not mentioned such a meeting with her father.
She was also able to explain most of the names and addresses that he had note d, explaining where they met (if her father had told her), what the connection was and how long they had known each other.
“And the final thing that bothered me , was the strange writing near the end of the last notebook we have.”
Damaris got up and retrieved the book in question, flipping to the end of it.
“Do you mean these?” she showed him the page.
“Yes. Very unusual and I thought at first that it might be some sort of idle drawing.”
Damaris looked the symbols over again.
“They are runes,” she explained. “Letters in Germanic alphabets.”
“Can you translate them?”
“Well at first glance I thought they might be Anglo-Frisian but see here, the middle word on the first line?”
She pointed.
“ I see it.”
“It appears to have the same letter twice, and I am unable to think of any word in the English language that begins with such a double letter. The first word also has a double letter, but as far as I can recall, there were no double letters in runic alphabets.”
“Is there more than one such alphabet?”
“Indeed. It could be one of two Scandinavian variants, known as younger and elder futhark, or Marcomannic runes, and I believe that certain regions in Sweden still use a similar language. And of course, just like the meanings and spellings of some English words change in time, runes have likely evolved over time as well.”
“So can you translate them?”
“ Well, that’s the problem, I’m not very well versed in Germanic languages, or runes, but I will try. Now if we ignore the double letters, then I believe the middle word would be uith. If I believe it to be a mistake and substitute similar runes, it could also be yith or mith. Unfortunately, none of those make a scrap of sense to me.”
“Could it mean ‘youth’? Perhaps as you say, the English word has evolved over time.”
“I suppose it could. Do you have a pencil?”
He withdrew one from his pocket and handed it to her. She began writing above the markings on the top line.
“You may be onto something, the last word could be ‘child’ in which case it would be ‘youth child’.”
“And the first word?”
“Well that’s where our theory breaks down; the line would read ‘Madonna youth child’.”
“If this is an ancient language, is it possible that Madonna has not always been a name for Christ’s mother?”
“Well, it can also be a means of addressing a Lady, especially in Italy. I don’t suppose you have any books on runology?”
“Not that I know of, I’m afraid.”
“Then perhaps I should visit the library this afternoon. Although I wanted to visit some of the outlying estates and see if perhaps they saw my father passing on the day he went missing.”
“Which do you believe would be more helpful?”
“Well, my father enjoyed learning, so this could just be the result of study on his part, practicing something he had just read. Given the structure of the words, two to five words per line, it’s possible that he might have translated a poem or verse, albeit a very simple one. It’s probably far more practical to visit the estates and enquire if anyone there remembers seeing my father; I can work on translating this in my spare time.”
Nathanial couldn’t shake the feeling that these runes meant more than just idle study on Charles Howard’s part, however Damaris knew her father better than he, so he would revisit the runes at a later date.
“I’ll have the carriage readied,” he told her, “and perhaps on the way I can tell you everything else that I have discovered, although as yet it is n’t very much.”
“ Thank you, Lor-.” She caught herself and actually smiled at him. “Thank you, Nathaniel.”
***
Thanks to her status as a widow, Society wasn’t too bothered about impropriety. Her innocence had already been lost and if marriage
She was also able to explain most of the names and addresses that he had note d, explaining where they met (if her father had told her), what the connection was and how long they had known each other.
“And the final thing that bothered me , was the strange writing near the end of the last notebook we have.”
Damaris got up and retrieved the book in question, flipping to the end of it.
“Do you mean these?” she showed him the page.
“Yes. Very unusual and I thought at first that it might be some sort of idle drawing.”
Damaris looked the symbols over again.
“They are runes,” she explained. “Letters in Germanic alphabets.”
“Can you translate them?”
“Well at first glance I thought they might be Anglo-Frisian but see here, the middle word on the first line?”
She pointed.
“ I see it.”
“It appears to have the same letter twice, and I am unable to think of any word in the English language that begins with such a double letter. The first word also has a double letter, but as far as I can recall, there were no double letters in runic alphabets.”
“Is there more than one such alphabet?”
“Indeed. It could be one of two Scandinavian variants, known as younger and elder futhark, or Marcomannic runes, and I believe that certain regions in Sweden still use a similar language. And of course, just like the meanings and spellings of some English words change in time, runes have likely evolved over time as well.”
“So can you translate them?”
“ Well, that’s the problem, I’m not very well versed in Germanic languages, or runes, but I will try. Now if we ignore the double letters, then I believe the middle word would be uith. If I believe it to be a mistake and substitute similar runes, it could also be yith or mith. Unfortunately, none of those make a scrap of sense to me.”
“Could it mean ‘youth’? Perhaps as you say, the English word has evolved over time.”
“I suppose it could. Do you have a pencil?”
He withdrew one from his pocket and handed it to her. She began writing above the markings on the top line.
“You may be onto something, the last word could be ‘child’ in which case it would be ‘youth child’.”
“And the first word?”
“Well that’s where our theory breaks down; the line would read ‘Madonna youth child’.”
“If this is an ancient language, is it possible that Madonna has not always been a name for Christ’s mother?”
“Well, it can also be a means of addressing a Lady, especially in Italy. I don’t suppose you have any books on runology?”
“Not that I know of, I’m afraid.”
“Then perhaps I should visit the library this afternoon. Although I wanted to visit some of the outlying estates and see if perhaps they saw my father passing on the day he went missing.”
“Which do you believe would be more helpful?”
“Well, my father enjoyed learning, so this could just be the result of study on his part, practicing something he had just read. Given the structure of the words, two to five words per line, it’s possible that he might have translated a poem or verse, albeit a very simple one. It’s probably far more practical to visit the estates and enquire if anyone there remembers seeing my father; I can work on translating this in my spare time.”
Nathanial couldn’t shake the feeling that these runes meant more than just idle study on Charles Howard’s part, however Damaris knew her father better than he, so he would revisit the runes at a later date.
“I’ll have the carriage readied,” he told her, “and perhaps on the way I can tell you everything else that I have discovered, although as yet it is n’t very much.”
“ Thank you, Lor-.” She caught herself and actually smiled at him. “Thank you, Nathaniel.”
***
Thanks to her status as a widow, Society wasn’t too bothered about impropriety. Her innocence had already been lost and if marriage
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