Where is Susan? (The Susan books) by Jane Shaw

Author:Jane Shaw [Shaw, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bettany Press
Published: 2011-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

IX. DODGING THE SPIES

“WHAT did you say?” asked Susan.

“I said, don’t you think that this is the cause of all the trouble?”

“This stamp?”

“Yes.”

Susan thought this over, staring at the stamp. Then she said, “Do you mean to tell me that we did have the secret plans all the time?”

It was Midge’s turn to gape. “Secret plans?” she echoed.

“Yes, they’re probably micro-filmed on to that stamp—”

“Not very big plans, are they?”

“But that’s what they do, spies and people like that,” said Susan, “make plans and things so small that they would easily fit on to a postage stamp. Why in one book that I read a whole secret government memorandum or whatever you call it was made so small that it could be hidden under one single letter of a man’s name—”

“We must tell Aunt Lucy sometime that you’re not really wasting your time reading those thrillers, you’re picking up all sorts of interesting little bits of information,” said Midge. She carefully lifted up the stamp and studied it. She said, “You don’t think that it’s just a stamp?”

“All that fuss about a stamp?”

“Well, stamps are valuable. Some of them. Penny Black, f’r instance, absolutely famous. Valuable, too—”

“This is a Shilling Green—”

“Well, it could be worth twelve times as much as a Penny Black—”

“Oh, jings,” said Susan, “I wish that Bill was here. He could tell us right away what this stamp is worth—”

Midge was doubtful about that. Although, mind you, you really never knew with small boys, sometimes they could give you the most fantastic information... “If it’s valuable,” she said slowly, “we ought to think of the police. Obviously those two loves on the plane were up to no good, and this stamp must have something to do with it. Whether they’re spies or smugglers, it doesn’t make much difference really. Perhaps we should think of telling the police—”

“Midge!” Susan yelped. “Can you picture us telling a half, even a quarter of this mad story to an Italian policeman?”

Midge couldn’t.

“Well, then— We must simply hang on to the stamp until mother and daddy get off that blessed ship. I wish I knew if it were valuable or not, and whether I should be worrying about it or not. And even if it’s not valuable,” she added, sighing, “it might still have the secret plans on it.”

Midge really couldn’t take this micro-film lark seriously. But that she and Susan had something that the spy was prepared to go to quite considerable lengths to get—pushing people into the lagoon! Searching people’s rooms!—was all too obvious. A valuable stamp... “We could send Bill a telegram,” she said. “Prepaid. It would also tell Aunt Lucy and daddy where we are, kill two birds with one stone—”

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Susan. “Let’s do that—” Meantime, she jumped up and found an envelope in her writing case. She wrote on it in large capitals SUSAN LYLE HOTEL AMBASCIATA and put the stamp inside. She also put inside the two or three stamps that Lorenzo had so far collected for her, one from Istanbul, one from Dublin, one or two Italian ones.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.