“You can go up-stairs, Miss Tracy. We’ll put off the rest of our talk till to-morrow. You better try to get some rest. And kindly remember to stay in your room. I don’t want any mistakes made about that to-night.”
She murmured words of compliance and rising with pale composure left the library.
When the door shut on her Bassett said: “You got nothing up there at all?”
It had been difficult to frame the question. Since they had left his position with regard to them had undergone a horrible change. He did not know how horrible till this first moment of encounter when he saw them ready to meet him in his old rôle. He felt a surge of repudiation and then heard Anne’s whisper at his ear. It drowned the call of his conscience, was louder than the guiding voices that had heretofore governed his life. She was fighting alone, she had begged his help and he was her lover.
“Not a thing,” answered Rawson. “But we were at a disadvantage; not enough light, and it’s a good-sized place. There’s a big store-room full of junk, messed up with stuff, and one of the electric bulbs is broken. We couldn’t go over that thoroughly, and he may have found a cache there. We’ll comb it over to-morrow morning by daylight. Of course he could have got out on the island—all that kitchen wing’s kept open. He might have been lying low up there all yesterday and have come down last night.”
“And his sister saw him.” Williams laughed with good-humored derision. “You didn’t get anything out of her, Rawson.”
“No, I didn’t. She’s either a very smart young lady, or an entirely innocent one. I’m not sure which. But she did lead us to believe he’d gone when he hadn’t, she did come down-stairs on a pretty fishy errand, and she did forget the name of the hotel he’d gone to. All quite possible but—well, we’ll know to-morrow.” He walked to the window and looked out. “Dark as a pocket!” He turned to Bassett: “When the tide’s full out could a person get across that channel except by the causeway?”
“There are places where they might swim the stream in the middle. It’s a deep strong current but a good swimmer could do it.”
“He might try it—he must be pretty keen about getting off here. You know this shore-line. Suppose you go down and take up a station below the boat-house among those juniper bushes. That’s a place a person might use as a sheltered start for a get-away. You can’t see but you can hear. Take Williams’ gun, and if there’s a sound, challenge, if there’s no answer, shoot. I’ll come down with you, I want to take a look at Patrick and I’ll stay round myself for a while.”
He stepped to the sill of the window but Williams, feeling for his revolver, stopped him: