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.

"She's coming," said he, striving to hide his extreme emotion. "I heard
her voice in the hall beyond."

Hazen sprang to the door which Ransom had carefully closed, and was about
to fall o