New Britain herald., 1918-10-03
REVELATIONS OF A WIFE
The Amazing Story Madge's Father
 Told Lillian and Her

The Amazing Story Madge's Father Told Lillian and Her I turned cold with fright as my father revealed the secret of the paper I had guarded so long. To think that soon everything tangible concerning this great invention would be destroyed and its existence and its possibilities of ending the great war would be ab- solutely at the mercy of my trained memory.
 Suppose I should forget one tiny group of figures or transpose them! I hastily ran over the figures mentally, found that I was transposing them, al- 1 though knowing subconsciously their real positions. I stopped panic stricken.
 But only for moment I put an iron hand upon my will power, mar i shalled my common sense and poise. ] My memory never had failed me. If kept my balance, didn't allow myself l to be swayed by emotion or fear, there was no reason why it ever should. 1 And here was an opportunity to serve 1, my country such as no woman ever l had before. I glowed with pride and I thankfulness at the thought. I looked up to find my fathers eyes | fixed on me proudly, tenderly. The 1 look in them gave me the courage to ask the questions which were hover 1 ing upon my tongue and in Lillian's 1 brain
 l How did you ever get hold of this, 1 father?" I asked. T suppose your l possession of this was the reason for l your awful experiences down in South l America ?''
 "Yes it was" he returned gravely, ''and it was the death of the brave l man whose great brain conceived this | invention.'
 \ Secret Name. He stopped for a moment, passed 1 his hand wearily over his forehead, as if trying to brush off the awful memories behind him.
 He was one of the greatest scien- lists in the world" he went on, "and today he is supposed to be in his secluded laboratory working. The government will not allow the news of his death to be given out and the ones who were responsible for his murder, or course, will not dare to betray their knowledge"
 He paused a moment, then pro- | nounced solemnly, as if in requiem, a name at which we gasped in amazed l horror, so eminent it was, so great our 1 shocked surprise that he was no longer among the living. Only yester- 1 day l had read an accOunt-carefully l gotten up to mislead, I saw now-tell- ] ing of the great mans seCluSiOn in his l home laboratory, wrestling from earth, | air and water their secrets of power.
 Reckless of Himself"
 "He had been on the track of this
 discovery a long time,' my father
 went on. "I had the great good for
 tune to be of use to him once, and
 knowing that I had travelled exten- i sively in South America he sent for 1 me several months before 1 went to
 that country this last time, and ques- tiOned me minutely about the climate
 and soil and mineral deposits of the l different countries down there. Then he told me that he must go there, be-
 cause only in the conditions prevail
 ing there could he hope to perfect his
 invention.
 "He knew as well as l the dangers
 of such an expedition. A man like
 him is always surrounded by enemy
 spies ready to steal his brain children
 as fast as they are born. But he al-
 ways underrated the cunning and re-
 sources of his opponents had a lofty
 contempt for their intelligence. And
 this was fatal to him at last.
 "He was reckless of himself to a
 degree. He took no precautions for
 himself but infinite ones for the
 guarding of his secret. His expert
 mentS were carried on in widely differ
 ent places, and only his own brain
 could have co-ordinated the different
 part into one harmonious whole.
 "He is a man who never played.
 His work was his life. But if he had
 a hobby it was the invention and
 solving of ingenious ciphers. This was
 the reason for his great friendship for
 Allen Drake, who is par example the greatest cipher expert in the world
 today"
 I opened my eyes wide at this. l had thought MT. Drake a keen, clever,
 rather unpleasantly supercilious man,
 but had had no suspicion that he was a world figure. I revere top-notch l achievements in any line, and 1 revised
 my mental estimate of Allen Drake on ! the spot
 Drake and he put. their heads to- i gether," my father went on, "and
 evolved cipher that they believed i would stand any attempt of an out [ sder to unravel. It was so elaborate, so difficult, that pages of arithmetical 1 computations were necessary for the l evolving of one character from the key ] code. Drake kept the computations 1 and each of four men, the scientist Drake and myself and one other most 1 august parsonage whose identity you
 may readily guess, had a copy of the original cipher in which the formula 1 of the invention was to be written. 1 Thus fortified, the scientist went to ] South America, and l followed him ! later-but not in time to save him.
 He was dying of slow poison when I
 cbed hin, ''