Bring the Monkey by Miles Franklin — Read

By ones and twos the people dribbled out of the sealed rooms, all eager to know if the monkey had been found. He had not. Nothing had been found by the search, but many tempers had been lost. Some unfortunate souls with physical secrets, who had suffered severe ignominy by such an overhauling, were asserting impolitely that the whole thing was a vulgar publicity racket egregiously engineered. Swithwulf the Baron took no pains to Tower his voice. He said the onus of disproving the assertion was upon Ydonea, and that he would never have such rabble about the place again, not though they paid the taxes henceforth. He said to the Chief Inspector that it was all a hoax, but the officer was not to be deflected from strict professional routine.

It seemed as if Percy could not be in the house, and the Elephant Hunter and Jimmy Wengham--tardily released--led a search of the grounds. Zarl asked Capt. Stopworth to suppress Yusuf and everyone else and let her and me go softly about. If Percy were still in the house he might come to us. He was now probably thoroughly frightened and would not come out of hiding while strangers were about. He could very well be up in some of the dark beamed ceilings, or on an antler, or in one of a thousand hiding places. It was nearly as bad as trying to trace him in a forest. But if he were left in quietude his restlessness would soon induce him to reappear.