So of course we both told her that it was a ridiculous idea, not to say dangerous, not to mention foolhardy. We pointed out that she might compromise herself in any of a number of ways and added that we could not possibly let her risk herself in such a fashion.

And, of course, three hours later I was looking through a tea shop window on Pelham Court, waiting for her to return from the offices of Penzance Export just across the street.

“It does restore a girl’s confidence,” she said. We were having lunch at a Lyon ’s Corner House a few blocks away from Penzance Export. “One regards oneself as utterly dependent upon the stray pence one ekes out playing chambermaids in bedroom farces, along with the meager income from a legacy and the generosity of one’s brother. At nights I often comfort myself with the thought that I could always turn brass if times went bad, but who would have me?”

“I would.”

“Oh?” She arched her eyebrows prettily. “You’ll be my first professional client, I promise you.” Her voice turned at once Cockney and sluttish. “Spare a couple of nicker for a short time, guv?” She laughed. “But I digress, don’t I? Mr. Wyndham-Jones has hired me. He seems partial to hyphenated surnames. A low type, I’m afraid. Speaks straight Mayfair, but Whitechapel shines through in spite of all his hard work.”

“And he hired you.”

“He certainly did.” She grinned suddenly. “I wish you could have been there, Evan. I wish Nigel could have been there. Whenever I’m on stage and he’s in the house I’m just dreadful, and this was the performance of my career. I did a Yorkshire accent” – she demonstrated this – “and I told him my old father had just died and I was quite alone in the world and new in London and I did so want to travel. I made myself the wide-eyed trusting sort, just a shade on the stupid side, but I tried to give the impression that I kept my own counsel and wouldn’t be inclined to confide in anyone.” She sighed. “It worked. I shall be leaving the country at the end of the week for a three-month journey through the Middle East. All of my expenses will be paid and I will receive three hundred pounds at the termination of the trip.”