“Yes,” she gave back, without, however, stopping in her progress around the tall rocks which formed its boundary. “But if we took it we should be sure to meet Bevis. That is his especial playground, you know, and if he were to see his father and me we shouldn’t be able to get rid of him again. No! Don’t misunderstand, Mr. Cleek. I am not one of those mothers who find their children a nuisance in their nursery stage. Bevis is the dearest little man! But he is so full of pranks, so full of questions, so full of life and high spirits—and I couldn’t stand that this morning. Besides, he has no one to play with him to-day. This is Miss Miniver’s half holiday. Pardon? Yes—his nursery governess. She won’t be back until three. I only hope he will stay in the rock garden and amuse himself with his pirates’ cave until then.”
“His——”
“Pirates’ cave. Miss Miniver took him to a moving-picture show one day. He saw one there and nothing would do him but his father must let him have one for himself; so the gardeners made one for him in the rock garden and he amuses himself by going out on what he calls ‘treasure raids’ and carries his spoils in there.”
“His spoils, eh? H’m! I see! Pardon me, Lady Leake, but do you think it is possible that this affair we are on may be only a wild goose chase after all? In other words, that, not knowing the value of the Ranee’s necklace, your little son may have made that a part of his spoils and carried it off to his pirates’ cave?”
“No, Mr. Cleek, I do not. Such a thing is utterly impossible. For one thing, the boudoir door was locked, remember; and, for another, Bevis had been bathed and put to bed before the necklace was lost. He could not have got up and left his room, as Miss Miniver sat with him until he fell asleep.”
“H’m!” commented Cleek. “So that’s ‘barking up the wrong tree’ for a second time. Still, of course, the necklace couldn’t have vanished of its own accord. Hum-m-m! Just so! Another question, your ladyship: You spoke of running down to the foot of the stairs with the lint for Miss Eastman and running back in a panic when you remembered the necklace. How, then, did you get the lint to Miss Eastman, after all?”
“I sent it to her with apologies for not being able to do the bandaging for her.”
“Sent it to her, your ladyship? By whom?”
“Jennifer—one of the servants.”
“Oho!” said Cleek, in two different tones. “So then you did unlock the door of your boudoir for a second time, and somebody other than Sir Mawson and your stepson did see the inside of the room, eh?”