The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1922-12-23

Z lEIcct. X lc'lIiN WIS.
Th.. Tuner room WAS hive OF
industry. Cpor the operating oonSh
waS a "SIphun rccOrder"-a delicate
! :rs;rumru, which wis actually writ
! INK. 10y means OF kind 0i FOUNTAIN
! pen. upun the paper tape the dots
and dasncs sent automatically at 4
sp,ed Of one hundred words a mill
! ute. The pen never left the paper
| but rose up and down. making snort
! or long strokes III violet ink on the
upper side ri the paper. ana was one
OF the latest macrsls OF delicate
! wireless Instruments.
GeUfrey glanced at II casually. IL
! clicked on continuously night ana
day in response to the automatic
hand Of the tranSmitter III farls
tapping his key.
The Frenchmcn are keeping us
very busy" Graham remarked
Look! We're overwhelmed, but up
at the tcnchurch Street office 1t
must be worse"
Georfrey nodded. For some sec
onds Ire watched the recorder at
work. and then presently he ana
! Graham sat down 1T the receiving
set and began Ia discuss where an
Improvement would possibly be
made. They were seated close TO
the recorder" when presently.
through mere force Of habit. Geoff-
rev. even while chatting with Graham,
found himself reading the incoming
messages. suddenly there became
recorded on the tape in that curious
crooked writing the words. Mar
Suertte Claudet."
Claudet? In moment he recol-
lected that it was the name OF the
wealthy widow 70 whom sylvia had
introduced him in Dinard. He took
the tape, and reading back. founI
that the message. which had beei'
dispatched from Paris half an hour
before, was addressed to n person
named M:ldmay, apparently llVlns u"
chambers in Ryder street, London
and that il was in code-a )umole
Of figures and letters.
|. At first. the origin OF the message
being Paris, Godfrey merely snhleo
within himself at the similarity OF
tbs name. and recoltected the seal
of secrecy regarding all messages
Rut n few moments later. he recoi-
,ec,ed that Mrs. Beverley had al
dressed her friend as dear MarSo''
FOR aught he knew the lady was
motoring with Mrs. Beverley on their
rim m the ancient ChateauX on tho
Loire.
Before leaving Dinard. Sylvia had
riyen him the Hotel de / uniVers, ~
Tours as their central address while
IN rouraine. At that tlmo Madame
CIoudet, though invited to join the
motoring party. had not decided
wb.ther TO accept. In Faconers
presence she had declared that sne
would be compelled to so to faris
N see her bankers upon some mat
ter OF business from -outh America
The message to Mildmay was evil
IDENTIFY a private prearranged jumbo
OF figures and letters. the whole per
haps meaning but one word. yes
or no" such codes are by far the
most difficult 10 decipher.
Next day, SO interested did he BE-
COME in the message through space,
which had, Of course. been delivered
~ the addressee, that he photographed
to Sylvia at Tours asking whether
Madam. Claudet was with them. but
begging that she should not be toio
OF his inquiry.
The reply came in due course.
Madame Claudet had been on bust
ness 10 Paris. and had just rejoined
them at Tours. Naturally. Sylvia
asked the reason o. his inquiry. to
which he replied by wire that he
would tell her when next they met
He had, however, established the
feet that the rich widow had been
in Paris, and IT certainly seemed as
il the message he had noticed upon
the green recording tape was really
from her.
Alone with his private wireless set
at one o'clock one morning few
DAYS later, the puzzle OF that curious
cipher message from the widow OBJ
sessed him. He wore the louvre
sistance telephones over his ears,
and was listening to Poldhu sending
out the days news to ships at sea.
II was better than reading the eve
ming papers, for here one had news
in tabloid form, the news which was
printed next morning upon all the
transatlantic liners.
by Jove, / will" he exclaimed
abound to himself. after listening to
declaration made by Mr.. Lloyd
George to NJ. BRAND, and reported
bv the Paris Matin. He removed
the head-phones, and then muttered
to himself:
II wonder who this man Midway
can be? III find out 1t will be
interestingly nothing else. Some
how-why, don't know took an
instructive dislike to Madame Clau-
Diet. Yet there was really no reason
for 1t as far as could see. and she
appeared to be quite charming"
And he switched of. and retired
~ bed.
Two days later. having occasion
to 60 up to Marconi House, he
snatched an hour and went to Ryder
treet. As he anticipated. the place
WIS a set OF bachelors chambers.
The liftman became communicative
after a ten-shilllng note had been
pressed into his hand.
We'll. sir" he said in q low voice.
"the fact Is that don't know very
much about Mr.. Midway. Lord
Ramford let his rooms to him about
six months ago. and he seems to be
away quite n lot. forward his let
ters To Paris. Vienna. Rome. and