Then I thought to myself, "Wasn't there
some allusion to a well in the account of Abbot Thomas in that book the
'_Sertum_'?" Yes, there was; he built a _puteus in atrio_; (a well in the
court). There, of course, was my word _atrio_. The next step was to copy
out the remaining letters of the inscription, omitting those I had
already used. That gave what you will see on this slip:
RVIIOPDOOSMVVISCAVBSBTAOTDIE
AMLSIVSPDEERSETAEGIANRFEEALQD
VAIMLEATTHOOVMCA.H.Q.E.
'Now, I knew what the three first letters I wanted were--namely,
_rio_--to complete the word _atrio_; and, as you will see, these are all
to be found in the first five letters. I was a little confused at first
by the occurrence of two _i_'s, but very soon I saw that every alternate
letter must be taken in the remainder of the inscription. You can work it
out for yourself; the result, continuing where the first "round" left
off, thus:
_rio domus abbatialis de Steinfeld a me, Thoma, qui posui custodem
super ea. Gare a qui la touche_.
'So the whole secret was out:
"Ten thousand pieces of gold are laid up in the well in the court of
the Abbot's house of Steinfeld by me, Thomas, who have set a guardian
over them. _Gare a qui la louche_.
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