A Saturday Story
The Case of the Compromised Cipher As narrated by Mr. Archibald Trent, formerly of the Foreign Office ACT I: The Visit to Bleeker Lane It was upon a rain-drenched Tuesday in November of 1894 that I first made the acquaintance of Mr. James Kay, the consulting detective of Bleeker Lane, whose name I had encountered only in whispered tones among my former colleagues in the Cipher Bureau of the Foreign Office. I had resigned my commission a fortnight earlier, worn thin by a matter that threatened national integrity. I came to Mr. Kay not with hope but as a last resort,…