In August of 1916, I received a telegram from Sherlock Holmes informing me that he would be
arriving at my house early the next day. Hoping that he wanted me to accompany him in solving
some intriguing wartime mystery that had called him out of retirement, I prepared for the
possibility.
In what seemed to me to be the middle of the night, I was awakened by a pounding on my front
door. It was Holmes. I was too groggy to indicate my pleasure at seeing him, so I motioned him to
a chair while I hobbled to my bedroom to dress in the attire that I had set out. When I returned
and we had exchanged greetings, I was handed a newspaper folded over so that a particular
article was indicated for my perusal. I began reading it aloud as I backed into the chair opposite
my friend.
"Three days ago we reported that a passenger ship bound for America was torpedoed by a
German submarine off the coast of Ireland. The ship was saved from sinking by wise decisions of
the ship's captain. Because the attack occurred in broad daylight, the ship's crew had spotted the
submarine's periscope before torpedos were launched. The captain immediately ordered that the
lower decks be vacated and that all watertight hatches be closed, and he ordered that distress
signals be sent by radio, which were received by a British warship in the vicinity. Finally, he
ordered, just as the first torpedo's explosion got everyone's attention, that all passengers
assemble on the main deck to prepare for boarding boats and inflatable rafts.
"Two explosions were felt. When no more occurred, the captain ordered that all passengers
board the boats and rafts and move away from the ship. When the warship arrived, experts in ship
repair began shoring up the damaged hull. When the work had been completed, the passengers
were ordered to reboard the ship, which then returned to port.
"That was what we reported three days ago based on information from military sources. Since
then our office has received several telephone calls from eyewitnesses indicating that what we
reported told only part of what happened. We have met with three of the telephone callers. One of
them showed us some rather revealing photographs.
"While the passengers in boats and inflatable rafts were still circled around the torpedoed ship,
the submarine surfaced and began circling around the boats and rafts with two of its crew
looking at the passengers through binoculars as if looking for someone in particular. Suddenly one
of them shouted down the hatch. A rifle was passed up to the one shouting, who then aimed at and
shot to death one of the passengers, a forty year old man who was sitting in an inflatable raft next
to his eighteen year old daughter.
"Noticing the approaching warship, the two men on the submarine quickly descended through the
hatch and twisted it shut. But as the submarine began submerging, the daughter of the murdered
passenger was seen swimming to the submarine. She scrambled over its deck, twisted the hatch
open, and began descending into it even as water began flowing into it. As the submarine was
lost from view, the young woman was seen swimming back to the raft in which her father's body
was lying dead.
"After a few minutes, the submarine resurfaced several hundred yards further away. A man was
seen reclosing the hatch. The submarine then quickly submerged, but it was too late. The
approaching warship went right through the place in the water where the submarine was. A
momentary jerking of the warship told everyone watching that the submarine was being smashed.
"The passenger ship is in dry dock for repairs. The warship is also in dry dock so that its hull can
be inspected for damage. As for the German submarine, only one of its crew made it to the
surface alive. The young woman was spirited away by military officials. We have learned that her
father had been a cryptologist in America who had come to Britain to assist an Army office
specializing in deciphering encrypted messages."
I looked up to face Holmes asking me, "Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
"It is an interesting article, but it leaves me with several unanswered questions."
"And what are those?"
"How would men on a German submarine recognize an American cryptologist? How would they
know that the cryptologist was on that particular ship? What was the cryptologist's daughter
attempting to do on the submarine? What will become of her?"
"Yesterday I interviewed the captains of both the dry-docked passenger ship and the dry-docked
warship. The young woman was so angry at the man who killed her father that she wanted to get
back at him. The only thing she could think of was to make water flow into his submerging
submarine. She was nearly swept into the submarine when she twisted open the inner hatch.
"We must now meet with a Major Henderson, who works in the office of decoding mentioned in
the article. The captain of the warship said that this Major Henderson had shown concern about
the death of the cryptologist."
Within an hour we met Major Henderson, who was just arriving for his day's work at an Army
office so neatly tucked away between civilian buildings that few even knew that it was there. We
followed him through a guarded entrance, where our names were logged, then down a
passageway to a door that he had to unlock. We entered into a windowless room in which the
only furniture were a table with several wooden chairs around it.
When we had seated ourselves, Holmes asked, "What prompted the American cryptologist to
come to Britain?"
