“Mrs. Brent’s gone? Now, I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Stickney. I shall miss her. She’s a most understanding person. I’m sorry. But perhaps she’s only gone for the day?”
Freddie Stickney had to admit ignorance.
“She didn’t leave any message about when she’d be back. And Eileen Cressage went off by the first train. But she’ll be back to-night, most likely. So will young Dangerfield. He’s gone, too.”
Wraxall nodded, but said nothing. Freddie was emboldened to proceed.
“Funny—their going just when the Talisman’s disappeared—isn’t it? The Dangerfield Luck gone, and all of them clear out at once. Like rats leaving a sinking ship, what? It seems rum, doesn’t it?”
The American’s brief spell of interest in Freddie’s conversation came abruptly to an end. This time there was no doubt about it. Freddie’s latest news item must have started a fresh train of thought in Wraxall’s mind, and he was devoting his whole attention to following it out. Freddie attempted to break in once or twice, but received no encouragement beyond absent-minded nods which might have meant anything; so at last he rose and left the room.
Chapter V
After Freddie Stickney had closed the door behind him, Wraxall frankly abandoned any pretence of being interested in his food. He pushed back his chair slightly and seemed to concentrate his whole mind for a time upon some intricate problem.
“I’d better see the old man as soon as I can,” he said, half aloud, at one point in his train of thought. “The first thing to do is to see how the land lies. It’s a tight position.”
But a final solution of his problem evidently evaded him; and when he got up and went in search of his host, it was clear that he still remained in doubt about something.