As he bent to open the door, the lawyer, who had not moved nor spoken till now, turned a quick glance on Ransom and impulsively stretched out his hand. But he dropped it very quickly and subsided into his old attitude of simple watchfulness, as Hazen glanced back with the remark: "There's nobody stirring; now's your time, Ransom." The moment for action had arrived. Ransom stepped into the hall. As he passed Hazen, the latter whispered: "Don't forget that last downward quirk. That was the line she always emphasized." Ransom gave him an annoyed look. His nerves as well as his feelings were on a keen stretch, and this persistence of Hazen's was more than he could bear. "I'll not forget the least detail," he answered shortly, and passed quickly down the hall, while Hazen watched him through the crack of the door, and the lawyer watched Hazen. Suddenly Mr. Harper's brow wrinkled. Hazen had uttered such a sigh of relief that the lawyer was startled. In another moment Ransom re-entered the room. "She's coming," said he, striving to hide his extreme emotion. "I heard her voice in the hall beyond." Hazen sprang to the door which Ransom had carefully closed, and was about to fall on his knees before the keyhole when he suddenly stiffened himself and, turning towards the lawyer, cried with a new strain of loftiness in his tone: "You. You shall do the looking, only promise to be very minute in your description of her behavior. It's a great trust I repose in you. See that you honor it." The revulsion of feeling caused in the lawyer by this show of confidence was not perceptible. But it softened his step as well as his manner as he crossed to do the other's bidding. The remaining two stood at his side breathless, waiting for his first word. It came in a whisper: "She's approaching her room. She looks tired. Her eyes are stealing this way;--no, they are resting on her own door. She sees the sign. She stands staring at it, but not like a person who has ever seen it before. It's the stare of an uneducated woman who runs upon something she does not understand. Now she touches it with one finger and glances up and down the hall with a doubtful shake of the head. Now she is running to another door, now to another. She is looking to see if this scrawl is to be found anywhere else; she even casts her eye this way--I feel like leaving my post. If I do, you may know that she's coming--No, she's back at her own door and--gentlemen, her bringing up or rather coming up asserts itself. She has put her palm to her mouth and is vigorously rubbing off the marks." The next instant Mr. Harper rose. "She's gone into her room," said he. "Listen and you will hear her key click in the lock." Ransom sank into a seat; Hazen had walked to the window. Presently he turned. "I am convinced," said he. "I will not trouble you gentlemen further. Mr. Ransom, I condole with you upon your loss. My sister was a woman of uncommon gifts."