"We had gained access to some coded messages that we had not been able to decipher. We
had reasons for believing that they contained important information. I had heard that some
American cryptologists, as they have begun calling themselves, are becoming more advanced
in decoding than are we. I sent Mr. Andrew Scott, one of our translators, to New York City to
bring a cryptologist back with him to help us crack these coded messages. Mr. Scott returned
with Professor Robert Key and his eighteen year old daughter Heather, who assisted the
professor in his work.
"It was in this very room that Professor Key did his work for us. Within a day he had decoded
several messages, and within a week he had decoded dozens of messages that might have
taken us weeks to decipher. The professor then said that he must return to the college where he
taught mathematics. Miss Key would be entering the same college as a student.
"The professor's wife, Heather's mother, died when Heather was very young, and Robert never
remarried, so Miss Key is now an orphan. She is at the home of Mrs. Sharon Turner, where
Professor Key and his daughter had stayed during the week that he was working for us. The
Turner mansion is not far from here. Later today Miss Key is to board a ship bound for America."
"Tell us about Mr. Andrew Scott."
Major Henderson squirmed in his chair a little before answering. "Mr. Scott had been preparing
to work for an Edinburgh company that had considerable interests in Germany. Mr. Scott's uncle
worked at the company's branch office in Germany, where he had become fluent in the German
language. As the uncle approached retirement age, he began training his nephew for taking
over his position at the company. Mr. Scott spent his summer vacations with his uncle learning
the business and the German language.
"When war was declared, the company's office in Germany was closed, the uncle was forced
to retire early, and Mr. Scott enlisted in the Army. I had been looking for recruits who were fluent
in German, so that decoded messages in that language could be translated into English. In
October of 1914, I interviewed Mr. Scott and had him transferred to my command. Though he
was somewhat slow at first, his translations always proved to be accurate. He gradually became
my most reliable translator of messages in German.
"There have been calls for all able-bodied young men to be sent to the battle fronts to replace
those killed or wounded. I was told that Mr. Scott would have to go. None of my protests had any
effect.
"The abilities of American cryptologists were being called to my attention, as I have said. I also
learned that some British industrialists were organizing a voyage to America in an attempt to
convince their American counterparts that American troops should be sent to help the British war
effort. In a futile attempt to prevent Mr. Scott from being sent into battle, I ordered him to go on
that ship to bring back a cryptologist, as I have said. Mr. Scott is now training for being sent to
the front lines."
"Before the war began, the Edinburgh company had been expecting to hire Mr. Scott. After the
war began, the company might have learned through his uncle that Mr. Scott was working in an
office of decoding as a translator."
"Yes. About two months after Mr. Scott began working here, the chief owner of the company, Mr.
Gary Douglas, presented himself and desired to speak with Mr. Scott."
"In what mood did Mr. Douglas leave after meeting with Mr. Scott?"
"You astonish me, Mr. Holmes! As a matter of fact, Mr. Douglas was heard yelling at Mr. Scott.
His face was distorted with anger as he left. I asked Mr. Scott about it. He said that it was a
personal matter, but that the result of their discussion was that he would not be hired by the
company after the war."
"After the death of her father, you have not been supplying Miss Key with messages to decipher,
have you?"
Major Henderson's face suddenly reddened, which was all the answer that Holmes needed.
"Thank you, Major Henderson, for answering my questions. Which way to the Turner mansion?"
I should mention that as we exited through the guard station and the guard logged our names as
leaving, Holmes got permission to look over the names of those who had visited recently.
I could not keep up with the brisk stride of Holmes. By the time I arrived at the Turner mansion,
Holmes had already learned that Miss Key had just been kidnapped by two masked men who
had sped away in a motorcar.
Holmes grabbed my arm and helped me move towards King's Cross Station. "I found burned
papers in the fireplace of the room where Miss Key was staying. There was an odor of chloroform
in the room."
I was panting too much to ask what Holmes was planning for us to do about the situation.
"See that small park over there? Notice the fresh tire tracks across the grass from the road to that
stand of bushes. From behind them the tracks rejoin the road over there."
As we neared King's Cross Station, Holmes quickly scanned the vehicles parked around it. "The
motorcar, as described by Mrs. Turner's housemaid, is not here."
Holmes paid for a compartment on a train that was ultimately bound for Edinburgh. However, we
would be getting off at the first stop.
As the train began to move and we were becoming relaxed in our compartment, I was about to
ask Holmes what our plans were, when he stood up and said, "Come, Watson!"
