Now, in the single
word I have already got the two E's coming second and fourth in
a word of five letters. It might be `sever,' or `lever,' or
`never.' There can be no question that the latter as a reply
to an appeal is far the most probable, and the circumstances
pointed to its being a reply written by the lady. Accepting it
as correct, we are now able to say that the symbols XXX stand
respectively for N, V, and R.
"Even now I was in considerable difficulty, but a happy thought
put me in possession of several other letters. It occurred to
me that if these appeals came, as I expected, from someone who
had been intimate with the lady in her early life, a combination
which contained two E's with three letters between might very
well stand for the name `ELSIE.' On examination I found that
such a combination formed the termination of the message which
was three times repeated. It was certainly some appeal to `Elsie.'
In this way I had got my L, S, and I. But what appeal could it be?
There were only four letters in the word which preceded `Elsie,'
and it ended in E. Surely the word must be `COME.' I tried all
other four letters ending in E, but could find none to fit the case.
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