I say the
singularity of this coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time.
This is the usual effect of such coincidences. The mind struggles to
establish a connection --a sequence of cause and effect --and, being
unable to do so, suffers a species of temporary paralysis. But, when I
recovered from this stupor, there dawned upon me gradually a
conviction which startled me even far more than the coincidence. I
began distinctly, positively, to remember that there had been no
drawing on the parchment when I made my sketch of the scarabaeus. I
became perfectly certain of this; for I recollected turning up first
one side and then the other, in search of the cleanest spot. Had the
skull been then there, of course I could not have failed to notice it.
Here was indeed a mystery which I felt it impossible to explain;
but, even at that early moment, there it seemed to glimmer, faintly,
within the most remote and secret chambers of my intellect, a
glow-worm-like conception of that truth which last night's adventure
brought to so magnificent a demonstration.
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