Henry Blaine paused a moment before replying.
“I might let him take his chance before the court, on the strength of his years, and his having turned State’s evidence voluntarily, Guy, but he’s an old offender, and Carlis’ faction is strong. My racing car will make ninety miles an hour, easily, and it can do it unmolested, with my private sign on the hood. It can meet the Canadian express at Branchtown at dawn. I’ve a little farm in a nice community in Canada, not too isolated, and I’m going to make it over to you as part of your reward for your work on the Lawton case....
“No, don’t thank me! I’m sworn on the side of law and order, but Justice is stern and sometimes blind because she will not see. Remember, the Greatest Jurist Himself recommended mercy!”
Soon afterward, as they sat discussing the wind-up of the case, the subject of the second set of cryptograms was broached, and Blaine smiled at Morrow’s utter bewilderment concerning them.
“Still puzzling about those, Guy? They weren’t as simple as the first one was, that of the system of odd-shaped characters and dots. The later ones were the more difficult because they were of no set system at all––I mean no one system, but a primitive conglomeration, 301 probably evolved by Paddington himself, based on script music and also the old childish trick of writing letters shaped like figures, which can be read by reversing the paper, and holding it up to the light.
“Just a minute, and we’ll look at the two notes, the one you found in Brunell’s room in the deserted cottage, and the other which came to me in the cigarette box meant for Paddington, from Mac Alarney. Then we’ll be able to see how they were worked out. And you’ll see that though they look extremely meaningless and confusing, they are in reality extremely simple.”
As he spoke, Blaine produced them from his desk drawer, and spread them out before him.
“Before you examine them,” he went on, “let me explain the musical script idea on which they are fundamentally based, in case you are unfamiliar with it. The sign ‘&’ before a bar of music means that music is written in the treble clef––that is, all the notes following it are above the central C on the piano keyboard. Thus”––here he drew rapidly on a scrap of paper and passed a scrawled scale over to the interested operative.
