if Cora telephoned to tell her he had gone downtown

[sitifan]

Alex had taken time from work and left the office at five o'clock this particular afternoon. He had left word with his secretary that if Cora telephoned to
tell her he had gone downtown. "If there's anything urgent," he had said, "you can get in touch with me at Hartman's Department Store.
(Idiom Drills, by George P. McCallum, page 116)

Is the sentence in bold intelligible to native speakers?

 

[slevlife]

Yes.

What is confusing about it to you?

I've added and replaced some words below (and made up the name Jen) to help clarify the meaning:

He had left word with his secretary, Jen, that if Cora telephoned, Jen should tell her that he had gone downtown.

 

[sitifan]

Alex had taken time from work and left the office at five o'clock this particular afternoon. He had left word with his secretary that if Cora telephoned to tell her he had gone downtown.

Is the sentence in bold grammatically correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. It's rather old-fashioned but it's grammatically correct and understandable.

 

[sitifan]

Can I change the indirect speech into direct speech as follows?
"If Cora telephones, tell her I have gone downtown."

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes.