"You needn't have told that," said Barbara sharply.
"But at first we altered the letters so many times, that father said he would not help us, unless we made a decree that they should stay as they were for ever," said Gladys. "Johnnie had stolen the letter I, and made it stand for one. So it does still, though it is a vowel. Janie has a form of our plan. Hand it up, Janie."
Janie accordingly produced a little bag, and unfolded a paper of which this is a copy:—
JANIE MORTIMER Fecit This.
1 2 3
I.T. N.B. M.Y.
4 5 6
R.Q. C.J.V. D.S.
7 8 9
K.G. H.P. F.L.
Ought
W.X.Z.
A & E & O & U dont count. You're to make
up the sentence with them.
"The rule is," said Gladys, "that you make a sentence of words beginning with anyone of those letters that stand for the figures you want to remember. Miss Crampton wanted us to know the dates of all Wellington's battles; of course we couldn't; we do now, though. You see Britannia's scroll has on it, 'I'll put on Wellington boots,' that means 1802. So we know, to begin with, that till after she put on Wellington boots, we need not trouble ourselves to remember anything particular about him."