"I was still sure that the numbers meant something more than the mere combination to an old strong-box that held nothing of any pecuniary value. The real secret lay between the covers of that leather-bound book, and I was certain that the old man had been desirous that I should discover it. The Thanefords and the Hildebrands had not been friends for a long while, although n.o.body knew just why. Probably, it was some ancient grudge Or unforgiven wrong, and old Mr. Thaneford had done his part in keeping it up. But now that he was sick and paralyzed and dying, and especially since he and I had become friends of a sort, he was willing to bury the hatchet. So he told all he could--you remember that he couldn"t speak--and he seemed to feel satisfied that I would find the hint sufficient, that I would be clever enough to solve the puzzle.
"And surely it was a puzzle. My best guess had come a flivver, and I didn"t see how I could go a step further. Perhaps it was silly to attach so much importance to what the old man had tried to tell me, but I had an intuition that our future happiness and safety were bound up in those crumbling leather covers.
"Time went on, and the solution was as far off as ever; at least apparently. Little Hugh and I had come to Irvington for the winter; it was close to Christmas, and I had the blues terribly. Just to think of Christmas and that abyss lying between us! For I knew that you would not come unless I called, and I could not send for you quite yet. Suppose that the discovery of the secret should be close at hand; I might need Chalmers to help out on some difficult scientific point.
"It is always the little things that show the way out. Hilda"s weekly letter had come, and I was reading it eagerly hoping to find some mention of you. Now Hilda, poor dear! is an awful speller; she never could learn to visualize words. As I read along I came on a word which looked odd; then I saw that she had committed the careless stenographer"s error of spelling "forty" with an u, thus: "fourty." Of course, the p.r.o.nunciation is the same in either case--and then it was that I got my _big_ idea. Was it possible that the phonetic sounds in my series of numbers might fit words of entirely different meaning than their ordinary equivalents in letters? Let me try.
"1-4-2-4-8. Why, yes, 1 is "one" and also "won"; 4 is "four" and also "for"; 2 is "two" and also "too"--quick! let me get them all down. And here was the result: Won--for--too--for--ate. You see that, in every instance, the phonetic sound of the number can be represented exactly by a word of entirely different meaning. But this peculiar quality in the series, 1-4-2-4-8, would not be apparent at a casual glance, and the figures could even be written down for future reference, or sent to a distant correspondent, without any probability of that inner significance becoming revealed. Very clever of Fielding Thaneford--that is if my deductions were really correct!
"The first step was to set down the new key-sentence with the cypher writing underneath. Here it is; this time using fifteen letters."
W O N F O R T O O F O R A T E Q W O T T U I J X I S V A Z P
"Applying the decoding rule I got the following in my first six tries:"
T H A N E C
"You can imagine how excited I was. If my theory were correct the next four letters should be OURT, completing the word "Thane Court," Eureka!
it is coming! It is coming! I got both the O and the U.
"From the height of exultation to the depths of despair. For instead of R in the ninth place, I had to set down an I; and then, in succession: CDD-FKL. Perfectly impossible! Look at it: THANECOUICDD-FKL, etc.
"And yet the cypher had certainly started to uncode; what could have thrown me off the track? For I had succeeded in getting "Thanecou," and that unusual combination was significant in the highest degree. What word could it be but "Thane Court," the ancestral home of the Thanefords? Why the chances were a million to one against my reaching such a series for--for----"
"Fortuitously," I prompted.
"Yes, that"s it; something like the "fortuitous concourse of atoms" that the philosophers talk about. I remember the phrase from my school days.
"And yet the mix-up came to spoil everything. For what could any sensible person make of THANECOUICDD-FKL?
"I tried carrying on the series until my brain was positively dizzy, but I got nothing except incomprehensible rubbish. And yet I knew that I had found a real clue; how in the world had I lost it again? I used to work until I actually went fast to sleep at my desk, but nothing came of it.
It was enough to drive one mad.
"The middle of May I went up to Stockbridge, and of course I carried my troubles with me. Wherever I looked I seemed to see that tantalizing key-sentence: Won--for--too--for--ate; it was as bad as the squaring of the circle. Just some little, insignificant error was keeping me from the solving of the puzzle, but for the life of me I couldn"t put my finger on it. Honestly now, Hugh, do you think you would have been clever enough to have figured it out?"
I checked up Betty"s "layout" and went over the decoding process with meticulous care. I got precisely the same result: THANECOU--and then chaos.
"It beats me," I confessed. "It"s enough to make one dotty."
