him _have_, and the fourth _gathered_. These four words, ranged in
order, read: _You will have gathered_. Such a sequence of words could
not arise from mere accident. When he had got thus far Ducie knew that
Platzoff's secret would soon be a secret no longer, that in a very
little while the heart of the mystery would be laid bare.

Encouraged by his success, Ducie went to work with renewed vigour, and
before the clock struck one he had completed the first sentence of the
MS., which ran as under:--

_You will have gathered from the foregoing note, my dear Carlo,
that I have something of importance to relate to you--something
that I am desirous of keeping a secret from everyone but yourself._

As his friend Bexell surmised, Ducie found that the groups of figures
distinguished from the rest by two horizontal lines, one above and one
below, as thus 58.7 14.29 368.1 209.18 43.11, were the _valeurs_ of some
proper name or other word for which there was no equivalent in the book.
Such words had to be spelt out letter by letter in the same way that
complete words were picked out in other cases. Thus the marked figures
as above, when taken letter by letter, made up the word _Carlo_--a name
to which there was nothing similar in the Confessions.

It had been broad daylight for two hours before Captain Ducie grew tired
of his task and went to bed. He went on with it next night, and every
night till it was finished. It was a task that deepened in interest as
he proceeded with it. It grew upon him to such a degree that when near
the close he feigned illness, and kept his room for a whole day, so that
he might the sooner get it done.