“Surely, Warden-” began Miss Barton, hotly.

“In their own interests,” said the Warden, with quiet emphasis. “I entirely agree with you, Miss Barton, that there is no greater reason for suspecting them than for suspecting one of ourselves. But that is the more reason why they should be cleared completely and at once.”

“ By all means,” said the Bursar.

“As to the method used,” went on the Warden, “to keep check upon the scouts, or upon anybody else, I feel strongly that the fewer people who know anything about that, the better. Perhaps Miss Vane will be able to put forward a good suggestion, in confidence to myself, or to…”

“Exactly,” said Miss Hillyard, grimly. “To whom? So far as I can see, nobody among us can be taken on trust”

“That is unfortunately quite true,” said the Warden, “and the same thing applies to myself. While I need not say that I have every confidence in the senior members of the College, both jointly and severally, it appears to me that, exactly as in the case of the scouts, it is of the highest importance that we should be safeguarded, in our own interests. What do you say, SubWarden?”

“Certainly,” replied Miss Lydgate. “There should be no distinction made at all. I am perfectly willing to submit to any measures of supervision that may be recommended.”

“Well, you at least can scarcely be suspected,” said the Dean. “You are the greatest sufferer.”

“We have nearly all suffered to some extent,” said Miss Hillyard.

“I am afraid,” said Miss Allison, “we shall have to allow for what I understand is the well-known practice of these unfortunate-um, anonymous-letter writers, of sending letters to themselves to distract suspicion. Isn’t that so, Miss Vane?”

“Yes,” said Harriet, bluntly. “It seems unlikely, on the face of it, that anybody would do herself the kind of material damage Miss Lydgate has received; but if we once begin to make distinctions it is difficult to know where to stop. I don’t think anything but a plain alibi ought to be accepted as evidence.”

“And I have no alibi,” said Miss Lydgate. “I did not leave College on the Saturday till after Miss Hillyard had gone to lunch. What is more, I went over to Tudor during lunchtime, to return a book to Miss Chilperic’s room before I left; so that I might quite easily have taken the manuscript from the Library then.”

“But you have an alibi for the time when the proofs were put in the S.C.R.,” said Harriet.

“No,” said Miss Lydgate; “not even that. I came by the early train and arrived when everybody was in Chapel. I should have had to be rather quick to run across and throw the proofs into the S.C.R. and be back in my rooms again before the discovery was made; but I suppose I could have done it. In any case, I would much rather be treated on the same footing as other people.”

“Thank you,” said the Warden. “Is there anybody who does not feel the same?”

“I am sure we must all feel the same,” said the Dean. “But there is one set of people we are overlooking.”

“The present students who were up at the Gaudy,” said the Warden. “Yes; how about them?”

“I forget exactly who they were,” said the Dean, “but I think most of them were Schools people, and have since gone down. I will look up the lists and see. Oh, and, of course, there was Miss Cattermole who was up for Responsions-for the second time of asking.”

“Ah,” said the Bursar. “Yes. Cattermole.”

“And that woman who was taking Mods-what’s her name? Hudson, isn’t it? Wasn’t she still up?”

“Yes” said Miss Hillyard, “she was.”

“They will be in their Second and Third Years now, I suppose,” said Harriet. “By the way, is it known who ‘young Farringdon’ is, in this note addressed to Miss Flaxman?”

“There’s the point,” said the Dean. “Young Farringdon is an undergraduate of- New College, I think it is-who was engaged to Cattermole when they both came up, but is now engaged to Flaxman.”

“Is he, indeed?”

“Mainly, I understand, or partly, in consequence of that letter. I am told that Miss Flaxman accused Miss Cattermole of sending it and showed it to Mr. Farringdon; with the result that the gentleman broke off the engagement and transferred his affections to Flaxman.”

“Not pretty,” said Harriet.

“No. But I don’t think the Cattermole engagement was ever anything much more than a family arrangement, and that the new deal was not much more than an open recognition of the fait accompli. I gather there has been some feeling in the Second Year about the whole thing.”

“I see,” said Harriet.

“The question remains,” said Miss Pyke, “What steps do we propose to take in the matter? We have asked Miss Vane’s advice, and personally I am prepared to agree-particularly in view of what we have heard this evening-that it is abundantly necessary that some outside person should lend us assistance. To call in the police authorities is clearly undesirable But may I ask whether, at this stage, it is suggested that Miss Vane should personally undertake an investigation? Or alternatively, would she propose our placing the matter in the hands of a private inquiry agent? Or what?”

“I feel I am in a very awkward position,” said Harriet. “I am willing to give any help I can; but you do realize, don’t you, that this kind of inquiry is apt to take a long time, especially if the investigator has to tackle it single-handed A place like this, where people run in and out everywhere at all hours is almost impossible to police or patrol efficiently. It would need quite a little squad of inquiry agents-and even if you disguised them as scouts or students a good deal of awkwardness might arise.”

“Is there no material evidence to be obtained from an examination of the documents themselves?” asked Miss Pyke. “Speaking for myself, I am quite ready to have my fingerprints taken or to undergo any other kind of precautionary measure that may be considered necessary.”

“I’m afraid,” said Harriet, “the evidence of finger-prints isn’t quite so easy a matter as we make it appear in books. I mean, we could take fingerprints, naturally, from the S.C.R. and, possibly, from the scouts-though they wouldn’t like it much. But I should doubt very much whether rough scribbling-paper like this would show distinguishable prints. And besides-”

“Besides,” said the Dean, “every malefactor nowadays knows enough about finger-prints to wear gloves.”

“And,” said Miss de Vine, speaking for the first time, and with a slightly grim emphasis, “if we didn’t know it before, we know it now.”

“Great Scott!” cried the Dean, impulsively, “I’d forgotten all about its being us.”

“You see what I meant,” said the Warden, “when I said that it was better not to discuss methods of investigation too freely.”

“How many people have handled all these documents already?” inquired Harriet.

“Ever so many, I should think,” said the Dean.

“But could not a search be made for-” began Miss Chilperic. She was the most junior of the dons; a small, fair and timid young woman, assistant-tutor in English Language and Literature, and remarkable chiefly for being engaged to be married to a junior don at another college. The Warden interrupted her.

“Please, Miss Chilperic. That is the kind of suggestion that ought not to be made here. It might convey a warning.”

“This,” said Miss Hillyard, “is an intolerable position.” She looked angrily at Harriet, as though she were responsible for the position; which, in a sense, she was.

“It seems to me,” said the Treasurer, “that, now that we have asked Miss Vane to come and give us her advice, it is impossible for us to take it, or even to hear what it is. The situation is rather Gilbertian.”

“We shall have to be frank up to a point,” said the Warden. “Do you advise the private inquiry agent, Miss Vane?”

“Not the ordinary sort,” said Harriet; “you wouldn’t like them at all. But I know of an organization where you could get the right type of person and greatest possible discretion.” For she had remembered that there was a Miss Katherine Climpson, who what was ostensibly a Typing Bureau but was in fact a useful organization of women engaged in handling odd little investigations. The Bureau was self-supporting, though it had, she knew, Peter Wimsey’s money behind it. She was one of the very few people in the Kingdom who did know it.