The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-12-29
Getting at
A Secret
BY DWIGHT NORWOOD

SuuuS. Uut Occupleu rOOmS In the same
bachelor apartment house. Jim was
secretive chap and especially fond of
making a mystery of what was an
ordinary happening. poked fun at
him for doing so. but this seemed to
have no effect in stopping him from
continually trying to impress me with
his ability to do things without my
having any knowledge of them. Then
when, the denouement came he would
assume an mir of superiority as much
as to say, II don't go about blabbing
of my affairs"
There came time when I believed
that Jim had an affair on hand with a
girl The reason why came to this
conclusion was that he began to show
contempt for women. "The best
thing fellow can do with q GIRL" he
would say, ''is to let her alone. BY
doing so he avoids the expense Of the
ater tickets and flowers, only to find
out later that she's encouraging some
other fellow" l was not interested in
Jim's love affairs. but saw no reason
why be should take pains to deceive
me In the matter. However, 1t did
not trouble me that he thought proper
to do 90. was very fond Of him
and considered his idiosyncrasy Of NO
real importance. not doubling bat that
I had others myself just as absurd.
Jim and occupied common living
room. and one evening when we were
about to go out to dinner together Jim
picked up an envelope that had been
left by the postman during the day.
unsealed, and took ont booklet ad-
vertising some kind Of goods. l mo-
ticed him looking at II, or some part
Of 1t, with apparent interest; then he
tossed 1t in the wastebasket.
The next morning I happened to 80
to that same wastebasket to recover q
bit Of paper had thrown in 1t con-
tanning an address. stumbled on the
envelope containing the advertisement
and noticed that It was addressed In q
feminine hand. l thought nothing Of
this. since girls are usually employed
to address advertising matter. and was
hunting on for my paper when raked
up the advertisement. 1t gave a list
of articles that would alone interest
woman. This set me to thinking why
It should have been addressed to q
man. While meditating on this I no
ticed some lead pencil marks on the
booklet. They were 8. 18. IT,
Now, had 1t not been for what I
have said about Jim and his mysteries
1t would not have occurred to me that
these figures were not merely some
thing put there by some unknown per-
son for some very ordinary purpose,
but intended for a cipher. First, ad-
vertisements Of especial interest to wo-
men are not usually mailed to men.
This suggested that the booklet had
been received by woman and had
been used for cipher purposes by the
recipient What better method for COM
munication could there be? Whether
the figures had a meaning or not, re.
solved that If ever got girl whose
parents would not permit me to visit
her would use this plan of communi-
cation.
tried hard not to pry into Jims af-
fairs. but the puzzle was too fascinat-
ing for me to let alone. Besides, there
was the temptation to beat lin at his
own game. What 8. 16. IN meant
haunted me till hit upon the fact that
the present month was August. the
eighth month in the year. The present
day was the 18th. Did not the fg-
ures contain an appointment? II SO, it
was for Aug. 10 at half past I (proba-
bly, in the evening".
could not quite bring myself to
shadow my friend on that evening, but
during the next month or SO noticed
that he received number of adver-
tisements On which there were lead
pencil marks. did not try to de-
cipher any Of them. Indeed, had not
tried to decipher the first
one. | had come upon 1t by accident
1t had got into my head and couldn't
get 1t out till had solved II. What l
did was to buy wedding present and
leave 1t where Jim could see it. He was
above asking me what It was for. SO l
told him that 1t was for friend who
was about to be married, adding that
! could not name the person since the
engagement was secret
The reason why counted on Jims
coming marriage was that 1t is difficult
if not impossible for two men to live
together one of whom is engaged with
out the other knowing It.
Jim never told me of his engagement
till couple Of weeks before the we'd
ding. There had been no reason what
ever for the secrecy attending the at
fair except such as influences young
couples in similar cases and Jim's lido
syncrasy. The girls parents were
much pleased with the match, and
Jim's parents were not living. Jim
probably would have kept the secret
from me longer. but he wished me to
be his best man, aud 1t was proper
that he should give me timely uotice.-
The evening before the wedding !
carried the wedding gift had pro-
cured to the BRIDES home. Jim was
there, and when opened the box In
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