All the same, the position was a good one.

I had four hundred a year (the price at which I had modestly appraised my services), free quarters, a pleasant life, and lots of hunting--all I could wish for, in fact; and what can a man have more?
So again I said, "Yes." "We are agreed in all points, then.

If you will come into my room "-- we were by this time arrived at the house--"you shall have your first lesson in cryptography." I assented with eagerness, for I was burning to begin, and, from what Mr.
Fortescue had said, I did not anticipate any great difficulty in making out the cipher.
But when he produced a specimen page of his manuscript, my confidence, like Bob Acre's courage, oozed out at my finger-ends, or rather, all over me, for I broke out into a cold sweat.
The first few lines resembled a confused array of algebraic formula.

(I detest algebra.) Then came several lines that seemed to have been made by the crawlings of tipsy flies with inky legs, followed by half a dozen or so that looked like the ravings of a lunatic done into Welsh, while the remainder consisted of Roman numerals and ordinary figures mixed up, higgledy-piggledy.
"This is nothing less than appalling," I almost groaned.

"It will take me longer to learn than two or three languages." "Oh, no! When you have got the clew, and learned the signs, you will read the cipher with ease." "Very likely; but when will that be ?" "Soon.