[Illustration]

“Correct,” muttered Hazen, with what Harper thought to be a slight but unmistakable shudder.  “One would think you had been making use of this very cabalistic sign all your life.”

“Then one would be mistaken.  I have simply a true eye and a ready hand.”

“And a very remarkable memory.  You have recalled every little line and quirk.”

“That’s possible.  What I have made once I can make the second time.  It’s a peculiarity of mine.”

There was no mistaking the continued intensity of Hazen’s gaze.  Ransom felt his color rise, but succeeded in preserving his quiet tone, as he added: 

“Besides, this character is not a wholly new one to me.  My attention was called to it months ago.  It was when I was courting Georgian.  She was writing a note one day when she suddenly stopped to think and I saw her pen making some marks which I considered curious.  But I should not have remembered them five minutes, if she had not impulsively laid her hand over them when she saw me looking.  That fixed the memory of them in my mind, and when I saw this combination of lines again, I remembered it.  That is why I lent myself so readily to this experiment.  I lent that what you said about her acquaintance with this odd arrangement of lines was true.”

Hazen’s hand stole up to his neck, a token of agitation which Ransom should have recognized by this time.

“And her account of the use we made of it tallied with mine?”

“She gave me no account of any use she had ever made of it.”

“That was because you didn’t ask her.”

“Just so.  Why should I ask her?  It was a small matter to trouble her about.”

“You are right,” acquiesced Hazen, wheeling himself away towards the window.  Then after a momentary silence, “It was so then, but it is likely to prove of some importance now.  Let me see if the hall is empty.”

As he bent to open the door, the lawyer, who had not moved nor spoken till now, turned a quick glance on Ransom and impulsively stretched out his hand.  But he dropped it very quickly and subsided into his old attitude of simple watchfulness, as Hazen glanced back with the remark: 

“There’s nobody stirring; now’s your time, Ransom.”

The moment for action had arrived.

Ransom stepped into the hall.  As he passed Hazen, the latter whispered: 

“Don’t forget that last downward quirk.  That was the line she always emphasized.”

Ransom gave him an annoyed look.  His nerves as well as his feelings were on a keen stretch, and this persistence of Hazen’s was more than he could bear.

“I’ll not forget the least detail,” he answered shortly, and passed quickly down the hall, while Hazen watched him through the crack of the door, and the lawyer watched Hazen.

Suddenly Mr. Harper’s brow wrinkled.  Hazen had uttered such a sigh of relief that the lawyer was startled.  In another moment Ransom re-entered the room.