‘Where did the petrol come from?’
‘It was a can Mullins keeps for his motor-cycle. You remember Mullins—the Jowett Lodge porter. His machine lies in a little outhouse in the Lodge garden. He didn’t lock it up—why should he? He does now, but that doesn’t help. Anybody could have gone and fetched it. He and his wife heard nothing, having retired to their virtuous rest. The bonfire happened bang in the middle of the Old Quad and burnt a nasty patch in the turf. Lots of people rushed out when the flare went up, and whoever did it probably mingled with the crowd. The victims were four M.A. gowns, two scholars’ gowns and the rest commoners’ gowns; but I don’t suppose there was any selection; they just happened to be lying about.’
‘I wonder where they were put in the interval between supper and
