When Mrs Hawkins tells Hector Bartlett he is a `pisseur de copie`, that he `urinates frightful prose`, little does she realise the repercussions. Holding that `no life can be carried on satisfactorily unless people are honest` Mrs Hawkins refuses to retract her judgement, and as a consequence, loses not one, but two much-sought-after jobs in publishing. Now, years older, successful, and happily a far cry from Kensington, she looks back over the dark days that followed, in which she was embroiled in a mystery involving anonymous letters, quack remedies, blackmail and suicide.