Camilla's heart sank.

She could not be party to the sort of things that led to divorce! Aside from the fact that the Church would disapprove, she might lose faith in the human race.

Although, given what Hiram Stratton had done, what faith had she in the human race anyway?

She raised her hand to cross herself, and keep away the evil of such practices as arson and divorce, when she was greeted by the man who must be Mr. Duffie. Just in time, Camilla remembered that her pretend self, Cameron Matthews, was probably not a good Catholic.

But Mr. Duffie thought she meant to shake hands, so he got halfway up from his desk, extending his hand over the wide wooden top. Luckily she had been doing this all day and knew to grip hard.

His black pomaded hair glistened on his head. He might, or might not, have brushed his teeth the week before. He handed her a form to fill out.

Cameron Matthews, she wrote, in big strong script. High school diploma, she added, instead of Eighthgrade graduate.

Mr. Duffie held her paperwork close to the lamp and scanned the page quickly. “Matthews,” he said approvingly. “A good English name. You don't know how many Poles and Czechs come in here, expecting to be hired, as if they were regular people.”

Camilla spat into the tobacco stand to demonstrate her disgust at the current situation in America. This was a hard part of being a man. Why did men always have spit in their mouths? She certainly never had any spare spit in her mouth.

Mr. Duffie leaned back in a wooden swivel chair and chewed the tip of a pipe. “What I need, Mr. Matthews,” said Duffie, “is a man willing to masquerade as a woman. I know, I know. A shameful thing to ask. I have had men vomit at the suggestion of imitating a female. But in this line of work, there are situations into which a man cannot go. A female, however, could do so.”

That would be interesting, thought Camilla. I'd be a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. “Why then,” she asked, in her new deep voice, “do you not simply hire a female?”

Mr. Duffie laughed out loud. “Nobody would trust the evidence of a female. Who would hire my agency if it became known that I used female operatives? No, I need a man to disguise himself.”

“You ask a great deal,” said Camilla, accepting the offer of chewing tobacco.

“I pay a great deal, Mr. Matthews,” said Mr. Duffie, writing the amount on a piece of paper and shoving it toward her.

Camilla nearly swallowed her tobacco. He told the truth. He paid a great deal. If she lived frugally, not only could Jerzy and Stefan return to school, lunch pails would be full! Mama could pay somebody else to do the laundry!