“Not necessarily the murderer. The man who is watching us; it may not be the murderer at all.”
“But how do you propose to catch him?”
“I propose that two of us—preferably you and Gordon, because I am fond of my sleep—should sit up to-night and watch outside the door. Meantime, we have to excite the curiosity of your visitor so powerfully that he will want to come out and investigate your room. I propose that we should put up a notice (with the Secretary’s leave, of course) saying that you have one or two of Brotherhood’s books and things which you are prepared to give away as souvenirs to anybody who cared for him; please apply to your rooms to-morrow. And now let’s go down and have some tea.”
“But I haven’t got any of Brotherhood’s things,” objected Reeves as they went downstairs.
“Exactly. And nobody cared a brass farthing for Brotherhood. But meanwhile, there is every chance that this anonymous gentleman will be interested to see what you have got, and will pay a nocturnal visit to your room. If you see anybody pass, you can fall on him and throttle him. If nobody passes, at about one o’clock I should go to bed if I were you. It’s a pity to forgo one’s sleep.”
“Well, we’d better do the thing thoroughly. I’ll go out this evening and come in with a bag, so as to look as if I’d been over and got some things from Brotherhood’s house.”
“That’s a good idea. One moment, I must go over to young van Beuren and get some chewing-gum.”
“Carmichael,” said Reeves when he got back, “you’ve been surprising us a good deal lately, but one thing I should never have guessed about you—I should never have imagined that you chewed.”
“I don’t,” said Carmichael, and would answer no more questions on the subject. Nor had Reeves any opportunity to press the point, for Marryatt came in soon afterwards, and sat down at their table. “Is it true?” asked Carmichael, “that Brotherhood is the first member of the club to be buried here?”
“He is. There was Parry, of course, who died here, but he was buried in London. It must be strange for these Oatviles, who have had all the expensive funerals to themselves for the last two hundred years, to make room for an old fellow like that.”