altogether wrong. Yet the
revelations which it seemed to convey were so startling that they
have produced a very deep impression on my mind. I hoped that you
would have done something. If you had arrived at a solution similar
to mine, even if it had been a partial one, I should have been
satisfied that I had arrived at a part of the truth at least. As you
have not done so, nothing remains but to show you what I have done."

Saying this, she opened the paper which she held and displayed it to
Gualtier:

[Illustration.]

"In that writing," said she, "there are twenty lines. I have been
able to do any thing with ten of them only, and that partially. The
rest is beyond my conjecture."

The paper was written so as to show under each character the
corresponding letter, or what Miss Krieff supposed to be the
corresponding letter, to each sign.

"This," said Miss Krieff, "is about half of the signs. You see if my
key is applied it makes intelligible English out of most of the signs
in this first half. There seems to me to be a block of letters set
into a mass of characters. Those triangular portions of signs at each
end, and all the lower part, seem to me to be merely a mass of
characters that mean nothing, but added to conceal and distract."

"It is possible," said Gualtier, carefully examining the paper.

"It must mean something," said Miss Krieff, "and it can mean nothing
else than what I have written. That is what it was intended to
express. Those letters could not have tumbled into that position by
accident, so as to make up these words. See," she continued, "here
are these sentences written out separately, and you can read them
more conveniently."

She handed Gualtier a piece of paper, on which was the following:

_Oh may God have mercy on my wretched soul Amen
O Pomeroy forged a hundred thousand dollars
O N Pomeroy eloped with poor Lady Chetwynde
She acted out of a mad impulse in flying
She listened to me and ran off with me
She was piqued at her husband's act
Fell in with Lady Mary Chetwynd
Expelled the army for gaming
N Pomeroy of Pomeroy Berks
O I am a miserable villain_

Gualtier read it long and thoughtfully. "What are the initials 'O.
N.?'"

"Otto Neville. It is the General's name."

Silence followed. "Here he is called O Pomeroy, O N Pomeroy, and N
Pomeroy."

"Yes; the name by which he is called is Neville."

"Your idea is that it is a confession of guilt, written by this O. N.
Pom