Hilda then left the room, and in a short time returned with a paper in her hand.
"Here it is," she said, and she gave it to Gualtier. Gualtier took it, and unfolding it, he saw this:
Gualtier took this singular paper, and examined it long and earnestly. Hilda had copied out the characters with painful minuteness and beautiful accuracy; but nothing in it suggested to him any revelation of its dark meaning, and he put it down with a strange, bewildered air.
"What is it all?" he asked. "It seems to contain some mystery, beyond a doubt. I can gather nothing from the characters. They are all astronomical signs; and, so far as I can see, are the signs of the zodiac and of the planets. Here, said he, pointing to the character [Sun image], is the sign of the Sun; and here, pointing to [Libra image], is Libra; and here is Aries, pointing to the sign [Aries image].
"Yes," said Hilda; "and that occurs most frequently."
"What is it all?"
"I take it to be a secret cipher."
"How?"
"Why, this--that these signs are only used to represent letters of the alphabet. If such a simple mode of concealment has been used the solution is an easy one."
"Can you solve cipher alphabets?"