tone:

“Hello. Nancy! Are you there?”

Again she listened, then laughed low.

“I’m sorry, Nancy,” she apologized, speaking through a small mouthpiece. “Something terribly exciting happened. I got something on the shortest wave-length, where nothing’s supposed to be.

“Yes, I did!” she exclaimed. Then: “No! It can’t be! Fifteen minutes. Oh, boy! I’ll have to step on it. I—I’ll be right down. Meet you at the foot of the ladder.”

“What ladder?” the big girl asked in surprise.

“The one from first floor to second, of course. We don’t have stairways in this place, you know, only ladders.” Sally laughed low.

After turning off the switches, Sally snapped the black box shut, then hid it in a dark corner of the closet.

“But I just came up a stairway,” the new girl insisted.

“Oh, no you didn’t!” Sally laughed. “It was a ladder!”

“But—”

“You’re new here so you’ll have to work that one out. I’m sure you’ll find I’m right.” Sally was hastily putting on hat, coat, and gloves. “I’ve got to skip. Have my personal interview in fifteen minutes. That’s where they try to find out what we’re good for. What’s your specialty? Oh, yes, and what’s your name?”

“I’m Barbara Brown. And I’m scared to death for fear they’ll send me home. I haven’t done a thing but sew, and work in a laundry, and cook a little.”

“They’ll find a place for you. Just tell them your life story. Don’t be afraid. You’ll win.”

Sally was out of the room and down the “ladder” before Barbara could have counted ten.

At the foot of the “ladder” she met Nancy McBride, a girl she had known well in the half-forgotten days of high-school basketball.

“It’s perfectly terrible starting out in a new place with a deep secret,” Sally said in a low tone as they hurried away toward the “U.S.S. Mary Sacks” where interviews for all recent recruits were conducted.

“Yes, it is,” Nancy agreed soberly. “A trifle wacky if you’d ask me.”

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