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."