"Dear me," exclaimed the curate, "what an interesting custom! Harriet, love," he turned to his wife, "remind me to make a note of what Mr. Baxter has just told us about the squaws going shopping on Broadway."
Bob's laugh took on a doubtful ring—he was never quite sure with Horatio whether the joke was on himself or on the curate.
"Whatever it sounded like," continued Merle, "the effect was most astonishing. I could see through the hinge-crack. Parker shot out of that well like a Jack-in-the-box and flew up the steps and along the passage as if Beelzebub himself were after him. I don't suppose he stopped this side of Ippingford."
"Except to pick up your hat," put in Lionel.
"Dear me! Perhaps he did, I left it on the kitchen dresser. Well I hope it will be a lesson to the man."
And now why on earth did he go back to that wretched cellar? Parker's candle would have burned itself out in the well and the wine was safe for the time being anyway. It seemed to Horatio, as if some irresistible force had dragged him down those steps against his will, right to the brink of the well. There at the bottom was the candle burning cheerfully among the bottles, at least a dozen of champagne and various others. The curate had no trouble in letting himself down and was already pondering on the best way to climb out again without soiling his clothes, when his attention was caught by a peculiarity in the construction of the well. Two sides and one end were built of small stones about six or eight inches square. The remaining end was quite different; there were small stones at the top and bottom and, in the middle, one large stone about three feet square.
Horatio picked up the candle and carefully examined this stone. In the lower right hand corner was a half obliterated Latin inscription:
N H L T NGE
O NIA D SCE
A O 1360
He spelled it out slowly. The first word, allowing for the space, could only be Nihil. The missing "A" of Tange was also quite evident, so was the "M" of Omnia. He puzzled over the last word for some time till the light of the candle, held a little to one side and very close to the stone, showed that what he had taken for the letter "I" was really the letter "D". Then it was easy, and now Horatio had the motto complete: NIHIL TANGE OMNIA DISCE it now read: "Touch nothing, know everything."
When a thing sounds so utterly senseless as that, he reflected, it generally turns out to mean something very wise, especially if it is chiseled in stone.