letters 'mn'--except 'mnemonics' and
its fellows--I concluded that a vowel must be omitted between these
letters, and thence that all vowels (except 'a') were omitted; again,
as the double 's' can never come after 'n' I saw that either a vowel
was omitted between the two 's's,' or that the first word ended after
the first 's.' Thus I got

'm ns sanan... san,'

or, supplying the now quite obvious vowels,

'mens sana in... sano.'

The heart I now knew represented the word 'corpore,' the Latin word for
'heart' being 'cor,' and the dot--showing that the word as it stood was
an abbreviation--conclusively proved every one of my deductions.

'So far all had gone flowingly. It was only when I came to consider the
central figures that for many days I spent my strength in vain. You
heard my exclamation of delight and astonishment when at last a ray of
light pierced the gloom. At no time, indeed, was I wholly in the dark
as to the _general_ significance of these figures, for I saw at once
their resemblance to the sepulchral reliefs of classical times. In case
you are not minutely acquainted with the _technique_ of these stones, I
may as well show you one, which I myself removed from an old grave in
Tarentum.'

He took from a niche a small piece of close-grained marble, about a
foot square, and laid it before me. On one side it was exquisitely
sculptured in relief.

'This,' he continued, 'is a typical example of the Greek grave-stone,
and having seen one specimen you may be said to have seen almost all,
for there is surprisingly little variety in the class. You will observe
that the scene represents a man reclining on a couch; in his hand he
holds a _patera,_ or dish, filled with grapes and pomegranates, and
beside him is a tripod bearing the viands from which he is banqueting.
At his feet sits a woman--for the Greek lady never reclined at table.
In addition to these two figures a horse's head, a dog, or a serpent
may sometimes be seen; and these forms comprise the almost invariable
pattern of all grave reliefs. Now, that this was the real model from
which the figures on the papyrus were taken I could not doubt, when I
considered the seemingly absurd fidelity with which in each murder the
papyrus, smeared with honey, was placed under the tongue of the victim.
I said to myself: it can only be that the assassins have bound
themselves to the observance of a strict and narrow ritual from which
no departure is under any circums