We moved through several cars until we came to a baggage car. "Watson, we are looking for a
large case that could be breathed in, so not in leather but in cloth. Ah, there is one, and it is large
enough."
He zipped it open to reveal an unconscious young woman curled up in it with her hands and feet
bound with ropes and with a cloth gag tied across her mouth. We pulled her out into the aisle and
stretched out her long limbs. While Holmes untied the gag and ropes, I patted her cheeks and
wafted air across her nostrils. Within a minute or two she began to revive, blinking her eyes, but
saying nothing.
In a pocket of the traveling case that she had been in I found a small bottle of chloroform. Holmes
directed me to put it in one of my pockets.
An increase in the noise level alerted us to the approach of someone about to enter the car we
were in. Holmes helped the young woman crawl behind some luggage, tossed me the gag and
ropes, then quickly zipped up the case and darted behind some other luggage. I rolled behind
some boxes with the gag and ropes before a large man approached the case that the young
woman had been in.
As the man zipped it open and was shocked to find it empty, Holmes sprang out of hiding to
tackle the man down. "This man needs some rest!"
I poured chloroform on the cloth gag, and lunged at the man's face with it just as he was kicking
off Holmes, who had been frantically trying to hold him down. The man pushed me over some
luggage and then attempted to strangle Holmes.
The tall young woman grabbed the chloroformed cloth out of my hand, pounced on the man's
back, and forced the cloth over the man's screaming mouth and nose. All three of us held him
down until his limbs went limp. Holmes tied up the man's hands and feet with the ropes, we all
three curled him up into the case, and I zipped him in.
After our panting had subsided, the young woman spoke first. "Thank you for saving my life, Mr.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson." We were startled at her familiarity with us. She handed
Holmes his card that had fallen out of someone's pocket during the scuffle. She said to me, "I
didn't find your card, Dr. Watson, but as Sherlock here is on one of his adventures, the shorter
and stockier of you two would have to be Watson."
Holmes and I burst into laughter. "Well, Watson, I see that your writings chronicling some of our
little adventures have been read in America by Miss Heather Key, the cryptologist whose
mathematician father was so tragically murdered. I am deeply saddened by your loss, Miss Key.
At the next stop Dr. Watson must see you back to Mrs. Sharon Turner, who is greatly disturbed
by your being kidnapped. Come, let us go to our compartment to discuss the situation in which
we find ourselves."
Miss Key seemed astonished at Sherlock's remarks and eagerly followed us through the train
and into our compartment. As we sat down, I asked Holmes why he thought that the kidnappers
would put Miss Key on this particular train, and also why he didn't seem worried about the other
kidnapper.
"I asked Mrs. Turner's housemaid, who had been held down by one man, while Miss Key was
being chloroformed, slung over his shoulder, and carried to their motorcar by the other, whether
or not the man holding her down ever looked at his watch. She replied that just as the man got
up to join his companion in their motorcar he looked at his watch with an expression of
satisfaction showing on the portions of his face not covered by his mask. From this information I
understood that there was a deadline to meet and that their kidnapping scheme was either on
schedule or even ahead of schedule. What would fit meeting a schedule better than arriving in
time for boarding a train, and not just any train, but one bound for Edinburgh, where a German
spy ring has been in operation since the beginning of the war?
"As for my unconcern about the second kidnapper, when we arrived at King's Cross Station,
the motorcar used by the kidnappers, as described by the maidservant, was not there. Unless I
am sadly mistaken, the other kidnapper is driving it toward Edinburgh even as we speak."
I then wanted to know why he thought that we could arrive in time to board this train by walking
briskly, when the kidnappers had preceded us and were traveling by motorcar. "Surely you were
unaware of the exact time for this train's departure!"
"It is true that they preceded us by a few minutes and traveled much faster than we did. However,
they had to stop their motorcar in a park behind some bushes to accomplish some important
tasks. They had to tie up Miss Key, stuff her into a traveling case, remove their masks and put
on other clothing, stow away their masks and any removed clothing, and raise the canvas top
on their motorcar so that it would not immediately look like the vehicle that had been seen leaving
the Turner mansion. I was also counting on the fact that they were carrying out their plan a little
ahead of schedule so as not to altogether miss the train. Of course I would have preferred having
a train schedule in my pocket. I believe you used to handle that chore quite admirably."
Listening intently to all of this, Miss Key was amused by the verbal jab at me.
"And now, Miss Key, would you please tell us about Mrs. Sharon Turner?"
