“Exactly,” he answered. “Without a gauge there would be great difficulty in determining the number of the perforation, because the cut might seem to create new indentations if carelessly made.” Trenholm stopped and took up the envelope of the thirteenth letter and applied his gauge to the left-hand stamp, and Miriam, pencil in hand, assisted him.
Trenholm counted clockwise. “Five perforations are damaged,” he declared, “numbers 8, 20, 23, 27, 30. Now, if the code is based on a double alphabet, these would become 8, 20, 23, 1, 3, or the letters H, T, W, A, C. How are the letters to be arranged, Miss Ward?”
She looked at her pad, where she had jotted down the letters as well as the figures. “There is only one vowel,” she said. “It must be one word. Then why use two alphabets?”
“Possibly because of the accidental chance that the stamp perforations count up to fifty-two,” replied Trenholm. “It would be convenient, in case of a word with many letters, to prevent destroying the appearance of the stamp by cutting too many indentations close to one another. Have you solved the first word?” as she checked an exclamation.
“Yes—‘watch.’”
“Good!” Trenholm’s eyes were bright with excitement. Looking again at the first stamp, he noticed that the first, third, and fifth letters of the words “watch” were indicated on the first alphabet, and the remaining letters on the second one.
Trenholm held up the envelope to the light again. “See, Miss Ward!” he exclaimed. “The stamp on the extreme right has only four indentations, though the left-hand corner has been cut off.”
She studied the envelope in silence for a few seconds. “The letters are G and E in the first alphabet,” she pointed out. “They must be the odd letters of the word coded, and R and V in the second alphabet, corresponding to the even letters, but I can’t make any word out of them.”
“Suppose we call the cut of the left-hand corner of the stamp an A,” suggested Trenholm. “It may be a quick way to mark an indentation when a corner square was involved; though better care was used in the A of the second alphabet in the first stamp examined. What word have you now, Miss Ward?”
“Grave.”