The young man shifted in his chair. ‘Father Lamb, my superior, encourages us to consider each of our flock as family … children of God.’

‘Hmm. Watson, the deacon’s is a new Catholic church in Cambridge, recently reopened after a scandalous closure eight years ago. Go on, Deacon.’

‘Er … yes!’ said the young man. ‘How do you know all this, if you do not mind the question, sir?’

‘I read. In any case, Miss Wyndham was last seen on Monday, and you wrote to me the next day. That is not much time to have passed. What is your concern?’

‘Well, on Tuesday after evening services, we – that is, I – run a discussion group in the church, and Dillie has always attended. But not last night. I was already worried, Mr Holmes, because we had made an informal arrangement for earlier in the day, and she did not show up as planned for that, either.’

‘What kind of arrangement?’

‘We were to have lunch.’

‘Where?’

‘At the The Bull and Rat.’

‘A pub, from the name. Is it a regular habit of yours to meet single female congregants in pubs for lunch?’

The young cleric flushed to the roots of his hair. ‘Father Lamb says that if we can counsel a person in need, it does not matter where or when, only that—’

‘How old is the lady?’

‘Eighteen, I believe.’

‘You believe, or you know?’

‘Eighteen and four months.’

Holmes said nothing for a long moment. Then, ‘On what subject were you to counsel her?’

‘She is troubled by a young man at the university. Frederick Eden-Summers. A third year, going for law.’

‘Ah, some facts at last. Eden-Summers, that name is familiar. Watson, be so good as too look that up in my files. Would we be correct in consulting Debrett’s as well, Deacon?’

The young man nodded once again.

I was already wading through the clutter to Holmes’s alphabetized files. I retrieved the appropriate box, and Debrett’s as well, wherein the details of peerage soon revealed that Frederick Eden-Summers was the oldest son of the Duke of Harbingden, and therefore set to inherit his father’s estate and title. Once that matter had been determined, Holmes turned again to our young visitor.

‘Now, how is Mr Eden-Summers troubling the young lady?’

‘She is being pressured to accept his marriage proposal.’

‘By the young man himself?’

‘Apparently, and by her father as well. It is shameful! I am of the school of thought that a young lady should choose for herself. My own sister is at Girton. A very independent young lady. Our parents raised us this way.’

‘Yet you chose a profession with many restrictions. Are your parents pleased with your choice?’

‘My parents are dead, Mr Holmes. I left the university after one year, as I had no way to support myself once my father was gone. And so I entered the Church. But what has this to do with Miss Wyndham?’