Unknown (40 page)

"But how do you hope to get
the diamond from Basil
Selkirk?"

"I really don't know,"
said Holmes, to my surprise.
"That
could well be a two-pipe problem, at least."

As it happened, I was never to
learn what plans
Holmes
made to separate the eccentric millionaire from
the
Pigott Diamond, for the following morning we re
ceived
startling news indeed.

20

The
Deadman's Code

217

Holmes and I had just disposed of
a fullsome break
fast
when there was a light tap on our door.

"Come in, Billy," said
Holmes. He had the uncanny
ability
to hear and identify any footfalls on the seven
teen
steps leading to our first-floor chambers.

The page boy entered with an
envelope in his hand,
which
he gave to Holmes.

"This 'ere just arrived, sir,
by special messenger. 'E's
waitin'
downstairs in case there is a response."

Holmes tore open the envelope
eagerly. It contained a letter in longhand and an additional sheet of
station
ery,
which I noted was machine-written. This was what
Holmes
glanced at first and his lips pursed in a sound
less
whistle. He passed the typed sheet to me and began
to
read the rest of the communique.

The typewritten message was terse
and shocking.

Basil Selkirk died in his sleep
last night. The en
closed
is being rushed to you to comply with spe
cific
instructions given to me by the deceased. I
am
further instructed to cooperate with you to any
extent
you may require. Please advise if I can be
of
assistance.

Cedric Falmouth,

Personal Secretary to Mr. Selkirk

"The blond youngish man,"
I said, my mind going
back
to our visit to the castle of the eccentric millionaire.

Holmes grunted, his eyes devouring
words. Then he
leaned
back for a moment in thought.

"Billy," he said,
finally, "inform the messenger to
stand
by until I reach a decision."

"Right you are, Mr. 'Olmes."
The page boy was
gone.

"Let me read this to you,
Watson. As you may have
guessed,
it was written by Basil Selkirk in a reasonably
steady
hand." He held the expensive stationery closer to his eyes to
study the ink. "Quite recently, I would say.
Surely
within the week . . .

My dear Mr. Holmes:

Though it may not have been your
intent, you
did
bring joy into the dull life of an aged man.
Even
more important, you gave me, in these last
days,
for the sands are running out, a moment of triumph. It was your
reference to the year of 1822
that
gave me the clue that unraveled the mystery
of
the Golden Bird. During this final period, I
have
been able to feast my eyes on the most
unique
gem in history—a famous diamond that,
officially,
does not exist, but we know better, do
we
not? By this time, you have arrived at the truth regarding the Pigott
Diamond. Alas, the cold that lurks within my withered shell is
increasing and I foresee a lengthy passage to a land where I cannot
take my treasure
with me. Or anything else, for
that
matter, save a reputation that bodes ill for my
reception
beyond the pale. Therefore, sir, I leave
the
Pigott to you, but it cannot be
as easy as that.
You must work a bit
for it though my little riddle is not so baffling that it will
provide puzzlement
for
long. When this reaches you, I shall not be able to bid you Godspeed
in person. Allow me to do so
now
...

Basil Selkirk

I crossed to stand behind Holmes
and gaze at the letter and the last message of that chilling,
yet strangely ingratiating, man.

C

QMKTXYN T

H

QMQE

KSOTEET

"Why, it is but gibberish,"
I said instinctively, but my
words
had a hollow ring as I said them. Selkirk would
not
have indulged in anything meaningless. I viewed the
three
lines of letters with narrowed eyes and tried to
apply
some reason to the riddle.

"Holmes, do the
C
and
H
have any significance?"

"Obviously separated from the
body of the message
for
some reason. Selkirk expected me to solve this cipher.
Therefore,
it is not keyed to a prearranged text."

I was completely at sea at this
point but, fortunately,
Holmes
explained his reasoning.

