The House of the Falcon
cession. It was not shorthand. Nor was it any language with which Edith was acquainted. But underneath it she noticed some penciled words in English.
Her smooth brow wrinkled as she reread the penciled phrases which were evidently a translation of the message.
The Falcon is on the wing, searching the City of the Sun.
Take care.
It was like poetry, she thought—like a bit from the Rubaiyat. Or was it a code? Her father had used code at times—writing apples when he meant profits, and plums instead of losses, and so forth. Yet here the second line seemed to make good sense as it was.
The phrase "City of the Sun" had been scratched out and "Srinagar" substituted. Was this code? The word "Srinagar" gave her an inkling of how the blue sheet had come into her possession.
For the first time she inspected the envelope, the open envelope from which she had taken it. It was addressed to Edouard Monsey, the Château, Quebec, Province of Quebec, Canada. In one corner was the legend, "To be held until called for."
A foreign stamp was attached, blurred over by an unreadable postmark. The writing on the envelope was English, but angular and stilted as if penned by an unfamiliar hand.
Edith replaced the blue sheet, and rang for a boy. To him she delivered the missive with instructions to take it to Mr. Monsey and say that he had given it to Miss Rand by mistake that evening.
It was clear that Monsey had handed the blue letter to her when returning those she had given him.
16
