text: [Themes: Historical, second world war, Historical]
  
  > go down
  Angela followed me down the ladder.
  
  The standard of decoration was definitely plainer in this part of the house, little more than a stale lick of white paint on every available surface. The door to the southwest marked the boundary between the servants' quarters and the rest of the house, while a second door led west, opposite a pair of cupboard doors to the east. A ladder ran up from the floor through the open trapdoor in the ceiling, while a narrow flight of stairs led down to the floor below.
  
  On the shelves were a pair of folded white sheets.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: West, Southwest, Up, Down
  
  > find the coat
  (going down)
  
  Angela followed me down the back stairs.
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  (To continue on your way use the command CONTINUE or C).
  
  > search pocket
  The coat pocket contained two keys (a chunky key and a small silver key).
  
  "I'm not sure you should be searching Hilda's pockets," Angela remarked censoriously, then added, "Did you find anything?"
  
  > Yes
  "Yes, a couple of keys," I replied.
  
  "Show me!" she demanded.
  
  The wireless continued to play Mozart.
  
  > get the keys
  I took two keys (the small silver key and the chunky key).
  
  > find the suitcase
  (going east)
  
  Angela followed me through the door.
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  (To continue on your way use the command CONTINUE or C).
  
  > show the keys to Angela
  small silver key: Angela glanced at the small silver key but offered no comment.
  
  dull grey key: Angela glanced at the dull grey key but offered no comment.
  
  chunky key: "That looks like the key to the cellar," Angela told me, "but what was it doing in Hilda's coat pocket?"
  
  small brass key: I showed Angela the brass key, saying, "I found this up in the attic, in the same box as the radio."
  
  "That's very odd!" she declared. "It certainly shouldn't have been there!"
  
  > unlock the suitcase with the silver key
  Unlocked.
  
  > open the suitcase
  Opening the small brown suitcase revealed some clothes.
  
  "What did you find in there?" Angela asked eagerly. "Not just clothes, surely?"
  
  > read it
  There was some faint indentations on the first page, suggesting that someone had written on a previous page and then torn it off, but the indentations were too faint to read.
  
  > show the notebook to Angela
  "That's interesting," she remarked. "Of course it could be completely innocent, but I'd like to see what it says. We should try to find some way of making it legible."
  
  > rub the pencil on the paper
  Which paper do you mean, the scrumpled fragment, the piece of paper, or the receipt?
  
  > rub the pencil on the notebook
  (first taking the pencil from the small tin box)
  I rubbed the notebook with the pencil, so that the writing became visible.
  
  "Here, let me see that!" said Angela, peering over my shoulder. "TOTEN SIE IHN SOFORT - that means 'Kill him immediately' doesn't it? And that does look like Hilda's writing. If it was a message she received over the radio, and if the 'him' referred to is ... But look, there's another line of letters above. I imagine that must mean that the message was sent in code and she had to decode it. So where's her code book? I mean, what we've found is certainly suspicious enough, but - well, before we start accusing Hilda I'd like to make absolutely sure, so I'd really like to find her code book, then we'd know."
  
  > ask about the corpse
  "The man who was shot, he really does bear a striking resemblance to Hermann Goering, doesn't he?" I remarked.
  
  "Yes, he does," she agreed, "and that's all I'm saying, so please don't press me any further."
  
  > ask her about house
  "I take it this place isn't your old family home, then," I remarked.
  
  "Obviously not," she concurred. "It's just some place the War Office bought when it came on the market."
  
  > ask her about the bedroom
  I talked about this with her for a while, but failed to reach any very interesting conclusion.
  
  > go east
  Not wanting either to be encumbered with other people's property, or to be caught stealing it, I dropped the clothes before leaving the room.
  
  Angela followed me through the door.
  
  The standard of decoration was definitely plainer in this part of the house, little more than a stale lick of white paint on every available surface. The door to the southwest marked the boundary between the servants' quarters and the rest of the house, while a second door led west, opposite a pair of cupboard doors to the east. A ladder ran up from the floor through the open trapdoor in the ceiling, while a narrow flight of stairs led down to the floor below.
  
  On the shelves were a pair of folded white sheets.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: West, Southwest, Up, Down
  
  > Up
  Angela followed me up the ladder.
  
  The attic had accumulated surprisingly little junk for a family home. Bare boards stretched out in every direction from the open hatch with little to clutter them. The beam of my torch picked out hardly anything apart from the odd packing crate and a plethora of cobwebs. There was also a large wooden box in the corner by the window.
  
