They were a silent party when they arrived at Sea House. In the dining-room they sat down and Bramham drummed his fingers on the table, wondering where Carson was. Luggage was lying in the verandah, and Bramham's note was open on the table; but of Carson himself no sign.
Inspiration came to Abinger to go and rout out the servants to make coffee and sandwiches, for there was a distinct chill in the air, and as none of them had partaken of any supper to speak of, they felt weary and collapsed. As it happened, the servants had not gone to bed, so the coffee soon made its appearance, and at Poppy's suggestion a further supply was ordered to be ready for Mrs. Portal and de Grey. They sat at the table, and Poppy poured out the coffee; but Bramham was restless and began to walk the room, staring out at the night, and then into Carson's room, which led from the dining-room, and the door of which stood ajar. Once he sniffed the air, and then stopped and listened.
Abinger smiled sourly at him.
"Whose trail are you on, Bram?"
"There's something odd in the air—some unusual scent," was the answer.
"Perhaps Miss Chard can account for it," suggested Abinger. Bramham ventured near her, sniffing still.
"I never use scent," said she, "but I, too, seem to smell some heavy scent."
"Someone's been here," said Bramham, convinced, and thereupon called in the boys again and questioned them in Zulu.
"No—no one had been," they said, "excepting only Intandugaza, who had remained but a little while and gone away very angry."
Both Abinger and the white woman in the white gown who sat by the table understood Zulu, and heard for the first time now of Carson's arrival that evening. To Abinger the fact did not mean much. But Poppy sat staring with frozen lips at her bunch of orange leaves which lay now upon the table. Also, she was listening intently. It seemed to her that the sea, rustling and whispering on the beach at the foot of the garden, had a message for her that she had often heard before, but had never understood. Dimly, for the first time, the meaning of its mysterious sighing was creeping into her weary brain.