The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1916-04-07
A Cryptogram
By F. A. MICHEL

1t is said that ..all's fair in love and
war;. Whether or not the adage Is
true, this story is an illustration Of 1t.
fmogene Blair. a comely lassie Of
eighteen and the idol of her parents.
must needs be debating whether she
should accept Frank ~shackelford as
husband. The only reason why she
hesitated was because Frank was
worthless except for n p~urpose-that
was to lead c%otillions. When 1mogene
saw him marshaling the dancers, his
breast covered with favors and look
ing for all the world like a much dec
Grated generalissimo, she admired him
Immensely, and when he stood in the
middle of the ballroom and gave his
orders by clapping his hands she
thought him a god.
Imogene, Notwithstanding her par
ents' serious objections, accepted Mr..
Shackelford, and there was before her
the honor of being the wife of a prom
inent society man and cotillion leader.
Her father, a hard headed man, who
had made a fortune Dy practical at
tention to business, was much disgrun-
tied by his daughters choice. His
chief clerk, John Stebbins, had been
attentive to Im0gene, and Mr.. Blair
had hoped she would marry him. John
was Mr.. Blair's financial man and as
steady as a church. But it was not to
be expected that a nan who did not
even dance could compete with a terp-
sichorean captain-general with his
breast plastered owe with decorations.
John knew that he was the favorite
Of the parents of the girl he loved. but
disdained to avail himself Of this adj
vantage. One day Mrs. Blair came to
him after her daughters engagement
and showed him a piece of paper on
which was written 20. L. 6. r. 9. l..
IT," and asked him his opinion as to
what 1t all meant. John suspected what
it was, but he was considerable Of a
wag, a great favorite with the lady
who showed it to him, and, withal.
quite apt at invention. After studying
it awhile he said:
II think it's q love message. The
first two letters, o. L.. probably stand
for o, Laura. l. Is the ninth letter In
the alphabet So we have o, Laura, l.
The meaning Of the next letter. R..
we must fill in after we have finished.
u. is the twenty-frst letter Of the al
phabet, or you. The whole may
read, o., Laura, l - you Quite
likely the letter r. is the initial letter
for the word love in some other lam
guage than English"
Blair, and without stopping to give the
young man a chance to confess that
| he was chatting her she whisked out
of the room.
Now, when Shackelford had visited
Imogene n evening he had taken q
bunch of letters from his pocket in or
der to read one Of them to her and a
bit Of paper had slipped from among
them and fallen on the floor. slanting
as it fell. so that it lay under the sofa
on which the couple were sitting. A
maid had picked it up the next morn
ing and handed it to the young lady.
The most easily excited emotion in
the breast Of a young lover is jealousy.
1mogene felt sure that her fiance had
dropped the paper on which the
letters and figures given above. and
these she feared was a cipher message
to a rival. She showed them to her
mother, who found it convenient to
agree with her. Mrs. Blair promised
to decipher the c%ryptogram and called
in John Stebbins to help her. Whether
or no she believed his flimsy interpre-
tation to be correct, she certainly pre-
ferred to consider II; so. Taking the
paper back to her daughter she gave
the meaning John had putsuponsit.
'lmogene was much affected. She
told her mother that she would charge
her fiance with being in clandestine
correspondence with another girl and
If he did not make a satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION she would break her en-
gagement. Mrs. Blair told her that
S~hackelford would doubtless trump up
an explanation and begged Imogene
to act without consulting him. After
a long struggle, in which the mother
strove to convince the daughter that
shackelford wanted her only for the
wealth she would inherit, 1mogene
was prevailed upon and wrote him q
note breaking with him without with.
out giving any reason.
So thin was the evidence on which
this conspiracy was based that Mrs.
Blair took advantage Of the sea
son. February. to whisk her daughte,
OF to Florida and kept her there till
the hot weather drove them home. On
their return they found Shackelt0rd
engaged to a girl whose FIRST name
happened to be Laura. with a fortune
In her own right.