"Can you show them to me?" Iris asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
"Oh, yes, you can see them with this glass, though even with its aid you may have difficulty in making out the letters."
Iris looked long and carefully through the powerful lens, and finally declared that she could discern the letters, but could not read them clearly.
Stone passed the pin and glass to Miss Darrel, and continued, "I spent nearly the whole night over it. I have copied off the letters, so now, if the pin should be stolen, at least we have its secret. Though, I confess the secret is still a secret."
"Lemme see it," begged Fibsy, as Miss Darrel gave up the effort to make out the letters at all.
The younger eyes of the boy read them with comparative ease.
"O, I, N, V, L, D, L," he spelled out "Sounds like gibberish, but all ciphers do that—why, Mr. Stone, the letters are clear enough and you can read any cipher that ever was made up, I'll bet! You know, you first see what letter's used most, and that's E——"
"Hold on, Terence, not so fast. That's one kind of a cipher, to be sure. But this is another sort. These are the letters:
"O I N V L D L Q P S V T H P J R C R N O X X I V B A Y O D I J Y A W W K M E U
"There's no division into words, which, of course, makes it infinitely more difficult."