poured it not upon the ground, to cover it withdust," etc, down to the end of verse 27. If those twenty-two versesonly contained eight words of the hidden record, then it was apparentthat the Professor had a greater task before him than he imagined.
Gwen, in emerging from Whiteley's into Westbourne Grove, had met a youngnaval officer she knew. He was home on leave, therefore she hadstrolled leisurely with him down Queen's Road and along Bayswater Road,in preference to taking a cab. A couple of years before, when she wasstill a mere girl and he only an acting sub-lieutenant, they had beenrather attached to each other. He was, of course, unaware of herengagement to Frank Farquhar, and she did not enlighten him, but allowedhim to chatter to her as they walked westward. His people lived inPorchester Terrace, and he had lately been at sea for a year with theMediterranean Fleet, he told her.
The yellow obscurity was now rapidly clearing as, at the corner ofPembridge Gardens, he raised his hat and with some reluctance left her.
Then she hurried in, just as the luncheon gong was sounding, and hadonly time to take off her hat and coat to be in her place at table. Herfather was most punctual at his meals. He believed in method at alltimes, and carried method and the utmost punctuality into all his dailyhabits.
When he entered the dining-room the girl saw, from his preoccupiedexpression, that something had occurred.
She, however, made no inquiry before the servant, while he on his part,though bursting with the good news, resolved to keep his informationuntil they had had their meal and retired into the study together.
Then he would explain to her, and show her the amazing result.
Therefore she chatted merrily, telling him how sweet her new gownlooked, and gossiping in her own sweet engaging way--with that girlishlaughter and merriment which was the sunshine of the old scholar'sotherwise dull and colourless existence.
Little did she dream, he thought, as he sat at table, of the staggeringannouncement which he was about to make to her.
He had solved the problem!
CHAPTER THIRTY.
CLOSED DOORS.
"Will you come up with me into the study, dear?" asked the Professor, inas quiet a voice as he could, when they had finished luncheon.
"I have a letter to write, dad," replied the girl in excuse. "I'll comein and sit with you before tea."
"But I want to speak to you, dear," he said. "I want to tell yousomething. Come with me now." Rather surprised at her father'ssomewhat strained and unusual demeanour, the girl ascended the stairs tothe book-lined room, and when the door was closed the old man crossed towhere she stood, and said:
"Gwen, congratulate me, child."
"Upon what, dad?" she said, looking into his face, surprised.
"I have discovered the key to the cipher!"
The girl started. Then with a wild cry she threw her arms about herfather's neck, kissed him passionately, and with tears of joy welling inher eyes, congratulated him.
"What will Frank say!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "How delighted he'llbe! Why, dad, we shall discover the position of the hiding-place of thesacred relics, after all!"
Her enthusiasm was unbounded. Her father who had worked so hard bynight and by day upon those puzzling cryptic numericals, was at lastsuccessful.
"Can you really read the cipher?" she asked quickly.
"Yes, dear," was her father's response. "I have already deciphered partof the extraordinary statement."
"Then we must telegraph to Frank," she said. "He is down at Horsford,visiting his sister and seeing Doctor Diamond at the same time."
"No, not yet, my child," he replied quietly. "Let me complete the workbefore we announce the good news to our friends. I have told you,because I knew you would be gratified."
"Why, of course I am, dad," replied the girl eagerly. "It will greatlyenhance your reputation, besides preserving the sacred relics to theJews. Our opponents had other intentions. Their efforts are directedtowards causing annoyance and bringing ridicule upon the Hebrew race.But," she added, her arm still affectionately around his neck, "how didyou accomplish it, dad?"
"Sit down, dear, and I'll explain to you," he said, pointing to thearmchair near his writing-table, while he took his writing-chair, anddrew towards him the open Hebrew text of Ezekiel.
