She seated herself at the desk.
As she might have expected there was some writing paper engraved with the Marquis’s crest in a leather folder.
She laid a piece of paper on the blotter and took up one of the white quill pens.
The inkpot, which apparently had been of no interest to Fred Cotter, was of gold.
Carefully thinking out every word, she wrote,
“The portrait of the first Marquis of Trancombe by Sir Anthony Van Dyck has been stolen by Fred Cotter of the Gable Cottage, Wichingham.
Having finished writing, she waited for the ink to dry.
As she looked down, she saw that pieces of broken glass were strewn all over the floor.
As soon as the housemaids came in first thing in the morning to clean the room, they would realise what had happened.
Then she was afraid that as the Curator
