“What do you suppose happened? I was twenty-one, and an artist’s model. Times were bad, and got worse and worse. I starved sometimes—I’d have starved altogether if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Frazer. The world just knocked me about, rolled me in and out of the gutter. I got used to watching things happen to me—pretty grim things, some of them.”
“And you never even saw Trent?”
“I’d run into him in the street sometimes, but he avoided me. Anyway, I didn’t want to meet him.”
“All I can say is this,” Rendell said slowly, “the more I hear about him, the less I understand him. In fact I gave up trying to make him out long ago. But I would like to know this. How is he now?”
Elsa looked at him enigmatically.
“You’ll have to ask Mrs. Frazer.”
“But I never see her nowadays.”
“You will—soon.”
“What makes you think that?”
Elsa laughed.
“You’ll see her—soon. I suppose you wonder why I’ve told you all this.”
“Yes, in a way. But I feel you’ve a reason, though I’m damned if I know what it is.”
“Perhaps well meet again one day.”
“Are you going away then?”
“I only came to help Mrs. Frazer while she was looking after Ivor. I’m not here permanently. I’d better go now. I’ve a good deal to arrange.”
Rendell rose then stood looking at her intently.
“Well?” she asked.
“Rosalie said she felt she had always known you. I know what she meant.”
“She said that?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad. She’s very lovely.”
They stood facing each other for nearly a minute.
“There’s something very odd about all this,” Rendell said at last.
“About what?”
“You—this conversation—everything!”
Elsa laughed.
“I’ll have to go now.”
Rendell held out his hand.
“Very well. Good night.”
“Good-bye.”
He went to the door with her, then began to pace slowly up and down the room.
XII
A Sunday, three days later. . . .
Mrs. Frazer glanced upward through the basement window, then—seeing no one—she hurried into the passage and called up the stairs:
“Lily!”
She waited, then called again.
This time a voice from the top of the stairs answered her.
“Didn’t you hear me the first time! Is Mr. Rendell back yet?”
“No, Mum.”
“Have you been into his room to see?”
“He wasn’t there a few minutes ago——”
“See if he is now.”
A moment later Lily informed her that Rendell had not returned.
“Well, mind you tell me directly he does. I want to know the moment he comes in.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“What’s the time now?”
“Nearly twelve o’clock, Mum.”
With minor variations, this dialogue was repeated every hour till six o’clock—Mrs. Frazer’s agitation becoming more apparent with each repetition. Finally, at five o’clock, Lily was ordered to stand sentinel in the hall so that she could report Rendell’s return directly that event occurred.
Just before six, Lily hurried to the top of the basement stairs and called into the depths below.
“Mr. Rendell’s just come in, Mum!”
Mrs. Frazer ran up the stairs, pushed past Lily, then rushed into Renders room without pausing to knock.
“Mr. Rendell!”
“Hullo! Haven’t seen you for a long time.” Then, after a glance at her, he added: “What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone!”
“Who’s gone?”
“Mr. Trent!”
He turned to her quickly.
“Do you mean he’s gone without saying he was going?”
“Yes.”
“Well I’m damned!”
“But that’s not all. I’ve never had such a day! She’s gone, too—Elsa!”
Rendell stared at her.
“With him, do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything!”
“Tell me what happened—exactly.”
“I went up to Mr. Trent at nine this morning. I passed Lily on the stairs and she said you’d gone out very early. Well, I knocked on his door. No reply. I knocked again several times. Then I got scared, so I went in. The bedroom was empty. The door leading to the study was open. I went through. Empty! Then I looked in the bathroom. Not a sign of him! I tell you I was scared. So back I go to the study. And there I found a note. And what do you think it said?”
“Haven’t an earthly,” Rendell replied.
“It just said he’d gone, thanked me for all I’d done for him—and a cheque for a hundred pounds was enclosed. But that wasn’t all. There was a P.S. which said: ‘Mr. Rendell can have my rooms for his last week—if that would interest him.’”
“What the devil does that mean?” Rendell demanded.
“I’m sure I don’t know. Still, he knew all about you.”
“You mean—he knows what you’ve told him.”
“No, I don’t, sir, I told him weeks ago you were in the house, and he said that he knew of you, though he’d rather I didn’t mention it. Then he went on to say that you had dined with Mr. Marsden on that Sunday he was taken ill.”
“Then Marsden must have seen Trent and told him.”
“Oh no, sir! Mr. Trent’s seen no one.”
“But he must have!”
“I know he’s seen no one. Why, he’s not even opened one of the letters that have come for him. He’s been alone ever since he came here. And that’s eight weeks ago to-day.”
Rendell thought intently for a moment, then asked:
“Did Elsa see him?”
“Oh yes, sometimes. During the last week or so, she’d take in his tray when I was busy.”
“Then Marsden must have told her that he dined with me on that Sunday—and Elsa must have told Trent. That’s the only possible explanation. Well, go on. What did you do after you’d read Trent’s note?”
“I went to Elsa’s room. It was empty, and all her things had gone. You could have knocked me down with a feather.”
“I believe you. But this is what I want to know, Mrs. Frazer. When did Trent cease to be seriously ill?”
“Well, sir, if you ask me, he’s been perfectly well for weeks.”
“What!”
“Ever since I became his nurse. I’m certain of it. And I’m certain of this, too—he’s been working.”
“How do you know that?”
Mrs. Frazer hesitated.
“I wouldn’t have you think I’m the sort that spies on her lodgers, because I’m not. But I got this idea that Mr. Trent was well, and that he was working. So, one night—or early in the morning, rather—I went out into the street. He had not drawn the curtains properly in his study—and I saw a light. That happened more than once. There’s a mystery in all this, Mr. Rendell.”
“There’s a mystery, all right. But tell me this. Did he ask you questions about the people in the house?”
“Yes, he did.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“And did he ask about my visitors? Did he know that Mrs. Vivian, Miss Thornton, and Mr. Wrayburn came to see me?”
“Yes, he asked a lot of questions. And I answered them. The doctor told me to encourage rational conversation. I didn’t think there was any harm, and what else could I——”
“And he knew that Mr. Marsden had a room here for some weeks?”
“Yes, sir, he knew that.”
“All very interesting,” Rendell said slowly. “Now, tell me again, will you? the exact wording of that P.S. to his letter.”