“Now for the test of my plan,” she told herself.
Significant sounds were borne to her ears, then a human voice, speaking in a low guarded tone, drifted up through the hole in the floor. What she heard amazed even Grace Harlowe. She learned too that one mouse had walked into the trap that had been cleverly set for it.
CHAPTER XXII
“CAPTAIN” GRACE DECIDES TO ACT
WHEN finally Grace Harlowe had replaced the carpet and crawled out, her face wore a serious look. She stood in the middle of the floor for a long time, thinking over what her resourcefulness had produced in the way of definite information.
“I shall at last have to take Elfreda into my confidence. The time to act is at hand,” she muttered. “This is bigger than even I, with all my suspicions, dreamed. The Intelligence captain surely will have a good laugh at my expense when I tell him what I have discovered.” Grace grinned mirthlessly and returned to bed and went to sleep.
“I have something to tell you this morning, Elfreda,” she whispered at the breakfast table. “Don’t ask me now. I haven’t decided where or when, but I shall think it over between now and the time we finish breakfast. Remember, the walls have ears. To-night something will be doing.”
Elfreda looked at her curiously, but Grace merely kissed her and proceeded to put the breakfast on the table. After finishing, Grace said she thought their best plan was to stroll down to the river, where they would be certain to be alone.
On the same seat where she had talked with Captain Boucher, Grace told her companion all that she had learned up to that moment. Elfreda’s amazement was for the moment beyond words.
“I never dreamed of anything so terrible as this. What brutes!”