sor, bending his brows; "but there is a se

ture finished

ng out his fist towards the

ated in

ponds with each of these Icelandic characters. We will see what that

very letter was given me one after the ot

samn atrateS saodrrn emtnaeI nvaect rrilSa Atsaar .n

er it. It is my supposition that this is the translator's way of writing 'mm' and I

tore the paper from me and exami

mean?" he kept rep

ghtened him. Besides he did not ask

osely thrown in confusion, which if properly arranged would reveal their sense. Only

e was nothing at all, in it; though,

ok and the parchment, and dili

I see in a moment. The first letter is a double m, a letter which is not to be found in Turlleson's book, and which was only a

is was a strictly

ssessor of this book wrote these mysterious letters. But who was t

stain which looked like an ink blot. But in looking at it very closely he thought he could distinguish some half-effaced letters. My uncle at once fastened upon this as the

at is the name of another Icelander, a savant o

cle with satisfa

y savants of their time. They made discoveries at which we are astonished. Has not this Sa

gination took fire

t what interest would he have in thu

urn? We shall see. I will get at the secret of this document,

his was a half-

ther, Axel,

lf; "then it is lucky I hav

out the key to this cipher;

raised my head; but my un

nty-seven consonants and fifty-five vowels. This is the proportion found in southern languages,

y fair conclus

t langua

of learning, but I met ins

was currently adopted by the choice spirits of the sixteenth century; I mean Latin. If I am mistaken, I can but try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, or

n revolt against the notion that these barbarous

it is Latin confused and in disorder; "pe

bring order out of that confusion, m

vowels predominate, as for instance the fifth, uneeief, or the last but one, oseibo. Now this arrangement has evidently not been premeditated; it has arisen mathematically in obedience to the unknown law which has ruled in the succession of these letters. It

pretty Virlandaise and the professor's nephew loved each other with a patience and a calmness entirely German. We had become engaged unknown to my uncle, who was too much taken up with geology to be able to enter into such feelings as ours. Gr?uben was a lovely blue-eyed blonde, rather given to g

labelled them together. Mademoiselle Gr?uben was an accomplished mineralogist; she could have taught a few things to a savant. She was fond of investigating

h forms such an improvement to the landscape at the head of the lake. On the road we chatted hand in hand; I told her amusing tales at which she laughed heartily. Then

my uncle with a vehement thump on the tab

o any one's head to confuse the letters of a sentence woul

ed!"

ou like, only instead of arranging the letters in the usual way, one after the other, place them

immediately produced the

r b o u , n G e v

out reading them, "now set down

and with t

rb ou,nGe v

ike an ancient document: the vowels and the consonants are grouped together in equal disorder; th

these remarks

ave just written, and with which I am wholly unacquainted, I shall only have to

reat astonishment, and

ell, my own d

cried the

ike an awkward and unlucky lover, I had compromi

Gr?uben?" he said, with the

o!" I s

dreamily. "Well, let us apply the process I

t words. I merely say imprudent, for the great mind of so learned a man of course had no pl

a quivering in his fingers as he grasped the old parchment. He was deeply moved. At last he gave a preliminary cough, an

ette,rotaisadva,ednecsedsadne lacartniiilvIsir

e at a time, had carried no sense to my mind; I therefore waited for the Professor

t thump made the furniture rattle, and spilt som

ied my uncle, "ther

g down stairs like an avalanche, he