  The loose floorboard was scarcely noticeable, being nearly flush with the floor.
  
  I saw an old blanket there. The large wooden box contained a radio.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: Down
  
  > Go southwest
  Angela followed me through the southwest door.
  
  The main landing comprised the area at the top of the stairs leading down to the floor below. From there doors led off to east, west, north and northeast. The landing continued to the south past the banisters.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Northeast, Down
  
  > go to the north
  Angela followed me through the north door.
  
  This was obviously the master bedroom; it was huge. Even with a large double bed and a heavy chest of drawers taking up much of the floor space, a great deal of bare carpet remained. The door out was to the south, and a second door led west.
  
  On the chest of drawers was a family photo.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: South, West
  
  "What do you expect to find in here?" Angela demanded. "You've already shown me the radio!"
  
  > Go south
  Angela followed me through the bedroom door.
  
  The main landing comprised the area at the top of the stairs leading down to the floor below. From there doors led off to east, west, north and northeast. The landing continued to the south past the banisters.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Northeast, Down
  
  > Go north
  Angela followed me through the north door.
  
  This was obviously the master bedroom; it was huge. Even with a large double bed and a heavy chest of drawers taking up much of the floor space, a great deal of bare carpet remained. The door out was to the south, and a second door led west.
  
  On the chest of drawers was a family photo.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: South, West
  
  Angela glanced round anxiously, as if nervous about trespassing somewhere she had no right to be.
  
  > ask Angela about the photo
  "So all those people in the photos in the drawing room," I began, "who are they?"
  
  "I don't know who the woman is," she admitted. "Colonel Croxley just found that photograph somewhere. His real wife is alive and well and living in Yorkshire, I believe, though she can't be seeing much of him right now, poor thing. But the others are real people - I mean the boy in army uniform really was called Tony and he really was the colonel's son and he really was killed in action - as was Adam, my boyfriend, the pilot."
  
  > look under the bed
  I peered under the bed, but spotted nothing of interest.
  
  "You didn't find anything under there, then," Angela surmiseed. It was clearly a statement, not a question.
  
  > move chest
  I saw no need to start rearranging the furniture; it would probably have achieved nothing except annoying the Croxleys unnecessarily.
  
  > look under the chest
  I couldn't see anything under the chest of drawers.
  
  "We really must try to find that codebook, Jack" Angela insisted. "Hilda must have used something to decode that message, but I'd really like to see the proof!"
  
  > Go east
  Angela followed me through the east door.
  
  The bathroom was rectangular, and just a little dingy, with the white enamel bath tucked away in the corner occupying about a quarter of the floor-space. Most of the rest was taken up with the basin and the toilet, with a mirror-fronted cabinet attached to one wall. The bathroom door was to the west.
  
  A small book of some sort was lying on the ground just next to the toilet bowl.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: West
  
  > look at the book
  (the red book)
  It appeared to be a biography of Hermann Goering.
  
  > get the book
  I took the ration book.
  
  > look at the book
  Which book do you mean, the red book, or the ration book?
  
  > Ration
  It appeared to be a current ration book.
  
  > read it
  Closer inspection revealed it to be the ration book for someone called Timothy Durbury.
  
  > ask her about the corpse
  She'd already agreed that the dead man looked a lot like Hermann Goering, but that was as much as she was saying.
  
  > show the ration book to Angela
  "Look what I've found!" I declared, "A ration book for Timothy Durbury! I assume this belonged to that poor fellow downstairs."
  
  Angela hesitated for just a moment, then nodded. "There's no point denying it, is there?" she replied. "I'm sorry, I've had to live with pretence so long it's become a habit! But yes, the man who was killed was Tim Durbury. Poor Tim!" She wiped the corner of her eye.
  
  > open the cabinet
  Opening the cabinet revealed a safety razor.
  
  > examine razor
  It was a standard safety razor, with a short silver handle and a partially enclosed blade.
  
  > ask Angela about Timothy
  "So who was Timothy Durbury?" I asked. "And what was he doing here? Why all the secrecy? Why would anyone want to kill him?"
  
  "That's an awful lot of questions all at once," she replied with a wan smile, "but I suppose what's secret had better remain secret."
  
  > Go west
  Not wanting either to be encumbered with other people's property, or to be caught stealing it, I dropped the safety razor before leaving the room.
  
  Angela followed me through the door.
  
