"
"But I have just said that the figure was NOT that of a goat."
"Well, a kid then--pretty much the same thing."
"Pretty much, but not altogether," said Legrand. "You may have
heard of one CAPTAIN Kidd. I at once looked upon the figure of the
animal as a kind of punning or hieroglyphical signature. I say
signature; because its position upon the vellum suggested this
idea. The death's head at the corner diagonally opposite, had, in
the same manner, the air of a stamp, or seal. But I was sorely put
out by the absence of all else--of the body to my imagined
instrument--of the text for my context."
"I presume you expected to find a letter between the stamp and the
signature."
"Something of that kind. The fact is, I felt irresistibly
impressed with a presentiment of some vast good fortune impending.
I can scarcely say why. Perhaps, after all, it was rather a desire
than an actual belief;--but do you know that Jupiter's silly words,
about the bug being of solid gold, had a remarkable effect upon my
fancy? And then the series of accidents and coincidents--these
were so VERY extraordinary.
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