"
"At times, yes," said Father Beret, who had no birth-mark on his
shoulder, and had never had one there, or on any other part of his
person.
"How strange!" Alice remarked, "I, too, have a mark on my
shoulder--a pink spot, just like a small, five-petaled flower. We
must be of kin to each other, Father Beret."
The priest laughed.
"If our marks are alike, that would be some evidence of kinship,"
he said.
"But what shape is yours, Father?"
"I've never seen it," he responded.
"Never seen it! Why?"
"Well, it's absolutely invisible," and he chuckled heartily,
meantime glancing shrewdly at M. Roussillon out of the tail of his
eye.
"It's on the back part of his shoulder," quickly spoke up M.
Roussillon, "and you know priests never use looking-glasses. The
mark is quite invisible therefore, so far as Father Beret is
concerned!"
"You never told me of your birth-mark before, my daughter," said
Father Beret, turning to Alice with sudden interest. "It may some
day be good fortune to you."
"Why so, Father?"
"If your family name is really Tarleton, as you suppose from the
inscription on your locket, the birth-mark, being of such singular
shape, would probably identify you. It is said that these marks
run regularly in families. With the miniature and the
distinguishing birth-mark you have enough to make a strong case
should you once find the right Tarleton family.
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