“No one else touched it?”
“No, sir.”
“Anybody called here this morning?”
“Called, sir?” Jenkins seemed ruffled.
“Yes. Anybody been to the house?”
“No, sir,” said Jenkins, as though in asking if anybody had called Carpentaria was reflecting upon her moral character. And she blushed.
“Very well. Go and find your mistress.”
Jenkins departed, and came back in a surprisingly short space of time.
“Mistress doesn’t seem to be about, sir,” said Jenkins.
“What? She hasn’t gone out, has she?”