"Some one who is staying at the inn, I suppose," replied Miss Burton; "an artist, perhaps, like your friend Mr. Gilbank."
"Oh, I dare say he knew us by the picture in the Academy!" said Coral, hitting the truth in her childish simplicity.
The others laughed at this suggestion, and then, beginning to talk of Mr. Gilbank, soon forgot the stranger they had seen.
But the next day they saw him again. This time he was on the beach, standing with Joe Pollard on the rocks below Sheldon Point, and listening earnestly to the fisherman, who appeared to be telling him a long story.
"What a strange man that is!" said Beryl. "What can Joe be telling him?"
As she gazed at the two, she saw the stranger grasp Joe's hand, and shake it heartily; then turning, he hastily made his way across the beach in the direction of Egloshayle.
"I shall go and ask Joe who he is," said Beryl; and bounding over the shingles, she was soon at Joe's side.
Joe was startled by the child's sudden appearance and eager questions. He drew the sleeve of his jersey across his eyes, and cleared his throat twice ere he answered her.
"It's the strangest thing, Miss Beryl," he said. "That gentleman has come down from London to find out about the vessel that was wrecked here last March twelvemonth. It seems he has just come back from Canada, where he has been in search of a sister whom he had lost sight of. He learned there that his sister had come to England in this ship—the one as was wrecked here, I mean. So he came, asking me to tell him about the wreck."
"Yes," said Beryl eagerly; "and what did you tell him?"