watched the havoc I was making on the viands, became also alarm. If my uncle were to come to table after all?
Suddenly, just as I had consumed the last apple and drank the last glass of wine, a terrible voice was heard at no great distance. It was my uncle roaring for me to come to him. I made very nearly one leap of it—so loud, so fierce was his tone.
CHAPTER II
THE MYSTERIOUS PARCHMENT
"I declare," cried my uncle, striking the table fiercely with his fist, "I declare to you it is Runic and contains some wonderful secret, which I must get at, at any price."
I was about to reply when he stopped me. "Sit down," he said, quite fiercely, "and write to my dictation."
I obeyed. "I will substitute," he said, "a letter of our alphabet for that of the Runic: we will then see what that will produce. Now, begin and make no mistakes."
The dictation commenced with the following incomprehensible result:—
|
m.rnlls |
esruel |
seecJde |
Scarcely giving me time to finish, my uncle snatched the document from my hands and examined it with the most rapt and deep attention.
"I should like to know what it means," he said, after a long period.
I certainly could not tell him, nor did he expect me to—his conversation being uniformly answered by himself.
