Date : A. –That addition to a writing which specifies the time the writing was made. B. − (By extension) Time when an event occurred or will occur. C. − an affair (1885), then a romantic rendez-vous from the 1890's.
Traditionally the date is put at the top right corner of a letter.
Signature : A. − The act of signing. B. − Inscription of his name
Traditionally the signature is put at the bottom right corner of a letter.
While the second hand was turning endlessly, the minute hand moved for the thirtieth time since she started to stare at it. She had arrived at the train station a few minutes after ten o'clock, and the clock was now showing 32 minutes past 10. She gave him fifteen minutes, no more. She wanted to weep and she breathed deeply to keep her self-control. That was over . All this had been a waking dream, or should we call it a nightmare. The outcome of her imagination and her fantasies. She saw a walking postman, that made her smile. How many letters would have the same effect on their addressee than the letter she had received two months ago? Her mother called her:
"My sweet Dora, Edward left a note for you in the thank you letter we received from Alice".
-And you've read it?
-Of course not, sweetheart, and even if I have, I would not have understood a lot. I have the feeling that Edward sent to you another riddle to challenge your child's wit.
-Give me this, mum, I want to see it!»
The woman who was talking to Dora was not her true mother, but her stepmother. Her mother died in Melanesia, far away from her daughter who stayed in England for studying. Dora's father met Suzanne short a while after he returned to England. Her first quality was the love she shared with Dora that made her to her new mother. Twenty years separated them, but sometimes they were acting like sisters, which was upsetting Dora's father.
She grabbed the piece of paper Suzanne was holding and she ran away climbing the steps very quickly towards her bedroom, almost breaking the Chinese vase her father brought back from his trip around Asia.
She slammed the door behind her and jumped on to her bed, breathing the small piece of paper. No smell. What was she thinking? That he would have spilled off his after-shave on a love letter before giving it to his wife so she could send it to another woman?
Edward had left Dora's family house one week ago, and these seven long days had seemed to her an eternity. She had no appetite, no good sleep and no envy for anything. She knew pretty well what was her incurable sickness. How did she, Dora Penny, 22 years old, pastor's daughter and well educated woman, manage to fall in love with the husband of her mother's best friend, a 20 years older man who could be her father?
She slammed the door behind her and jumped on to her bed, breathing the small piece of paper. No smell. What was she thinking? That he would have spilled off his after-shave on a love letter before giving it to his wife so she could send it to another woman?
Edward had left Dora's family house one week ago, and these seven long days had seemed to her an eternity. She had no appetite, no good sleep and no envy for anything. She knew pretty well what was her incurable sickness. How did she, Dora Penny, 22 years old, pastor's daughter and well educated woman, manage to fall in love with the husband of her mother's best friend, a 20 years older man who could be her father?
Nevertheless, it had not been love at first sight. The Elgars had arrived 30th of July, for one week. She had planned to go to Brighton, with her friend Ellen, but her mother had asked her to stay and spend some time with Edward, while the two old girl friends would spend some time together. Why did she deserve such a punishment was she wondering...
But Dora was naturally enthusiastic, and she was always able to find the good shape of everything. To entertain an elder man like him would allow her to do plenty of things she could never do by herself. She had always dreamed to go to the stadium to watch a football game. To look at this men running after a ball sounded so exciting! And the atmosphere in the stands, with all this yelling men. Edward will allow her to have some fun.
When she met him for the first time, she had all this in mind. He had such a strange smell. This fragrance was haunting Dora's nights. She went around all the perfume shops she knew but none of them had anything with such a perfume. Edward had certainly brought it back from France.
She unfolded the note.
She unfolded the note.
What was the meaning of all this? Edward had just sent to her a ciphered message? How exciting! She closed her eyes. She could imagine everything. A passionate love letter, some banalities to thank her for the time she spent with him, a breaking letter...
They had discussed about secret messages the first afternoon they had met. Her mother was showing the house to their guests. When they passed in front of Dora's bedroom Edward told : "Even in Arcadia I am". A copy of Poussin's painting, The Arcadian Shepherds, was hanging on the wall, and Edward was citing the Latin sentence engraved on the tomb.
Then, he asked her if she ever heard about the secret meanings and messages hidden in Poussin's paintings. Dora never heard about it and she listened with attention Edward's talk. In one hour he managed to talk to her about the Templar's code, Cardan's masks and steganography. She loved the story of the egyptians messengers who had messages drawn on their bold skulls and then hidden by the growing hair...
