“Then there must have been foul play. Where were her jewels kept? Have they been stolen?”
“No,” replied Margaret; “nothing seems to have been touched. All her wedding presents are exactly as they were, and her jewels are in the drawer in which they were always kept.”
“What am I to do?” asked Alfred. “Surely Mary will be here presently. She will not get late for the wedding? She fixed the time herself.”
“I am so sorry for you,” said Hilda Copeland. “Mary must have been out of her senses.”
“Did she seem so? Was she ill last night?” demanded Greenholme.
“She did not say so. She was very quiet, though.”
“Quiet!” repeated Alfred, forgetting to be courteous. “She was never other than quiet. But such conduct is perfectly inexplicable. Are you sure Mary is not in the house, Miss Miller?”
“Quite sure. We have looked everywhere.”
“Where is Stapleton? He might go and prevent the carriages from coming. We do not want a row of them standing in front of the house for an hour.”
“The servants will attend to that. There will be no wedding to-day,” said Margaret.