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"I suppose I should."

"Your visitor has not the same type of mind. He pushed in the two volumes on each side when he took it out, and then he put it back without driving it home, so to speak. Now, let's see if we can find which part he was reading. Ordinarily, as you doubtless know, if you open a book at random it will open at the page where it was last shut⁠—that is, if it has been held open some little time⁠ ⁠. . . If that principle applies here, our unknown friend has been reading Hamlet⁠—'To be or not to be' comes on this page."

"A rather banal taste," suggested Gordon. "You can't get much out of that."

"It suggests at least that he was a seriously minded person, and not all our fellow-residents are that. By the way, I suppose there is no chance that the secret passage is still being used?"

"Hardly. You see, it made me nervous, so I put that settee in front of it."

"One could push that out," suggested Gordon.

"But not put it back in position again once you were inside the passage. No, I think it must be a member of the club (just possibly a servant) we are looking for, who stands about five foot four and has sombre tastes in literature. Has he left any other traces? The fireplace is the only hope. Ah! He seems to me to treat you rather familiarly, Reeves⁠—he has borrowed a pipe-cleaner and used it." And Carmichael, stooping, picked one out of