"I dare say that is what Aunt Alice Crew thought of me in her heart of hearts," laughed Betty, "although she was too polite to say so. And, really, it was getting on my nerves. I couldn"t eat, and a _nuit blanche_ was no uncommon thing with me. I couldn"t get it out of my head, you understand, that the solving of the problem must be of immense importance. There _was_ a mystery at the "Hundred," and so long as it remained a mystery there could be no enduring peace or happiness for us.
If you had been willing to sell the "Hundred" there might have been some chance of escaping the curse; hadn"t poor Eunice said as much in that weird statement which she left behind her. But you would not consider the suggestion even."
"I suppose I was pig-headed and altogether in the wrong," I admitted humbly. "But it all seemed so fantastic and incredible--here in the twentieth century."
"Granting that the mystery had continued unsolved," said Betty, looking me straight in the eye. "What then?"
"But you have given me to understand----" I began.
"Never mind that," interrupted my wife. "Even now you don"t know the secret, and I might find it inadvisable to tell you. Admitting the possibility that the ghost has not been truly laid, would you still insist upon remaining master of "Hildebrand Hundred"?"
A vision of those strong, cruel hands, with their black-tufted knuckles, rose before me, and I shuddered.
"Or would you be willing that Little Hugh should enter upon his inheritance with this cloud hanging over it?"
"No, I wouldn"t," I said soberly. "To be honest, I hadn"t thought of it in that light."
"You see a woman has to consider all these things," rejoined Betty. "But you have been very patient, Hugh, and the winding up of my yarn won"t take long. The crisis begins with Chalmers" coming to Stockbridge."
"For me, that was the denouement, the end of all things," I said shamefacedly, and Warriner roared.
"You see, I never suspected even that I was cast for the role of breaker up of homes," he remarked meditatively. "Betty and I were good friends, of course, but once you appeared on the sky line I was reduced to playing gooseberry. Besides, there never had been anyone else than Hilda for me."
"I"m only trying to explain my conduct," I retorted. "I"m well aware that nothing can excuse it. Shoot, Betty."
"Of course, Chalmers was coming to Stockbridge," went on Betty, "for the simple reason that Hilda was visiting me. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to his arrival, because he had promised to dig up certain data for me.
"You remember the list of Hildebrand tragedies as given by Eunice; how Yardley Hildebrand had succeeded his father, Oliver, in 1860, and had died the following year; then how his younger brother, Randall, had become master of the "Hundred," and had only lived a twelvemonth; and so on.
"Well, I thought it might be useful to ascertain all these dates exactly, and, in order to do that, it would be necessary to take transcripts from the parish register at S. Saviour"s. I wrote to Chalmers, and asked him to look up this information and bring it with him when he came to Stockbridge. Not only did he do this, but he took the trouble to type out the complete record, so that all the facts in the case might lie under the eye. I"ll read it."
Betty pulled out a folded sheet of paper from the portfolio lying in her lap and began:
Yardley Hildebrand, b. March 5, 1806; succeeded his father, Oliver, 1860; d. June 20, 1861.
Randall Hildebrand, b. May 11, 1809; succeeded his brother, Yardley, 1861; d. June 22, 1862.
Horace Hildebrand, elder son of Randall, b. December 4, 1830; succeeded his father, 1862; d. June 22, 1865.
Richard Hildebrand, younger son of Randall, b. June 1, 1835; succeeded his elder brother, 1865; d. June 20, 1918.
Francis Hildebrand Graeme, great-nephew to Richard, b. April 13, 1874; succeeded his great-uncle, 1918; d. June 21, 1919.
Eunice Trevor, b. September 2, 1892; d. June 20, 1920.
"And now we may add a final entry," continued Betty: "John Thaneford, nephew to Richard, b. July 16, 1892; d. June 22, 1922."
Betty handed me over the list. "Do you notice anything peculiar about those dates?" she asked.
I read the paper through, and then again. "You have already pointed out," I began hesitatingly, "that the tenure of "Hildebrand Hundred" was for the comparatively brief period of one to three years. Except for Richard, who held the property for over fifty."
"I don"t mean that. Examine the actual dates."
I scanned the record with still greater attention. "Ah!" I exclaimed, "here _is_ something strange. Everyone of these men, and Eunice, too, died in June; yes, and on a day of the month that varied between the twentieth and the twenty-second. Is that what you had in mind?"
"Yes, and it seemed to indicate clearly that those particular three days, the twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second of June----"
"In astronomical parlance, the summer solstice," interrupted Warriner.
"----was the danger period."