Soon afterwards we turned to go home, and on
the way met Lieutenant G----. I showed him the insect, and he
begged me to let him take it to the fort. Upon my consenting, he
thrust it forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, without the
parchment in which it had been wrapped, and which I had continued
to hold in my hand during his inspection. Perhaps he dreaded my
changing my mind, and thought it best to make sure of the prize at
once--you know how enthusiastic he is on all subjects connected
with Natural History. At the same time, without being conscious of
it, I must have deposited the parchment in my own pocket.
"You remember that when I went to the table, for the purpose of
making a sketch of the beetle, I found no paper where it was
usually kept. I looked in the drawer, and found none there. I
searched my pockets, hoping to find an old letter, when my hand
fell upon the parchment. I thus detail the precise mode in which
it came into my possession, for the circumstances impressed me with
peculiar force.
"No doubt you will think me fanciful--but I had already established
a kind of CONNECTION.
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