“Nothing … oh, nothing,” she replied, hastily turning away.

But I had seen them—Bevil and Jessica. Benedict was playing a little distance away, but it was on Jessica and my husband that Fanny’s attention was focused.

“Is anything wrong?” I asked.

“I hope not, Miss Harriet,” she answered tartly.

I knew exactly what was in her mind, and she knew what was in mine. I wanted to rebuke her, to tell her she was being foolish; but when I looked into her loving face I knew that if I suffered she would suffer with me.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned away.

A week or so later, going down to the dining room, I found, to my dismay, that both Bevil and Jessica were missing.

We had taken our places at the table—Sir Endelion and Lady Menfrey, William Lister and myself—expecting at any moment that the missing pair would arrive. The fact that they were both absent immediately aroused my uneasiness.

“What is keeping them?” murmured Lady Menfrey. “Mr. Lister, have you any idea?”

“None at all,” replied William. “I haven't seen Mr. Menfrey since four o’clock.”

“I hope Benedict is not unwell and that Jessica feels she should be with him.”

“I’ll go up to the nursery,” I said, and immediately slipped away.

I ran all the way, and when I opened the door of Benedict’s room I saw that he was in bed, fast asleep.

I went into the schoolroom and through to Jessica’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so I went in. The room was as neat as it always was. A sudden fear made me open the drawers in the chest of drawers. With great relief I saw that her things lay neatly there. I opened the cupboard door. There hung her dresses.

I faced the fact then that I had actually believed that she and Bevil might have eloped together.

I went back to the dining room. “Benedict is asleep, but Jessica is not in the nursery or in her room.”

We dined at eight, and it was now ten minutes past the hour. Pengelly, hovering with his maids, wanted to know if he should serve.

Lady Menfrey often looked at Sir Endelion before giving an order. It was a habit which mildly irritated me, because I believed that she could have at least been mistress in the house if she had asserted herself.

I said rather sharply: “They know dinner is at eight. They won’t expect us to wait. Let us begin.”

I sounded as though I cared more for my food than anything, when in fact I was wondering how I was going to make a show of eating.

Pengelly said: “Thank you, Madam.” And the soup was brought in.

“It’s so unlike Jessica,” murmured Lady Menfrey. “She’s usually such a punctual person. Her father always was, I remember.”

“And Bevil?” said Sir Endelion. There was speculation in his eyes, and he looked more puckish than ever. “Have you any idea, Harriet, my dear, where he might be?”

“None,” I replied. “Unless he was suddenly called to Lansella, but in that case he would surely have left word.”

“Into Lansella with Jessica Trelarken? Now that’s hardly likely, I should think. Why, if he’d taken anyone into Lansella it would have been you, my dear.”

“I should have thought so.”

“It’s Jessica I’m wondering about,” said Lady Menfrey.

“I do hope there hasn’t been an accident Oh, Pengelly, send to the stables and see if any horses are missing. I remember poor Gwennan’s accident , . . and how Dr. Trelarken’s houseboy came over to tell us. Yes, go at once, Pengelly. I am most anxious.”

We were through the soup course before Pengelly came back.

“None of the horses is missing, my lady.”

Sir Endelion sat back in his chair looking at me.

“It’s strange,” he said. “Both of them.”

The meal seemed interminable. I played with the fish on my plate, anxious that none of them should know how worried I was. I caught William lister’s eyes on me. He knew; and he was kind and sympathetic. I believed he was as worried as I was.

“Miss Trelarken knows many people in the neighborhood,” he suggested. “It may be that she has gone visiting and forgotten the time.”

“That’s what it is!” cried Lady Menfrey triumphantly, and she began to eat steadily. She had something to cling to now. Jessica was visiting friends and had forgotten the time; Bevil was in Lansella on parliamentary business; they would soon return and it would all be explained. She wanted peace in the household so desperately that she would pretend it existed when it didn’t.

William Lister, seeing that he had soothed her, went on: “I’m sure something must have turned up at the Lansella chambers demanding his immediate attendance.”

“Wouldn’t he have told somebody that he was going?”

“There might not have been time,” he said lamely.

“Of course,” cried Lady Menfrey. “That’s it There wasn’t time.”

Her husband was smiling at her sardonically. I guessed he believed that they were together. And if they were, I asked myself, if they had disappeared so blatantly, what could it mean?

But Bevil would never leave Menfreya. How could he give up everything? He was not a romantic boy to elope on impulse, leaving his wife and his career. There was some other explanation. But I was becoming more and more certain that they were together somewhere.

The meal had come to a dismal end.

“I’m. afraid,” said William Lister, looking at me almost pityingly, “there may have been an accident.”

“Oh no, no!” insisted Lady Menfrey. “Jessica has forgotten the time, and Bevil has been called to Lansella.”

William and I exchanged glances. We didn’t believe it We “went to the drawing room where coffee was served. We were all tense and nervous. We talked desultorily, but all the time we were straining our ears for the sounds of arrival, and none of us was really paying attention to what was said.

It was impossible to keep the disappearance secret. I was aware that the news was spreading with the speed and efficiency of jungle drums. The servants would be discussing the possibilities of what had happened to keep Bevil and Jessica away at precisely the same time, and the story would be carried around … to Menfrey stow and on to Lansella, which would surely not be good for Bevil’s reputation. That was what I could not understand; how had he, who cared so much for his career, allowed himself to be caught hi such a situation? Could it be that he was caught up against bis will? Or had he forgotten the passing of time?

