For an instant Nancy stood there in the silent hall in an agony of indecision. What should she do? She was tortured between two speculations—that Tini, herself, was a spy in their midst, or had innocently, but foolhardily let herself be drawn into a net of spies. No matter which she was it seemed obvious her intention was to let Mrs. Webber know they were alerted.
She thought of Major Reed. Even had she known his room number she would have hesitated to go to his room at this hour of the night. Lieutenant Hauser was three doors down the hall. Even while Nancy was trying to decide what she should do, she was on her way there.
To her relief she saw light under the crack of Miss Hauser’s door and found her superior officer fully dressed. Nancy wasted no time in preliminary explanations, but burst forth as soon as she was inside. “Tini Hoffman has gone out—to Mrs. Webber’s room, 705,” she said. “She’s Carl Benton’s sister. They’ll find out we’re alerted.”
“Thanks, Nancy. This is not unexpected,” Lieutenant Hauser said, and acted promptly, picking up the phone. “Connect me with Major Reed, room 829,” she told the operator.
A moment later she was saying into the phone, “This is Blanche Hauser. Nancy has reported the expected. Set off the action—705.”
She was as cool as a veteran under fire when she put the phone back in its cradle. “We’re not surprised, Nancy,” she said, seeing the girl’s puzzled look. “We have the trap set, and had to let things go this far in order to spring it.”
Nancy’s brown eyes were wide with wonder as she asked, “Then Tini is a spy?”
“I think not—just a fool in the hands of spies!”
Nancy wanted to cry, but she couldn’t let her superior officer see her give way in this crisis.
Miss Hauser came to where Nancy had dropped limply on the foot of the bed. She placed her hand affectionately on her shoulder and said, “Of course I know all that’s happened before, through Major Reed. You’ve been wonderful, Nancy—dependable as old Plymouth Rock. Without such as you our national freedom would long since have been undermined.”