Shears felt that little clutch at his heart which always told him, in the plainest manner possible, when he had hit upon the knotty point of a mystery. That grip of truth, that feeling of certainty never deceived him.
He hastened to turn over the pages of the album, feverishly and confidently. A little further on came another surprise.
It was a page consisting of capital letters followed by a row of figures.
Nine of the letters and three of the figures had been carefully removed.
Shears wrote them down in his note-book, in the order which they would have occupied, and obtained the following result:
C D E H N O P R Z—237
"By Jove!" he muttered. "There's not much to be made out of that, at first sight."
Was it possible to rearrange these letters and, employing them all, to form one, two or three complete words?
Shears attempted to do so in vain.