In the afternoon I met Quarles, and we went to look at the coves. Even at high water it was possible to walk round them by means of a fairly wide ledge of rock. I showed him where the boat had been kept, pointed out an oar and a boathook lying on the ledge, but he took only a perfunctory interest, and spent much more time examining the adjoining coves and the projecting spur of rock which ran out to sea. He scrambled out to the end of this spur and seemed interested in the waves breaking upon it; then he turned and surveyed the land, taking a pair of glasses from his pocket to examine the general contour of the coast more clearly.
"It would be under that point yonder where the body was found," he said.
"Yes."
"It is possible to walk round the rocks to that point, I suppose?"
"Oh, I am not going to do it," he answered. "I was only wondering why old Clay was so certain that a body could not be washed ashore there. Has anything further happened since we parted yesterday?"
I told him about Mrs. Smith's visitor.
"You didn't catch sight of him, Wigan?"
"He had gone before I arrived."
"I wonder if he knew anything about the doctor."