"She has been like a mother to me both during the voyage to Britain, while my father and I stayed
in her mansion, and especially since my father was killed. She is a widow. Her husband was a
wealthy industrialist, who, when British troops were sent across the Channel, showed his
patriotism by donating two of his company's ships for use in supplying the troops. While he was
aboard one of those ships during a supply run, a German submarine torpedoed and sank it. That
was how her husband died.
"Their son Chester wanted to take over his father's business, for which he was being groomed.
However, Mrs. Turner, who is the accountant for the business, assumed control and told Chester
that she would not sign control over to him until the war was over, at which time he could also
move his family into the Turner mansion.
"I wish Mrs. Turner would go with me to America and act as a mother for me."
"Please tell us about Andrew Scott."
"I cannot do so without telling you about myself."
"Then do so."
"I have only vague memories of my mother, who fell from a ladder while helping my father paint
a house to earn some extra money during one of his summer vacations. Her head hit the edge
of some concrete work, and she died. My father was so upset by the tragedy that it was years
before he told me what happened.
"I grew up without a mother, but did well in school, excelling in sports because I was bigger than
the other children my age. Boys had no interest in me because I was so tall, except when they
needed another player for a baseball game.
"Probably because of my father's knowledge of mathematics, I became interested in games of
logic and in puzzles and eventually in deciphering coded messages. In one of my father's
mathematical journals I found an article on cryptology that I read over and over again. I even went
to the college library to read the books and articles listed in the footnotes. My father encouraged
my interest.
"By the time I was a senior in high school I was corresponding with a man living in New York City
who was actually earning a living by decoding messages.
"When no boy wanted to take me to the senior prom, I felt like a misfit in society. My father
wanted me to continue my education at the college at which he was a professor of mathematics.
I wanted to become a cryptologist, and I showed him an encouraging letter from the man I had
been corresponding with.
"We settled on a compromise. He would take me to New York City to see if the cryptologists
there would hire me, if I would consent to go to college if my application for employment as a
cryptologist were rejected. With that understanding we went to New York City.
"Although the cryptologists were impressed with my ability to decode messages, they thought
that I should get a degree in mathematics. They even said that they would be more interested in
hiring my father than me. I was greatly disappointed and wanted to be alone for a while.
"While my father was out visiting libraries and bookstores, I moped around in our hotel suite until
I heard a knocking at the door. It was Andrew Scott, who said that he was looking for Professor
Robert Key. When I asked why, he said that it was very important that he talk directly with
Professor Key. He asked me if he could wait for Professor Key in the lobby by the elevators. I
nodded assent, but I could not contain my curiosity. I went out to the lobby to confront him about
why he wanted to see my father. I finally dragged it out of him that he was from Britain seeking
an American cryptologist to assist his nation's Army in decoding wartime messages. He had
visited the same cryptologists I had visited. None of them had wanted to help the British decode
messages, but one of them had mentioned that a professor of mathematics by the name of
Robert Key had just been there, and he remembered the name of the hotel where we were staying.
"I asked Andrew how he could be sure that someone was really a cryptologist. Andrew opened
his briefcase and pulled out some samples of coded messages. 'I have the solutions to these.'
"I snatched the samples out of his hand and said, 'I'll be back when I have decoded one of these.'
He thought I was crazy.
"After a few minutes I solved one of them, went out and tossed at him the sample with its solution
written on a sheet of hotel stationery, and went back to work on another.
"When I emerged again, he stood and said, 'You got it right!'
"I then slapped a second sample with the solution into his hands and said, 'I got this one right too!'
"When I emerged with a third sample with its solution, which he quickly compared with the
solution that he had, he asked, 'If the daughter can do this, what can the father do?' At that point
in time the elevator door opened and out stepped my father!
"After the three of us came to understand the truth of the whole situation, we concluded that I
could probably provide some of the help his office of decoding was wanting, but that its
masculine pride would probably not tolerate receiving that help from an eighteen year old girl. So
we mutually conceived the idea of my father posing as a cryptologist who would insist that his
daughter help him in his work.
"While visiting the ship we would be traveling on, my father saw an announcement concerning
a formal ball for one of the evenings during the voyage to Britain, thought about my
disappointment at not being invited to the senior prom, and told Andrew that unless he would
buy a gown for me and be my partner for the ball, we would not be going to Britain. Andrew kept
the gown hidden until the day of the ball, when he invited me to be his partner for the ball and
gave me the gown, saying, 'I hope your father told me the right dress size.'
