“Yes; it is the child,” said Nancy.
She had dressed herself now. The very magnitude and imminence of the catastrophe which had suddenly overtaken her, gave her a certain feeling of strength. She remembered that queer sense of being “fey” last night; she remembered the words which she had spoken to her husband.
“Well,” she said, looking at the two terrified women, “you have done right to tell me; don’t be over frightened; try and keep yourselves calm. The boy will, of course, be found immediately. I’ll go now and tell Mr. Rowton.”
She ran into the next room, but Rowton had already dressed and gone downstairs. The direful tidings had, of course, been broken to him by Vickers.
Nance at last came face to face with her husband in the butler’s pantry. There a scene of the utmost confusion and destruction met her astonished eyes. The celebrated Clever safe, which was supposed to be proof against any burglar in the land, had been burst open by means of certain explosives, which had probably been introduced through a joint in the side. The safe had been nearly completely rifled of its contents. The secret receptacle for the jewel case had been discovered, and the splendid Rowton diamonds, with many other valuable and priceless jewels, had disappeared; the gold plate had also completely vanished. In short, the burglars had possessed themselves of many thousand pounds’ worth of valuable goods.
“Here’s a wreck,” said Rowton, turning to Nance when she appeared. His face was pale, and his underlip shook. “You see what this boasted safe is worth, after all,” he continued.
“Yes, yes; but the jewels are nothing,” panted Nancy, “it is the child. Who minds about the jewels or the plate? Oh, Adrian, it is Murray.”
“Murray!” cried the man; “what in the world do you mean? What has Murray to do with this?”
“Nothing, of course,” said Nancy, tottering as she spoke, “only they seem to have stolen him, too. He cannot be found anywhere; Murray is lost.”
For answer Rowton took his wife’s hand with that grip of iron which had hurt her so much on the night of her arrival at the Heights.