I stood motionless for a few minutes, almost unable to give credence to
the solution of the puzzle; then went carefully over the two signs
again.
No; I was not mistaken.
"N.S.," I repeated to myself aloud, almost breathless with amazement, my
heart beating quickly, and sounding distinctly in the tomb-like silence
of my dungeon. "The initials of some unfortunate man who perhaps, like
myself, was confined here for some crime he did not commit."
Whose was the hand that traced the deadly sign, and the initials? This
was the question I vainly asked myself.
"Perhaps the letters below will throw some light upon this ghastly
secret," I said aloud, as I commenced to feel the two characters
underneath the design. They were well-shaped and deeply cut, so I had
not so much difficulty as with those above.
"I may be about to solve the enigma of the seal," I reflected, as, in
intense excitement, I took one letter after the other and thought of its
corresponding letter in English.