His Night of Romance

"The Mummy" was about an Egyptian priest's relentless pursuit of revenge. He was an Imhotep for Pharaoh Djoser, only to fall from grace when he stole the scroll of Throth. He only wanted to bring back the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, his lover, to life. But he ended up mummified. Boris Karloff played the titular role, his malevolent eyes warning the moviegoers. They anticipated what he would do next, and it wasn't enough. So the remake (and a sequel and another sequel). Who would have thought that this premise was based from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story.

Doyle became famous for his novels and short stories on Sherlock Holmes, overshadowing his other works. Richard Shayer, the story editor of "The Mummy", thought of "Ring of Thoth" and used it as his reference for the screenplay. This little-known tale wasn't based from Doyle's trip to Egypt. He was a huge believer of the mystics, which was a fad in London during the nineteenth century. But some readers detected the heart of a romantic.

When silence was impressive

"He was alone with the dead men of a dead civilization."

John Vansittart Smith was an intellectual, who took his interests a bit too seriously. Some saw a haughty English fellow, unaware of his fickle mind. Doyle would hint of pretentiousness on the part of Mr. Smith, until he went to Paris. Insomnia prompted him to roam the streets after dusk, even reaching Louvre. He was gazing at the spectacular exhibit on Ancient Egypt when he noticed a sarcophagus. He was curious. He opened it, and find himself facing the remains of the most beautiful woman. He was getting affectionate with a corpse.

What followed was a hair-raising passage, which would force anyone to run out of Louvre. But Mr. Smith remained there. He even encountered another soul, whom he first thought of a personnel about to remind him that the museum was about to close in an hour. He turned out to be an Egyptian from yore, who drove the Ethiopians back to the southern deserts and tamed the Hebrew.

Readers could looked at the story in many ways. Doyle's fascination with Ancient Egypt. A man's eye-opening moment on his frivolous ways. Bringing out the dead. Some would dismiss it, not giving it some serious thought. It won't be hard to imagine Doyle in a wistful mood (while composing the draft of "Ring of Thoth"). It could be replaced with Europe's oldest cities during the Middle Age, but there was something about Egypt. Could it be a curse? You can bet a handful of sand.