i
dsmfaoma,ptmomha,pmlassdohmrfaypayscoae
ptlagptayrsadjomrasddohmrfagocahrmrsypta
,sthoragsotgscafsyraeoyjafrav;rudyrtasyagobra
djomrasmfalprajse;ruavobrtomhas,rakslras
smffanrmasddohmrfan;svlavstagpta,raqsofaqj
o;apmrajimftrfavpbrtomhadqrvos; aeptlakpn
agomodjrfatobrtdofraftobrasyarohjyoayjotfad ocadjstqafrqpdoyr
famohjyasmfaffuagpitayjpi dsmfadsgrafrqpdoyagogyrrmajimftrfa;
rmyaf p;;ua,stopmayepajimfrtgptaftrddagptaqstyua
eoyjabsmv;rgyamrcyasgyrtmppmasfbsmvrfad jomrapmrayjpidsm
daypavpbrtapqyopmapga usvjyadimnrs, aqsofaypantplrtayjsyamohjyapt
frfaqtpbodop,dayr;rqjpmragptausvjyayepa,p myjabtiodra,
pmlasddohmrdagptkpnamrcyafs uasfbs mvrfadjomragojimftrfapmasvvpimyae
ptlapmaer;;omhypmadrtts;a,syyrtatrqsitdan; svla,svjomra"

and so it ran on, baffling and inspiring a headache!

Shirley went over and over the lines of this bewildering phalanx of
letters with no reward for his absorbed devotion to the puzzle.

"Let me see," he mused. "Thursday, January seventh, was the date upon
which Washington Serral was murdered, according to Doctor MacDonald. Any
man who will maintain a record of the days in such a difficult code as
this must not only be extremely methodical, but is certain to have much
to put upon that record worth the trouble. Here may lay the secret of
the entire case."

At the end of the hour he had allowed himself, there was no more
proximity to solution than at the inception of his effort. It was
almost half-past eleven, and he knew that it was time to go to Warren's
apartment. He sent a messenger with the book, carefully wrapped up, to
his rooms at the club on Forty-fourth Street. It was too interesting
a document to risk taking up to that apartment again, after Helene's
exertions in obtaining it.

The Somerset was not dissimilar from the hundreds of highly embellished
dwellings of the sort which abound in the region of the Park, causing
out-of-town visitors to marvel justly at the source of the vast sums of
money with which to pay the enormous rentals of them all.

The elevator operator smirked knowingly, when he asked for Warren's
apartment. "You-all can go right up, boss. He's holdin' forth for
another of dem high sassiety shindigs to-night. Dat gemman alluz has too
many callin' to bother with the telephone when he has a party. You don't
need no announcin'."

The man directed him to the door on the left. Closed as it was the
sounds of merrymaking emanated into the corridor. Shirley's pressure
on th