were by this time arrived at the house--"you shall have your first lesson
in cryptography."

I assented with eagerness, for I was burning to begin, and, from what Mr.
Fortescue had said, I did not anticipate any great difficulty in making
out the cipher.

But when he produced a specimen page of his manuscript, my confidence,
like Bob Acre's courage, oozed out at my finger-ends, or rather, all over
me, for I broke out into a cold sweat.

The first few lines resembled a confused array of algebraic formula. (I
detest algebra.) Then came several lines that seemed to have been made by
the crawlings of tipsy flies with inky legs, followed by half a dozen or
so that looked like the ravings of a lunatic done into Welsh, while the
remainder consisted of Roman numerals and ordinary figures mixed up,
higgledy-piggledy.

"This is nothing less than appalling," I almost groaned. "It will take me
longer to learn than two or three languages."

"Oh, no! When you have got the clew, and learned the signs, you will read
the cipher with ease."

"Very likely; but when will that be?"

"Soon. The system is not nearly so complicated as it looks, and the
language being English--"

"English! It looks like a mixture of ancient Mexican and modern Chinese."