surprised.
"My dear young man," he exclaimed, "my dear Mr.--Mr.
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