He quietly shut the door, and wheeled about with his hand still on the knob.
"Do you want to know what room she's in ?" he asked.
Constance opened her handbag.

Mrs.Palmer suppressed a little scream.
She had expected that ivory-handled thing to appear.

Instead there was a treasury note of a size that caused the white part of the boy's eyes to expand beyond all the laws of optics.
"Yes," she said, pressing it into his hand.
"Forty-two-down the hall, around the turn, on the other side," whispered the boy.

"And for God's sake, ma'am, don't tell nobody I told you." His shuffle down the hall had scarcely ceased before the two women were stealthily creeping in the opposite direction, looking eagerly at the numbers.
Constance had stopped abruptly around the turn.

Through a transom of one of the rooms they could hear voices but could see no light.
"Well, go back then," growled a gruff voice.