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Authors: Charlie Cochrane
Tags: Romance MM, erotic MM
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Orlando had been
involved in and the lessons they’d learned. In both cases it had been the least likely suspect who’d been found to be guilty. So
who was the least likely person in this case? He would have put
his money on Henry VII or Elizabeth, though not Margaret
Beaufort—she sounded far too much like his own mother to have
put anything past her once she set her mind to something. Neither a king nor his consort nor even, he supposed, the Archbishop of
Canterbury himself should be discounted.
“What do your papers show, Orlando? Look like gibberish
to me.”
“I’ve no idea what they contain, Jonty. I’ve played about
with some of them and there’s nothing so far, although it’s early days. I’m fairly certain some of them are merely letter
substitutions, given the patterns that seem to recur, but others look much more complex.”
“Never realised you were such an expert in cryptograms. Is
there no end to your talents?”
Orlando beamed. “I thought you knew everything about me,
but I guess I still have a surprise or two in store. I loved codes www.lindenbayromance.com 53
Charlie Cochrane
when I was a lad, used to send myself messages and then translate them and send them back.” He looked blissfully happy, the first
glimpse Jonty had ever had into something good in Orlando’s
childhood. It was typical that it involved only him. “When I first came here I found all sorts of books on the subject and I’ve
tackled many of the things for amusement—my mathematical
colleagues pride themselves on cryptography. I must have found
the diversions of the last year rather took my mind off them.” He blushed, becomingly.
Jonty grinned in memory of some of the forms those
diversions of the last year had taken. “And what is your favourite method, if you distain the easy substitution?”
“Wheatstone’s old coding. They’re calling it ‘Playfair’ now,
or so I understand from one of the men at Thomas’s who has
connections in Whitehall, but Wheatstone was the man behind it
as far as I’m concerned. Difficult to break unless you know the
code word. I doubt that Shaa used anything like it.”
He returned to his papers, as did Jonty. It was pleasant at
present just to sit together, the tension of earlier having gone now that the great secret had been brought into the open and their
friendship had survived it.
They worked on until hall, where they took their places at
the end of the table that Lumley, the chaplain, frequented.
Orlando sat next to him and Jonty opposite, the candlelight
sending strange shadows up onto the ancient walls, the all-
pervading—wonderfully familiar and comforting—smell of
cabbage not lessening the allure of the setting. Lumley was
relating the tale of an undergraduate who’d been allegedly
labouring under the misapprehension that Noah’s wife was Joan
of Ark.
Jonty giggled, although he’d already heard the story. It had
the same effect on Orlando, who produced the revelation that
when he was young, he’d been convinced that the words to a 54
www.lindenbayromance.com
Lessons in Discovery
certain famous hymn had been “Onward Christian soldiers,
marching on the wall”.
Jonty hadn’t heard that tale and, this being Orlando’s second
disclosure of the day, felt quite excited that his erstwhile lover might have all sorts of eye-openers in store for him, the loss of recent memories somehow leading to easier access to half-forgotten childhood ones. Jonty produced his own confession that as a child he’d always wanted to read the Song of Songs but had
never been allowed to, that part of the Old Testament having
mysteriously disappeared from the copies which the Stewart
children had access to. He’d not discovered it till he was
seventeen and hot stuff it proved, very similar in style and
substance to the works of the Bard.
At this, several of the fellows looked curious, so Lumley
hurriedly launched into a little speech about
involved in and the lessons they’d learned. In both cases it had been the least likely suspect who’d been found to be guilty. So
who was the least likely person in this case? He would have put
his money on Henry VII or Elizabeth, though not Margaret
Beaufort—she sounded far too much like his own mother to have
put anything past her once she set her mind to something. Neither a king nor his consort nor even, he supposed, the Archbishop of
Canterbury himself should be discounted.
“What do your papers show, Orlando? Look like gibberish
to me.”
“I’ve no idea what they contain, Jonty. I’ve played about
with some of them and there’s nothing so far, although it’s early days. I’m fairly certain some of them are merely letter
substitutions, given the patterns that seem to recur, but others look much more complex.”
“Never realised you were such an expert in cryptograms. Is
there no end to your talents?”
Orlando beamed. “I thought you knew everything about me,
but I guess I still have a surprise or two in store. I loved codes www.lindenbayromance.com 53
Charlie Cochrane
when I was a lad, used to send myself messages and then translate them and send them back.” He looked blissfully happy, the first
glimpse Jonty had ever had into something good in Orlando’s
childhood. It was typical that it involved only him. “When I first came here I found all sorts of books on the subject and I’ve
tackled many of the things for amusement—my mathematical
colleagues pride themselves on cryptography. I must have found
the diversions of the last year rather took my mind off them.” He blushed, becomingly.
Jonty grinned in memory of some of the forms those
diversions of the last year had taken. “And what is your favourite method, if you distain the easy substitution?”
“Wheatstone’s old coding. They’re calling it ‘Playfair’ now,
or so I understand from one of the men at Thomas’s who has
connections in Whitehall, but Wheatstone was the man behind it
as far as I’m concerned. Difficult to break unless you know the
code word. I doubt that Shaa used anything like it.”
He returned to his papers, as did Jonty. It was pleasant at
present just to sit together, the tension of earlier having gone now that the great secret had been brought into the open and their
friendship had survived it.
They worked on until hall, where they took their places at
the end of the table that Lumley, the chaplain, frequented.
Orlando sat next to him and Jonty opposite, the candlelight
sending strange shadows up onto the ancient walls, the all-
pervading—wonderfully familiar and comforting—smell of
cabbage not lessening the allure of the setting. Lumley was
relating the tale of an undergraduate who’d been allegedly
labouring under the misapprehension that Noah’s wife was Joan
of Ark.
Jonty giggled, although he’d already heard the story. It had
the same effect on Orlando, who produced the revelation that
when he was young, he’d been convinced that the words to a 54
www.lindenbayromance.com
Lessons in Discovery
certain famous hymn had been “Onward Christian soldiers,
marching on the wall”.
Jonty hadn’t heard that tale and, this being Orlando’s second
disclosure of the day, felt quite excited that his erstwhile lover might have all sorts of eye-openers in store for him, the loss of recent memories somehow leading to easier access to half-forgotten childhood ones. Jonty produced his own confession that as a child he’d always wanted to read the Song of Songs but had
never been allowed to, that part of the Old Testament having
mysteriously disappeared from the copies which the Stewart
children had access to. He’d not discovered it till he was
seventeen and hot stuff it proved, very similar in style and
substance to the works of the Bard.
At this, several of the fellows looked curious, so Lumley
hurriedly launched into a little speech about
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