“Oh, hullo, Alice. I say, I seem to have lost my fountain pen. You haven’t seen it about anywhere, have you?”
The girl shook her head. “No, sir, that I haven’t. It wasn’t in here when I did the room this morning, I’m sure.”
“H’m! That’s a nuisance. I’ve missed it since last night. The last time I remember having it was in the library a short time before dinner. I wonder if I can have left it in there. Do you do the library?”
“Oh, no, sir. I only do the bedrooms. Mary does the downstairs rooms.”
“I see. Well, do you think I could have a word with Mary, if she’s not too busy? Perhaps you could send her up here?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll tell her at once.”
“Thank you, Alice.”
In due course Mary made her appearance.
“I say, Mary,” Roger remarked confidentially, “I’ve lost my fountain pen, and Alice tells me that she hasn’t come across it in here. Now the last time I had it was in the library yesterday, some time between tea and dinner; I’ve been looking round for it in there, but I can’t see it. I suppose you haven’t tidied up the library since then, or seen anything of it?”
“Yes, sir, I tidied up the library last night while they were in at dinner. And little did I think when I was doing it that——”