“Leave it to me. Don’t alarm the guests needlessly.”
“But some of them already know——”
Nick did not wait for more. He brushed by the two men, and, outwardly perfectly calm, hastened through the crowded hall toward the main stairway.
Both Chick Carter and Patsy Garvan then were on the main floor of the vast house, the former near the open front door, where, both in the hall and on the granite steps and the broad veranda outside, scores of guests had gathered to speed the happy couple on their wedding journey.
Chick saw Nick approaching and caught the ominous gleam in his expressive eyes.
“What’s up?” he asked quietly, hastily meeting him.
Nick now said what he really thought.
“That devil has got in his work again.”
“Not Margate?”
“I fear so. Both bride and groom are missing.”