"Are you going to turn THIS over to the Postal Inspection Service?"

"What do you think about it, Miss Erith? You see it's one of those
hopeless arbitrary ciphers for which there is no earthly solution
except by discovering and securing the code book and working it out
that way."7

She said calmly, but with heightened colour:

"A copy of that book is, presumably, in possession of the man to
whom this letter is addressed."

"Surely--surely. Hum--hum! What's his name, Miss Erith?"--glancing
down at the yellow envelope. "Oh, yes--Herman Lauffer--hum!"

He opened a big book containing the names of enemy aliens and
perused it, frowinng. The name of Herman Lauffer was not listed. He
consulted other volumes containing supplementary lists of suspects
and undesirables--lists furnished daily by certain services
unnecessary to mention.

"Here he is!" exclaimed Vaux; "--Herman Lauffer, picture-framer and
gilder! That's his number on Madison Avenue!"--pointing to the
type-written paragraph. "You see he's probably already under
surveillance-one of the several services is doubtless keeping tabs
on him. I think I'd better call up the--"

"Please!--Mr. Vaux!" she pleaded.