from the still pretty, happy, charming-looking woman
who had stepped into the car a few minutes ago.

"I should not have ventured to disturb you today --
tomorrow would have been quite time enough----"
said Mr. Reynolds, speaking this time really kindly,
"were it not that we attach the very greatest importance
to discovering whether this woman, your ex-servant,
forms part of a widespread conspiracy. We
suspect that she does. But she is in such a state of pretended
or real agitation -- in fact, she seems almost distraught --
that none of us can get anything out of her.
I myself have questioned her both in English and in
German. All she keeps repeating is that she is innocent,
quite innocent, and that she was unaware of the
nature of the goods -- she describes them always as
goods, when she speaks in English -- that she was harbouring
in your house. She declares she knows nothing
about the man who came for them, though that is
false on the face of it, for she was evidently expecting
him. We think that he has terrorised her. She even
refuses to say where she obtained these 'goods' of hers,
or how long she has had them. You see, we have reason
to believe" -- he slightly lowered his voice in the
rushing wind -- "we have reason to believe," he repeated,
"that the Germans may be going to try their
famous plan of invasion within the next few days. If
so, it is clear that these bombs were meant to play a
certain part in the business, and thus it is extremely important
that we should know if there are any further
stores of them in or about Witanbury."

[[328]]

p327 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p328w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p329

v?