Lucy waited for this to sink in.
"And what connection is there between this book you found and Miss Rouse?"
"Only that no one else in the room had a bag-of-sweets-under-the-desk expression; in fact, no one else seemed to be particularly worried about the paper. And that Rouse was the last to leave the room."
"What has that to do with it?"
"If the book had been dropped before Rouse came out of the examination room it would almost certainly have been picked up by one of the other students. It was a sort of dahlia red, and was lying very obviously on the grass at the edge of the path.
"Not on the path?"
"No," said Lucy, reluctantly. "About half an inch off it."
"So that it could have been passed many times by a crowd of chattering students excited over an examination, and anxious not to be late for their next class?"
"Yes, I suppose it could."
"And was there a name on the book?"