“Let me tell you about the letter T, Mr. Priam,” said Ellery.
“The letter T is the second most frequently used letter in the English language. Only E occurs more frequently. T is the number two brick of the twenty-six.
“T, Mr. Priam, is the most frequently used initial letter in the English language.
“English uses a great many combinations of two letters representing a single speech sound. These are known as digraphs. The letter T, Mr. Priam, is part of the most frequently used digraph ― TH.
“T is also part of the most frequently used trigraph ― three letters spelling a single speech sound ― THE, as in the word BATHE.
“TT, Mr. Priam, gives ground only to SS and EE as the most frequently used double letter.
“The same letters, S and E, are the only letters which occur more frequently than T as the last letters of words.
“But that isn’t all, Mr. Priam,” said Ellery. “The letter T is part of the most frequently used three-letter word in the English language ― the word THE.
“The letter T is part of the most frequently used four-letter word ― THAT ― and also of the second most frequently used four-letter word ― WITH.
“And as if that weren’t enough, Mr. Priam,” said Ellery, “we find T in the second most frequently used two-letter word ― TO ― and in the fourth most frequently used two-letter word ― IT. Do you wonder now, Mr. Priam,” said Ellery, “why I called Charles Adam’s note to your partner remarkable?