s before.

HVANLADERIIG

He stopped at the thirteenth, and began a second line immediately under
the line he had just written.

AERODIRCUTN

It inserted perfectly when read up and down beginning with the letter
"H". He completed the sentence.

HAVE ARNOLD AID RECRUITING

He could not believe his eyes. What did it all mean? What regiment was
this? Why should this be sent from a British officer to Peggy Shippen?
There were mixed considerations here.

There was a satisfaction, a very great satisfaction, in the knowledge
that he was not entirely mistaken in his suspicions concerning Peggy.
She was in communication with the British and perhaps had been for some
time. This fact in itself was perfectly plain. The proof of it lay in
his hand. Whether or not His Excellency was involved in the nefarious
work was another question quite. The mere fact of the note being in his
possession signified nothing, or if anything, no more than a
coincidence. He might have read the note and, at the same time, have
been entirely ignorant of the cipher, or he might have received this
hidden information from the lips of Peggy herself, who undoubtedly had
deciphered it at once.

Yet what was the meaning of it all? There was no new call for
volunteers, although, Heaven knows, there was an urgent need for them,
the more especially after the severe winter at Valley Forge. Recruits
had become exceedingly scarce, many of whom were already deserting to
the British army at the rate of over a hundred a month while those who
remained were without food or clothing. And when they were paid, they
could buy, only with the greatest difficulty, a single bushel of wheat
from the fruits of their four month's labor. And did it prove to be true
that a new army was about to be recruited, why should the enemy manifest
so much interest? The new set of difficulties into which he was now
involved were more intricate than ever before.

He extinguished the light and went to bed.

The next day a number of copies of the New York _Gazette_ and _Weekly
Mercury_ of the issue of July 13, 1778, found their way into the city.
They were found to contain the following advertisement:

For the encouragement of all
Gentlemen Volunteers,
Who are willing to serve in his Majesty's Regt. of
Roman Catholic Volunteers,