It
must 'a' strayed back from where she sent it to, the crafty
little nuisance! It's--"
"Incidentally," said the Master, "it is the creature that wrecked
your room. See the ink on it. And that bit of porcelain it's
brandishing at us looks like a match for some of these smashed
bits on the floor. It got in here, I suppose, through that
window, earlier,--and--"
"No," corrected the Mistress, wiser at deduction. "Through the
doorway, downstairs. From somewhere outside. Probably while the
maid was dusting the dining-room. It came in here and began
destroying things; as monkeys love to. And Laddie struck its
trail and followed it up here. It heard Lad coming and it got out
through the window. Then, just now, something outside scared it;
and it climbed back in again. I wonder if--"
As she talked, the Mistress had moved toward the nearest window.
"See?" she finished, in triumph, as she pointed out and down.
On the patch of back lawn, below, stood a very much flustered old
lady, her worried gaze upraised to the study. In one hand she
carried a leash, in the other a half-peeled banana.
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