"'Well', I said, 'did it bite you or say "Gott strafe England?" Or what?'
"Van Urutius ignored my flippancy and resumed. 'I open the envelope and there in the invoice I find this writing--here!'
"And here," said Dicky, diving into his pocket, "is the writing!"
And he thrust into my eagerly outstretched hand a very thin half-sheet of foreign notepaper, of that kind of cheap glazed notepaper you get in cafes on the Continent when you ask for writing materials.
Three lines of German, written in fluent German characters in purple ink beneath the name and address of Mynheer van Urutius ... that was all.
My heart sank with disappointment and wretchedness as I read the inscription.
Herr Willem van Urutius, Automobilgeschäft, Nymwegen. _Alexandtr-Straat_ 81 bis.
O Eichenholz! O Eichenholz! Wie leer sind deine Blätter.
Wo zweie sich zanken Erfreut sich der Dritte.
Mr. Willem van Urutius, Automobile Agent, Nymwegen. 81 bis _Alexander-Straat._
O Oak-tree! O Oak-tree, How empty are thy leaves.
When two people fall out The third party rejoices.
I stared at this nonsensical document in silence. My thoughts were almost too bitter for words.
"What's all this rigmarole got to do with Francis, Dicky?" I asked, vainly trying to suppress the bitterness in my voice. "This looks like a list of copybook maxims for your Dutch friend's advertisement cards...."
But I returned to the study of the piece of paper.
"Not so fast, old bird," Dicky replied coolly, "let me finish my story. Old Stick-in-the-mud is a lot shrewder than we think.
"'When I read the writing,' he told me, 'I think he is all robbish, but then I ask myself, Who shall put robbish in my invoices? And then I read the writing again and once again, and then I see he is a message.'"
"Stop, Dicky!" I cried, "of course, what an ass I am! Why _Eichenholz_...."
"Exactly," retorted Dicky, "as the old Mynheer was the first to see, _Eichenholz_ translated into English is 'Oak-tree' or 'Oak-wood'--in other words, Francis."
"Just a minute," said Dicky, putting up his hand. "I confess I thought, on first seeing this message or whatever it is, that there must be simply a coincidence of name and that somebody's idle scribbling had found its way into old van U.'s invoice. But now that you have told me that Francis may have actually got into Germany, then, I must say, it looks as if this might be an attempt of his to communicate with home."