“A trick,” said the latter simply.
“Who is with him?” asked Laurence again.
“Nobody,” said I, surprised and rather frightened by these questions. “Mrs. Rayner and Mr. Maynard are in the dining-room.”
“Maynard?”
“Yes. He is asleep.”
The middle-aged man gave a snort of disgust.
“Hasn’t Mr. Rayner been in the dining-room at all, dear, this evening?” asked Laurence gently.
“Not since dinner. I left him playing in the drawing-room at five-and-twenty minutes to eight, and he told me to call him at nine. He has been playing ever since.”
“But it is past nine!”
“Yes. When I went to the drawing-room door just now, I found it locked, and I knocked; but he did not answer.”