The watchman related the few details connected with the finding of
the body, which he said had been still warm when he came upon it.
It lay, he said, stretched full length in the snow with the arms
outstretched above the head toward the edge of the bluff, and when
he showed me the spot it flashed upon me that it was the identical
one where I had seen him on those other nights, with his arms
raised in supplication to the skies.
There were no marks of violence on the body, and with the aid of a
local physician the coroner's jury quickly reached a decision of
death from heart failure. Left alone in the study, I opened the
safe and withdrew the contents of the drawer in which he had told
me I would find my instructions. They were in part peculiar
indeed, but I have followed them to each last detail as faithfully
as I was able.
He directed that I remove his body to Virginia without embalming,
and that he be laid in an open coffin within a tomb which he
previously had had constructed and which, as I later learned, was
well ventilated. The instructions impressed upon me that I must
personally see that this was carried out just as he directed,
even in secrecy if necessary.
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