[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-143888-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-143888-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","the-secret-agent-a-simple-tale","The Secret Agent - A Simple Tale","","A detailed opening chapter introduces Mr. Verloc’s bleak shop in London, where shady goods are sold under the cover of ordinary transactions. The narrative establishes the daily routine marked by the cracked bell, the atmosphere of secrecy, and the kinds of customers who enter. It also profiles the family around the business—Mr. Verloc’s indifferent presence, Winnie’s guarded role, and the mother-in-law’s lodged arrangements—laying groundwork for social pressure and hidden motives.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/","Story & Novel",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-secret-agent-a-simple-tale/143888/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-secret-agent-a-simple-tale/143888.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Sage","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What role does Mr Verloc play in the shop at the start of the story?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Mr Verloc leaves the shop in name to his brother-in-law and, when the bell rings, comes out from the back room to sell the shady items to customers with practiced impudence.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the shop atmosphere and setup contribute to the story’s tone?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The small grimy building, the low gas jets, suspiciously ajar door at night, and the cracked bell create a tense, covert feeling while hinting at illegal or immoral trade.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Who are the key family members introduced in this chapter?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Besides Mr Verloc, the chapter introduces Winnie Verloc as the steady-eyed attendant behind the counter, and Winnie’s mother as a stout, wheezy woman who lets furnished rooms to certain tenants near Vauxhall Bridge Road.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},143888,1787697146,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,87,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":22,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":80,"read_time":145},687197207057,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","The Secret Agent  \nA Simple Tale  \n***  \nJoseph Conrad  \nSECOND EDITION  \nMethuen & Co.  \n36 Essex Street W C.  \nLondon  \nFirst Published…September 1907  \nSecond Edition…October 1907  \n[epubBooks.com](epubBooks.com)  \nTO  \nH. G. WELLS  \nTHE CHRONICLER OF MR LEWISHAM'S LOVE THE BIOGRAPHER OF KIPPS AND THE HISTORIAN OF THE AGES TO COME  \nTHIS SIMPLE TALE OF THE XIX CENTURY IS AFFECTIONATELY OFFERED  \nCHAPTER I  \nMr Verloc, going out in the morning, left his shop nominally in charge of his brother–in–law. It could be done, because there was very little business at any time, and practically none at all before the evening. Mr Verloc cared but little about his ostensible business. And, moreover, his wife was incharge of his brother–in–law.  \nThe shop was small, and so was the house. It was one of those grimy brick houses which existed in large quantities before the era of reconstruction dawned upon London. The shop was a square box of a place, with the front glazed in small panes. In the daytime the door remained closed; in the evening it stood discreetly but suspiciously ajar.  \nThe window contained photographs of more or less undressed dancing girls; nondescript packages in wrappers like patent medicines; closed yellow paper envelopes, very flimsy, and marked two–and–six in heavy black figures; a few numbers of ancient French comic publications hung across a string as if to dry; a dingy blue china bowl, a casket of black wood, bottles of marking ink, and rubber stamps; a few books, with titles hinting at impropriety; a few apparently old copies of obscure newspapers, badly printed, with titles like The Torch, The Gong—rousing titles. And the two gas jets inside the panes were always turned low, either for economy's sake or for the sake of the customers.  \nThese customers were either very young men, who hung about the window for a time before slipping in suddenly; or men of a more mature age, but looking generally as if they were not in funds. Some of that last kind had the collars of their overcoats turned right up to their moustaches, and traces of mud on the bottom of their nether garments, which had the appearance of being much worn and not very valuable. And the legs inside them did not, as a general rule, seem of much account either. With their hands plunged deep in the side pockets of their coats, they dodged insideways, one shoulder first, as if afraid to start the bell going.  \nThe bell, hung on the door by means of a curved ribbon of steel, was difficult to circumvent. It was hopelessly cracked; but of an evening, at the slightest provocation, it clattered behind the customer with impudent virulence.  \nIt clattered; and at that signal, through the dusty glass door behind the painted deal counter, Mr Verloc would issue hastily from the parlour at the back. His eyes were naturally heavy; he had an air of having wallowed, fully dressed, all day on an unmade bed. Another man would have felt such an appearance a distinct disadvantage. In a commercial transaction of theretail order much depends on the seller's engaging and amiable aspect. But Mr Verloc knew his business, and remained undisturbed by any sort of aesthetic doubt about his appearance. With a firm, steady–eyed impudence, which seemed to hold back the threat of some abominable menace, he would proceed to sell over the counter some object looking obviously and scandalously not worth the money which passed in the transaction: a small cardboard box with apparently nothing inside, for instance, or one of those carefully closed yellow flimsy envelopes, or a soiled volume in paper covers with a promising title. Now and then it happened that one of the faded, yellow dancing girls would get sold to an amateur, as though she had been alive and young.  \nSometimes it was Mrs Verloc who would appear at the call of the cracked bell. Winnie Verloc was a young woman with a full bust, in a tight bodice, and with broad hips. Her hair was very tidy. Steady–eyed like her husband, she p","cbCaifZShuhd6OFL","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifZShuhd6OFL","pdf",1109710,234,"English","# Chapter I\n## The shop and its customers\n## Mrs Verloc and the transaction\n## The household and the mother-in-law","[{\"question\":\"What role does Mr Verloc play in the shop at the start of the story?\",\"answer\":\"Mr Verloc leaves the shop in name to his brother-in-law and, when the bell rings, comes out from the back room to sell the shady items to customers with practiced impudence.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the shop atmosphere and setup contribute to the story’s tone?\",\"answer\":\"The small grimy building, the low gas jets, suspiciously ajar door at night, and the cracked bell create a tense, covert feeling while hinting at illegal or immoral trade.\"},{\"question\":\"Who are the key family members introduced in this chapter?\",\"answer\":\"Besides Mr Verloc, the chapter introduces Winnie Verloc as the steady-eyed attendant behind the counter, and Winnie’s mother as a stout, wheezy woman who lets furnished rooms to certain tenants near Vauxhall Bridge Road.\"}]","The Secret Agent - A Simple Tale | PDF",360]