Once again, Miss Vane and Peter Wimsey have become the center of the story again, as opposed to the mystery at hand. In fact, they’ve spent the majority of the day together again, this time Peter teaching Harriet self-defense moves so that she may be prepared in case the Pen-Poison tries to harm her. Peter has this notion that because he is around, Harriet is now an even bigger target than before and may attempt to harm her as a result. Although Harriet doesn’t fully believe in this, she agrees to have Peter teach her self-defense, which is described as being very physical in the novel. After this, she even allows Peter to buy her something—which was unheard of in the past, most likely because he gave her back her life (by helping her not be hanged). She allowed him to buy her an antique ivory chessmen set, which was worth a great deal of money. Clearly, she likes him (even if she refuses to admit it) which is the reason she is beginning to allow him to buy her presents. At the same time, she is still ashamed of this possibility because she is reluctant to bring her gift into the Senior Common Room where the others will undoubtedly see it and inquire who it was from. When Harriet finally gains the courage to enter the room, the others are amazed by it (and she proceeds to use the chess set to play Miss de Vine 3 times, losing all 3 games; could this signify anything?).
Once again, Miss Hillyard comes out looking suspicious in this scene due to the fact that although she regarded “chess to be the world’s most wearisome amusement, [she] would not go away and get on with her work” but was eager to help bring the glass case (of which the set would be encased) to Miss Vane’s room. She set it up “opposite the bed ‘so that…you can see them [chess pieces] if you wake up in the night.’ ” Why the night and not the day? This suggests to me that Miss Hillyard wants this to be the first thing that Miss Vane sees when another nighttime disturbance occurs, hindering her from immediately responding.
Still, as I become more and more convinced the culprit is Miss Hillyard, the fact that this is too obvious and that Wimsey seems to be hinting at another person, makes me unsure of my decision. By now, Wimsey claims Miss Vane “must know…if [she’s] giving [her] mind to the thing at all.” Because Miss Vane is suspicious of Miss Hillyard but didn’t name her as the culprit, it seems as though it is somebody else. Perhaps she cannot deduce the culprit because she is too wrapped up in her own affairs with Wimsey, or perhaps it’s because, as Wimsey says, she can’t “put [her] prejudices aside” (referring to her relationships with the members of the SCR).
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Connecting this to your last post, which mentioned the use of "Death" in Wimsey's full name, after reading this, I think maybe Wimsey could symbolize danger for Harriet, not because he is, himself, a dangerous man, but because, as you said he believes, her vicinity to him makes her a bigger target. Therefore, in using Wimsey as a symbol, death/danger, or the possibility of it, is always around Harriet in some way.
And I definitely think Harriet's 3-game loss to Miss de Vine is symbolic or foreshadowing, unless the author purposely included that to trick the reader. But why else would she take the time to include a few unsuccessful chess matches in the plot?
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