Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-01
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We entered the post office together, LIE
Grand prepared to write telegram: AS
own special pencitthe gift Of some mon
arch--I noticed the end of blue official
envelope sticking out of an inside breast
pocket. and could not help wondering
whether it contained the draft of the
| treaty.
When he had finished writing his tele-
i gram. he came up to me flourishing 1t in
| his hand.
ut is in one way lucky" he said. that
We correspondents have absolutely no news
to send, for the censorship is very strict.
Nc cipher kilograms are allowed to be sent
during the sitting of the congress, and the
ordinary kilograms are detained, or sup
pressed, or mutilated, as it suits the au-
thorities. l have no doubt, too, that the
letters. However, IL you have no news to
communicate it makes no difference. They
can hardly object to telegram like this
can they?"
read. 1t was very short and was addressed
to the office of his paper in London:
Cannot obtain much information. No
good waiting IN the hope tonight
L have a trained memory, and when
read this telegram / took care to fix 1t in
delibly in my mind. Then l returned it
to LIE Grand. and he handed it to the clerk,
who accepted it without demur.
l had hoped that might now get lit
tie private conversation with the great
man, but I was disappointed, for the mo-
mont we got outside he made his adieux.
and, hailing droschky, was driven back
to his hotel There was nothing for me to
do eut to return to mire; but, meanwhile.
l took out my note book and wrote down
the telegram word for word. Two or three
, things had already struck me With respect
| to it. The first was that he had evidently
wished me to see it. This by itself was
| suspicious. as LIE Grand seldom did any
thing without an object. The second was
why should he telegraph at all If. he had
70 news to convey? The third was that
| transparent as the telegram seemed, there
| was still something a little suspicious in its
| length. Why not have simply telegraphed:
mo news?'
| Altogether I was satisfied that there was
some deception about this telegram, and l
| therefore proceeded to treat 1t as a cryptic
gram. Now the plan of such everyday
| cryptograms is not as a rule, very COM
p,icated. Unless as was the case with me,
! there is some ground of suspicion to start
with, a very simple cryptogram will eff
| feetually conceal the meaning CT the writer.
But. knowing what / did, had something
to work upon: and thus helped, l soon de-
ciphered LIE Grand's real meaning. AT
| least felt morally certain l had done so.
1 merely took tine initials of the words in
their order. and found that they made up
| this pregnant sentence:
Coming with IT,
"T'' of course stood for treaty.
This was not only piece of informat ton,
but just the piece of information that might
have been expected. For. If lie Grand had
really secured copy OF the treaty. ne
would, of course be most ANXIOUS to trans
nit t at once to London. But how? 1t was
| impossible to send it by telegraph. No
| cipher kilograms were allowed to pass, aud
any other, however ipgeuiously constructed,
! must needs Detray itself through the proper
names and countries, without which The
treaty would be mere nonsense. Nor did I
think it likely that LIE Grand would COM
NIT such n,omentous secret to the post,
knowing as he did the unscrupulousness of
| the black cabinet. There remained only one
| course Of action at once feasible and rru-
dent, and that was for lie Grand to convey
1t In person to London. As he would travel
by tie mall he would arrive just as soon
| as letter, and no doubt would enjoy the
ovation which he would assuradiy receive.
l looked at my watch. 1t was already :
o'clock. The through train started at =. i
told my valet to pack my yal:se and to put
in some official paper and envelopes. This
done. l drove to the station by myself. AS
yet there was no sign of lie Grand.
waited about on the platform in the hope
that he would make his appearance but
waited IN vain. AT last, at five minutes 70
8. it suddenly occurred to me to make a
thorough inspection of the train. 1t was
veil I did SO. for there, huddied up in the
ccr.-s Of q first-class compartment, with a