The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1878-08-22
Come 70 al on Friday
Nouu, very sleel0naicly

lours, YcrF alfcNQhAiclY
ElIsoB u.
Ny uncle read this ont loud from be-
ginning to end, aud then be said--Do
you see anything suspicious in that i
seems 10 me very innocent.
Hum II may be. Was there anything
else 10 the desk said he, addressing
Parker
You may 20 and look, growled that po-
teniAte; aud ho led The way, tho expert
following
Tbs desk was quite empty, with the ex-
ceplion OF two or three scraps Of waste
pAper. Ga one Of these the expert
pouneed, and returned With an air Of ella
lion to the other room. He then unfold
cd this scrap Of paper, aud disclosed a
half sheet exactly tho size OF the paper on
which Elinor Beaumonts letters were
written, IN which oblong holes at inter
walls had been cut.
He then placed this hali-shect over the
letter, and handed both thus placed, to
my uncle, whose astonished eyes read the
following words, which the holes left
visible:
Fleet wind-bouud. Fifty sail OF the
line, % smaller. Should the wind change
expect US on Friday.
The devil said my uncle; and Nelson
ordered of to the West Indies.
Then was there, as you may suppose,
hurrying and scurrying, and running aud
chasing, and despatching Of government
couriers, aud semphore telegrapbs, and
earrier-pigcons, and all the old world
means of communication then in fashion
The key, thus obtained, disclosed the
whole correspondence, which turned ont
to be series OF letters from the French
government smuggled into Jersey, The
result history knows; the intended inva.
ton was abandoned, and Napoleon went
elsewhere
But what put you on the scent? asked
my uncle afterwards, with many apollo
gies to the expert.
suspected the trick from the first, al
though,it was very goods pecimen of 1t.
The letters were too innocent, and had
too little point in them. But they were
done with admirable skill The grammar
was complete; and the little dots or
marks which bungers use to guide them
in writing the words which are TO be read
were entirely absent, The way in which
the deception is effected is this: The cor
respondents, before commencing, take a
sheet of paper and cut holes in it, which,
OF course, in the two half sheets exactly
correspond. They each take one.half
sheet, and when letter is to be written,
the writer SO arranges the words that
those intended to be read shall appear in
the holes when the half sheet is placed
over the paper, which is of the same size.
When his correspondent receives the let
ter, he places his half sheet over il, and
reads OIL the words as you dld. The diff
fculty which was 80 well conquered In
this case, is to make the sense run 1u-
emily, and to prevent any visible break in
the writing. Without the half sheet with
the holes in IL no one can have the slight
est clue to the real meaning,
My suspicious, once aroused, were con-
firmed by the inquiries which | made.
The whole story about the sister was q
fabrication. The letters did come from
Jersey, the answer went to Fleet street,
to the charge Of notorious foreign agents.
But If our friend had not been fool enough
TO leave his halt sheet in his desk, we
might have groped in vain for the mystic
ry.
Beaumont disappeared that night, and
was never heard of again at the Admiral
ty. 1t transpired afterwards that some
accompiee had warned him Of the experts
visit TO the Admiralty, and his inquiries
In Jersey. He had made an attempt to
get admittance TO his room, but was
scared by the sounds he heard, aud con-
trived TO escape to France. The lady
who acted the SITTER and who visited the
Admiralty, partly TO put the authorities
off their guard, aud probably also TO in.
terchange the key to the cipher, was a
Partisan celebrity who both before aud
afterwards was renowned for her daring
in political intrigue.