Rosa Ushiromiya did not know what to do. She only wanted to thank whoever had lent her daughter an umbrella, but she could not figure out who it was. She had originally thought everyone had been present at dinner, so all she had to do was ask.
"Then, was it Sister-in-law Natsuhi?"
"Sorry. After everyone had finished their 'pleasant' conversation, I had a terrible headache and stayed in my room to rest, so I never went outside."
"Then who was it? Was it George and the others? That seems unlikely."
"Not us. We stayed in the guesthouse watching television the whole time."
"We thought Maria had gone to the main mansion with Aunt Rosa."
"Then Kanon came to ask whether Maria was with us, and that was when we realized she was not in the main mansion. Besides, if it had been us, we would have pulled her under the eaves before getting an umbrella."
Rosa Ushiromiya was completely out of ideas.
The relatives and servants all insisted it had not been them, and it was not something anyone needed to hide. By process of elimination, there were only a few people left.
"Of course it was not me either. Not long after it began raining, I went to Mr. Kinzo's room and played chess with him until just now."
Kirie Ushiromiya spoke after Nanjō:
"That means it could not have been Father-in-law, either."
"What is this? This is getting stranger and stranger. Who is left?"
"Then who could it be? Uncle Genji? Huh? Wait a moment, please do not misunderstand. I am not looking for a culprit. As Maria's mother, I just want to properly thank the person who lent her an umbrella."
If one of them had truly done it, there was no reason to hide it. Lending