«Turn the inner disc until the letter written in vermilion at the start of each line sits under the A of the outer ring. Then read the whole line without moving it again.»
Two of the four vermilion marks were lost to the fire. Enough of the stroke survives on those lines to know the letter is one of three: try them and keep the one that spells something.
A brass disc with two rings and a scorched sheet with four lines that say nothing. The disc is no ornament: the small ring turns, and each position drops the inner alphabet under a different letter of the outer one. The instructions are written on the back. Whatever the fire took, you will have to put back yourself.
—