; let's go out."

The two friends were just rising from the form on which they had been
sitting, when they were accosted by Browse, who, strolling up with a
pair of dilapidated slippers on his feet, which caused him to walk as
though he were skating, inquired in drawling tones, "I say, have either
of you kids got a watch-key?"

Jack Vance handed him the required article, which happened to be of the
kind which fit all watches.

The Sixth Form "sap" was very short-sighted, and proceeded to wind up
his timepiece, holding it close to his spectacles throughout the
operation.

"I can't think how it is," he continued, in his sing-song tone,
"I'm always losing my key. I've had two new ones already this term.
I always stick them in a place where I think they're sure not to get
lost, and then I forget where I put them. Thanks awfully."

"What a queer old codger Browse is!" remarked Diggory, as the big fellow
moved away; "no one would ever think he was so clever."

"No," answered Jack Vance. "By-the-bye, did you hear that he had
another row with 'Thirsty' last night?"

"No; what about?"

"Oh, the same thing as before. Some fellows were making a beastly row
in Thurston's study, and Browse couldn't work, so he threatened if they
weren't quiet he'd report them to the doctor. 'Thirsty' came out
in an awful wax, and said for two pins he'd knock Browse down; and young
Collis, who was standing at the top of the stairs, says he believes he'd
have done it if some of the other fellows in the Sixth hadn't come out
and interfered."

In the course of the afternoon Diggory secured Mugford's copy of Poe's
tales, and (sad to relate) spent a good part of that evening's
preparation in trying to unravel the secret of the mysterious missive
which he had found in the box-room. So intent was he on solving the
problem that, instead of going down to supper with the majority of his
companions, he remained seated at his desk, poring over the experiments
which he was making according to directions given in the famous story of
"The Gold Bug."

"Well, how are you getting on ?" inquired Jack Vance, as the crowd came
straggling back from the dining-hall.

"Oh, pretty well," answered the other. "The first thing you have to do
is to find E; it's the letter which occurs most frequently. Well, in
this case V is the letter which comes oftenest--there are fourteen of
them--so V is E. Then, when you know what E is, you search for the word
'the.