“Amber-tipped. Yes?”
“Another edge is a little uneven; it appears to have been cut.”
“This edge opposite the mouthpiece. Yes, yes.”
“Patches are blackened, and little holes—like pinpricks—burned through. In places it is scorched brown.”
“Anything else?”
“I hope there is nothing I have failed to observe, sir,” said Parkinson, after a pause.
Carrados’s reply was a strangely irrelevant question.
“What is the ceiling made of?” he demanded.
“Oak boards, sir, with a heavy cross-beam.”
“Are there any plaster figures about the room?”