Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-09-26
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SECRET OF THE CIPHER.

"G~entlemen," said Bielski, when we
were alone. II think have something to
say that will surprise you. Heheld IN hrs
hand the little MEMORANDUM book, the
mysterious contents of which he had been
stndying while we had been engaged with
GregSon.
''Have YOU discovered the cipher? Does
it betray any thing ofthe fellows secretE
/ asked with eagerness.
Eyes sir; l hare found the elew TO the
climber. Do you know what it is? It's an
o~ld-fashioned system of short hand, with
some new authorizations and arbitrary
signs. You see / had to learn short hand
for my own purposes, so l know all about
it."
"Aud do you mean to say you know this
SYSTEM m
''Oh, dear no! Weare going q little too
fast, if yOu'n excuse me, SIR. 1t may take
weeks to unriddle this; for at the best oil
times it is not always easy to declpner
short hand. All the same, | hope we may
pick the lock in q shorter time than that.
/ have a friend in London who will help
me-"
"And this the surprising news you have
To tell US, Bielski?'' interjected Harding.
mo. sir, no. 1t is something more than
that. You gave me this book rs Flinter'S.
But | find that it is not his at all. 1t Is
written by Francis BranksOme, NJ. D.
Here's his name upon the first page he
pointed to some hierOglyphicS that to
Harding and myself were quite unntel-
ligible.
T'And have you read that already?"
Yes, that is quite easy to understand
1t is written in u system that know some
thing OF myself. What makes me most
suspicious about this book isthat the cipher
has been altered in many ways rs the
writer has gone on with his entries. 1t Is
tolerably clear and simple ut first, but 1t
becomes more difficult and complicated rs
we proceed. That shows that the man
was determined to hide from everybody
what he was writing. Why should DIR.
BranksOme be 80 anxious to do that?'
I'VE have heard something about DR..
BrankSome this morning which may per
haps throw light upon thatquestiOn," said
Harding.
From the young man outside there!
"'Yes;'' and then / related to the detec-
tive the strange story which had been told
by GregsOn.
BY Joye! gentlemen" he cried, slap
ping his thigh in his eXultatiOn this Is
really magnificent, What q case I'll have
when | yet that in hand! It'll mean atrip
To Australia for ME, though; and | don't
care so much about that"
But what light will it throw on Miss
Stanclife's case? How will it assist her?:'
'How will it assist her? l should say
nothing could assist her more. 1t Is the
very evidence we have been wanting to
weaken the motive for the murder. You
must hand this young man over to menOw,
gentlemen. | must get that story OF his
down in ship shape"
Bielski WAS quite excited over the pros
pect of the task, which he had apparently
already allotted TO himself, Of unrayellng
the whole mystery OF which GregsOn pro-
feSsed to have given US the outlines. For
nv part, | cared little or nothing about
that mystery in itself. All that l
wanted was evidence which would de-
liver my darling, not only frOma shameful
death, but from that stain Of criminality
which the verdict ofthe jury had cast upon
her. We had gone far, l felt, towards ar
irving ut the truth; but nothing short Of
the complete exOneratiOn of Daisy would
satisfy me, and that alas! was apparently
still remote.
When til detective had taken Gregson
off to his own hotel to c~rOss-examine him
at his leisure regarding the story he had
told us. Harding and | sat together dis
cuSsing all that had now come to light.
Our chief feeling-Or mine at any rate
was one o fwOnder mt the fact that DR..
BranksOme should be such d villain rs
GregSOn represented.
Never, surely, WAS there q man in this
world who looked less like a villain, who
bore himself less like one, who seemed to
all around him to be more completely
above suspicion. l recalled all my dealings
with him from that first day when we met
in the Grand hotel ut Scarborough, and |
could rot remember a single incident, a
look or a tone of the voice, that had been
calculated to awaken suspicion in my mind.
lie was always the Same-cOOl, selEpOs-
seSsed, gentlemanly, frank in manner, bril-.
liant in talk. He never played the part Of
Joseph Surface and assumed the functions
of q champion ~OfmOrality; but | remember
no one whom | had met in the course Of
my life who had made u deeper impression
on me, or who had more completely won
my confidence and regard. Even now l
could hardly bring myself to believe that
he was q yillain-much hess a villain Ofthe
cold, cruel, calculating type depicted by
GregSOn.
remember, however, that my hrstquar-
rel with him had arisen when he dropped
to ME a hint of his belief that Daisy was
guilty. 1t was only then that, in my over
towering love for her, l had broken
through the glamour which had hitherto
invested him. | believe that even now,
when | had heard GregSOn'S story, l shOuld
have rejected it with my whole heart if it
had not been for BrankSOme's desertiOn of
Daisy. That OffenSe l had never forgiven;
and the fact that he had been guilty of it
enabled me ut this moment, despite oil my
experience in my personal relations with
him, to accept the apparently incredible
story of his crime which / had received
from the lips Of GregSOn. ISaw, too, quite
clearly, the strong confirmation Of that
story, which was to be found in the fact
that he had acted Just rs GregSOn had pre-
dieted that he would act. In the event of
the sentence of the law being carried out
upon Daisy, he would step into undisputed
possession of Mauleyerer's millions. Yes;
l felt convinced, in spite of all my prepOs-
sessions, that had indeed been, rs Greg
son haddeclared, the veriest dupe through
out this business-but the dupe of a man
whose villainy wa such as to defy all or
binary Sagaeity.
BielSki, with his usual rapidity ofmOve-
men, darted of that very night to London,
hauling the unfortunate GregSon along
with him. 1t was on the following morn
ing that l had my second interview with
my darling.
1 found her more altered than / had an
ticipated. The strain upon her mind had
evidently been terrible during that week
which she had passed in the grim solitude
of the condemned cell, with nothing but q
shameful death staring her in the face.
How my heart overflOwed with love and
sympathy, when l saw her, pale and worn,
standing upright in the gloomy cell, await
ing me with a pathetic smile upon her
white lips! lt was long, before / could
murmur even the first words Of greeting.
And even then, when l had found my