The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-05-26
Smythe'S Mystery.

large assortment of varied enthusiasms,
possessed of an unlimited belief in the good
ness of human nature, and absolutely in
capable of falsehood.
And yet curiously enough, he had pas
sion for mysteries. Although practically
commonplace Presbyterian, he neverthe-
less affected to believe in the mysteries Of
Rosicrucianism. He was perpetually striv-
ing, with conspicuous want of success, to
magnetic his friends, and although he was
too orthodox to believe in Spiritualism, he
lived in constant hopes of inducing his
wash-stand to move and his writing table
torap, by the patient contact of his tireless
hands. AS for secret societies they were
his delight. He belonged to nearly every
ancient and venerable of very modern me-
chanics and grocerymen in existence, and
kept locked up in his trunk more flaring
gilt badges and Enthusiastically trimmed
aprons, and horse-colars than would have
sufficed to purchase the sovereignty Of
dozen African Kingdoms.
And there never was a more honest and
straightforward little girl than Mary Nor
ris, to whom Smythe was engaged to be
married. She was just out of boarding
school, and her respectable father--in the
wholesale lard business-and her equally
respectable mother-in tho wholesale fami-
ly business-and all her thirteen brothers
and sisters of assorted sexes, were ready to
affirm, as the case might me-that Mary
was as good as gold, and many times as
valuable.
The engagement of these two young per-
sons was with the full appreciation of the
elder Smythes and Morrises Young Penn
ington was expected to spend three eve
nings every week with his betrothed, and
they were always accommodated with
convenient back-parlor in which to con-
verse after the manner of their kind. In
these circumstances Pennington Smythe
ought to have been happy, but he was not.
There was no mystery about his love affair,
and the fact weighed upon his spirits.
He did what he could to convince him
self that the respectable old Mr.. Morris,
who used to say when Pennington made his
appearance, "Now, you children, keep out
of that back parlor, and give Mary and her
young man show"-was bitterly opposed
to the match, and must be kept from per-
ceiving that his daughter was beloved by
her =" young man." But the only possible
way which he could devise to throw an air
of secrecy over the affair, was to write
notes to his beloved in very cramped
hand, and to deliver them himself. Usual
ly he had to read them, too, since his hand
writing was too mystical to be readily de-
ciphered, and when they were read they
usually contained nothing but an ampli6-
cation Of the innocuous idea that he, Penn
ington Smythe, proposed to love her, Mary
Morris, in spite of every obstacles this
statement was not one of tremendous mo-
ment but still it gave young Smythe no
little comfort to make it in writing and de-
liver it with an air of immense secrecy
One day happy thought struck him.
How delightful it would be to correspond
with his darling in cipher. This idea filled
him with a calm, mystical joy that was
really first-class sensation. So he devils
ed a cipher Of the kind so much in vogue
among school girls, and which consisted in
substituting one letter for another, and in
stantly wrote brief note to Mary. This
he carried to her the same evening, togeth-
or with key, and attained the seventh
heaven of mystical delight in transmitting
it to her. Poor Mary suffered much from
this cipher 1t was very hard work foI
her to write an Ineligible letter with the
new alphabet She continually made mis-.
takes in it, and SO kept Pennington out Of
bed for hours, while with locked doors and
shaded windows he tried to decipher some
such sentence as, 81 do so long to sec
YOU" 1t was only when mistakes were
made in the use of this cipher that it be-
came at all difficult of comprehension to an
ordinary reader. Poor Pennington had not
J devoted much attention to tho subject oi
cryptography, or he would have known
that there is nothing more transparent thar
cipher which merely consists Of the sub
stitution Of one letter for another. He was
however, soon to learn this fact in very
unpleasant way.
! One evening Mary dropped note which
she had received by mail, and it was pick
ed up by her father. The old gentleman
was wild with horror There was his trust
ed daughter actually corresponding will
some unknown villain in cipher. Obvious
ly the cipher must have some shameful
secret He sat In his arm mir with Nh,