"I think that's easy," answered Doris. "In looking over it, I see there are a great many more plus than minus signs. Now, I think the plus signs must be intended to divide the numbers in groups of two, so that each group stands for a letter. Otherwise they'd be all hopelessly mixed up. And the minus signs divide the words. And every once in a while, if you notice, there's a multiplication sign. I imagine those as the periods at the end of sentences." They all sat silent a moment after this, marveling at the simplicity of it. But at length Doris suggested: "Suppose we try to puzzle out a little of it and see if we are really on the right track? Have you a piece of paper and a pencil, Miss Camilla?" Miss Camilla went indoors and brought them out, quivering with the excitement of the new discovery. "Now, let's see," began Doris. "Suppose we try reading the top line first. '56' would be '1' and '14' would be '2.' Now '12' may mean a word or it may not. It hardly seems as if a note would begin with that. Let's try it the other way. Side line first. Then '56' is 'm,' and '14' is 'y.' '_My_' is a word, anyway, so perhaps we're on the right track. Let's go on." From the next series of letters she spelled the word "beloved" and after that "sister." It was plain beyond all doubting that at last they had stumbled on a wonderful discovery. But she got no further than the words, "my beloved sister," for, no sooner had Miss Camilla taken in their meaning than she huddled back in her chair and, very quietly, fainted away. CHAPTER XIII WORD FROM THE PAST None of the three had ever seen any one unconscious before. Sally stood back, aghast and helpless. Genevieve expressed herself as she usually did in emergencies, with a loud and resounding howl. But Doris rushed into the house, fetched a dipper of cold water and dashed it into Miss Camilla's face. Then she began to rub her hands and ordered Sally to fan her as hard as she could. The simple expedients worked in a short time, and Miss Camilla came to herself. "I--I never did such a foolish thing before!" she gasped, when she realized what had happened. "But this is all so--so amazing and startling! It almost seemed like my brother's own voice, speaking to me from the past." Again she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, but this time only to regain her poise. And then Doris did a very tactful thing. "Miss Camilla," she began, "we've discovered how to read the notebook, and I'm sure you won't have any trouble with it. I think we had better be getting home now, for it is nearly five o'clock. So we'll say good-bye for today, and hope you won't feel faint any more."