The Secret Adversary

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"Well, shut it then," laughed the woman.

Tuppence removed herself speedily.

She dared not absent herself longer from the back premises, but she
cleared away and washed up with a breathless speed acquired in hospital.
Then she slipped quietly back to the boudoir door. The cook, more
leisurely, was still busy in the kitchen and, if she missed the other,
would only suppose her to be turning down the beds.

Alas! The conversation inside was being carried on in too low a tone
to permit of her hearing anything of it. She dared not reopen the
door, however gently. Mrs. Vandemeyer was sitting almost facing it, and
Tuppence respected her mistress's lynx-eyed powers of observation.

Nevertheless, she felt she would give a good deal to overhear what was
going on. Possibly, if anything unforeseen had happened, she might get