The door swung inward, just a fraction of an inch, and then Blake pushed it open far enough for him and Caroline to squeeze through. James had his back to the wall and his finger poised on the trigger of his gun. He breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Caroline and Blake entering the room.

“Didn't you recognize the knock?” Blake asked.

James gave a curt nod. “Can't be too careful.”

“I'll say,” Caroline agreed. All of this spywork was leaving her stomach rather queasy. It was exciting, to be sure, but nothing in which she'd wish to participate on a regular basis. She had no idea how the two of them had lasted this long without fraying their nerves completely.

She turned to James. “Did Oliver come in here?”

He shook his head. “But I heard him in the hall.”

“He had us trapped for a few minutes in the east drawing room.” She shuddered. “It was terrifying.”

Blake shot her an oddly appraising look.

“I brought the paper, quills, and ink,” Caroline continued, depositing the writing equipment on Oliver's desk. “Shall we copy the documents now? I should like to get going. I really had never intended to spend so much time at Prewitt Hall again.”

There were only three pages in the folder, so they each took a page and hastily copied it down onto a new sheet of paper. The results weren't terribly neat, with more than one ink splotch marring the effort, but they were legible, and that was all that mattered.

James carefully replaced the file in the drawer and relocked it.

“Is the room in order?” Blake asked.

James nodded. “I straightened everything while you were gone.”

“Excellent. Let's be off.”

Caroline turned to the marquis. “Did you remember to take an older file as evidence?”

“I am certain he knows how to do his job,” Blake said curtly. Then he turned to James and asked, “Did you?”

“Good God!” James said in a disgusted voice. “The two of you are worse than a pair of toddlers. Yes, of course I have the file, and if you don't stop arguing with one another, I'm going to lock the both of you in here and leave you to Prewitt and his sharpshooting butler.”

Caroline's jaw dropped at the outburst from the normally even-tempered marquis. She stole a glance at Blake and noticed that he looked rather surprised as well—and perhaps a touch embarrassed.

James scowled at both of them before pinning his stare on Caroline and asking, “How the hell do we get out of here?”

“We can't go out the window for the same reason we couldn't go in that way. If Farnsworth is still awake he would certainly hear us. But we can leave the way we came.”

“Won't someone be suspicious tomorrow when the door isn't locked?” Blake asked.

Caroline shook her head. “I know how to shut the door so that the latch fastens itself. No one will ever know.”