The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-06-16

Myra Trent off. Sinclair was there,
but upon his face was a smile of such
satisfaction as made Underby wonder
| if perhaps Sinclair had found his OPP
portunity, after all.
There was a stir as the train pulled
in, and under cover Of the confusion
Sinclair handed a package to Miss
Trent
Its the newest detective story" he
explained. 81 know that you like all
sorts of mystery stories. have taken
| the liberty of adding homemade puz-
zle in case you find the book too short.
Myra smiled appreciatively. She pre-
ferred cryptograms to chocolates, rid
dies to roses. She had won many mag
azine contests of this sort in her youth.
She found Sinclair's present more ac-
ceptable than Underby's violets, and
as soon as she had settled herself in
her Pullman section she unwrapped
| the book
AS she ran over the pages an envel-
ope dropped out. 1t contained a single
sheet of note paper, and in Sinclair's
copperplate handwriting was this note:
Kara Myra,-Eble ech kun helpo de
! tin-chi shlosilo, vi trovos iom da mall
| facileco kompreni la sencon de tin-chi
| senditajho, sed mi scias Ike vi shatas
| labori je enigmoj kay pro ito mi sendas
| al vi tuin chi letercton. Chi seiigos al vi
| ton kion vi ne permesas Ike mi sciiju al
| vi persone. Mi vim amas, karulino. kaJ
vi igos min la plej felicia viro en- la
monde per la unu vorto "Jes"
Myra smiled as she studied the odd
| tumble Of words Many of them looked
familiar. There was no mistaking
"enigmoj." Monde" was clearly the
world" and ''labori'' was labor"
Other words were of familiar aspect,
and then there were some that were
totally strange.
1t might be a combination Of the
''hog Latin" Of childhood days and the
real Latin Of the college course, but an
hours study showed many words not
to be accounted for on any such n.y.
| pothesis The more she studied the.
more firmly convinced was Myra that
this was some new form of cryptogram
Invented by Sinclair to divert her on
her two day trip.
OuC was sill obONAy AA6 eAO SA4R VI pc
per when the porter came around to
make up her berth, and in the troubled
sleep which broke the night journey
| strange combinations Of letters danced
before her eyes.
When she came back from breakfast
in the diner the next morning the por-
| ter approached with a small package.
| 90 cro,,ov,or, doYo fnIo mo 9TH Won f1iS
| here In de mo'nin'," he announced as
he handed the package to Myra. The
girls face frightened as she recognized
Sinclair's handwriting. This" evil
IDENTIFY contained the key. She would
not have to puzzle longer.
From the package dropped small
booklet with Esperanto Key" on the
cover page. Myra had heard of the
universal language" and had heard
also that it required but half an hour
to become familiar with the grammar
So, after all, her mystery was nothing
but letter in Esperanto and the un-
travelling would come In brief hour
She was half inclined to regret that the
mystery would solve itself so quickly
as she thought of the long days ride
before her.
But In this thought she was wrong,
for. although the key was accompanied
by a larger dictionary >and she found
the few rules absurdly simple, these
were but part Of the mystery.
The book laid stress upon accents as
essential to the understanding Of the
words, and Sinclair's letter was en-
tirely wanting in accents, nor could
she find some of his words in the die
tionary.
1t was not until late in the afternoon
that she stumbled upon the explana-
ton. "Shlosilo" she could not find,
but under the accented SIS she found
"slos," meaning a lock, and "ilo,' an
instrument, and decided that lock in
strument was a key. With this clew
as to the surplus his which replaced
the accents on preceding letters she
soon had the translation written out.
| 1t read:
Dear Myra-Perhaps even with the aid
of this key you will have some small diff
fculty in getting at the sense of this let
ter, but 1 know that you like to puzzle
over enigmas, and it Is for this reason
that l am sending you this note. 1t Is
to tell you what you will not let me tell
in person. love you. dear, and you will
make me the happiest man on earth with
the one word Yes
Myra allowed the paper to futter to
the floor as she stared out of the win
dow on the glory of the western sun
set toward which they were flying.
She was half pleased, half angry. at
the declaration. This was her first sea
son in society, and she was not mind
ed to give up her liberty SO soon, and
for that reason she had evaded Sin
clair's declarations. She did not wish
to say yes go soon, and she could
mot say him no.