Gaudy Night

“This objection had some weight with me, but not a great deal. It was the only message that was not in English, and it was one to which any school child might easily have access. On the other hand, the fact that it was unique among the other scripts made me sure that it had some particular significance. I mean, it wasn’t that X’s feelings habitually expressed themselves in Latin hexameters. There must be something special about that passage besides its general applicability to u

“When I first heard of that,” broke in Miss Hillyard, “I felt sure that a man was behind all this.”

“That was probably a sound instinct,” said Wimsey. “I feel sure that a man did write that… Well, I need not take up time with pointing out how easy it was for anybody to wander about the College at night and play tricks on people. In a community of two hundred people, some of whom scarcely know one another by sight, it is harder to find a person than to lose her. But the intrusion of Jukes upon the situation at that moment was rather awkward for X. Miss Vane showed and a

Harriet looked up.

“I did work that out-eventually. But what happened last week seemed to make it quite impossible.”

“I don’t think,” said Peter, “you approached the problem-forgive me for saying so-with an unprejudiced mind and undivided attention. Something got between you and the facts.”

“Miss Vane has been helping me so generously with my books,” murmured Miss Lydgate, contritely; “and she has had her own work to do as well. We really ought not to have asked her to spare any time for our problems.”

“I had plenty of time,” said Harriet. “I was only stupid.”

“At any rate,” said Wimsey, “Miss Vane did enough to make X feel she was dangerous. At the begi

“I informed the Vice-chancellor,” said the Warden, “that steps were being taken.”

“Quite so; and you complimented me by asking me to take those steps. I had very little doubt from the start as to the identity of X; but suspicion is not proof, and I was anxious not to cast any suspicion that could not be justified. My first task was obviously to find out whether Miss de Vine had actually ever murdered or injured anybody. In the course of a very interesting after-di

“Do you mean to say,” cried the Dean, “that all that discussion was intended merely to bring out that story?”

“I offered an opportunity for the story’s appearance, certainly; but if it hadn’t come out then, I should have asked for it. Incidentally, I established for a certainty, what I was sure of in my own mind from the start, that there was not a woman in this Common Room, married or single, who would be ready to place personal loyalties above professional honour. That was a point which it seemed necessary to make clear-not so much to me, as to yourselves.”

The Warden looked from Miss Hillyard to Mrs. Goodwin and back at Peter.

“Yes,” she said, “I think it was wise to establish that.”

“The next day,” said Peter, “I asked Miss de Vine for the name of the man in question, whom we already knew to be handsome and married. The name was Arthur Robinson; and with this information I set out to find what had become of him. My working theory was that X was either the wife or some relation of Robinson: that she had come here when Miss de Vine’s appointment was a

“Now, the first thing that happened after my arrival was the appearance of X in the Science Lecture Room. The idea that X was courting discovery by preparing letters in that public and dangerous ma

“But Carrie heard X in the room,” said the Dean.

“Oh, yes,” said Wimsey, smiling. “And Carrie was sent to fetch you while A

“But the marks on the dark-room window-sill-” said the Dean.

“Quite genuine. She got out there the first time, leaving the doors locked on the inside and strewing a few of Miss de Vine’s hairpins about to produce conviction. Then she let herself into the Scouts’ Wing through the Buttery, called up Carrie and brought her along to see the fun… I think, by the way, that some one of the scouts must have had her suspicions. Perhaps she had found A

“All very well,” said Miss Edwards. “But you still have no proof.”

“No. I went away to get it. In the meantime, X-if you don’t like my identification-decided that Miss Vane was dangerous, and laid a trap to catch her. This didn’t come off, because Miss Vane very sensibly telephoned back to College to confirm the mysterious message she had received at Somerville. The message was sent from an outside call-box on the Wednesday night at 10:40. Just before eleven, A

“Although the attempt had not come off, I felt sure that another would be made, either on Miss Vane, Miss de Vine or the suspicious scout-or on all three. I issued a warning to that effect. The next thing that happened was that Miss Vane’s chessmen were destroyed. That was rather unexpected. It looked less like alarm than personal hatred. Up till that time. Miss Vane had been treated with almost as much tenderness as though she had been a womanly woman. Can you think of anything that can have given X that impression, Miss Vane?”