The Rathdrum tribune. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1903-1963, 1916-04-28
A Cryptogran
BY F. A. Mitchell

1t Is said that "alps fair In love and
war" Whether or not the adage is
true this story Is an illustration Of It.
Imogene 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 abe
hesitated was because Frank was
worthless except for one purpose-that
was to lead cotllions. When Imogene
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 clnpping 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 prom
inent society man and cotillion leader
Her father, a hard headed man, who
had made a fortune by practical at
tention to business, was much disgrun-
tied by his daughters choice. His
chief clerk, John Stebbins, had been
attentive to Imogene, and Mr.. Blair
had hoped she would marry him. John
was Mr.. Blair's financial man and as
steady as church. But 1t was not to
be expected that man who did not
even dance could compete with a terp-
sichorean captain-general with his
breast plastered over with decorations.
John knew that he was the favorite
of the parents of the girl he loved, but
disdained to avail himself Of this ad-
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. 8. L.
IL" and asked him his opinion as to
what 1t all meant. John suspected what
1t was. but he was considerable Of a
wag, great favorite with the lady
who showed 1t to him, and, withal,
quite apt at invention. After studying
1t awhile he said:
Il think it's 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, 1.
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, %, Laura, l - you Quite
likely the letter r. is the initial letter
for the word love in some other lam
guage than English"
Just what thought" said Mrs.
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 one evening he had taken a
bunch of letters from his pocket In or
der to read one of them to her and q
bit of paper had slipped from among
them and fallen on the floor, slanting
as 1t fell. so that 1t lay under the sofa !
on which the couple were sitting. A
maid had picked 1t up the next morn
Ing and handed 1t to the young lady.
The most easily excited emotion In I
the breast of young lover is jealousy.
lmogene felt sure that her fiance had |
dropped the paper on which were the /
letters and figures given above, and !
these she feared was a cipher message |
10 rival She showed them to her
mother. who found 1t convenient to |
agree with her. Mrs. Blair promised :
to decipher the cryptogram and called
N John SteDbins to help her. Whether
Or no she believed his dimsy interpre-
lation to be correct, she certainly pre-
rerred to consider it so. Taking the !
paper back to her daughter she gave
he meaning John had put upon it.
lmogene was much affected. She
old her mother that she would charge
Ter lance with being in clandestine
with another girl ana
he did not make a satisfactory ex-
'lanation she would break her en-
'agement. Mrs. Blair told her THAT
'haekelford would doubtless trump IND
IN explanation and begged Imogene
0 act without consulting him. After
long struggle, In which the mother
trove to convince the daughter that
'hackelford wanted her only for the
wealth she would inherit. Imogene
vas prevailed upon and wrote him a
'ote breaking with him without with
ut giving any reason.
So thin was the evidence on which
his conspiracy was based that Mrs.
'lair took advantage of the sea- L
on, February. to whisk her daughter
II to Florida and kept her there till
he hot weather drove them home. On
heir return they found Shackelford
ngaged to a girl whose first name
appened to be Laura. with a fortune
a her own right.
This was conclusive proof to limo.
enc that the paper she had discovered
ias cipher love letter. Partly to
how the recreant Shackelford that 1
he did not love him and partly from t
he dawn Of common sense within her I
he accepted John Stebbins.
Some time after their marriage John ?
Vltted his wife as to her affair with G
hackelford. She produced the cryp- a
'gram. John looked at 1t curiously. :
that he had ever seen It be- ,
,re.
What Is it?' asked his wife.
THE combination Of a safe lock-"
ANT