"What was it?"
"He had a peculiar way of dressing his hair, with a curl hanging over his forehead."
"I remember it."
"Beneath that curl, sir, was a birthmark."
"Ah!"
"It was a red cross an inch in length, and perfect in shape."
"Indeed?"
"Yes, and I saw that same mark on a man's forehead a few days before the date you say that Sergeant Weston, if it was he, was buried in the caved-in mine."
"Ah! and where did you see it?"
"I had gone to Wingate by coach, sir, to collect some money due me from several soldiers there, and in the sutler's store I saw a man whose face I was sure I had seen before.