I got all my pipes together and put them in the rack; I filled the jar with tobacco, the recesses with three cigars, two cigarettes, and four matches; and then I thought I would have a smoke.

I swept my hand confidently along the mantelpiece, but it did not stop at a pipe.

I rose and looked for a pipe.

I had half a dozen, but not one was to be seen--none on the mantelpiece, none on the window-sill, none on the hearth-rug, none being used as book-markers.

I tugged at the bell till William John came in quaking, and then I asked him fiercely what he had done with my pipes.