As she entered the door she passed a small, insignificant-looking man, plainly dressed, and of somewhat servile appearance, whom she remembered to have seen about the place several times since her arrival.

He glanced at her in passing, and Virginia saw that his eyes, at any rate, were keen enough.

She found her uncle, now fully dressed, walking up and down the room, with his hands behind his back.
"I have just had news of our friends, Virginia," he remarked.

"They are evidently very much in earnest.

If they can't get hold of that paper by strategy, they are going to try and steal it." "Won't that be a little difficult ?" she asked.
He smiled.
"More difficult than they imagine.