Page 104 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
“Whining?” Fawkes confirmed blandly. “Yer foot whined?”
“It’s ever so anxious for pudding.”
The girl could sound sweeter than the dessert herself, but Ellie wasn’t fooled. She plopped another serving of the greens—spinach?—on Merida’s plate, although in deference to the holiday, assured her it was a smaller spoonful.
“Eat, lassie,” Fawkes commanded sternly.
Merida sighed. “Yes, Fawkes.” But she brightened a bit when she picked up her fork once more. “This is a big week, you know! The Teeth Mice left me a coin on Tuesday, and I get Christmas pudding on Friday!”
“Today is Thursday,” Ellie gently corrected, fiddling with the wine stem and wondering if the girl’s education had already begun to slip. She needed a governess. She needed a great many things Ellie could not give her.
Frowning, Merida swallowed down her vegetables and shook her head. “Christmas is on Friday.”
“Nay, dearie,” Estella corrected. “The date of Christmas changes each year. Last year it was Wednesday. This year it is Thursday.”
“Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday,” sang Merida. “All of those have six letters!”
The conversation continued to swirl around them—Fawkes trying to convince the girl she really had no idea how to spellThursday—but Ellie had frozen, wine glass lifted halfway to her lips.
All of those have six letters.
That was…important. Somehow.
All of those have six letters.
“Ellie?” came Fawkes’s voice from far away. “Ye look as if ye’ve seen a ghost.”
“Six letters,” she repeated, blinking, coming back to the Christmas dinner. “Three of the seven days of the week have six letters.”
His brows had risen, as if uncertain how to respond. “…Yes?”
“The letter D is the fourth letter, both in the alphabet and in those days of the week.” She was still trying to work through this. “In three of the seven days of the week, the letters D, A, and Y would be in the same position.”
She saw the exact moment he understood, his expression clearing as he exhaled.
And Ellie knew she wasright.
If Fawkes could see it, without any explanation, then shemustbe right. “Excuse me,” she blurted, placing her wine glass down and pushing away from the table. “I will be right back.”
“Mother, entertain Merida, aye?” Fawkes stood as well. “Sprite, finish yer greens and ye can have as many servings of pudding as ye can arm-wrestle Mimi for.”
Dimly, Ellie heard Merida shout, “I’m going to win!” but she was already halfway down the corridor. Fawkes caught up with her when she reached her room, and stepped through on her heels. They reached the desk together and he held out the chair without being asked.
Ellie handed him the pile of newspaper clippings. “Here. Not all of these contain the dates, or enough of the paper to determine the dates. Look for one published on a Sunday, Monday, or Friday.”
As he searched, she grabbed a piece of scrap paper and began to scribble out the alphabet.
If the keyword is Sunday, then those six letters will go first.
She was left with:
SUNDAYBCEFGHIJKLMOPQRTVWXZ
And beneath that she wrote the alphabet, ensuring the letters lined up. If she was right, and the keyword was as simple as the day of the week the message was published, then both Fatherandher uncle would have a simple code…and it would explain why on some of the messages, the codes were tantalizingly similar.
On three days of the week, D equaled D, A became E, and Y became F…
The wordthat, the most common four-lettered English word which began and ended with the same letter, would become “QCSQ”.Hmmm.
