Mary's Nineteenth Century

In mid-December, New York Harbor also began to snow.

After a month, Captain Bolton did not expect that there would be a follow-up to the "Diamond" script where the evil spirits come true.

"Mr. Minton, you mean to check out the hammam changing room on the fourth floor of the cruise ship?"

Captain Bolton didn't hide his unbelievable look, "Theon committed suicide, why is he still lingering and writing some last letter. Could it be just a bad joke?"

"Anyway, the cruise ship is currently moored in the port, so you will know if you check it."

Mary said it lightly. After thinking about it for the past few days, she finally decided to come to New York to find Captain Bolton.

So far, it seems that no one else has come to verify the inference that "Diamond, 4, #" refers to 1858.Of course, it is not ruled out that someone sneaked around Captain Bolton and boarded the cruise ship.

Either way, the answer will come after checking.

Seeing Captain Bolton's tangled expression, Mary added, "I understand your concerns, rumors about death plots are definitely not a good thing for the "Diamond".

Because of this, we have to find out more, rather than muddle along.However, there is no need for others to participate in the inspection, I can just take a trip with you. "

"You're right, it's a bad idea to hide your ears and steal your bell."

Captain Bolton either didn't understand, or felt a little unlucky, why his ship was the one being targeted.

Not much nonsense.

Before it got dark, the two boarded the cruise ship together at noon.

Captain Bolton is still not convinced that there is a problem with the fourth-floor locker room. "Not to mention the regular cleaning during the voyage, there are cleaners to clean the locker room every time you enter the port and before departure. If there is any abnormality, it should have been discovered long ago."

The changing room of the Turkish bath is not only open to cruise ship staff, but also to every tourist on board.How could this be a good place to hide secrets?

In this regard, Mary can borrow an old saying that the most dangerous place is often the safest place.

Come to locker 1858.

Its size is roughly enough for an adult to curl up and hide in it.Like the other lockers, it is made of walnut.Single door with a mirror embedded behind the door.

turn on.

It is empty, without any interlayer.

"Look, I said it's been cleaned so well that it's impossible to hide..."

Before Captain Bolton could finish his sentence, he saw a finger pointing to the slot where the mirror was embedded on the back of the cabinet door, where there was a dot the size of a needle eye.

At first glance, it is easy to overlook this trace of glue.

Mary looked into a mirror about the size of an A4 paper. "There is enough to hide something behind a mirror of this size. Pry it open. If you are worried that the mirror will break, you can charge the loss to my account."

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Minton, but I'm not so broke that I can't afford a mirror."

Captain Bolton reluctantly took out the prepared screwdriver and pried the mirror off with a little effort.The back of the mirror is not only fixed with glue, but also has a piece of palm-sized linen.

Pull off the sackcloth, it looks like a corner of some old clothes.

There is a line of words written in black paint on it: "42317053∞"

"This!"

Captain Bolton, as a member who often sails at sea, immediately recognized what the somewhat familiar eight-digit number represented. "North latitude 42°31', west longitude 70°53'. Anyone who knows some American history will not be unfamiliar with this place."

"It's the small town of Salem."

Mary just came to New York from Boston, and the coordinates indicated by the linen are not too far from Boston, and they are also in Massachusetts.

The reason why it is said that anyone who understands American history should hear about the city of Salem is because that is where it all began.

In the 17s, the Mayflower sailed from the port of Plymouth, England, and the Pilgrims arrived in the North American colonies.The landing site is what is now Massachusetts, and the city of Salem, a port, was built along the coast soon after.

More than 250 years have passed.

Salem is no longer the most important port city in the United States, but it certainly still has a place in the country.

"Why leave this coordinate in such a covert way?"

Captain Bolton felt that he had passed from one mystery to another, had just found what Theon the Whale Merchant had been looking for so hard, and had no idea what it meant.

"Theon committed suicide by going bankrupt. Before he died, he seemed to be making a last-ditch effort to find something on the Diamond cruise ship. Does it mean that there is a huge treasure hidden in Salem City that would make him come back?"

"Not necessarily. But don't forget, what Sean jumped up and down on the cruise ship was looking for the piano score. He didn't even figure out the correct riddle. It's very likely that he didn't even know what was hidden behind the riddle."

Mary said so, but her eyes lingered on the end of the linen strip.At the end of the eight digits, there is a symbol "∞".

"∞" is not a simple symbol.

Explained only mathematically, it represents infinity.Aristotle in ancient Greece believed that there was infinity, and Wallis, an Englishman in the 17th century, placed the number 8 horizontally, using ∞ as the symbol of infinity.

However, one cannot just think in terms of mathematics.

Before it was defined as infinity, ∞ appeared in ancient alchemy.

Among other things, Mary has seen "∞" appear frequently in one place.

The underground triangular secret room where the original owner was buried alive.Rows of cuneiform characters are drawn on the wall, among which there is a symbol similar to "∞".

"∞", said to represent the biting snake, which is related to the mystical concept of immortality and immortality of the soul.

Now combined with the latitude and longitude coordinates pointing to the city of Salem, a meaningful "∞" symbol has been added, which has to make people recall the past of the small port city in a deeper way.

——The city of Salem has another name, Witch Town.

Mary had been to Salem in a previous life, when it had become a tourist attraction.

Those who like magic should not miss Witch Town.Especially on Halloween, people dressed up as city monsters can be seen walking through the streets and alleys everywhere.The crowd was lively and laughing, which seemed to completely cover up the blood dripping from the small town during the witch hunt in the 17th century.

At the end of the 17th century, the Salem witch trials were a sensation.

The case resulted in the arrest of nearly 200 women, more than 20 of whom were sentenced to death.Reason, simply because those women were considered evil witches.

