U
X
Z
‘Looking at our diagonal pairs again, we find that J and X come in the same line and so do J and E. That means that J can’t come immediately above X, so we will again enter it on both our diagrams in the top three squares in
the X line. Now we come to an interesting point. M and N have got to come in the same line. In Diagram 1 it looks fearfully tempting’ to put them into the two empty spaces on the right of J, leaving K and L for the key-word; but you can’t do that in Diagram 2, because there’s not room in the line. If Diagram 2 is the right; one, then M or N or both of them must come in the key-word. M and E,come in the same line, but N can’t come next-door to E. That warns us against a few arrangements, but still leaves a devil of a lot of scope. Our key-word can’t begin with EN, that’s a certainty. But now, wait! If E is rightly, placed in the third square down, then N can’t come at the right-hand extremity of the same line, for that would bring it next to E by the horizontal rule; so in Diagram, I that washes out the possibility of JMN or JLN for that line. It would give us JLM, which is impossible unless N is the key-word, because N can’t come next to E and yet must be in the same line with it and also with. M.’
Wimsey clawed a little at his hair and sat muttering.
‘It looks as though we’d sucked our five letter rather dry,’ said Harriet. ‘How about trying the rest of the message? I’ve got it all ready sorted out into pairs., Hullo! Here’s our old friend EXMG appearing again in the body of it.’
‘Is there?’ Wimsey sat up. ‘Then, if we’re right, that will be another, date in June. I can’t believe it’s part of two words, one of which ends in J, or I, or JU or IU or IUN or JUN. If the letter was making an appointment for June 18th, why shouldn’t the two letters before it be the letters for 18, that is AH? We’ll try it, anyway; what are they?’
‘O B’
‘OB=AH. That’s a fat lot of use. Well, we’ll stick em down.
O
A
H
B
O and A in the same line, 0 and H in the same line, and A and B we knew about before. That looks as though we might be on the right track, but it doesn’t help us much, because none of the letters we’ve; already placed comes into it.
‘Just a moment,’ put in Harriet. “I’ve got a brainwave. That town in the heading it’s supposed to be something in Central Europe. It’s got six letters, and the last two are the first two reversed. How about Warsaw?’
‘By jove! that’s bright! We can but try it. Let’s see — that gives us this He wrote down the new pairs of diagonals.
W
X
N
A
R
A
T
S
“W and X come in the same line,’ he observed, ‘and it’s terribly tempting to imagine that W comes in-’the last line, next door to X. Otherwise, of course, it must be in the keyword. Just for fun, let’s enter it in the last line in both our diagrams. Now, this becomes interesting. W and N are also in the same line. We can’t place N in the fourth line down, because it’s got to be in line with E. Nor can we put it in the third line down, because there are only six letters that come between N and U, and we should have eight spaces left to put them in. Therefore, if W is rightly placed, N has got to go in the top two lines, which means that it definitely does belong to the key-word.
Harriet filled the letters in tentatively.
1
e
n
i
e
n
i
e
U
W
X
Y
Z
2
e
n
i
e
n
i
e