"I do hope Master Dick don't get his nasty cough back," said nurse.
"Oh, I don't think he will," said Mrs. Beauchamp.
She ran down the steps, holding her umbrella firmly, and battling with the gusts of wind that swept the Parade. The insistent thunder of the waves sounded very dreary.
She ran over to the sea wall and down the wooden steps on to the beach. Two or three fishermen were sheltering close under the cliff; the wind was so loud that she had to shout at them to be heard.
"Have you been here long?" she said.
"Yes, most of the day." A short black pipe was removed to allow of the remark.
"Have you seen some children playing about—a little girl in a red jersey, a boy in a sailor suit?"
The answer was very deliberate. A great many boys and girls had been playing on the sands—there always were a "rack" of them—the rain came and swamped them. He hadn't noticed no red jersey in particular.
"Did you see any of them on the rocks?"
No; but then they might have been, for he hadn't been looking that way.