Perhaps you would like to know how I first thought of the affair.

Do you remember that solicitor who had an office near the Law Courts, and did a great deal of blackmail business?
If you do, you must remember that he got two years' hard labor." "Yes, I remember the man," returned Catenac in a humble voice.
"He used," continued Mascarin, "to buy up waste paper, and search through the piles he had collected for any matters that might be concealed in the heterogeneous mass.

And many things he must have found.
In what sensational case have not letters played a prominent part?
What man is there who has not at one time or other regretted that he has had pen and ink ready to his hand?
If men were wise, they would use those patent inks, which fade from the paper in a few days.

I followed his example, and, among other strange discoveries, I made this one." He took from his desk a piece of paper--ragged, dirty, and creased--and, handing it to Hortebise and Paul, said,-- "Read!" They did so, and read the following strange word: "TNAFNEERTONIOMZEDNEREITIPZEYAETNECONNISIUSEJECARG;" while underneath was written in another hand the word, "Never." "It was evident that I had in my hands a letter written in cipher, and I concluded that the paper contained some important secret." Catenac listened to this narrative with an air of contempt, for he was one of those foolish men who never know when it is best for them to yield.
"I daresay you are right," answered he with a slight sneer.
"Thank you," returned Mascarin coolly.

"At any rate, I was deeply interested in solving this riddle, the more as I belonged to an association which owes its being and position to its skill in penetrating the secrets of others.