and I can confirm the χ as _r_ by taking the portion marked A_--etter_.
Here we get an end of an adjective in the comparative degree; I think it
must be _better_.”
“Let us next take a group of cyphers higher up; I will pencil over it D. I
take this group because it contains some of the letters which we have
settled _--eathn_. Eath must be the end of a word, for none begins with
athn, thn, or hn. Now what letter will suit eath? Possibly _h_, probably
_d_.”
“Yes,” exclaimed Fletcher, “_Death_, to be sure. I can guess it all:
‘Death is approaching, and I feel that a solemn duty devolves upon me,
namely, that of acquainting Matthew Fletcher, my heir, with the spot where
I have hidden my savings.’ Go on, go on.”
“All in good time, friend,” I laughed. “You observe we can confirm our
guess as to the sign ) being used for _d_, by comparing the
passage--29§--)*8228χ, which we now read, _t. had better_. But _t. had
better_ is awkward; you cannot make 9 into _o_; ‘to had,’ would be no
sense.”
“Of course not,” burst forth Fletcher. “Don’t you see it all? _I had
better_ let my excellent nephew know where I have deposited----”
“Wait a bit,” interrupted I; “you are right, I believe. _I_
is the signification of 9. Let us begin the whole cryptograph
now:--_N.tethi.i.t.re.ind.e._”
“_Remind me!_” cried Fletcher.
“You have it again,” said I. “Now we obtain an additional letter besides
_m_, for _t. remind me_ is certainly _to remind me_. We must begin
again:--_Note thi.i. to remind me_.”
“_This is_,” called out my excited friend, whose eyes were sparkling with
delight and expectation. “Go on; you are a trump!”
“These, then, are our additional letters:--) = d, 7 = m, β = s, 9 = i, λ
= o. _To remind me i.i. ee. m. death ni.h_; for _m. death_, I read _my
death_, and _i.i. ee._, I guess to be, _if I feel_. So it stands
thus:--‘Note.--This is to remind me, if I feel my death nigh, that I had
better----’”
I worked on now in silence; Fletcher, leaning his chin on his hands, sat
opposite, staring into my face with breathless anxiety. Presently I
exclaimed:
“Halves, Mat! I think you said halves!”
“I--I--I--I--my very dear fellow, I----”
“A very excellent man was your uncle; a most exemplary----”
“All right, I know that,” said Fletcher, cutting me short. “Do read the
paper; I have a spade and pick on my library table, all ready for work the
moment I know where to begin.”
“But, really, he was a man in a thousand, a man of such discretion, such
foresight, so much----”
Down came Fletcher’s hand on the desk.
“Do go on!” he cried; and I could see that he was swearing internally; he
would have sworn _ore rotundo_, only that it would have been uncivil, and
decidedly improper.
“Very well; you are prepared to hear all?”
“All! by Jove! by Jingo! prepared for everything.”
“Then this is what I read,” said I, taking up my own transcript:--
“_Note.--This is to remind me, if I feel my death nigh, that I had better
move to Birmingham, as burials are done cheaper there than here, where the
terms of the Necropolis Company are exorbitant._”
Fletcher bounded from his seat. “The old skinflint! miser! screw!”
“A very estimable and thrifty man, your great-uncle.”
“Confounded old stingy--,” and he slammed the door upon himself and the
substantive which designated his uncle.
And now, the very best advice I can give to my readers, is to set to work
at once on the simple cypher given near the commencement of this paper,
and to find it out.