and shut his eyes.

Captain Ducie was a patient man, and he waited without speaking for a
full hour. At the end of that time Platzoff turned, and held out a
feeble hand.

"Forgive me, my friend--if you will allow me to call you so," he said.
"I must seem horribly ungrateful after all the trouble I have put you
to, but I do not feel so. The loss of my MS. affected me so deeply for a
little while that I could think of nothing else. I shall get over it by
degrees."

"If I remember rightly," remarked Ducie, "you said that the lost MS. was
merely a complicated array of figures. Of what possible value can it be
to anyone who may chance to find it?"

"Of no value whatever," answered Platzoff, "unless they who find it
should also be skilful enough to discover the key by which alone it can
be read; for, as I may now tell you, there is a hidden meaning in the
figures. The finders may or may not make that discovery, but how am I to
ascertain what is the fact either one way or the other? For want of such
knowledge my sense of security will be gone. I would almost prefer to
know for certain that the MS. had been read than be left in utter doubt
on the point. In the one case I should know what I had to contend
against, and could take proper precautionary measures; in the other, I
am left to do battle with a shadow that may or may not be able to work
me harm."

"Would possession of the information that is contained in the MS. enable
anyone to work you harm?"