Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Love stories; Maryland -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
Taking up the magic square I asked Betty to repeat the formula for
uncoding.
"Find where the first key-letter occurs in the top row," said Betty
glibly. "For example: W. Then follow that vertical column down until you
reach the first letter of the cypher message; in this case: Q. Follow
that horizontal line to the extreme left, and you will recover the
initial letter of the original message, namely: T. _Da capo ad
infinitum. Q. E. D._"
Together we worked out the first line of the cypher in the leather-bound
book. The complete layout ran as follows:
W O N F O R T O F O R A T E W O N F O R T
Q W O T T U I J X I S V A Z P I H N X J X
T H A N E C O U R T A U G U S T T H I R D
"And so on, world without end," commented Betty. "You can imagine how
like mad I worked once we were on the train and rushing Southward. For
now I knew _why_ it was necessary to avoid entering that room,
especially at this particular time of year."
* * * * *
The clocks were striking nine, and Chalmers wanted to drop in at
"Powersthorp" on his way home. So he bade us good night, climbed into
his car, and was off, the red star of his tail-light twinkling through
the linden trees bordering upon the driveway. And I remained alone with
Betty; only, for a long time, we did not speak; it was not necessary.
* * * * *
There is but a word to add. The walls of the library wing had sustained
but little damage in the fire; consequently, the process of rebuilding
and refitting was made so much the easier. The stained glass, of
course, had been entirely destroyed, but for that there could be few
regrets; all those Old Testament pictures had been scenes of hatred and
violence and divine wrath. It were better that Little Hugh should never
see them and so have his childish imagination darkened. They have been
replaced by windows of a softer nature--green pastures and still water,
the lilies and poppies of the Parsifal meadows on Good Friday morning,
and the peace of the everlasting hills. No chance here for even the
unwitting insertion of that terrible purple boss; indeed the grapes of
wrath were no longer in existence, for Chalmers Warriner had taken pains
to have every bit of the _disjecta membra_ of the old windows gathered
up and buried in some inaccesible pit, its very location to remain
forever hidden from human eyes.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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