Anna the Adventuress

After that first horrible moment it was perhaps Anna who was the more

self-possessed. She dropped on her knees by his side, and gently

unbuttoned his waistcoat. Then she looked up at Brendon.

"You must fetch a doctor," she said. "I do not think that he is quite

dead."

"And leave you here alone?" he asked, in a hoarse whisper. "Come with

me."

"I am not afraid," she answered. "Please hurry."

He reeled out of the room. Anna was afterwards astonished at her own

self-possession. She bound a scarf tightly round the place where the

blood seemed to be coming from. Then she stood up and looked around

the room.

There were no evidences of any struggle, no overturned chairs or

disarranged furniture. The grate was full of fluttering ashes of burnt

paper, and the easy chair near the fire had evidently been used. On

the floor was a handkerchief, a little morsel of lace. Anna saw it,

and for the first time found herself trembling.

She moved towards it slowly and picked it up, holding it out in front

of her whilst the familiar perfume seemed to assert itself with

damning insistence. It was Annabel's. The lace was family lace, easily

recognizable. The perfume was the only one she ever used. Annabel had

been here then. It was she who had come out from the flat only a few

minutes before. It was she---Anna's nerves were not easily shaken, but she found herself suddenly

clutching at the table for support. The room was reeling, or was it

that she was going to faint? She recovered herself with a supreme

effort. There were the burnt papers still in the grate. She took up

the poker and stirred the fire vigorously. Almost at the same moment

the door opened and Brendon entered, followed by the doctor.

Anna turned round with a start, which was almost of guilt, the poker

still in her hand. She met the keen grey eyes of a clean-shaven man,

between forty and fifty, quietly dressed in professional attire.

Before he even glanced at the man on the floor he stepped over to her

side and took the poker from her.

"Forgive me, madam," he said stiffly, "but in such a case as this it

is better that nothing in the room should be disturbed until the

arrival of the police. You have been burning paper, I see."

"Are you a detective or a doctor?" she asked calmly. "Do you need me

to remind you that your patient is bleeding to death?"

He dropped on his knees by the man's side and made a hurried

examination.

"Who tied this scarf here?" he asked, looking up.

"I did," Anna answered. "I hope that it has not done any harm."

"He would have been dead before now without it," the doctor answered

shortly. "Get me some brandy and my bag."