She always had been attracted by mathematics and adventure stories and she wondered why she never got into cryptography. Edward told her that before attacking a mathematical problem you had to fully analysed it, in order to identify the weakness of it. For an encrypted message for example, you have to identify the type of cryptograms that are used, the number of coded characters, their frequency...
They had discussed about secret messages the first afternoon they had met. Her mother was showing the house to their guests. When they passed in front of Dora's bedroom Edward told : "Even in Arcadia I am". A copy of Poussin's painting, The Arcadian Shepherds, was hanging on the wall, and Edward was citing the Latin sentence engraved on the tomb.
Then, he asked her if she ever heard about the secret meanings and messages hidden in Poussin's paintings. Dora never heard about it and she listened with attention Edward's talk. In one hour he managed to talk to her about the Templar's code, Cardan's masks and steganography. She loved the story of the egyptians messengers who had messages drawn on their bold skulls and then hidden by the growing hair...
She always had been attracted by mathematics and adventure stories and she wondered why she never got into cryptography. Edward told her that before attacking a mathematical problem you had to fully analysed it, in order to identify the weakness of it. For an encrypted message for example, you have to identify the type of cryptograms that are used, the number of coded characters, their frequency...
Dora looked again at the message, and she focused on the shape of the symbols. She noticed quickly that under their apparent complexity, these symbols were quite simple. One, two or three semi-circles that could be rotated by 45 degrees. Like the eight directions on a compass. She grabbed a paper and a pencil and she drew the different symbols, and classed them.
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| Dorabella Cipher- First Class Symbols |
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She had split the symbols on three crosses looking like compasses. It was giving a set of 24 possible symbols, with only 19 of them had been used by Elgar when he made its message. She reminded the Templar's code with its 25 symbols. Edward had explained to her that "I" and "J" were not differentiate for the Templar, and that their code would even give a 24 letters alphabet by regrouping U and V. She drew from memory the Templar's alphabet:
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| Templar's code |
6 groups of 4 symbols for the Templars, 3 groups of 8 symbols for Edward. The methodology was given. This code was just an easy substitution code, inspired by the Templars. The letter arrangement in the Templar's code was following some easy and logical patterns :
Before going further, she decided to number the symbols. Numbers were easier to handle that such symbols. She started the numbering with the symbol shaped like a "C" and then she numbered the First Class symbols, clockwise, from 1 to 8.
She did the same with Second Class symbols, from 9 to 16, and with Third Class symbols, from 17 to 24.
The coded message could then be rewritten in a sequence of numbers, with each number associated to one symbol:
9
|
21
|
10
|
17
|
1
|
11
|
7
|
17
|
4
|
9
|
18
|
14
|
6
|
2
|
14
|
19
|
14
|
14
|
11
|
21
|
21
|
15
|
2
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
3
|
18
|
22
| ||
7
|
14
|
7
|
11
|
8
|
17
|
4
|
12
|
17
|
10
|
14
|
14
|
10
|
11
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
14
|
18
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
18
|
22
|
10
|
22
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
10
|
2
|
15
|
23
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
6
|
22
|
3
|
17
|
21
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
17
|
3
|
8
|
17
|
She had not deciphered anything but this simple reshaping of the original message was going to provide her precious information. First of all, she had believed that the three lines of the message had the same length and the same number of characters. With her rewritting of the message, she could easily see that it was not the case. It could be an insignificant detail, but she wrote a note about it.
What made her think she was on the hint of the code was the alignment of 8. The alphabet had 24 symbols, there were 3 lines, 24 equal 8 times 3, and she noticed three "8" aligned in the message.
What made her think she was on the hint of the code was the alignment of 8. The alphabet had 24 symbols, there were 3 lines, 24 equal 8 times 3, and she noticed three "8" aligned in the message.
