Charlotte and the Cypher

Part the Second, wherein Charlotte visits her sisters.

Charlotte spent the next day at her family home, once again. This had become a habit, with James gone for such long periods. Sometimes it felt as if she hadn’t married at all.

For most of the afternoon, Charlotte sat on a small stool, sipping coffee and discussing clothing. She felt decidedly awkward, fiddling with her hat while the twins, Fanny and Emma, paraded before her in new dresses.

Emma, nominally the younger of the twins, flirted her fan open momentarily, looking over the lace edge with big, dark eyes.

“Oh, it is a most charming ensemble, Emma. Much better than my poor blue dress. You always look well in green,” Fanny enthused. “Do you not think so, Charlotte?”

“Hmm? Oh!” Charlotte was shocked to attention. “Yes, of course. It is no wonder mother dressed you always in green.”

Emma snapped her fan shut noisily. “You know, Charlotte, I greatly suspect that you are paying me no attention whatever.”

Fanny leaned back in her chair with a snort, resting her head on her hand. “Sister Charlotte has noticed nothing to-day, Emma. I fear she is pining for Captain Arden.”

Charlotte blushed. “I am not pining for him. How anyone could pine for that fool husband of mine, I do not know.”

“Oh, you are fond of him, you cannot deceive us!” Emma grinned, “after all, he always brings you such fine presents!”

“Has he brought you a present this time, then?” Fanny asked, picking up a deep blue coffee cup that nearly matched the flowers patterned on her light blue dress.

“I suppose,” Charlotte made a face, “a rather silly present – a cassolette in the shape of an ancient lamp, made of bronze with ormolu accents – ornate, but useless. I thought I might give it to mother; it is in the kitchen.”

“Oh!” Emma exchanged an excited glance with Fanny, “Do let us see it, Charlotte! It sounds very pretty.”

Charlotte glanced hopefully towards the clock on the mantle, but then sighed. “Very well. I shall fetch it.”

She returned momentarily, the lamp-like object held at arms’-length. Emma squealed with delight, grabbing it from Charlotte.

“It is very pretty,” Fanny commented.

“It does open up, doesn’t it?” Emma demanded, tugging on the lid. Suddenly, the lid flew off; it was all Emma could do to keep the lid from flying out of her fingers. “Oh,” she said.

“What is it?” Fanny asked, jumping up from her chair to look into the dark recess inside the cassolette.

“I do not know. Some paper, it seems,” Emma said, pulling a rolled scrap of paper out of the cassolette. There was a ribbon tied around the scrap of paper, the same shade of pink as all of Charlotte’s dresses, the only shade of pink that worked with her reddish hair.

“I wonder what is written on it,” Emma mused, and began to slip the ribbon off of the sheet.

Fanny playfully slapped her twin’s hand. “Emma! That is part of Charlotte’s present! She ought to open it.”

“Oh, I suppose you are right,” Emma agreed, a twinkle in her eye, “after all, it may be a love note, and Charlotte may not wish for us to read it!”

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but snatched the paper out of Emma’s hand. The paper was cool and smooth under her fingers. It was slightly greasy from the remains of the last perfume to sit in the cassolette, and was already starting to disintegrate at one dog-eared corner. It must be French machine-made paper, Charlotte supposed, as James had been off the coast of France. Carefully, she slipped off the ribbon, setting it on the table, where it contrasted prettily with the cream-coloured table cloth. Then she unraveled the paper.

“Well,” Charlotte said after a moment, “It is most certainly not a love note, unless Captain Arden has taken up cryptography.”

Emma snatched the paper from Charlotte's hand. “Why, it is nothing but a string of numbers!” she exclaimed.

Fanny, looking over Emma's shoulder, asked, “Is that Captain Arden's writing, Charlotte?”

“I do believe so - “ Charlotte began.

“Then it is a love note!” Fanny interrupted. “What else could it be? You must merely determine what it says!”

“We could assist you!” Emma offered.

“I think not,” Charlotte replied. She grabbed the sheet of paper back from Emma, said, “I believe I shall go home now,” and walked from the room.