Pamela was used to this fairy scene in all sorts of phases, but to-night--probably because of the Mystery Girl--she felt as though something uncanny were abroad, and to shake herself free from the feeling she opened her precious handbook, and proceeded to search through it from end to end. "What should a person do--what would a Patrol Captain, or any experienced Guide do, if she found she had a 'double'? Practical information about making jam tins into candlesticks, or how to meet a mad dog! Splendid directions for camping and tracking--tracking!"
Pamela paused and thought about that. She studied the means for finding out a bicycle-track, what sort of bicycle--which way going. That might be useful if the girl rode a bicycle. Footprints might be followed up if she could be sure what sort of shoe the girl wore.
She shut up the book, and began to undress, gazing dreamily out at the moonshine all the time, utterly unconscious what that moonshine was to show her one night--in the near future.
Just before she went to sleep her mind fixed itself again on a previous idea. This business had surely got to do with Woodrising--with the strange motor-car--and with the secret visit of Sir Marmaduke Shard. She had no proof that he went that night to Woodrising, but she was perfectly certain he had done so. The first thing, of course, was to find out if anybody had come to Woodrising.
The next morning, warm, lovely--and far removed from any sort of mystery--arrived, in about five minutes. Mornings do arrive swiftly when you are thirteen and have been out sailing nearly all day before. Everything looked the same downstairs, and Pamela felt it difficult to believe she had a "double" and Bell Bay was the innocent scene of a surprising secret. She found that Christobel and Adrian were already planning a sail of some importance, and was met by a pressing invitation to go too.
"Where?" asked Pam lazily.
"Peterock. Addie wants his hair cut, and it can be cut at Peterock just as easily as Salterne. Besides, it's much nearer."
Christobel said this with intent, for though nearness was nothing to her and Adrian, she knew instinctively that her mother rather cherished the thought of their "keeping near home". So many people who have no experience of sailing believe that the safety is increased by keeping near land, whereas it is just as possible to drown in one fathom of water, as forty fathoms.
However, Christobel threw out the bait with purpose, and Mrs. Romilly, smiling happily, said:
"That would be nice, darlings. Won't you want lunch and tea on board? Ask Jeep for all you need."