"There is the key to the thing," she said. "You simply put an angle for each letter, with a dot for the right-hand one. Have you the letter?"
"Here it is. I would not give it to Shackel."
Rachel read it. "It means, 'Tell Tera to show up; arrested for her murder--Jack.' Now, the first word is 'tell,' and you write it this way;" and she proceeded to explain. "You see the T is in the top angle of the criss-cross; and as it is the right-hand letter, you must place a dot so." She placed a dot in the top angle of the diagonal figure. "The e is formed in the right-hand top angle of the noughts. Lastly, the two l's are in the place under it on the right-hand side. Now look at the whole word, and write the rest of the message yourself."
Chard took the word "Jack," and, gradually grasping the idea, wrote it down in the characters.
"By Jove, it's very neat!" he said admiringly.
"And quite simple," said Rachel, rising. "Now you'd really better have some dinner, Mr. Chard."
"Thank you, I will. But this cypher reminds me of the arrow-headed Assyrian letters."
"Rather more like Hebrew characters," said Carwell, joining them. "I wonder you did not know of it. Inspector. It is in common use."
"It hasn't come my way, then," laughed Chard, drawing his chair to the table, where already Moss was making up for lost time.
During the meal Zara's murder was the sole topic. It would seem that the whole case would have to be re-sifted. The old trial had ended in the discovery that Tera had not been murdered at all. The new one would have to start on fresh premises altogether; a fresh motive would, of course, have to be sought.