The Mystery of the Sea

lat expanse of shore. The tide was now only half in, and ordinarily there would have been a great stretch of bare sand between the dunes and the sea. To-night, however, the piling up of the wate

ted from the direct violence of the storm, the shelter seemed like a calm from which we heard the roaring of wind and wave as from far off. There was a sense of cosiness in the shelter which made us instinctively draw close t

should come behind the sandhill. We went accordingly, and made a nest in a deep hollow behind the outer range of hillocks. Here crouched among the tall bent, which flew like whip lashe

ence. Throughout, she was moved at times, and now and again crept a little closer to me; as for instance when I told her of the dead child and of Lauchlane Macleod's terrible struggle for life in the race of the tide amongst the Skares. Her questions were quite illuminating to me at moments, for her quick woman's intuition grasped possibilities at which my mere logical fac

hat seemed of the quick, she straightened her back and squared her shoulders, and looking all round her alertly as though for some h

r eyes fixed in front of her as with one whose min

ones. Nay, more; he could, perhaps, see not only that you saw, and what you saw, but where the knowledge would lead you. That certainly is a grand idea of Gormala's, that of

he moved excitedly as she went on: "Why this is growing interesting beyond belief. If his dead eyes could for an instant become quick, why should not the change last longer? He might materialise altogether." She st

thought was a delight to me; and it was only aft

e able to help me in discovering the Mystery; perhap

sively, and then stopped suddenly as if rememb

w. We have a long way to drive; and

rs. Jack safely home. I could get a horse at the hotel a

ct and the lamps are bright. You haven't any 'hold-ups' here as we have Out West; and as I am not withi

er feeling which I could not then analyse, but which I found aft

as struck with a new sense of the connection of things. Miss

ers with the mysterious marks, and of how I thought it might be some sort of account-"or," I a

ou must try to find it ou

d nothing, but a blush spread over her face. T

-grass on the tops of the sandhills. I would have liked to help her, but a judicious dread of seeming officious-and so losing a step in her good graces-held me back. I felt that I was paying a price o

seem to lik

, treacherous wretches! Look at the way they are treat

id you know I disli

yourself whilst I was telling you abou

run away with me. I give myself away so awfully." I could have made a reply to this, but I was af

ion was restored, and she began, of her own initiative, to talk. She spoke of the processio

hat Gormala should not have se

did not want her to have

did not know much about women, but the tone of coquetry, no matter how sweet, no matter how ingenuous, no matter how lovable, cannot be mistaken by any man with red blood in his veins! Secretly I exulted, for I felt instinctively that there rested some advantage with me in the struggle of sex. The knowledge gave me coolness, and

e whole episode of m

," she added,

would not otherwise have dared to say. "Or rather I should perhaps say, my meeting with Mrs. Jack and her friend. It wa

Mrs. Jack will be waiting for us!" she said, b

r hand go till we had run down the other side, and up and down another hillock and came out upon the fla

the sand, I s

fear and death. I would not have any of them come near you or yours. This is wh

n my palm and her strong fingers clasped mine, I felt that there was a

he hotel, I came to the door to see them off. Sh

ns, a clatter of feet on the hard road, a sweeping round of the rays of light from the lamp as the cart swayed at the start under the leap forward of the high-bred horse and

other half I had dreamt. Both sleeping and waking dreams were mixed, ranging from

lities, and thus for good and ill, pleasure or pain, multiply the joys or sufferings. Through all, how

e hand is exact, letter by letter, and word by word, and line by line. So much can be told by handwriting, I thought, as I looked at the letter lying beside my plate. A hand that has no characteristics is that of a person ins

tter down, taking care that the blank back page was uppermost; with what nonchalance I could I went on with my smoked ha

, is conceivable, especially when it is the fir

ed; to which she ventured to add the expression of her own gratitude. That in the hurry and confusion of mind, consequent on their unexpected position, they had both quite forgotten about the boat which they had hired and which had been lost. That the owner of it would no doubt be uneasy about it, and that they would both be grateful if I would see him-he lived in one of the cottages close to the harbour of Port Erroll-and find out fro

m as well as other things, and I am convinced they contain some

.

d unspeakable joy; and the more I thought of it and the oftener I read it the more it seemed to satisfy some aching void in my heart, "Have you deciphered the papers"-the papers whose existence was only known to her and me! It was delightful that we should know so much of a secret in common. Sh

ove and watch each varying expression which might pass across that lovely f

all the hopes of the heart fulfilled in completeness and endless

e oak chest which stood in the corne

yhood been a favourite amusement with me. At one time I had been an invalid for a considerable period and had taken from my father's library a book by Bishop Wilkins, the brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, called "Mercury: or the Secret and Swift Messenger." Herein were given accounts of many of the old methods of secret communication, ciphers, string writing, hidden meanings, and many of the mechanical devices employed in a

t with great care. As I was familiar with the principle and method of this cipher I was able to detect signs of its existence; and this being so, I had at once strong hopes of being able to find the key to it. The Biliteral cipher has as its great advantage, that it can be used in any ordinary writing, and that its forms and methods are simply endless. All that it requires in the first instance is that there be some method arranged on between the writer and the reader of distinguishing between different forms of the same let

Biliteral cipher. I therefore sent her my own monograph on the subject so that if she chose she might study it and be prepared to go into the matter when we met. I studiously avoided saying anything which might frighten her or make any barrier between us; matters were shaping themselves too clearly f

y of figures in even lines, written small and with exquisite care. The paper was just such a size as might be put as marker in an ordinary quarto; that it had been so used was manifest by the discolouration of a portion of it that had evidently stuck out at the top of the volume. Fortunately, in its long dusty rest in the bookshelf the side written on had been downward so that the figures, though obscur

the first of the dotted pages side by

disposition of significants appeared to be of endless variety, and the very novelty of the method-it being one to which the eyes and the senses were not accustomed-made it a difficult one to follow at first. I had little doubt, however, that I should ultimately find the dot cipher the

lly; up and down, for the lines both horizontal and vertical were complete and exact, I

s, sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four together; but of the larger com

that day in making by aid of my microscope an exact but enlarge

age was finished, half-blinded, I took my hat and went out along the shore towards Whinnyfold.

ey deceive even themselves at times. Or they pretend the

e Appe