Shand--that was the name he gave us--called me into his room
and showed me a small bird he had picked up dead on the beach.
He did not know its name, and I was too ignorant to tell him.
He stood there looking at it under the lamp when my sister came
upstairs with a note and word that the messenger was waiting outside
for an answer. Mr. Shand took the note and read it under the lamp.
Then he turned to the fire, and stood with his back to us for a
moment. I saw him drop the note into the fire. He faced round to us
again and said he to my sister: 'Mary, my dear, here is something I
want you to keep for me. Do not look at it to-night; and when you
do, show it to no one but your brother here.' With that he gave her
the very packet you have in your hand, shook hands with us both, and
went downstairs. We never saw him again. The weather was thick,
with some snow falling, and the snow increased towards midnight.
We waited up till we were tired, but he did not return that night or
the next day. Three days later his body was found in a drift of
snow, halfway down a cliff to the west of the town. The right leg
and arm were broken and two ribs on the same side."
I asked: "Who was the man that brought the message?" Melhuish said:
"My sister could not tell, except that he was a stranger.
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