Page:The Tattooed Countess (1924).pdf/210

 letters he saw his name inscribed, followed by Esq., and below was written, By messenger. He tore the envelope open. At the head of the paper in one corner of the sheet he noted the Nattatorrini crest: a stork clutching a snake in one of its claws while he destroyed it with his beak, and the motto: Unguibus et Rostro. The lines which followed he read again and again: