Discovery of the Heart of Egypt’s Disappearance

The discovery of the Heart of Egypt’s disappearance turns a concealed museum safe into the starting point of an investigation. When Henrietta retrieves the velvet wrapping in which the artifact was hidden, it contains a different object: a black stone heart marked with a gold serpent. Theodosia recognizes that the Heart is gone, but the scene leaves both the thief and the route by which anyone learned of the artifact’s presence unknown. Instead, its first decisive clue is a suspicious coincidence: Lord Snowthorpe has appeared just as the family discovers the loss.

The Hidden Safe and Its Contents

The discovery begins in the upstairs workroom of the Museum of Legends and Antiquities. Following Henrietta, Theodosia realizes that she does not know where the Heart has been concealed. Henrietta goes to the far back wall, shifts books from the second shelf, and moves aside a tapestry dated to the Late Medieval period. Behind it is a small safe, placed out of sight behind the books and hanging. The concealment is effective enough that Theodosia has not known where the artifact was kept.

Henrietta spins the combination too quickly for Theodosia to see it. The safe’s open door reveals an unexpectedly large chamber holding various bulky wrapped objects, suggesting that it stores more than the Heart. Henrietta reaches inside and pulls out the velvet wrapping that had covered it. Theodosiа watches as she carefully unwraps the bundle; at the reveal, the expected Egyptian artifact is absent. What the wrapping contains is not the Heart of Egypt.

The object left in its place is shaped like a human heart and made of black stone. Apep, a coiled serpent, is painted in gold leaf on its front. Henrietta immediately understands the significance and turns to Theodosia in alarm. Her distress is not abstract: she worries what she will tell Lord Snowthorpe and Theodosia’s father, Alistair. The moment exposes a concrete breach in the family’s security, while offering no explanation yet of when or how the Heart was removed.

Testing the Black Heart

Henrietta puts the black heart into Theodosia’s hands while she turns back to lock the safe. Theodosia expects the artifact to give off the sensation of a curse, but detects nothing. She examines its cold surface closely, sniffing for sulfur and rubbing a finger across it to check for an oily residue; neither sign is present. Her tests do not establish what the object is or how it came to be in the wrapping, but they distinguish it from the cursed objects she knows how to recognize.

Rather than leave the apparent substitute where it might be noticed, Theodosia places it on a shelf near the back, hoping to conduct further tests before anyone else sees it. This small decision reflects the limits of what she knows: she can examine the object and keep it available for investigation, but she cannot yet identify the missing Heart’s whereabouts. Henrietta, meanwhile, finishes securing the safe. The wrapping and the decoy-like object are present; the artifact itself is not.

Who Knew the Heart Was There?

Henrietta insists that the family cannot tell Lord Snowthorpe the Heart is missing because she does not want him to think them amateurs. Her concern sharpens Theodosia’s questions. She asks whether Henrietta told Snowthorpe about the artifact and how he could have learned of it when Henrietta had only recently returned. Henrietta says she did not announce the discovery, though she had to declare the Heart to get it out of the country. She denies declaring it to Snowthorpe and supposes that someone he knew learned of it.

Theodosia considers the possibility of a leak against the details of Henrietta’s journey. Henrietta had kept the Heart carefully hidden on her person throughout the trip and had not even sent Alistair a telegram to say she was bringing it home. These circumstances make the speed of the disclosure puzzling, but do not identify the source. The scene therefore shifts the investigation from the missing object alone to the circle of people who could have known it was being brought back.

From Discovery to Pursuit

When Henrietta returns, she and Alistair withdraw into his office and close the door. Their clipped, urgent conversation leads Theodosia to expect that they will soon search the museum, but she doubts they will find the Heart. She sees Lord Snowthorpe’s arrival on the very morning of the discovery as too striking a coincidence to ignore: someone must have told him the artifact was there. At this point, that is a suspicion directing the inquiry, not proof that Snowthorpe took the Heart or arranged its theft.

Theodosia decides that the first task is to discover who else knew about the artifact before she can work out who took it. She also hopes that recovering it will show her parents how useful she can be if they allow her to help. The discovery thus becomes the immediate cause of her independent pursuit: she gathers her things, slips out after Lord Snowthorpe, and hurries after him as he turns the corner in the rain. The scene ends not with the Heart recovered or the mystery solved, but with Theodosia following the most conspicuous lead and the theft’s central question still open.