Spotted Hemlock

Miss Considine said that she doubted it.

‘Why dress up in such a noticeable way if he wanted to elope with the girl?’ she asked. ‘Besides, why a horse? Surely a car would have been much more sensible.’

‘Not as romantic. Young Lochinvar stuff, without a doubt.’

‘It doesn’t seem practical, all the same,’ said Miss Paterson, who thereupon took herself off.

‘Romanticism never is practical. That’s the beauty of it, from their point of view. And you do realise, don’t you, Miss Considine, that if it hadn’t been for your little Miss Good and her absurd engagement ring, nobody would have known that this horseman had ever existed? To that extent, I’m grateful to her,’ declared Miss McKay.

Miss Considine respected and liked her Principal, but she was not prepared to allow this remark to pass unchallenged.

‘Oh?’ she said. ‘What about my brussels sprouts? I should have known, all right, that he existed.’

‘Well, yes,’ agreed the fair-minded Miss McKay. ‘I’d better telephone Highpepper and ask which of their students is missing. Oh, dear! How tiresome these children can be! And just when we’ve got these wretched thefts on our hands! I suppose there’s no connection?’

‘Miss Paterson would not care to hear you suggest it.’

‘Well, more of her students have missed money and valuables than people in other hostels.’

‘But she says this missing girl is rich. Are you suggesting we are harbouring a kleptomaniac?’

‘No. Everything that gets lost is an article of intrinsic worth—watches, a ring, a bracelet, jewelled earrings, money. I wish to goodness the little idiots would leave their boyfriends’ presents at home instead of flaunting them here.’

‘But where would be the fun in that? Rivalry is the spice of life when you’re young. Oh, here’s Miss Paterson back again.’

It was not the custom at Calladale for lecturers to knock formally on the door when they wished to consult their Principal, Miss McKay regarding this as an unnecessary waste of time. Miss Paterson, therefore, came striding in, and announced, with an air of triumph:

‘There’s no need to telephone Highpepper, unless you wish.’

‘Not Highpepper? Why, where else would one of our students find a man romantic and foolish enough to run off with her?’ demanded Miss McKay.

‘I didn’t mean that. I meant that if a Highpepper youth is involved, the students in my hostel will be certain to know who he is. You could then attack from that angle.’

‘Something in that.’ But Miss McKay was not wholly convinced. She decided to telephone Highpepper, only to learn that none of the student body was unaccounted for.

‘Staff?’ demanded Miss McKay, resolved to leave no stone unturned.

‘Come, come,’ said Mr Sellaclough, soothingly. ‘All the same, if you’ll hold on, I’ll send round. Well, it will take some time. Suppose I ring you back?’

Miss McKay agreed to this, thanked him and added that, naturally, she was rather worried. This was not the attitude she took at the high table that evening at supper, to which Carey had been invited.

‘It isn’t a Highpepper thing,’ she announced to the table at large. ‘There is nobody there unaccounted for. It means, in my experience, that the girl is in a pet, or is feeling worried about her work, and has slipped off home. I haven’t telephoned her people because it is up to them to let me know she is there. Of course, if they haven’t telephoned by noon tomorrow I shall have to contact them. If nothing is known of her there, I shall get in touch with the police, but that should hardly be necessary. It would be such a boring thing for the college if anything got into the papers. You remember the case of that Miss Diggins we had?’

Murmurs from the senior members of the staff could be taken as agreement that they did remember the case of Miss Diggins.

‘The little silly who ran off to her married sister because she couldn’t face her preliminary “Perennials” viva,’ translated Miss Considine helpfully.

‘That’s the girl.’

‘Yes, that was scarcely very sinister,’ said Miss Paterson. ‘So you think she has just run home? Yet I shouldn’t have thought it, you know. She certainly wasn’t the type to worry about her work, although I will admit that, so far this term, it hasn’t come up to standard. Still, I believe it to be quite good. Oh, it will all turn out to have a perfectly ordinary explanation, I’m sure. It’s quite a mistake to panic.’

‘I wouldn’t care to state that it will turn out to have an ordinary explanation,’ said Carey. ‘I don’t know much about the psychology of girls, but, taking into consideration all the facts, I should call this whole business rather odd. Of course, there may be no connection between the three things, but— what have we experienced already this term? First, there was that outbreak of hooliganism, about which we still know nothing. Then we have the headless ghost seen by Miss Good. Now—a missing student who isn’t being run off with by one of the lads at Highpepper, and who has been gone longer than seems reasonable. If you don’t want to call in the police, why don’t you call in my aunt? She’s the soul of discretion, and will sort it all out in no time.’

‘But Dame Beatrice could not possibly be interested,’ protested Miss McKay.

‘Why not? Look here, you call her in. I’ll guarantee she’ll come like a shot unless she’s tied up with some conference or lecture programme or something.’

‘I could hardly hope…’

‘Would you like me to call her?’

‘Well…’