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Acceptable in an emergency. In my laboratory at the university I have been developing some rather more efficient secret inks.’
    For the next half-hour he demonstrated with liquids which left no visible trace on drying but which, when exposed to heat or a spray of some sort, quickly revealed clear print. Others were only revealed under ultraviolet light , mercury vapour or ammonia fumes. ‘This is my finest to date,’ he declared, holding up a small bottle triumphantly. ‘Its beauty is that you can impregnate it into material – a sock for example. An agent can wear the sock into enemy territory, and when the ink is needed, simply take it off and place it in water to soak. Must say, I’m rather chuffed with that one. I’ll try and get some socks for you to try out in a week or two.’
    Socks?
I looked at Loki and pulled a face.
    ‘Now, enough alchemy for one morning,’ said our teacher. ‘Supposing you don’t have access to secret inks, how else might you conceal a message?’
    ‘A book or newspaper, erm … words, erm …’ Amélie suggested. Waving her arms in frustration, she struggled to find the right English phrase. Failing to do so, she looked to Jacques and added, ‘
Souligner
.’
    ‘Ah,
oui
, Amélie. She means
underlining
the words,’ he said.
    ‘Yes. Excellent, Miss Lefebvre. But maybe a little too obvious,’ Witherspoon replied. ‘Remember, if a message is discovered in your possession it will land you in great trouble. It needs to be better hidden. Try using a pin to make tiny holes through each word or letter instead.’ He demonstrated with a piece of newspaper and the point of a safety pin. ‘See? Far less visible to the eye, unless—’ He held the page up to the light and we saw the little dots appear like stars on a clear night. ‘Now they’re visible.’
    Witherspoon taught us to take great care about where we concealed messages on ourselves. Stitching them into the seams of clothing seemed an obvious idea. What I hadn’t considered, though, was the importance of using only clothing that can be readily discarded, like a scarf, rather than the hem of a dress or cuff of a shirt. ‘If you’re caught, you can hardly remove your shirt or trousers, can you?’ he pointed out. ‘It sounds obvious, but many agents have given themselves away by not taking such simple precautions.’
    I made notes as Witherspoon proceeded to put all his jars and paraphernalia back into his bag. ‘Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be back in a few weeks, when I’ll explain how you can use a wonderful substance called carborundum to make a train or lorry quite literally grind to a halt. Simply splendid stuff, and very effective too. Cheerio, all!’
    No sooner had Witherspoon departed than our next teacher arrived. Stanley Briggs was short, plump and completely bald. With a flourish he wrote the word
Disguises
on the blackboard. ‘Any suggestions?’
    Loki called out, ‘Wig or false moustache.’
    ‘Like this perhaps?’ Briggs delved into his bag, produced a long blond hairpiece and placed it on his head. Flicking the fringe out of his eyes, he said, ‘Well?’
    We all laughed. ‘You look ridiculous,’ said Freya.
    ‘Yes, I do, don’t I,’ he said. He tore off the wig. ‘
And
I’m a professional actor! You’re not. And yet’ – he paused, suddenly looking incredibly serious – ‘being able to quickly change the way you look might just save your lives. Suppose you are walking down a crowded street and you think you are being followed. What might you do? Certainly there’s no time to put on wigs and moustaches or apply make-up.’
    ‘Change our clothes in some way?’ Freya offered.
    ‘
Yes!
’ Briggs thrust up his hands in mock joy. ‘Well done, Miss Haukelid. Often the simplest things are the most effective. The tiniest changes to how you look may be enough to throw the enemy off your scent. Simply removing a raincoat or hat, taking or discarding an umbrella, combing one’s hair a