THE CURATOR OF ANTIQUITIES (Pages 60–61)

Using the clues in her study can you work out Harriet Wheeler’s date of birth?

24th November 1882

The quote on the paper can be decoded to connect the 4 animals with a single-digit number. There aren’t any numbers in the quotation but if you say the quote out loud it sounds like there are…

“For the Dragon is and the Sphinx too
The Phoenix won and the Serpent ate, is your clue.”

Dragon = 4 Sphinx = 2 Phoenix = 1 Serpent = 8

Simply substitute those digits into the order given to you by the row of animals and you will generate the sequence of numbers: 2 4 1 1 1 8 8 2 which can then be split into date format to give you: 24/11/1882.