"You see," he commenced, "for some weeks I have been applying all theknown numerical ciphers to this text, but without result. More thanonce I was able to read a couple or three words, and believed that I haddiscovered the key. But, alas! I found it to fail inevitably before Icould establish a complete sentence. I was about to relinquish theproblem as either impossible of solution, or as a theory without basis,when this morning, almost as a last resource and certainly withoutexpecting any definite result, I applied a variation of the ApocalypticNumber, which though appearing in the Book of Revelation, [Revelations,xiii, 13] was no doubt known at a much earlier period. In the text ofEzekiel xvii, the first and second verses: `And the word of the Lordcame unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parableunto the house of Israel;' I had long recognised certain signs by whichI had suspicion that there was a hidden meaning, and again in verses 14,16 and 16, ending with the words `even with him in the midst of Babylonhe shall die.'
"To my utter amazement I found, by applying the numbers 666--the Hebrew`waw' sign three times repeated, that I could read an intelligiblesentence which was nothing less than a portion of the cipher exactly asquoted by Holmboe! Since my discovery I have been hard at work, andhave deciphered many ominous sentences."
"Then there is no doubt whatever now that the cipher record exists inthe writings of the prophet?"
"Not the slightest."
"But I don't quite understand how you arrived at the key, dad?" shesaid. "Explain to me, for, as you know, I'm all curiosity."
"Well, as you don't know Hebrew, dear, I'll try and explain it asclearly as I can," he said. "Each Hebrew letter has its own numericalvalue, as you know, _A-leph_ representing 1, _Beth_ 2, _Gi-mel_ 3, andso on to _Yodh_ 10, and the nine tens to 100, or _Qoph_, to 400,represented by the last of the twenty-two consonants, _Taw_. The factthat Holmboe mentioned `_waw_,' or the number 6, in his manuscript,first caused me to believe that he did so as a blind, because this alsosignified `hook' and was the sign of evil. I applied it diligently innearly two hundred places in the Book of Ezekiel, but without a singlesuccess. I used other numbers, indeed most of the combinations of thetwenty-two consonants, especially the one of three and thirty-threewhich was one of the earliest numerical ciphers. You know well howdiligently I worked, and how unsuccessful I have been until to-day."
"I know, dad," exclaimed the pretty girl, "but I confess I can hardlyfollow you, even now."
"Well, listen," he said. "The Apocalyptic Number is 666, and itsinterpretation rests upon the fact that in Hebrew, as well as in Greek,the letters of the alphabet did service for numbers. Hence, a writer,while avoiding a direct mention of some person or thing, could yetindicate the same by a number which was the sum of the various valuescomprising the name. First establishing the point where the actualmessage commences, which I may as well explain is at Ezekiel, x, 8; `Andthere appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under theirwings,' I took the first `waw' or 6 sign, then the eleventh letter,being the sixth of sixty-six, then the sixty-sixth letter, andafterwards the six hundred and sixty-sixth letter. Following this, Imade the additions which are known to the Greeks and also to theHebrews, working it out thus: The fiftieth letter, the two-hundredthletter, the sixth letter, the fiftieth letter, the hundredth letter, thesixtieth letter and the two-hundredth letter--making in all six hundredand sixty-six. The Hebrew signs of each I wrote down in a line, andhaving divided them into words, I found to my amazement, that I wasreading the secret record alleged by the dead professor!"
"But, surely, dad, that is a most ingenious cipher!" remarked hisdaughter.
"Most intricate, I assure you. By sheer good fortune I discovered thestarting-point."
"What led you to it?"
"A slight, almost unnoticeable deviation of the present Hebrew text fromthe St Petersburg codex. I had never before noticed it, and it onlyarrested my attention because I was studying the subject so veryclosely."
"And after making the additions of 666, how did you proceed?" urged thegirl.
He paused for a few seconds as though in hesitation.
"By starting at the first `waw' sign and repeating my key. Sometimes,in a whole chapter, there is not a word of cipher, but following thenumbers with regularity it reappears in the next. It is a mostmarvellous and most cunningly concealed record accounting, of course,for the number of