In Secret

In Secret

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Title: In Secret
Author: Robert W. Chambers
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5748] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 23, 2002]

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IN SECRET
by
ROBERT W. CHAMBERS
AUTHOR OF "THE COMMON LAW," "THE RECKONING,"
"LORRAINE," ETC.
NEW YORK

DEDICATION

A grateful nation's thanks are due To Arethusa and to you--- To her
who dauntless at your side Pneumonia and Flue defied With phials of
formaldehyde!
II
Chief of Police were you, by gosh! Gol ding it! how you bumped the
Boche! Handed 'em one with club and gun Until the Hun was on the

run: And that's the way the war was won.
III
Easthampton's pride! My homage take For Fairest Philadelphia's sake.
Retire in company with Bill; Rest by the Racquet's window sill And,
undisturbed, consume your pill.
ENVOI
When Cousin Feenix started west And landed east, he did his best; And
so I've done my prettiest To make this rhyme long overdue; For
Arethusa and for you.
R. W. C.

IN SECRET
CHAPTER I
CUP AND LIP

The case in question concerned a letter in a yellow envelope, which
was dumped along with other incoming mail upon one of the many
long tables where hundreds of women and scores of men sat opening
and reading thousands of letters for the Bureau of P. C.--whatever that
may mean.
In due course of routine a girl picked up and slit open the yellow
envelope, studied the enclosed letter for a few moments, returned it to
its envelope, wrote a few words on a slip of paper, attached the slip to
the yellow envelope, and passed it along to the D. A. C.--whoever he or
she may be.
The D. A. C., in course of time, opened this letter for the second time,

inspected it, returned it to the envelope, added a memorandum, and sent
it on up to the A. C.--whatever A. C. may signify.
Seated at his desk, the A. C. perused the memoranda, glanced over the
letter and the attached memoranda, added his terse comment to the
other slips, pinned them to the envelope, and routed it through certain
channels which ultimately carried the letter into a room where six silent
and preoccupied people sat busy at six separate tables.
Fate had taken charge of that yellow envelope from the moment it was
mailed in Mexico; Chance now laid it on a yellow oak table before a
yellow-haired girl; Destiny squinted over her shoulder as she drew the
letter from its triply violated envelope and spread it out on the table
before her.
A rich, warm flush mounted to her cheeks as she examined the
document. Her chance to distinguish herself had arrived at last. She
divined it instantly. She did not doubt it. She was a remarkable girl.
The room remained very still. The five other cipher experts of the P. I.
Service were huddled over their tables, pencil in hand, absorbed in their
several ungodly complications and laborious calculations. But they
possessed no Rosetta Stone to aid them in deciphering hieroglyphics;
toad-like, they carried the precious stone in their heads, M. D.!
No indiscreet sound interrupted their mental gymnastics, save only the
stealthy scrape of a pen, the subdued rustle of writing paper, the flutter
of a code-book's leaves thumbed furtively.
The yellow-haired girl presently rose from her chair, carrying in her
hand the yellow letter and its yellow envelope with yellow slips
attached; and this harmonious combination of colour passed noiselessly
into a smaller adjoining office, where a solemn young man sat biting an
unlighted cigar and