200 years have passed, and the witch hunts in Europe and America have come to an end, and now there is no need to believe in occultism too much.

In today's chaotic era, there is no absolute boundary between science and occultism.

Then there was the sacrifice of living people, which led to the death of the original owner.

Salem City, Witch Town, "∞".

The combination of these three factors makes Mary unable to determine what secret is hidden in the sackcloth found behind the mirror. Could it simply represent the whale merchant Sheen's hope to find a treasure to save the bankruptcy situation?

"This strip of sackcloth barely smells of paint."

Mary leaned closer and carefully identified. Now there is no precision instrument to assist in the analysis, so it is impossible to guess whether the linen strips have a special origin.

Ordinary linen is the cloth for clothes usually worn by sailors and laborers.

In addition to the paint with no characteristics, it can only be determined that the writing time has been a few years old, so that the smell has dissipated.Looking at the glue that fixes the mirror, its fineness indicates that the cloth strips have been placed for at least three or four years.

This means that trying to find out who hid the cloth is almost impossible.

"The Diamond has been in the water for six years."

Captain Bolton didn’t think he could find the culprit at all. “He travels back and forth between New York and London almost every month. Of course, he was chartered several times by private boats for holidays at sea. It is impossible for me to find out which tourists I have received over the years, even the passengers on board. The employees have changed several batches.”

As a result, it is impossible to determine where the cloth strips came from in the short term.

Another thread has long since been broken.Whale Merchant Theon is dead, and I don't know where he heard the riddle.

What's more, the so-called anonymous letter was also sent under the name of Theon.After all, it was no secret to everyone on board that Mr. Minton was involved in the investigation of the death of the Diamond.

"The cloth strip, I'll take it away."

Mary has already made a decision, "Please ask the captain to keep this matter a secret from the outside world, as if we have never been in the locker room today."

"you……"

Captain Bolton seemed to have guessed something, but he didn't ask Mr. Minton if he wanted to follow the tape to continue the investigation.Sometimes, it is rare to be confused. "You have to take care."

In the end, Captain Bolton reinstalled the mirror and said nothing more, and no longer asked to tell him in case something was found.

Assuming that the follow-up incident was related to the Diamond, he thought that Mr. Minton would definitely come back and let him know.And if there is no connection, he doesn't want to know too many secrets.

In a sense, the more people know, the more dangerous they are.

Normal people, who would take the initiative to associate with danger?

With five days left until Christmas Eve, for most Europeans and Americans, Christmas in the nineteenth century has become a festival of family reunion.

However, there are always travelers who do not return home.

December 12, at dusk.

Several carriages drove into the small town of Semler, [-] to [-] kilometers away from Boston.

It didn't snow today.

The weather was too fine, and the small coastal town was full of red clouds.

Mycroft got out of the carriage with the trunk.

The snow on the ground has not yet melted, and there are houses with red brick triangular spires along the street.

The oak trees here are also very different.It should be tall and straight and evergreen all the year round, but the oak trees here may be too old, crookedly lingering, and more than half of the branches are bald.

Through the bald woods, dark patches could be seen faintly.

Tombstones, perhaps burying the so-called witches who were hunted 200 years ago.

At this time, look up at the sunset again.

/;> There is quite a feeling of the setting sun like blood.

Why on earth would you want to go away on Christmas Eve?

Mycroft walked through the grove to the broom inn where he was staying this time.

Santa testified that he had no intention of traveling to Massachusetts again dressed as Mrs. Roman.Less than twenty days after he left Boston, he didn't miss it at all.

But he had to come, because an intelligence agent had disappeared in Semler.

The intelligence agent sent a message before disappearing, "Semler, weapons, danger, go back to New York to discuss. 12/12"

It has been a week since the news was sent out, and the person who should have returned to New York the day before yesterday to report the details has not come.Someone had to come to Sammler to find out what was going on, and that made Madame Roman reappear.

Mycroft walked down the long gravel road step by step, and pushed open the door of the inn.

He still wants to struggle. Since Santa Claus has not fulfilled his big wish of ordinary holidays, should he fulfill his little wish of finding the missing person smoothly?

Broom Hotel Lobby

The front desk clerk couldn't help muttering to himself, as Christmas is approaching, according to common sense, the business of the hotel should be deserted, but for some reason this year, all the guest rooms are going to be full.

"Hello, a room, the most expensive one."

Mary came to the front desk with her suitcase. She came to Salem by boat directly from New York Harbor. Needless to say, she came to investigate the mystery of the cloth strips hidden on the Diamond.

At this moment, the door creaked and was pushed open again, and another passenger came.

The waiter saw that there was only one lady in a black dress, he breathed a sigh of relief, and said to the two remaining people in the lobby:

"I'm sorry, but the most expensive suites are gone. However, you two guests, you are very lucky. There are only two last rooms left in the store, which happens to be one for each person."

lucky?

The setting sun shone through the window, and the lobby was suddenly quiet.

When Mary and Mycroft saw each other, there was some surprise in their eyes. Why did this person come?

At that moment, Mycroft felt a sense of foreboding.

Rational as he shouldn't believe in premonitions, but now he has to wonder if Santa decided to abandon him this year?Otherwise, how could he see Mr. Minton here? He didn't believe that this man was on vacation.

At the same time, Mary also felt that the town of Salem might not be peaceful.

It's normal for a decent person like her to come here, but the appearance of the Roman 'Madam' with a mysterious origin, no matter how you look at it, something weird will or has happened.

The next moment, both of them showed standard smiles.

Mary: "Madame Roman, it's an honor to see you again on a winter evening."

Mycroft: "It was a great pleasure to see you on Christmas Eve, Mr. Minton."

The receptionist suddenly felt a little cold.

For some reason, he looked at the smiles of the two and felt that the beauty of the sunset today was particularly abnormal.