weight of his words to settle.
‘Professor Van der Essen escaped the burning and fled his homeland, staying a while in the town of Ghent, then made his way to England.’
‘But how does Van der Essen connect with MS 408?’ Hunter asked, shooting his hand into the air.
‘Good question,’ noted Smithies. ‘A point I was moving on to. Van der Essen was close friends with the book collector Wilfrid Voynich. You remember he first discovered MS 408 in 1912, and that’s why MS 408 is called the Voynich Manuscipt. Many believe Professor Van der Essen was in fact travelling with Voynich when he discovered the famous manuscript hidden away in the chest in Mondragone Castle in Italy.’
‘Mondragone,’ mused Brodie. ‘Love that name.’
‘Voynich never claimed to be able to read MS 408,’ went on Smithies. ‘He tried. He involved all sorts of people. But in the end he gave up and the manuscript was donated to Yale University. Voynich was after glory and fame. But the manuscript failed to give him that. His friend, Professor Van der Essen, on the other hand, was a quiet, more studious man. Voynich was into collecting, but for Professor Van der Essen it was all about the books and the stories they contained.’
‘Sounds familiar,’ said Hunter, catching Brodie’s arm. ‘Obsessing with story, I mean.’
‘We can’t be sure but there’s perhaps the chance Professor Van der Essen knew more about MS 408 than he ever let on. The friendship between him and Voynich broke down and Van der Essen returned to Belgium. But there’s always the chance, a small chance we admit, Van der Essen made his own find in the castle vaults of Mondragone. Perhaps he found the partner book of MS 408. The code-book that would allow us to read it. And perhaps, just perhaps he made sense of the manuscript but never told the world what he read.’
‘Sorry,’ Brodie said, raising her hand nervously into the air. ‘I’m a bit lost.’
Smithies paused and ran his finger across his top lip as if searching for the right words to make it easy to understand. ‘It’s like this,’ he explained. ‘MS 408 is a book no one in the world can understand.’
‘We’d got that bit,’ groaned Hunter.
Smithies ignored him and ploughed on. ‘We think MS 408 is in code. We think it tells a story no one can read because of the code.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ said Tusia, now raising her hand. ‘How do we know MS 408’s in code? I mean, it could just be in a language everyone’s forgotten. That no one speaks or reads now.’
This time Smithies looked impressed.
‘Or maybe the book is like a sort of cookery book from a place far away and the guy who wrote it just made up weird signs and symbols to help him remember things and just never bothered to tell anyone the translation,’ added Hunter.
Smithies clapped his hands. Sicknote was leaning forward in his chair, his sniffing forgotten. ‘See, I told you they’d be good, Oscar. It’s thinking like this that’ll make them excellent code-crackers.’ Smithies beamed. ‘You could be right. Totally right. With either idea. But we have to make links if we’re to make sense. And the link is the hiding .’
Brodie was sure her face showed she needed more explanation.
‘When Voynich found the book MS 408 it was hidden. Hidden in a chest in a castle. Someone wanted that document kept safe and someone wanted it kept secret.’
‘Sounds like that counts out the idea of a cookery book, then,’ said Hunter dejectedly.
‘The need to hide it suggests a need for secrecy, and the need for secrecy put together with a whole load of shapes and letters no one can read leads us to think MS 408 must be in code.’
Tusia nodded somewhat reluctantly.
‘It’s a theory we have to go with for now because it makes sense of what we know.’
Trying to keep up, Brodie edged forward on her seat.
‘Now in order to make sense of the code we need to know what each symbol in the coded writing
‘Professor Van der Essen escaped the burning and fled his homeland, staying a while in the town of Ghent, then made his way to England.’
‘But how does Van der Essen connect with MS 408?’ Hunter asked, shooting his hand into the air.
‘Good question,’ noted Smithies. ‘A point I was moving on to. Van der Essen was close friends with the book collector Wilfrid Voynich. You remember he first discovered MS 408 in 1912, and that’s why MS 408 is called the Voynich Manuscipt. Many believe Professor Van der Essen was in fact travelling with Voynich when he discovered the famous manuscript hidden away in the chest in Mondragone Castle in Italy.’
‘Mondragone,’ mused Brodie. ‘Love that name.’
‘Voynich never claimed to be able to read MS 408,’ went on Smithies. ‘He tried. He involved all sorts of people. But in the end he gave up and the manuscript was donated to Yale University. Voynich was after glory and fame. But the manuscript failed to give him that. His friend, Professor Van der Essen, on the other hand, was a quiet, more studious man. Voynich was into collecting, but for Professor Van der Essen it was all about the books and the stories they contained.’
‘Sounds familiar,’ said Hunter, catching Brodie’s arm. ‘Obsessing with story, I mean.’
‘We can’t be sure but there’s perhaps the chance Professor Van der Essen knew more about MS 408 than he ever let on. The friendship between him and Voynich broke down and Van der Essen returned to Belgium. But there’s always the chance, a small chance we admit, Van der Essen made his own find in the castle vaults of Mondragone. Perhaps he found the partner book of MS 408. The code-book that would allow us to read it. And perhaps, just perhaps he made sense of the manuscript but never told the world what he read.’
‘Sorry,’ Brodie said, raising her hand nervously into the air. ‘I’m a bit lost.’
Smithies paused and ran his finger across his top lip as if searching for the right words to make it easy to understand. ‘It’s like this,’ he explained. ‘MS 408 is a book no one in the world can understand.’
‘We’d got that bit,’ groaned Hunter.
Smithies ignored him and ploughed on. ‘We think MS 408 is in code. We think it tells a story no one can read because of the code.’
‘I’ve been thinking about that,’ said Tusia, now raising her hand. ‘How do we know MS 408’s in code? I mean, it could just be in a language everyone’s forgotten. That no one speaks or reads now.’
This time Smithies looked impressed.
‘Or maybe the book is like a sort of cookery book from a place far away and the guy who wrote it just made up weird signs and symbols to help him remember things and just never bothered to tell anyone the translation,’ added Hunter.
Smithies clapped his hands. Sicknote was leaning forward in his chair, his sniffing forgotten. ‘See, I told you they’d be good, Oscar. It’s thinking like this that’ll make them excellent code-crackers.’ Smithies beamed. ‘You could be right. Totally right. With either idea. But we have to make links if we’re to make sense. And the link is the hiding .’
Brodie was sure her face showed she needed more explanation.
‘When Voynich found the book MS 408 it was hidden. Hidden in a chest in a castle. Someone wanted that document kept safe and someone wanted it kept secret.’
‘Sounds like that counts out the idea of a cookery book, then,’ said Hunter dejectedly.
‘The need to hide it suggests a need for secrecy, and the need for secrecy put together with a whole load of shapes and letters no one can read leads us to think MS 408 must be in code.’
Tusia nodded somewhat reluctantly.
‘It’s a theory we have to go with for now because it makes sense of what we know.’
Trying to keep up, Brodie edged forward on her seat.
‘Now in order to make sense of the code we need to know what each symbol in the coded writing
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