“And I told them ‘the door was jammed.’ So they’d a jemmy there, for opening cases with, and we burst the door open. We found Stukeley inside.”
“Stukeley?” said Margaret. “I half suspected that.”
“He was on his knees on the deck, sponging that blue silk dress Olivia wears.”
“Ha,” said Captain Cammock. “I should never have thought of that.”
“Shrewd these Cornish women are.”
“He was rather red in the face, but he asked us what was the matter. Then he asked me to give him a hand, as he’d got to get the dress ready for Olivia, he said. She’d spilt some chocolate down it. It was——”
“Was he flustered? Hectoring?”
“Afterwards. Not then. He kept saying that Olivia wished to wear the dress at breakfast.”
“Did she?”
“Yes. Oh yes. I don’t know, Charles. There might have been nothing wrong.”