“Master Harold, Linton? Why, you told me yourself he was in bed an hour ago!” cried Zoe.
“And so he was, ma’am, but I made sure Master had heard him crying and brought him down here. If I’ve said so to myself once as I come down from the nursery, I’ve said it on every stair. And where is the precious lamb if he isn’t here, may I ask, ma’am?”
“Why, in bed, of course,” said Wylie, while Zoe, with a scared face, ran out of the room.
“No, sir, that he isn’t, begging your pardon, and if any of you gentlemen are playing a joke on me, I take the liberty to say it’s not what I should have expected of you. Oh, do tell me where my little lamb is, anybody that knows!”
“We don’t know, Linton, any more than you do,” said Maurice kindly, “but we will come upstairs and help you look for him. I suppose the little rascal might have crept out of bed and be hiding somewhere, or even have walked in his sleep?”
“How could he, sir, and me fastening him safe into his crib before I left him? But if you can find him I’ll take him back thankful, and no questions asked.”
It was clear that Linton still believed herself and Harold to be the victims of a practical joke, as she toiled up after the rest to the nursery, where Zoe had Danaë in a corner, and was questioning her fiercely.
“You think some one must have come up while you were away? Graham! Maurice! she says she went down into the courtyard to speak to her uncle, and when she came back Harold was gone.”
“How long ago was this?” asked Maurice.
“Excuse me one moment,” said Wylie. “Armitage, will you go to the sergeant in the gatehouse—he speaks Greek—and tell him to go the round of the Konak and see that no one, man, woman, or child, is allowed to leave? After that he is to parade his men ready for duty. Linton, go into all the rooms on this floor, and see whether the child is hidden anywhere, and call out to Parisi and Markos to do the same downstairs. Now, Kalliopé!”