“He rises early and likes to go to bed early.”
Bernard looked at his watch.
“It’s after ten now,” he said, “and you say he is reading. So he wasn’t too sleepy to come down to dinner at seven-forty-five!”
“Sometimes it is sheer absent-mindedness,” explained Miss Mount, compressing her lips. “He may go to his room and start dressing for dinner, forget what he is doing and find himself undressed and in bed. Then, no doubt, he considers it hardly worth while getting up again.”
Landis and Graham smiled at this. Bernard merely nodded, still eyeing Miss Mount.
“You say ‘sometimes,’” he pointed out. “What about the other times he stayed in his room? Were there any other reasons?”
“At other times,” she answered slowly, “he may have preferred to stay in his own room because his brother, whom he seemed to irritate, was apt to be rather sharp with him when they were together, Mr. Bernard.”
“I thought so!” snapped Bernard. He turned to Graham. “Have you seen them together?”
“Yes, once or twice.”
“How did Harrison treat Joel on those occasions?”