"Andrew and I fell in love with each other during that voyage. He told me that on his arrival in
Britain he would have to begin training for being sent into battle. If he could somehow survive the
war, he wanted to marry me when it was over.
"My father's partner for the ball was Mrs. Turner, who offered her mansion as a place for us to
stay during the week or so we would be in London.
"I worked long hours at the office of decoding because I thought that anything I could do to help
the British war effort might result in saving Andrew from being killed in battle.
"Of course you know how my father was killed. Thanks to you two, there is still time for me to get
on a ship departing for America later today. Oh, I wish I could see Andrew before I leave!"
At the end of her statement, when I was trying to hold back tears, I noticed that Holmes was
trying to suppress a smile.
As the train slowed, I asked Holmes, "What do we do about the man in the traveling case?"
"I'll handle that, Watson. You and Miss Key should return to the Turner mansion on the next train.
I have business here. It has been good seeing you, Watson. Have a good voyage, Miss Key!"
As Holmes stood to leave, Miss Key looked sorry to see him go. Holmes handed her his card,
which brightened her face a little. He then quickly left the compartment.
At the station, while Heather and I were standing in the ticket line, Miss Key noticed Holmes
emerging from a telephone booth. Holmes was smiling about something, noticed us, waved, and
then strode away.
During the trip back to King's Cross Station, I asked Miss Key about the kidnapping. She said
that while she was packing for the voyage back to America, she was also working on decoding
some messages that Major Henderson had supplied her with copies of, which he would pick up
before it was time for her to leave for the port. She heard the sound of an motorcar engine outside
and thought, "It is too early for Major Henderson." She heard a commotion downstairs and an
anguished scream from the housemaid. When she heard approaching footsteps, she grabbed
the coded messages, rushed to the fireplace, struck a match, and set the messages on fire. She
felt more concerned about destroying them than her own safety. As she watched the papers
burn, a masked man approached her from behind and forced a chloroformed cloth over her nose
and mouth. "The next thing I remember was waking up in the baggage car of a train."
As the train we were now on slowed and she was looking out the window, suddenly she
screamed, "It's Andrew!" She ran down the aisle so that she would be the first to get off the car
we were on. I made my way after her, wondering if Holmes had anything to do with this.
When I finally caught up to meet Mr. Scott, Heather showed me the engagement ring on her
finger. I congratulated the couple on their plans to get married when the war ended.
While we walked to the Turner mansion, Mr. Scott told me what had transpired. "Mr. Sherlock
Holmes telephoned Major Henderson, demanding that I be at the train station when Heather
returned. Mr. Holmes knew from the guard station log that I had logged in several days before
Holmes and you logged in, but that there was no logging out for me. From that, Mr. Holmes
correctly surmised that I was still working as a German translator for Major Henderson, despite
Henderson's statement about my being in combat training."
I asked Mr. Scott, "Why would Major Henderson tell people that you were in training for combat,
if it were not true?"
"He said that a counterespionage detachment of the Army had told him that a German spy ring
had been scheming of ways to persuade me to give them summaries of the decoded
messages I had access to. Major Henderson was hoping to confuse the spies with this combat
training story. On my return from America he actually had me escorted from the ship to a
training base, to make the story look real. A week later, I was returned during the night to the
office of decoding where my quarters had been and are again. Major Henderson said he now
realizes that the spies were not fooled by the story."
When we arrived at the Turner mansion, Mrs. Turner came out to embrace both Andrew and
Heather. She was greatly relieved over Heather's safe return and in Andrew's not being in
training for combat, and she expressed delight at their engagement. "Heather, I am going with you
to America. My son Chester will be moving into this mansion with his family and will be in charge
of the family business. Because of the death of your father, you need someone to get your
financial situation in order, someone to see that you make it to classes on time and do your
homework. I want to be that someone. The servants are even now loading our luggage into
Chester's motorcar."
Heather wept with joy and hugged Mrs. Turner. "I have been deprived of the mother I have
needed. Cryptology, though interesting, has a dangerous side to it. I think I'll major in music."
I asked Mrs. Turner what prompted her to decide to go with Miss Key to America.
"I had wanted to, but was afraid that Heather would not want me to. Mr. Sherlock Holmes
telephoned to tell me that Miss Key had been rescued from the kidnappers and was on her
way home. He said that he heard Miss Key say that she wished that I would go to America with
her and act as a mother for her."
