Miss Summerson made no reply, but stood miserably in front of him, fiddling with the bunch of keys.
“You are sure that all this about the leather lace is not imagination?”
“No,” almost inaudibly; then, “I mean to say yes, there was a lace just like I’ve said.”
“Have you ever seen this queer arrangement, Doctor?”
The Tundish, I thought, hesitated for the merest fraction of a second, then he said pleasantly, “No, I don’t think I have. I knew that Miss Summerson had the key secured to a chain, somewhat in the way she has described, but I never had any reason to handle her keys or ask her exactly how they were attached.”
Allport sat drumming with his fingers on the table for a time, then he shrugged his shoulders, and told her curtly that she could go, adding, “Please be careful to be exact in the report I’ve asked you to write out.”
Miss Summerson hurried from the room.
Chapter VI.
The Inquiry in the Dining-Room
“No one has found the key, I suppose?” was Allport’s first question as soon as Miss Summerson had shut the door. “The maid would have reported it if she had found it when she swept out the dispensary this morning, I suppose, Miss Hanson?”
“Yes, but if you like I will go and ask to make sure,” Ethel replied.