"As an instance,
Q
being the
seventeeth letter in the alphabet and the first letter of the cipher
might refer to
the
seventeenth word on the first page of a well-known
novel.
Or not so well-known for that matter.
N
being
the
thirteenth letter could refer to the thirteenth word
on
the second page of the same book and so forth. But
such
a cipher is dependent on a text known by the
sender
and receiver, not the case in this instance. Here we have a
substitution cipher, I'm sure."

His eyes devouring the message,
Holmes continued
as
though as talking to himself. "As a simple example, a
reversal
of the alphabet. Instead of an
A,
one uses
Z
while
B
becomes
Y,
and so forth.
Usually, these are in
teresting
little problems which intrigue the mind but sel
dom
fatigue it. Here I sense difficulties. In the three
lines
of Selkirk's message, there are twenty-one letters.
The
letter
E
is
by far the most commonly used in the
English
alphabet. But note, we have
E
used three times
in the message. T is
the next most common to our al
phabet
and it is used
four times. In
solving a substitu
tion
cipher, the basic step is to select the letter used
most
often and assume that it is
E.
The next most
often
used becomes
T,
the
third
A,
and
the fourth,
O,
and so
on.
In this case, the two most common alphabetic letters are the
most-used in the body of the message. See also that Q is used three
times while M and
K
occur twice.
The
other letters appear but once."

"Could not the
C
and
H,
positioned as they are, offer some clue?" I asked.

"I would think so. Give me
but a moment."

Leaving Holmes deep in thought, I
withdrew to the
couch.
Though confused myself, I had no doubt my
friend
would come up with something and soon. After
all,
he had authored a monograph on secret writings in
which
he analyzed 160 separate ciphers.

Suddenly, Holmes rose to his feet.
"It won't do, Watson."

There was a tinge of annoyance in
his voice and he crossed to the door and summoned Billy, instructing
the page boy to inform the waiting messenger that we were on our way
to St. Aubrey as rapidly as possible.

"There is something missing,"
he said, reentering our
chambers.
"A vital clue must be secured."

A short time later, we were on our
way to St. Pan
creas
station where we boarded the first train stopping at the quiet hamlet
of St. Aubrey. During our short
journey,
Holmes, to my delight, felt prompted to discuss methods.

"When one is faced with a
problem, as we are, it is
advantageous
to divine another's thoughts. Therefore, I
place
myself in the late Basil Selkirk's situation. He has
acquired
the collector's dream, a famous gem and the
right
of ownership. But he has no desire to flaunt his possesion for death
is imminent. He decides to leave the
stone
to the one who was instrumental in his finding it.
To
me. But how can he be sure I will get it? Advanced
years
tend to produce a distrust of everyone. Possibly
an
eccentricity of age or perhaps the fruits of long ex
perience.
He decides to send the location of the diamond in a cipher,
banking that I will be able to break
it."

"A fine summation of Basil
Selkirk's final thoughts,"
I
said, "but what do they suggest?"

"An association. Something in
his immediate sur
roundings
that Selkirk seized on as the key to the cipher he sent me."

A carriage awaited our arrival at
St. Aubrey and it
whisked
us out of town and to the castle of the finan
cier.
The blond secretary greeted us with a harrassed
manner
and turned us over to a solemn-faced butler
with
instructions to assist us in any way. There was an
air
of secrecy everywhere and I later learned that Sel
kirk's
death was not being revealed immediately for fear
of
the effect of the news on the financial markets of the
world.

Holmes expressed the desire to
view the room where
the
death had occurred and the butler, Meers, led us to
Selkirk's
study where he had breathed his last.

The room had a "much-used"
feeling. There were well-filled bookshelves, a large teak desk, and a
field-stone fireplace with an ornate mantle, also of teak. 'The
walls
were wood-paneled and the furniture was heavily
carved,
highly polished, early Victorian. On one wall
were
four canvases of moderate size. Holmes gazed at these oils casually
and a puzzlement crept into his eyes.
The
butler was standing by the door, awaiting instruc
tions
and Holmes turned toward him.

"Meers?"

"Yes, Mr. Holmes, sir?"

"These four paintings, I
don't seem to recognize
them."