"
"Then everything is ready."
"All but the mark which I am to put on the panel."
"Very good. Here is the chalk. Let us see what you mean to do with it
before you risk an attempt on the door itself."
Ransom thought a minute, then with one quick twist produced the
following:
[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.
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