"And you're a----" I began quickly--then stopped.
"Yes?" she inflected. "I am a----?"
"I leave the blank to your own filling," I said, with a bow.
She laughed gayly. "Do you know you have played this scene very
nicely, my dear," she said. "If Colonel Bernheim has chanced to stay
close enough to the door, he so neatly slammed ajar, he has heard all
that we have said. Though, whether it was by your order or due to his
own curiosity, I, of course, do not know. Either way, however, you
scored with him."
I was so sure that Bernheim would now be far enough away from the door
that I reached across and flung it back.
The ante-room was empty, and, through its open doorway, we could see
Bernheim and Moore coming slowly down the corridor and twenty feet away.
But she only laughed again.
"Which simply proves Colonel Bernheim's wonderful agility," she said.
"He must be a most valuable Aide."