“No, no!” she cried, “I am too frightened now. I will go with you!”
He felt her hand on his sleeve as she spoke.
“In that case we may as well take this lamp,” he said. “It will give more light than this.” He put down his lantern and picked up the lamp from the table. “Come along, and see what havoc the wind has been playing with the furniture upstairs.”
He led the way out of the room, carefully carrying the lamp, and the girl followed. They turned up the hall to the staircase. As the light of the lamp fell on the staircase they saw a piece of paper lying on one of the lower stairs. Marsland picked it up and was so mystified at what he saw on it that he placed the lamp on a stair above in order to study it more closely.
“What can this extraordinary thing mean?” he said to his companion. He put his left hand in the top pocket of his waistcoat, and then exclaimed: “I have lost my glasses; I cannot make this out without them.”
She came close to him and looked at the paper.
The sheet was yellow with age, and one side of it was covered with figures and writing. There was a row of letters at the top of the sheet, followed by a circle of numerals, with more numerals in the centre of the circle. Underneath the circle appeared several verses of Scripture written in a small, cramped, but regular handwriting. The ink which had been used in constructing the cryptogram was faded brown with age, but the figures and the writing were clear and legible, and the whole thing bore evidence of patient and careful construction.
“This is very strange,” she said, in a frightened whisper.
Marsland thought she was referring to the diagrams on the paper.
“It is a mysterious sort of document, whoever owns it,” he said. “I think I’ll put it on the table in there and we will study it again when we come down after exploring the other parts of the house.”