And the stranger who had copied that very manuscript which he was copying, was an unknown foreigner and a scholar into the bargain!
Was it possible that the secret was already out?
Chapter Nine.
Concerns “The Other Man.”
“What was the stranger like?” asked the Professor eagerly, his thin hand resting upon the ancient parchment he had been so carefully copying.
“A short, stout, elderly man with white pointed beard,” was the assistant-keeper’s reply. “Four days ago he came here, carrying with him a number of references which he turned up in various early Hebrew manuscripts. But it was the one you have there before you which attracted him most. He worked three days upon it, and made a complete and most accurate copy.”
“He didn’t tell you whence he came, or for what purpose he was making the researches?”
“No, for, as you well know, Professor, students seldom do. They are not very communicative, unless they be young,” laughed the official. “But he was a foreigner.”