9
|
21
|
10
|
17
|
1
|
11
|
7
|
17
|
4
|
9
|
18
|
14
|
6
|
2
|
14
|
19
|
14
|
14
|
11
|
21
|
21
|
15
|
2
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
3
|
18
|
22
| ||
7
|
14
|
7
|
11
|
8
|
17
|
4
|
12
|
17
|
10
|
14
|
14
|
10
|
11
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
14
|
18
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
18
|
22
|
10
|
22
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
10
|
2
|
15
|
23
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
6
|
22
|
3
|
17
|
21
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
17
|
3
|
8
|
17
|
She had no doubt that she was on the trail, and it was a confirmation of the numbering she had chosen. She was not really easy with statistics, but is seemed to her that having a row with three "8" was something quite improbable. She counted the "8" in the complete message. There were six of them. Then, she took only the first 25 rows into account, and for one row she estimated the probability to have a "8". Randomly she had 6/87 chances to have symbol 8 on the first line of one row, then 5/87 to have it again on the second line in the same row and then 4/87 to have it on the third line, in the same row. It was 120 chances over 87*87*87. Taking into account the 25 rows, it gave her an estimate of (120*25)/(87*87*87), which was approximately 0.5%. She had only 0.5% of probability to find three "8" aligned in the same row with this message. So, she had 99.5 % that this alignment had been made on purpose, and was not a random artifact.
A code with 24 symbols, similar to the Templar's code, three 8s that made 24 again. "24" seemed to be the key to start. Then she had the Idea to sum the numbers of the different lines of a row.
A code with 24 symbols, similar to the Templar's code, three 8s that made 24 again. "24" seemed to be the key to start. Then she had the Idea to sum the numbers of the different lines of a row.
9
|
21
|
10
|
17
|
1
|
11
|
7
|
17
|
4
|
9
|
18
|
14
|
6
|
2
|
14
|
19
|
14
|
14
|
11
|
21
|
21
|
15
|
2
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
3
|
18
|
22
|
||
7
|
14
|
7
|
11
|
8
|
17
|
4
|
12
|
17
|
10
|
14
|
14
|
10
|
11
|
3
|
6
|
7
|
14
|
18
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
4
|
4
|
8
|
18
|
22
|
10
|
22
|
11
|
15
|
22
|
10
|
2
|
15
|
23
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
14
|
11
|
15
|
6
|
22
|
3
|
17
|
21
|
3
|
22
|
11
|
17
|
3
|
8
|
17
|
||||
26
|
57
|
28
|
43
|
31
|
38
|
13
|
44
|
44
|
22
|
54
|
39
|
30
|
24
|
32
|
31
|
43
|
31
|
46
|
56
|
35
|
52
|
35
|
31
|
14
|
24
|
24
|
22
|
30
|
18
|
22
|
Three rows were giving a total of "24". She looked at these raws. Then, she sumed the numbers of these rows, by line.
2+ 8 + 3 = 13
11 + 8 + 4 = 23
11 + 8 + 17 =36
That was quite interesting again, because 13+23 = 36, and 36 was the half of 72, 3 times 24. She had the feeling of an harmony in those numbers, and she definitely decided this numbering was the good one to be used for this message. She did not know what it will change, but it might have an impact later in the decryption.
The matter now was to attribute smartly the letters to these numbers. These compass remind what he told him about the toposcope at the top of Worcestershire Beacon at Marven Hills. He promised her they will walk their one day.
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| Worcestershire Beacon - Malvern Hills |
This map was unique and splendid. It had been inaugurated a few weeks earlier, to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
She did a few trials, trying first to associate symbol 1 to letter A, symbol 2 to letter B, and so on. But nothing made sense. Then she tried some lucky guess, but no more success. She knew she was missing something of importance that could help her to enter into the code. Elgar had to give her the key, somewhere.
She hold again the small piece of paper and looked at it carefully. She looked the signature of the message, which she had fully neglected until now.
She hold again the small piece of paper and looked at it carefully. She looked the signature of the message, which she had fully neglected until now.
.
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| July 14 97 |
Edward had explained to her that frequently the most difficult things to understand were just in front of you, like the noise in the middle of the face. This date was not at the good place. This date was replacing the signature. Was it another kind of clue?
Normally this date should have been written in the upper part, on the right. And as for a signature, she should have found something like "Edward" or 'Elgar" or "E.E". She grabbed her magnifying glass to be able to analyse this signature. Something was not right, she could feel it.
Normally this date should have been written in the upper part, on the right. And as for a signature, she should have found something like "Edward" or 'Elgar" or "E.E". She grabbed her magnifying glass to be able to analyse this signature. Something was not right, she could feel it.
to be continued...
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