She laughed quite naturally. "But I really fear I can tell you very little. I suppose going away together in a taxi appears to argue a certain amount of intimacy. But in this case it is not so. I know next to nothing of Mr Stent. He is not even a friend, only a man whose acquaintance I made in the most casual manner. And, apart from two occasions about which I will tell you presently, I don't suppose I have been in his company a dozen times." It was a disappointment, certainly, and this time Smeaton did not believe she was speaking the truth. In spite of the silvery laugh and the apparently frank manner. But he must put up with what she chose to give him. "Do you mind telling me how you first made his acquaintance, Mrs Saxton?" "Not in the least," she replied graciously. "Two years ago I was staying in the Hotel Royal at Dinard. Mr Stent was there too. He seemed a very reserved, silent sort of man, and kept himself very much aloof from the others, myself included, although, as I daresay you have guessed, I am of a gregarious and unconventional disposition." She gave him a flashing smile, and Smeaton bowed gallantly. "I should say you were immensely popular," he observed judiciously. "Thanks for the compliment; without vanity, I think I may say most people take to me. Well, one day Mr Stent and I found ourselves alone in the drawing-room, and the ice was broken. After that we talked together a good deal, and occasionally went to the Casino, and took walks together. He left before I did, and I did not meet him again till next year at Monte Carlo." "Did you learn anything about his private affairs, his profession or occupation?" "Not a word. The conversation was always general. He was the last man in the world to talk about himself. He was at Monte Carlo about a week. I did not see very much of him then, as I was staying with a party in Mentone; he was by himself, as before." "Did he give you the impression of a man of means?" "On the whole, I should say, yes. One night he lost a big sum in the Rooms, but appeared quite unconcerned. Since then I have met him about a dozen times, or perhaps less, at different places, mostly restaurants. Yesterday he came through the palm-court, as I was sitting there after lunch, and we exchanged a few words." "Did you not see him at lunch; you were both there?" questioned Smeaton quickly. "I saw him at a table some distance from mine, but he did not see me. I mentioned that I was going back to Hyde Park Mansions. He said he was driving in the direction of St John's Wood, and would drop me on his way. He left me at the entrance to the flats." Smeaton rose. He knew that if he stopped there for another hour he would get nothing more out of her. "Thanks very much, Mrs Saxton, for what you have told me. One last question, and I have done. Do you know where he lives?"