Betty Sprot

In the novel N or M?, Betty Sprot first appears as the baby girl of Mrs Sprot staying at the Sans Souci hotel at Leahampton. A playful child, she becomes quite attached to various guests at the hotel including Tuppence.

Only towards the end of the story do Tommy and Tuppence discover that Betty is not the real child of Mrs Sprot. She had adopted the child and used her as camouflage for her activities. Mrs Sprot had shot the true mother, a penniless refugee. As Betty is left with no parents at the end of the story, Tommy and Tuppence decide to adopt her.

In Postern of Fate, when Betty Beresford must be in her early thirties, Tuppence mentions that she had gone to East Africa where she "loves poking into African families and writing articles about them." Presumably she had become an anthropologist.