  The main landing comprised the area at the top of the stairs leading down to the floor below. From there doors led off to east, west, north and northeast. The landing continued to the south past the banisters.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Northeast, Down
  
  > ask her about the cellar
  "Where is the cellar?" I askd.
  
  "Just off the back passage," she told me, opposite Hilda's sitting room.'
  
  > go to the back passage
  (going northeast)
  
  Angela followed me through the northeast door.
  
  The standard of decoration was definitely plainer in this part of the house, little more than a stale lick of white paint on every available surface. The door to the southwest marked the boundary between the servants' quarters and the rest of the house, while a second door led west, opposite a pair of cupboard doors to the east. A ladder ran up from the floor through the open trapdoor in the ceiling, while a narrow flight of stairs led down to the floor below.
  
  On the shelves were a pair of folded white sheets.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: West, Southwest, Up, Down
  
  (To continue on your way use the command CONTINUE or C).
  
  > Key
  Which key do you mean, the small silver key, the dull grey key, the chunky key, or the small brass key?
  
  > Go east
  (first opening the east door)
  
  Angela followed me through the east door.
  
  The beam of my torch picked out little but dust, junk and cobwebs before settling on the large empty wine rack running along the east wall. A further clockwise movement of the beam located something untoward on the south wall.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: Up
  
  > examine south
  I saw no beam there.
  
  There was a cable running down the south wall - but it looked as if it had been severed.
  
  > examine the cable
  The cable ran all the way down from the ceiling into some sort of junction box. It looked as if it had been deliberately and cleanly cut; the shiny metal wire thereby revealed suggested that it might have been cut quite recently.
  
  > talk about the cable
  'Have a look at this, Angela,' I said, shining the torch at the severed cable. 'It looks like this cable has been cut.'
  
  'You're right, it does!' she agreed, peering at it closely. 'And there's something else - I think this is the cable for the telephone, so it wasn't the storm that put it out of action!'
  
  > Search rack
  At first sight the wine rack looked completely empty, but a thorough search revealed a brown paper bag half hidden in one of the compartments.
  
  > get bag
  'What have you just found?' Angela asked, as I removed the paper bag from the wine rack. 'Whatever it is was well hidden! Who'd ever think of looking in an empty wine rack? Anyway, what is it?'
  
  > look in the bag
  The brown paper bag contained a dark green book.
  
  > read the book
  Which book do you mean, the red book, the dark green book, or the ration book?
  
  > read the green book
  (first taking the dark green book from the brown paper bag)
  The inside of the book was full of columns of numbers and letters.
  
  > connect the wire
  (to the pair of headphones)
  I could not attach that to anything.
  
  > fix the cable
  I lacked the necessary equipment.
  
  > give the book to Angela
  Which book do you mean, the dark green book, the red book, or the ration book?
  
  > Green
  She took the book from me, and studied it carefully. 'I'd say it was almost certainly a code book of some kind,' she told me, carefully turning over the pages. 'Almost certainly a German codebook of some kind,' she added. 'I imagine that's why it was hidden down here, so it wouldn't be immediately obvious whose it was. I mean it would be pretty damning evidence if it turned up in anyone's things, but I suppose we now know whose it is anyway.'
  
  With a frown of concentration she then re-examined the writing revealed on the notebook. 'Yes,' she nodded, 'I think this was used to decode the message here. So - we found the notebook in Hilda's room, and Hilda had the cellar key in her pocket, and the codebook was hidden in the cellar - I think we have enough now, don't you?'
  
  > Yes
  'Yes, I think we do,' I agreed.
  
  'Good, so let's go and show what we've got to Colonel Croxley,' she suggested.
  
  > find the Colonel
  (going west)
  
  Angela followed me up the stairs.
  
  The back passage was a short, narrow space leading from the kitchen door (to the south) to the back door (to the north) between two other doors to east and west. The space was further constricted by a flight of stairs leading up to the floor above.
  
  Angela stopped beside me.
  
  Obvious exits: North, South, East, West, Up
  
  (To continue on your way use the command CONTINUE or C).
  
  > show the notebook to Croxley
  (Colonel Croxley)
  I handed him the notebook, saying, 'We found this in Hilda's bedroom.'
  
  Croxley glanced at it and said, 'TOTEN SIE IHN SOFORT, in what looks to me, so far as I can tell from this, more than a little like Hilda's writing - well, we need hardly ask who she was being ordered to kill at once.' Looking up at the housekeeper he went on, 'Is there anything you'd like to say about this, Hilda?'
  
  'You accuse me?' she asked incredulously, slowly backing away. 'Always they blame the Jews, always. Why?'
  
