"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:
"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.