"Has Mrs Carteret been here?" Sir Cyril asked. "Quickly, nurse, answer!"
Mrs Stanson blushed, faltered. "Yes, Sir Cyril. She came in a motor, has gone out to her ladyship. Oh! is anything wrong?"
"Yes!" Cyril Blakeney's face was very quiet, but his eyes gleamed thoughtfully. "Where shall we find them, Mrs Stanson?"
There were two bays, one on each side of the town; two stretches of firm sands. Mrs Stanson looked dubious.
It appeared that the children had quarrelled as they started. Master Cyril wanted to go to the bay to the east, where the big rock ran out into the sea. Master Cecil to the west bay.
"Then it is sure to be this way." Sir Cyril turned to the right—to the west. "Come, Carteret—we'll walk fast."
Something was making Bertie Carteret afraid. The two men had scarcely spoken on the way down. Just once Sir Cyril had asked: "You think you're right, Carteret?" and Bertie had answered: "Yes. My wife's no thief. She was given those jewels."
"Then there is something," Cyril said. "Something!" and did not speak again.
"I'll go the other way." Bertie pointed to the cliffs. "One never knows, and Esmé was dreadfully excited. I'll go along the cliffs, Blakeney; I can see the whole shore, and there are passages leading down, and the cliff path is quicker walking."
"Very well! It's all rather a fuss about nothing, isn't it, Carteret?"