  'There's more, Hilda,' Angela told her, 'the codebook you hid in the cellar, for example.'
  
  'You're no better than a Nazi!' Hilda shrieked. 'You - how you say? - You plant evidence to make me in trouble. Just because you are blonde and pretty-looking, Aryan girl, you think you can ...' She broke off as she snatched a large kitchen knife out of a drawer and rushed towards Angela, brandishing her makeshift weapon.
  
  > show it to him
  'Quick! Do something, man! Stop her!' he cried.
  
  > Punch hilda
  I rushed towards Hilda. She paused in her stride and turned to threaten me with her knife. In the ensuing scuffle, the revolver went off, shooting Hilda through the heart. She fell to the floor, leaving me gaping at her in horrified silence.
  
  It was Colonel Croxley who broke that terrible silence. 'Well, that's that, then!' he declared briskly, as if commenting on a broken teacup. 'We really could have done with questioning her - but I suppose she realized that, as well as what we'd do to a spy in wartime.' Turning to me he cut off my incipient apology adding, 'Don't blame yourself, Mr Percy, you did what you had to and I would have done exactly the same.'
  
  After a brief pause when nobody spoke he continued, 'This must all seem very strange, Mr Percy, so I suppose I owe you an explanation.'
  
  Angela threw Colonel Croxley a quick, anxious glance.
  
  > listen
  I heard nothing out of the ordinary.
  
  'Mr Percy,' Colonel Croxley broke in on my thoughts, 'I think I'd better explain what's being on here, don't you?'
  
  Angela avoided my eye.
  
  > Yes
  'Yes; it's clear something very odd's going on,' I replied, still trying to recover from my shock at what had just happened. 'Please do enlighten me.'
  
  'Very well,' he nodded. 'First, as you may have gathered, neither this young lady nor myself are who we claimed to be. I'm Colonel Martin, military intelligence, and Lieutenant Angela Dalton is my assistant. The man Hilda shot was an actor called Tim Durbury, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Reichsmarschall Goering. The original idea was to see if we could train him to pass himself off as the real thing and maybe cause some havoc behind enemy lines.'
  
  He paused for a moment, then continued, 'Actually it became obvious almost from day one that the idea was a non-starter; poor old Durbury was never going to fool the Germans for five minutes. If it hadn't been for Hilda we'd've packed up the whole operation weeks ago.'
  
  Angela stared at him in some consternation. 'But...' she began.
  
  > wait a while
  I waited to see what would happen.
  
  'It was sheer luck that Hilda answered our advertisement for a native German-speaker who could pass as a housekeeper,' the colonel continued. 'We already knew she was a spy, and it gave us a perfect chance to use her for our own purposes. She thought we wanted her to help Durbury to learn German well enough to pass himself off as Goering - which was obviously never going to happen in reality. Presumably she also thought we'd given her the ideal opportunity to spy on us and pass damaging information back to the Germans. In fact, we were simply keeping her from doing any mischief elsewhere while using her to pass false information to her masters in Berlin.'
  
  At that point Angela's mouth dropped open in utter astonishment.
  
  > Wait
  I waited to see what would happen.
  
  Angela stared at Colonel Martin aghast. 'You never told me, sir!' she cried.
  
  'It was better you didn't know, lieutenant,' he replied evenly.
  'You're probably an even worse actor than poor old Durbury, and I needed you to be convincing. In any case, the fewer people who knew what we were really up to the better. Unfortunately we never reckoned with Hilda being ordered to kill Durbury, which I suppose must have happened shortly before you showed up, Mr Percy. And now I have a request. Obviously our little scheme has now gone a bit wrong, but it's still essential that none of this comes out. Can I rely on your discretion?'
  
  > Yes
  'Yes, of course, sir,' I declared.
  
  'Good man,' Colonel Martin replied. 'Well, we'd better see what we can do to start clearing up this mess...'
  
  At that moment Captain Graham walked in, stopped in his stride at seeing the tableau presented, and remarked, 'What happened? I thought I heard a shot!'
  
  'You did,' Colonel Martin told him calmly. 'Hilda's dead. I'll fill in the details later. Right now I think we'd better get Mr Percy out of here and on his way to his camp. The storm seems to have abated, so perhaps you could give him a lift back to his car and help him get it started.'
  
  'Of course, sir,' Captain Graham nodded. Turning to me he said, 'Lead on then, Mr Percy!'
  
  Captain Graham nodded towards the door.