The Secret Adversary

Back Forward Menu

the gang. His lucky use of it had gained him admission. So far he had
aroused no suspicion. But he must decide quickly on his next step.

Suppose he were boldly to enter the room on the left of the passage.
Would the mere fact of his having been admitted to the house be
sufficient? Perhaps a further password would be required, or, at any
rate, some proof of identity. The doorkeeper clearly did not know all
the members of the gang by sight, but it might be different upstairs.
On the whole it seemed to him that luck had served him very well so far,
but that there was such a thing as trusting it too far. To enter
that room was a colossal risk. He could not hope to sustain his part
indefinitely; sooner or later he was almost bound to betray himself, and
then he would have thrown away a vital chance in mere foolhardiness.

A repetition of the signal knock sounded on the door below, and Tommy,
his mind made up, slipped quickly into the recess, and cautiously drew
the curtain farther across so that it shielded him completely from