“His place is Benger’s Flat, a little more than two miles away from here,” she replied, “but he’s not there now and the place has been shut up for some time.”
“Do you know where he’s gone?” asked Larose, and again he thought she gave him that strange look.
She shook her head. “No, no one does, but I’ve sent on a few letters which have come for him to Mr. Raines, the land agent in Manningtree. Perhaps he’ll be able to tell you.” Then she added curiously: “Are you a friend of Mr. Holt?”
Larose sensed somehow a certain feeling of hostility in the way she asked the question and accordingly picked up his cue at once. “Oh, no,” he replied, “I’ve never seen him. I wanted to sell him a gramophone.”
The woman shook her head smilingly. “He wouldn’t have bought one. He wasn’t that kind of man.”
