“You don’t say so,” Mrs. Bell cried. “What can have happened?”
“She never went to her lodgings after leaving here; at least, that’s what the landlady says,” Stella Dean replied. “And she hasn’t written, either—but I think you’d better call there yourself; I don’t like the woman.” And Stella burst out crying.
This was the beginning of the mystery. Mrs. Bell interviewed the landlady, who stuck to her statement that she had neither seen Hester Holt nor heard of her since she had left the house two days ago, presumably to attend business. There had been no words between them, she said, and Hester had seemed as usual, perfectly happy. She was a singularly reserved girl, and never mentioned her family excepting when she went away for her annual holiday. She then requested that all her letters should be forwarded to the address of her married sister.
The landlady, Mrs. Britton, gave this address to Mrs. Bell, and the latter, writing off at once, received an answer by return of post to say that Hester was not there and no tidings of her had been received for over a month. The married sister, however, made an important statement. She said that one person was sure to know of Hester’s whereabouts, and that was Pete Simpkins, the young man with whom she kept company, and was hoping eventually to marry. Mrs. Bell, now keenly interested, hastened off and interviewed Simpkins. To quote her own words, he seemed “a bright, intelligent young man,” and exhibited unfeigned astonishment and perturbation on learning of the disappearance of his sweetheart.
“When did you last see her?” Mrs. Bell enquired.
“The day she left you,” he responded. “I had been out in the country all day, superintending the building of a large farm some ten miles to the east of this city, and I was cycling home along a very unfrequented route, when I met a buggy. Two girls were in it, and to my amazement, they were Hester and Stella Dean.”
“What!” Mrs. Bell cried. “Stella Dean? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely!” Simpkins replied. “I can swear to it. It astonished me because I knew they had been on very bad terms. I was engaged to Stella before I met Hester, but I could not stand her temper. One day she was so enraged with my dog because it snarled at her, that she seized my walking-stick and beat it on the head till it was dead. I found her standing over it, white with fury; and feeling that after what I had witnessed I could never like her again, I broke off our engagement there and then. After that I met Hester Holt at the same house where I had first seen Stella, and we at once became friends. Stella Dean did not like it, but she took on more than was necessary; and Hester told me there had been several very painful scenes between them. Indeed, I understood that out of business hours they were not on speaking terms; hence you can judge of my astonishment when I saw them driving in the buggy side by side.”
“It’s all very mysterious,” Mrs. Bell observed. “If she does not turn up soon, I shall have to inform the police.”