Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-01-25
81 am sure there is some mistake

about all this, which Beaumont can
clear up. Let us send for him."
IF you do, the game is up. 1 trust,
in fact, he does not know of my visits.
We cannot be too cautious in these
matters"
Pedantic ass" muttered my uncle;
"but suppose we had better give him
his own way. If you meet Parker and
l here at seven tonight, we shall have
this wonderful desk opened, and your
discoveries shall he made"
They met again that evening. The
desk was opened by Parker, and a bun
dis of letters. carefully packed up, all
from Elinor Beaumont, and quantity
of circulars, play bills, and shop re-
ceipts were handed to the expert.
That gentleman read through the
letters, and seemed much struck by
the last.
"Read that" said he, handing it
my uncle. AS the letter is important,
give it entire:
"120 FLEET STREET, Sept. 2I, 1903.
"MY DEAR CHARLEs.-Although we
had an adverse wind all the way, we
made without difficulty the port we
were pouuu loT. My uuho, III opiIo VI
the weight of her fifty years, enjoyed
the trip much, and is ready to sail
again. 1 hope you will think of send
ing the line you promised on the 25th,
and come yourself, as our party is now
4 much smaller, and we should enjoy the
visit.
"When 1 was in London last week
/ saw our cousin Harry. fresh from
Windsor. There is little change to be
observed in him--not as much as you
would expect Come to us ON Friday,
Yours, very affectionately,
"ELINoR B."
My uncle read this out loud, from
beginning to end, and then he said
Do you see anything suspicious in
that? 1t seems to me very innocent"
"Hum! 1t may be. Was there any
thing else in the desk?" said he, ad-
dressing Parker.
You may go and look" growled
that potentate and he led the way, the
expert following.
The desk was quite empty, with the
exception of two Oh three scraps of
waste paper. On one of these the ex.
| pClU anu Will I'LL III
of citation to the other room. He then
unfolded this scrap of paper, and dis.
closed half sheet exactly the size OF
the paper on which Elinor Beaumont's
letters were written, in which oblong
holes at intervals had been cut.
He then placed this half sheet over
the letter and handed both, thus placed,
to my uncle, whose astonished eyes
read the following words, which the
holes left visible:
Effect wind bound. Fifty sail of the
line, % smaller. Should the wind
change, expect us on Friday"
"The devil !" said my uncle; "and
Nelson ordered off to the West Indies"
Then was there, as you may. sup
pose, hurrying and scurrying, and rum
ming and chasing, and despatching of
government couriers, and semaphore
telegraphs, and carrier pigeons, and
all the old world means of communica-
ton then in fashion. The key. thus
obtained, disclosed the whole cores.
pondence, which turned out to be a
connected series of letters from the
French government, smuggled into
Jersey. The result history knows the
intended invasion was abandoned, and
Napoleon went elsewhere.
"But what put you on the scent "
asked my uncle afterwards, with many
apologies to the expert.
IT suspected the trick from the first,
although it was q very good specimen
OF it. 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
dots or marks which bunglers use to
guide them in writing the words which
are to be read were entirely absent.
The way in which the deception is eff
fected is this: The correspondents,
before commencing, take 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 writ
ten, the writer so arranges the words
that those intended to be read shall APP
pear in the holes when the half sheet is
placed over the paper, which is of the
same size. When his correspondent
receives the letter, he places his half
sheet over it, and reads off the words,
as you did. The difficulty which was
so well conquered in this case, is to
make the sense run fuently, and to
prevent any visible break in the writ
ing. Without the half-sheet with the
holes in it no one can have the slight
est clue to the real meaning.
my suspicious, once aroused, were
confirmed by the inquiries which I
made. The whole story about the sis
ter was fabrication. The letter did
come from Jersey, the answers went to
Fleet street. in the charge of very no.
torious foreign agents. But if our
friend had not been fool enough to
leave his half-sheet in his desk, we
might have CROPPED in vain for the mys.
terry"
Beaumont disappeared that night,
and was never heard of again at the
Admiralty. It transpired afterwards
that some accomplice 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