"Well, I couldn't answer that. The thermometer goes up and down like a jumping-jack here."
"You had pulled up the study curtains so as to let in the sunlight, I believe?"
"Yes, sir. That was for the poor canary. And, besides, the professor used to say the sunlight was good—good for plants and animals and everything that has life in it."
"The sun, then, was shining down on the desk where the spectacles lay?"
"Just as you see it here, sir."
She pointed to the desk, by which she was still standing.
"You know, from your own experience in dresses, that dark colors absorb more heat than light ones?"
"Sir?"
"Light dresses are cooler than dark ones?"
"Yes, sir."