"Precisely. One papyrus in particular which we wish translated as literally as possible for purposes of record is believed to be a message from one of the kings of the twenty-seventh dynasty, who was called 'the Great Pharaoh'." The young man diverted his gaze at last, as he fumbled in a desk drawer. "I have a copy here. He isn't the same chap as the one mentioned in the Bible, whose daughter found Moses in the bulrushes, you know."
Betty could scarcely believe her ears. The flippant display of ignorance on the part of one who must be an important official of the museum seemed incredible, and a dim suspicion came to her that she was being made the victim of a hoax.
"I am aware of that fact," she responded frigidly. "The twenty-seventh dynasty was inaugurated only some five hundred years before Christ. Two of its rulers were known as 'the Great Pharaoh'; Xerxes and Artaxerxes. By which was this papyrus believed to have been inscribed?"
"I will let you judge that." He smiled in winning friendliness, quite unabashed by her icy tone. "To tell you the truth, I am not very well posted on it."
If this were indeed a hoax, Betty determined to obtain some personal satisfaction from it.
"Can you tell me, however, if an interlinear transliteration is required, as well as a translation?"
The young man lifted his hands in a gesture of helplessness almost comic.
"I mean," she explained, dimpling behind her veil, "do you wish the corresponding letter in our alphabet placed beneath each pictured letter or hieroglyph, with the translation of the whole phrase on a third line? That is the form used by Professor Mallory."
"Then I presume that is what will be required. I am not going to try to impose on you by any false display of a knowledge I do not possess," he said with engaging candor. "As a matter of fact, I am lamentably ignorant of Egyptology in general, but I happen to be a sort of honorary member of the board of directors governing the museum, and the task of finding a translator was delegated to me, with instructions to obtain, if possible, a pupil of Professor Mallory for the work. The official translator for the museum is in Egypt at the present time. Here is the photographic copy of the papyrus in question."
He opened a portfolio and took from it several large sheets which he passed to her across the desk. Her momentary resentment was forgotten and a little exclamation of fervid interest escaped her lips as she spread the pages out before her and threw back her veil the more clearly to scrutinize them.