I don't remember if I ever posted about this. In case I didn't, here are two quotes from Devil in the White City (whichever paperback version my parents had--probably first trade paperback edition):
"Mrs. Palmer was in Europe at the time, but her private secretary, Laura Hayes, a gossip of virtuosic scope, made sure her employer learned all the details." (p. 142)
"Olmsted got word of it from Harry Codman, who in addition to being his chief operating man in Chicago served as a kind of spy, keeping Olmsted abreast of all threats to Olmsted's vision." (p. 143)
In fact, the lines are very nearly in the same place on those two facing pages. But a woman who keeps track of her employer's business is a gossip, and a man who does the same is a spy.
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