Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/192

 None of this satisfaction, however, imparted itself to the restless-minded Sadie. Her chief, for once in his life, seemed obtuse. He had scoffed at her warning. And now, speech by speech, he was not only handing his secrets out to a man who had no right to them, but was also tossing the most sacred information of the Service into a metal ear hidden amid a cluster of roses not three feet away from him. And the thing could not go on.

Sadie found it hard to hit on a feasible plan of action. The best she could do, she finally decided, would be to slip away to the hotel office, on the pretext of telephoning, and there write out a second message of warning to Kestner. This could be done on a telegraph blank, and after her return to the table a page could deliver the message. In that way, she felt, Kestner could receive it without unduly arousing Andelman's suspicions. And then he would be free to act as he saw fit.

Sadie finally decided to put this plan into execution. She saw that it would be best, however, to leave the table when the waiter himself was engaged at its side. She did not care to be followed. So as the talk went on she impatiently awaited the return of that discreet-eyed functionary.