New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-13

that give half the money to that vermin, Fitz-
say it shall be good win. take advice, 1; and
deman StS Yen pay all what shall be left to my son.
wait BIT, said 7. He has already received
his legacy Of q Thousand pounds
Bah! what shall be one thousand poundI He is
what you call residuary legatee of Miss Molloy.'
Il wish he were, with all my heart But we
must go to Chancery. There's nothing else to be
mo. He shall not go in chancery. He shall have
When You can read those contOunded letters
into Ferentz Steldl, I'll pay him every penny with
all my heart, and take the consequences; but not
Very good. Mr.; Lake Then I shall read them
into Ferentz steldl, and without magic; and then
yo9 shall pay. Now. Mr.. ,Withers if you please
I have not tho honor said Mr. Withers gbly,
TO be in the professionn your profession sir, that
Is to say say; We are a firm Of professional experts
collect and deal In the autograph letters of cele
brated historical persons. Naturally our business
has occasionally included the branch Of cryptor;;
ciphers, which, though requiring certain special
aptitude as well experience Is not so difficult
results as Arithmetic tseif~bcautfully certain SIR
Our friend Mr.. Steldl has applied to me for the
missing key of this little puzzle, and 1t took me
barely half an hours study to find
You mean you can read this tumble into sense
asked |. You must be clever follow, Mr.. Withers
How am l to know 1t isn't guess-works The cor
rectness OF your reading will have to be proved.
you see'
up to tho hit, sir. The beauty Of cipher. or
cryptograph is that, If you once hit on the right
key it can only mean just that ono thing-no
doubt, no ambiguity. And rs the discovery OF the
key is logical process, and as no cipher can pos
result VIZ
or rather, result and process prove one another,
Then must have your process, if you please >.
ITO be sure No patent ArySGay can b 10 m
ever road the "Gold Bug" of Edgar Allan Poe
No. That's pity, because shall have to explain
That storyVthe cipher he makes his hero discover
would have been found ont by child in half the
time And this cipher before us is Of precisely the
same kind-the very simplest form of cipher known
'WelP
"A person like Miss Molloy. presumably ignorant
of the beautiful science of cryptOgraphy would be
letter do duty for another Of course she has left
no spaces between her words. Now, you know
that the commonest English letter Use so that ten
resent O. That letter is d. 1t comes no fewer than
five timcs in the twenty-five. SO, ten to one,
stands for c. You perceiveP
AT any rate. follow 80 far
Very good, sir. Now look at the cipher well.
and keep it before your eyes. Wen assume Tor the
moment that d may mean Q; and If d means e. IT'S
on, and so on, taking the letter following. Let's
try that dOuge with III, because there's more than
one IN, and because which It ought 20 stand iorl
for d and n for III and dots Tor the other letters
get: ...e.ne..c.: ..en.."e..: Now Mr.; Lake the
question. as I understand it, Is; Did Miss Molloy
leave her money to Lucs Brdgita O'Blrn or to
Fcrentz Steldl : Assuming that one Of those e's
must fall into whore the name OF the lesatee must
single in the adv's name. 1t will also strike you
that the young gentleman is n nephew. and that
we've got already incoming, together. Let's
il we get sense that way. tn come like tins, put
ting for " for b, W for o: ..ee; .nephewen...e.
Now, what strikes you next. sir
Noth rbnfny Mr.
= NOT Pin surprised Doesn't it strike you that
en- comes in Ferentz; that the cipher and the name
Of Steldl both end in letter between par OF
letters-zxz: ldlf A most remarkable hint, in
deed for IL interferes with no former assumption
2 would mean /: < would mean d. Now look how
reads th eh n O UoT G in
there ought to be d to represent ane. In reality
there's j. But that's tritle doubtless clerical
Substituting letter for letter, and never mixing
them, here you are: my, dear nephew, ferchH
Steldl and there you are p
l was cert anly surprised ut the fellows inge-
unity. Except TOR that missing c. the process vas
without q flaw; and when we see logical and
fautless process ARRIVING At probable ss ii
had made q particular point OF spelling terentz,
an /. Look back at the draft OF the
win, and see. That was downright proof II any
counted RsGd for would be The Very Simple little
process had all the air Of miracle TO ME. knew
nothing then Of the far greater marvels wrought
In rougher and larger fields, or I
should, perhaps, have been less surprised.
. : 1t Is read Monsieur. ssd Steldl pere with bow
was little soIIy for Hiss Lncis; but didn't
grudge her cousin his GOOD luck. and was IN,
tenscly relieved. thin king Of the effect OF all
fled TRIUMPH Mr.. Withers regarding his success1
with artistic PRIDE when my clerk brought IN card
Major Fitzgerald U BIN.
/ thought best to have everything ont and over
then and there; 30, without considering the pres
ence Of his brother-n-law and enemy, had MIN
ushered In.
.. GOoddee to ye. Mr. Lake said be- ,., without Innn
for his part, threw double dose OF benignity into
his smile. i suppose we've been wondherin why
didn't go in for pIovin' poor Mise Bddy non compos
wake in the top ye know. AS il I'd consent to 90
halves with dIrthy, name, intriguing Daste OF
fellow that she'd cut oil with shilling with her
own handi All or nOne-thsts the war-cry OF the
OBrnsl SO Two just dropped in, on my wee. to
ask ye tor that twenty five thousand that's due TO
Lucis. my dnughtherj and IN Ia ke it hot with
YOUR pocket. thre on account II do for to-dee.'
I'm sorry for Miss OBrn,' SAID i. 'But-shos
had her thousand pounds
'---her thousand pounds! Wouldn't give SIX
peDso for beggarly thousand pounds. us an
insult to spake to gentleman of such sum-,
Her thousand pounds. and-ln a tEana It us
longer any doubt Of Miss Molloys intentions.
Lieutenant Steldl il resduary lcgatee!
AN who's Mr.. Withersf IL 1t In q conspiracy s
Ct gpx sthands for Lacs O'Blrn What do ye see to
that, sir, chr $50
I'm afraid it doesn't said /.
You're pretty fellow for a lawyer Bnt sup
poso yen have TO believe what's proved. higgins,
we're wanted shouted he.
lie. too. it seemed. had brought friend with hlm
"a little pinched, shabby, elderly man, with rec
squirting eyes. .,
'Tll INTRODUCE ye to me friend Higgins,a gontle-
man and a scholar thatll rado ye of Hebrew INTO
Chinese for O glass of punch. an back into hebrew
Tor two. Faith. I'd like yc to find question that
higgins wouldn't answer ye ofi-hand. -, says, to
him: Higgins, what does gpx spell ~ An says
he: Just lucls OBirn."'
A smile Of amused contempt came into the face
of smart Mr.. Withers.
An expert = asked he.
AN pray who may you be. sirf asked Major
O,Birn. Dye mane to tell mo yo haven't heard OF
ought to be docther OF divinity anu
me mber of Parlimint and could see We undher the
feeble whenever We plasei I" Having thus annihl-