Miss Wilson produced a plan of the College, and showed the positions of the rooms occupied by various people.
“I hope this means,” she said, “that you intend to undertake the investigation yourself. Not, I suppose, that we ought to ask you to spare the time for any such thing. But I do most strongly feel that the presence of paid detectives in this college would be most unpleasant, however discreet they might be. I have served the College for a considerable number of years and I have its interests very much at heart. You know how undesirable it is that any outsider should be brought into a matter of this kind.”
“It is, very,” said Harriet. “All the same, a spiteful or mentally deficient servant is a misfortune that might occur anywhere. Surely the important thing is to get to the bottom of the mystery as quickly as possible; and a trained detective or two would be very much more efficient than I should be.”
Miss Allison looked thoughtfully at her, and swayed her glasses to and fro slowly on their gold chain.
“I see you incline to the most comfortable theory. Probably we all do. But there is the other possibility. Mind you I quite see that from your own point of view, you would not wish to take part in an exposure of a member of the Senior Common Room. But if it came to the point, I would put more faith in your tact than in that of an outside professional detective. And you start with a knowledge of the workings of the collegiate system, which is a great advantage.”
Harriet said that she thought she would know better what to suggest when she had made a preliminary review of all the circumstances.
“If,” said Miss Allison, “you do undertake an inquiry, it is probably only fair to warn you that you may meet with some opposition. It has already been said-but perhaps I ought not to tell you this.”
“That is for you to judge.”
“It has already been said that the narrowing-down of the suspects within the limits mentioned at today’s meeting rests only upon your assertion. I refer, of course, to the two papers you found at the Gaudy.”
“I see. Am I supposed to have invented those?”
“I don’t think anybody would go as far as that. But you have said that you sometimes received similar letters on your own account. And the suggestion is that-”
“That if I found anything of the sort I must have brought it with me? That would be quite likely, only that the style of the things was so like the style of these others. However, I admit you have only my word for that.”
“I’m not doubting it for a moment. What is being said is that your experience in these affairs is-if anything-a disadvantage. Forgive me. That is not what I say.”
“That is the thing that made me very unwilling to have anything to do with the inquiry. It is absolutely true. I haven’t lived a perfectly blameless life, and you can’t get over it.”
“If you ask me,” said Miss Allison, “some people’s blameless lives are to blame for a good deal. I am not a fool, Miss Vane. No doubt my own life has been blameless as far as the more generous sins are concerned. But there are points upon which I should expect you to hold more balanced opinions than certain people here. I don’t think I need say more than that, need I?”
Harriet’s next visit was to Miss Lydgate; her excuse being to inquire what she should do with the mutilated proofs in her possession. She found the English Tutor patiently correcting a small pile of students’ essays.
“Come in, come in,” said Miss Lydgate, cheerfully. “I have nearly done with these. Oh, about my poor proofs? I’m afraid they re not much use to me. They’re really quite undecipherable. I’m afraid the only thing is to do the whole thing again. The printers will be tearing their hair, poor souls. I shan’t have very much difficulty with the greater part of it, I hope. And I have the notes of the Introduction, so it isn’t as bad as it might have been. The worst loss is a number of manuscript footnotes and two manuscript appendices that I had to put in at the last moment to refute what seemed to me some very ill-considered statements in Mr. Elkbottom’s new book on Modern Verse-Forms. I stupidly wrote those in on the blank pages of the proofs and they are quite irrecoverable. I shall have to verify all the references again in Elkbottom. It’s so tiresome, especially as one is always so busy towards the end of term. But it’s all my own fault for not keeping a proper record of everything.”
“I wonder,” said Harriet, “if I could be of any help to you in getting the proofs put together. I’d gladly stay up for a week or so if it would do any good. I’m quite used to juggling with proof-sheets, and I think I can remember enough of my Schools work to be reasonably intelligent about the Anglo-Saxon and Early English.”
“That would be a tremendous help!” exclaimed Miss Lydgate, her face lighting up. “But wouldn’t it be trespassing far too much on your time?”
Harriet said, No; she was well ahead with her own work and would enjoy putting in a little time on English Prosody. It was in her mind that, if she really meant to pursue inquiries at Shrewsbury, Miss Lydgate’s proofs would offer a convenient excuse for her presence in College.
The suggestion was left there for the moment. As regards the author of the outrages. Miss Lydgate could make no suggestion; except that, whoever it was, the poor creature must be mentally afflicted.
As she left Miss Lydgate’s room, Harriet encountered Miss Hillyard, who was descending the staircase from her own abode.
“Well,” said Miss Hillyard, “how is the investigation progressing? But I ought not to ask that. You have contrived to cast the Apple of Discord among us with a vengeance. However, as you are so well accustomed to the receipt of anonymous communications, you are no doubt the fittest person to handle the situation.”
“In my case,” said Harriet, “I only got what was to some extent deserved. But this is a very different matter. It’s not the same problem at all. Miss Lydgate’s book could offend nobody.”
“Except some of the men whose theories she has attacked,” replied Miss Hillyard. “However, circumstances seem to exclude the male sex from the scope of the inquiry. Otherwise, this mass-attack on a woman’s college would suggest to me the usual masculine spite against educated women. But you, of course, would consider that ridiculous.”
“Not in the least. Plenty of men are very spiteful. But surely there are no men running about the college at night.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” said Miss Hillyard, smiling sarcastically. “It is quite ridiculous for the Bursar to talk about locked gates. What is to prevent a man from concealing himself about the grounds before the gates are locked and escaping again when they are opened in the morning? Or climbing the walls, if it comes to that?”
Harriet thought the theory far-fetched; but it interested her, as evidence of the speaker’s prejudice, which amounted almost to obsession.
“The thing that in my opinion points to a man,” went on Miss Hillyard, “is the destruction of Miss Barton’s book, which is strongly pro-feminist. I don’t suppose you have read it; probably it would not interest you. But why else should that book be picked out?”
Harriet parted from Miss Hillyard at the corner of the quad and went over to Tudor Building. She had not very much doubt who it was that was likely to offer opposition to her inquiries. If one was looking for a twisted mind, Miss Hillyard’s was certainly a little warped. And, when one came to think of it, there was no evidence whatever that Miss Lydgate’s proofs had ever been taken to the Library or ever left Miss Hillyard’s hands at all. Also, she had undoubtedly been seen on the threshold of the S.C.R. before Chapel on the Monday morning. If Miss Hillyard was sufficiently demented to inflict a blow of this kind on Miss Lydgate, then she was fit for a lunatic asylum. But indeed, this would apply to whoever it was.