I met Chester and his family, then watched the tearful parting of Andrew and Heather when
Andrew had to return to his work. I stayed at the mansion until Mrs. Turner and Miss Key had left
for the port. I was then in such a cheerful mood that I walked all the way home.
The next day I awoke very late, ate a hearty meal, then settled back in my couch to read the
newspapers. One article especially caught my attention.
"Yesterday the headquarters of a German spy ring based in Edinburgh was raided by an Army
detachment specializing in counterespionage. Everyone known to be in the spy ring was
captured except for two of its London operatives. Not long after the raid, one of the London
operatives was discovered tied up inside a traveling case on a train bound for Edinburgh. The
other was captured when a description of his motorcar led to his arrest on a roadway in the
Lake District.
"The leader of the detachment said that the key to the successful raid in Edinburgh was
accurate information supplied by Mr. Gary Douglas of Edinburgh, whose company, which once
had a German branch, had become a front for the spy ring. At first, Mr. Douglas ignorantly
participated in their attempts to infiltrate an Army office of decoding. When he realized what
they were attempting to do, he approached a trusted friend in the Army, who forwarded Mr.
Douglas's concern to an Army counterespionage detachment. From that time forward, Mr.
Douglas had been spying on the spies.
"Mr. Douglas claims that the spy ring was behind the torpedoing last week of a passenger
ship off the coast of Ireland. He said that he later learned that the spy ring had given the captain
of the German submarine a photograph of Professor Robert Key which had been used to single
him out from among the passengers on the boats and rafts after the ship had been torpedoed.
Professor Key was shot to death by a man on the submarine.
"Mr. Douglas claims that the reason for the murder was that the spy ring did not want Professor
Key's knowledge of German coded messages to be shared with other American cryptologists.
"Mr. Douglas claims that the spy ring was planning to kidnap the murdered cryptologist's
daughter, then threaten a young man in the office of decoding, who was in love with her, that they
would harm her if he did not begin supplying them with summaries of the decoded messages
that he had access to.
"Mr. Douglas said that he could not alert the counterespionage detachment about the
kidnapping scheme because the spy ring had become suspicious of him, confined him to his
house, and had removed his telephone.
"The two members of the spy ring assigned to kidnap Miss Heather Key were apparently the
two captured elsewhere on the same day as the Edinburgh raid. As we go to press, it is
unclear whether the kidnapping actually took place, nor is it known why one of the operatives
was found tied up in a traveling case on a train.
"As for the timing of the raid, the leader of the detachment said that it was about to occur
anyway. But when there had been no contact with Mr. Douglas for two days, it was decided that
the impending raid should not be postponed any longer.
"Miss Heather Key is now on a ship bound for America. Traveling with her is Mrs. Sharon Turner
of London."
I bought another copy of the paper, clipped out the article, and sent it to Holmes, asking for his
comments. It was some time before I received his brief response. "I was not aware that a raid
on the spy ring was in progress at the time we found Miss Key in a traveling case."
In December of 1916, I received a letter from Mrs. Sharon Turner, from which I extract the
following:
"Although Robert Key's will had left Heather everything, Uncle Ralph, the executor of his
brother's estate, was going to sell Robert's house and have Heather live in his family's house
until she is twenty-one. Heather's preference for me as a guardian meant that the house, which
is nearly paid for, will remain in Heather's possession. Although it is nothing like the mansion
in London, it is a pleasant place to live, and it is only a street away from the college.
"Robert did have a life insurance policy, but since he was killed in what the insurance company
described as a theater of war, they claimed that the manner of his death was not covered by the
policy. I hired a lawyer who successfully argued that since Robert had been on a civilian ship in
international waters, and that since America has not yet declared war on Germany, his death
was simple murder and should not be camouflaged as an act of war. The judge ruled in
Heather's favor and ordered the insurance company to pay, which they have done. However, the
insurance company is preparing to appeal the decision. They are gathering news articles
published in Britain mentioning that Professor Robert Key had worked for the British government
as a cryptologist.
"Heather is doing well in her classes. She is learning to play the piano and the violin, and she
sings in the college choir. She has admitted to me that one of the reasons she is majoring in
music is so that if the war ends before she would graduate, she could quit college to marry
Andrew, because with music, she says, ability is more important than having a degree. She
seems to have lost all interest in cryptology.
"Finally, Heather feels honored to have been the subject of a Sherlock Holmes investigation and
perhaps thereby to have furnished material for Dr. Watson's tin box archives."
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