"
"Do you recognize it?"
"No. Georgian wore such combs, but I cannot absolutely say that this is
hers."
"I can. You see this little gold work at the top? Well, I have an eye for
such things and I noticed this comb in her hair last night. There were
two of them just alike."
Instinctively the two men sat with their eyes fixed for a minute on this
comb, then, equally instinctively, they both looked up and gazed at each
other long and hard. It was the lawyer who first spoke.
"I think that we should have no further secrets between us," said he.
"Here is Mrs. Ransom's will. There is a name mentioned in it which I do
not know. Perhaps you do." Here he laid the document on the table.
Mr. Ransom eyed it but did not take it up. Instead, he drew a crumpled
paper from his own pocket and, handing it to the lawyer, said: "First,
I should like you to read the letter which she left behind for me. My
feelings as a husband would lead me to hold it as a sacred legacy from
all eyes but my own; but there is a mystery hidden in it, a mystery which
I must penetrate, and you are the only man who can assist me in doing
so."
The lawyer, lowering his eyes to hide their own suspicious glint, opened
the paper, and carefully read these lines:
"Forgive. My troubles are too much for me. I'm going to a place of
rest, the only place and the only rest possible to one in my position.
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