In any case, if-they did not return soon, we should have to do something about it.

That was a very uneasy evening; and it suddenly occurred to me how lonely I was. I could not quite trust Sir Endelion, for since he had brought Jessica into the house, I was learning something of his character. He had been wild in his youth, and I could imagine his going through life tempting fate. He wanted something to happen … and was ready to risk disaster rather than suffer boredom. I understood this feeling, but I knew I could not rely on him. And Lady Menfrey? I thought of her kindness to me at the time of Jenny’s death. But then she had been acting in accordance with her family’s approval. She was too much a seeker after peace to be a rock in time of trouble.

William Lister was beside me; his face was puckered with anxiety.

“I know how you’re feeling,” he whispered.

“There must have been an accident,” I said. “Well have to do something.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “And soon.”

“What?” I asked.

“I’ll go into Lansella to see if he’s there. He may well be delayed on business, and a message to us could have gone stray.”

“The two of them must be together,” I pointed out.

He nodded wretchedly.

“An accident involving them both,” I went on. “It could be so if they had gone riding together … but all the horses are in the stables. What can it be!”

“It would be better to take some action. The reason I wanted to wait was …”

“I know. You were hoping they would turn up, and you didn’t”want a thing like this talked about.”

“I’m sure it was what Mr. Menfrey would wish. But I think the time has now come for action. I’ll go over to Lansella immediately. I think it’ll be quicker and there’ll be less noise about it if I ride over. I can find out if he’s been to the chambers and see if the agent knows anything. If I can’t get any satisfaction there we shall then have to let the police know.”

I had begun to tremble; he leaned towards me and lightly, shyly touched my hand. “You know I’ll do everything possible . .. for you.” ‘

“Thank you, William,” I said; and I believed there was someone whom I could trust.

So William rode over to Lansella, and I waited, tense and anxious, for what would happen next.

We sat on in the red drawing room—a disconsolate party, and it was about an hour after William had left when we heard Bevil’s voice. We all hurried to the window but could see little, for there was no moon, although the sky was clear and full of stars.

“He’s back!” I cried; and I ran out of the room along the corridor to the top of the staircase. I saw him standing in the hall, Jessica beside him.

“Bevil!” I cried. I discovered I was so pleased to see him that I could not keep the joy out of my voice.

“Harriet!” he answered me. “The most maddening thing happened.”

As I went down the stairs I was limping badly. Jessica was watching me; she was pale, and her hair was loose and untidy; it was slightly damp too, but this did not detract from her beauty. Her eyes seemed larger and more luminous; it occurred to me that she, at least, had enjoyed the adventure.

“What happened?” I demanded.

Jessica held up something. I didn’t recognize what it was.

She explained: “We went to get this, and then … found we were caught there.”

“Caught?”

“It’s all quite simple,” said Bevil. “Oh hello, Mother. Hello, Father.” Sir Endelion and Lady Menfrey had appeared on the staircase. “We went over to retrieve that thing, and then the wretched boat slipped away somehow.”

“Slipped away?” I was repeating the significant words interrogatively—always an irritating habit, I have thought, in other people. I couldn’t help myself, I was frightened.

“Perfectly simple,” said Bevil. “Benedict and Jessica were over on the island this morning, and he left his teddy bear there. He wouldn’t go to sleep until Jessica promised to bring it back to him. She asked me to row her over.”

I wanted to know: Why did she ask you? Why could she not have gone alone? But I didn’t I couldn’t betray my feelings before them all.

“So,” went on Jessica, “he kindly did so, and when we had found the bear and came down to the shore the boat was gone.”

“Where to?” asked Sir Endelion, a lilt in his voice, as though he were enjoying the adventure vicariously.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” put in Bevil, with an attempt at anger.

“You couldn’t have tied it very securely,” mocked Sir Endelion.

“I’m sure I did.”

“So the boat’s lost, eh?”

“No. A’Lee brought it in. He saw it drifting out to sea,” he said, “and he was bringing it in to Menfreya beach when he passed the island and we hailed him. He’s just brought us back.”

“Oh dear,” sighed Lady Menfrey. “You missed dinner and must be hungry. I’ll tell them to get something for you at once.”

She sensed the disbelief, the growing storm, and she wanted to be away.

Sir Endelion said: “Well, you’re not the first one to be marooned on an island. It was always a favorite place of yours.”

I remembered then myself cowering beneath a dust sheet and Bevil’s coming there with one of the girls from the village. This time I had not been there to prevent the culmination of the adventure.

What, I asked myself, had happened this time in the house on the island?

Bevil was looking at me, and I was determined not to betray myself.

“Well,” I said coolly, “you’ve returned.”

I caught a glimpse of Jessica’s face as I walked back to the stairs. She smiled faintly. Apologetically? Defiantly? I couldn’t say.

It was half past eleven when Bevil came up; he had been closeted with William, who had returned from Lansella and I was sure was deeply regretting that he had gone there, for his journey had only spread the story.

He looked at me coolly, and I knew well that it was a habit of his when disturbed to feign nonchalance.

“Still up?” he said, unnecessarily.

“But ready to retire,” I retaliated. “Wrapped in dressing gown and thought.”