“Why didn’t you take it to Mrs. Bellamy that evening, Mr. Ives?”
“I had no appointment with her. She was to let me know if she was able to get away, and at what time.”
“It didn’t occur to you to look in the book to see whether there was a note?”
“It most assuredly did occur to me. I went in for that specific purpose at the time that Sue called me from the hall.”
“So that you didn’t look?”
“Oh, yes, I did look when I came back five minutes later. There was no note.”
“Aha!” said Mr. Lambert, and the red-headed girl, watching with horrified eyes the reckless progress of young Mr. Ives across the spread nets, made a mechanical note that never except in a book had she heard a human being say “Aha” before. “So you looked in the book, did you? And there was no note, was there?”
“Right both times,” said Mr. Ives.
“Now that’s very interesting,” beamed Mr. Lambert—“very interesting, indeed. But if there had been a note in that book, you’d have found it, wouldn’t you?”
“Well, not being a blithering idiot, that’s a fairly safe proposition.”