Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Bird

Personal Secretary to Mr. Selkirk

'The blond youngish man,' I said, my mind going back to our visit to the castle of the eccentric millionaire.

Holmes grunted, his eyes devouring words. Then he leaned back for a moment in thought.

'Billy,' he said, finally, 'inform the messenger to stand by until I reach a decision.'

'Right you are, Mr. 'Olmes.' The page boy was gone.

'Let me read this to you, Watson. As you may have guessed, it was written by Basil Selkirk in a reasonably steady hand.' He held the expensive stationery closer to his eyes to study the ink. 'Quite recently, I would say. Surely within the week . . .

My dear Mr. Holmes:

Though it may not have been your intent, you did bring joy into the dull life of an aged man. Even more important, you gave me, in these last days, for the sands are running out, a moment of triumph. It was your reference to the year of 1822 that gave me the clue that unraveled the mystery of the Golden Bird. During this final period, I have been able to feast my eyes on the most unique gem in history—a famous diamond that, officially, does not exist, but we know better, do we not? By this time, you have arrived at the truth regarding the Pigott Diamond. Alas, the cold that lurks within my withered shell is increasing and I foresee a lengthy passage to a land where I cannot take my treasure with me. Or anything else, for that matter, save a reputation that bodes ill for my reception beyond the pale. Therefore, sir, I leave the Pigott to you, but it cannot be as easy as that. You must work a bit for it though my little riddle is not so baffling that it will provide puzzlement for long. When this reaches you, I shall not be able to bid you Godspeed in person. Allow me to do so now ...

Basil Selkirk

I crossed to stand behind Holmes and gaze at the letter and the last message of that chilling, yet strangely ingratiating, man.

C

QMKTXYN T

H

QMQE

KSOTEET

'Why, it is but gibberish,' I said instinctively, but my words had a hollow ring as I said them. Selkirk would not have indulged in anything meaningless. I viewed the three lines of letters with narrowed eyes and tried to apply some reason to the riddle.

'Holmes, do the C and H have any significance?'

'Obviously separated from the body of the message for some reason. Selkirk expected me to solve this cipher. Therefore, it is not keyed to a prearranged text.'

I was completely at sea at this point but, fortunately, Holmes explained his reasoning.

'As an instance, Q being the seventeeth letter in the alphabet and the first letter of the cipher might refer to the seventeenth word on the first page of a well-known novel. Or not so well-known for that matter. N being the thirteenth letter could refer to the thirteenth word on the second page of the same book and so forth. But such a cipher is dependent on a text known by the sender and receiver, not the case in this instance. Here we have a substitution cipher, I'm sure.'

His eyes devouring the message, Holmes continued as though as talking to himself. 'As a simple example, a reversal of the alphabet. Instead of an A, one uses Z while B becomes Y, and so forth. Usually, these are interesting little problems which intrigue the mind but seldom fatigue it. Here I sense difficulties. In the three lines of Selkirk's message, there are twenty-one letters. The letter E is by far the most commonly used in the English alphabet. But note, we have E used three times in the message. T is the next most common to our alphabet and it is used four times. In solving a substitution cipher, the basic step is to select the letter used most often and assume that it is E. The next most often used becomes T, the third A, and the fourth, O, and so on. In this case, the two most common alphabetic letters are the most-used in the body of the message. See also that Q is used three times while M and K occur twice. The other letters appear but once.'

'Could not the C and H, positioned as they are, offer some clue?' I asked.

'I would think so. Give me but a moment.'

Leaving Holmes deep in thought, I withdrew to the couch. Though confused myself, I had no doubt my friend would come up with something and soon. After all, he had authored a monograph on secret writings in which he analyzed 160 separate ciphers.

Suddenly, Holmes rose to his feet. 'It won't do, Watson.'

There was a tinge of annoyance in his voice and he crossed to the door and summoned Billy, instructing the page boy to inform the waiting messenger that we were on our way to St. Aubrey as rapidly as possible.

'There is something missing,' he said, reentering our chambers. 'A vital clue must be secured.'

A short time later, we were on our way to St. Pancreas station where we boarded the first train stopping at the quiet hamlet of St. Aubrey. During our short journey, Holmes, to my delight, felt prompted to discuss methods.

'When one is faced with a problem, as we are, it is advantageous to divine another's thoughts. Therefore, I place myself in the late Basil Selkirk's situation. He has acquired the collector's dream, a famous gem and the right of ownership. But he has no desire to flaunt his possesion for death is imminent. He decides to leave the stone to the one who was instrumental in his finding it. To me. But how can he be sure I will get it? Advanced years tend to produce a distrust of everyone. Possibly an eccentricity of age or perhaps the fruits of long experience. He decides to send the location of the diamond in a cipher, banking that I will be able to break it.'

'A fine summation of Basil Selkirk's final thoughts,' I said, 'but what do they suggest?'

'An association. Something in his immediate surroundings that Selkirk seized on as the key to the cipher he sent me.'

A carriage awaited our arrival at St. Aubrey and it whisked us out of town and to the castle of the financier. The blond secretary greeted us with a harrassed manner and turned us over to a solemn-faced butler with instructions to assist us in any way. There was an air of secrecy everywhere and I later learned that Selkirk's death was not being revealed immediately for fear of the effect of the news on the financial markets of the world.

Holmes expressed the desire to view the room where the death had occurred and the butler, Meers, led us to Selkirk's study where he had breathed his last.

The room had a 'much-used' feeling. There were well-filled bookshelves, a large teak desk, and a field-stone fireplace with an ornate mantle, also of teak. 'The walls were wood-paneled and the furniture was heavily carved, highly polished, early Victorian. On one wall were four canvases of moderate size. Holmes gazed at these oils casually and a puzzlement crept into his eyes. The butler was standing by the door, awaiting instructions and Holmes turned toward him.

'Meers?'

'Yes, Mr. Holmes, sir?'

'These four paintings, I don't seem to recognize them.'

'Doubtful that you would, sir. The artist was not illustrious, but Mr. Selkirk fancied them.'

The great sleuth crossed to the wall and looked at the oils closely. Attuned to his moods for so long, it seemed to me that Holmes's features sharpened and that predatory look was upon him of a sudden. Not for the first time I noted that, on occasion, my intimate friend resembled a bird of prey.

'That will be all, Meers.'

'Very good, sir.'