“You haven’t,” said Roger, with elaborate carelessness, “still got that handkerchief by you, have you?”
“Well, it’s funny you should say that, sir, because just as it happens, I have. I kep’ it by me, you see, meaning⸺”
“Would it be too much trouble to let me have a look at it for a moment?” Roger asked in honeyed tones.
“Not a bit, sir,” replied the landlady cheerfully. “I’ll go and get it now, if you wouldn’t mind waiting a minute.”
She bustled out of the room, and Anthony looked at his cousin with raised eyebrows.
“Mrs. Vane, of course?” he said.
“Of course,” Roger nodded. “She could easily get in at that window without being seen.”
“But it’s natural enough, isn’t it? I mean, why the excitement?”
“I’m not excited. And it is perfectly natural. She probably came here several times. But having unearthed a brand-new fact, we may as well find out all there is to be known about it. I admit that I don’t see any fresh development that it can lead to, but there’s no harm in following it up.”
The landlady bustled back again, decidedly the worse for breath, and handed Roger a small piece of cambric entirely surrounded by lace. Roger examined it and silently pointed out to Anthony a small E embroidered in one corner. He turned to the landlady and significantly rattled his loose change.