“I think I could write to you sometimes,” he said. “We might get hold of Walter Margrove, who suggested something of the sort to you, and for greater security we could make duplicates of the parchment with the holes that you found in the book. I could write the letter so that it looked like an announcement of my wares.”
They discussed the matter for some time and the next day set about making the parchment slips, and for the following few evenings they were busy with several preparations. Ian’s clothes all had to be mended and put in good order and they took some of the clothes that they had found in the secret room and by slight alterations were able to make him a second outfit.
They also found a leathern wallet that with a little patching made a sound serviceable article.
Ian further made a suggestion to Aline in case they should have reason to suspect that the key to their correspondence was known. “Let us take your name and mine,” he said, “to make the foundation of a series of letters and we will write the names downward like this—
A
L
I
N
E”