thus far he had
felt for her.

"On deciphering that paper of which I have spoken I found that it
charged my father, General Pomeroy, with several crimes, all equally
abhorrent. I will show you the paper itself, and my interpretation of
it line by line, so that you may see for yourself the agony that such
a discovery would naturally produce in the mind of a daughter. I will
also show you those letters which you yourself wrote to my father
many years ago."

Saying this, Hilda produced some papers, which she laid on the table
before Obed Chute.

The first was the writing in cipher.

The second was her own interpretation, such as she had already shown
to Gualtier and to Zillah.

The third was the same thing, written out line by line for the sake
of legibility, as follows:

_Oh may God have mercy on my wretched soul Amen
O Pomeroy forged a hundred thousand dollars
O N Pomeroy eloped with poor Lady Chetwynde
She acted out of a mad impulse in flying
She listened to me and ran off with me
She was piqued at her husband's act
Fell in with Lady Mary Chetwynd
Expelled the army for gaming
N Pomeroy of Pomeroy Berks
O I am a miserable villain_

Along with these she put down a paper which contained her key for
deciphering this.

Finally she laid down those letters written by Obed Chute, which have
already been given. All these Obed Chute examined carefully. The
cipher writing he looked at, compared it with the key, and then with
the interpretation written by Hilda. As she looked anxiously at his
face it struck her that when he took up that cipher writing it seemed
as though he was familiar with it. For such a thing she was not
unprepared. Obed Chute's connection with this business was mysterious
to her, but it had been of such a nature that he might be able to
read this paper, and know the fullness of its meaning. After reading
those letters which had been written by himself--among which,
however, that latest letter which Hilda had shown Zillah was not to
be seen--he took up that second paper in which she had carefully
written out in capitals the meaning of each line, such as has already
been given, where the line is extended by characters which are not
interpreted. Over this he looked long and carefully, frequently
comparing it with the first paper, which contained only the cipher
itself.

At length he laid down the papers and looked Hilda full in the face.

"Did it ever strike you," he asked, "that your trans