Just before she went to sleep her mind fixed itself again on a previous
idea. This business had surely got to do with Woodrising--with the
strange motor-car--and with the secret visit of Sir Marmaduke Shard.
She had no proof that he went that night to Woodrising, but she was
perfectly certain he had done so. The first thing, of course, was to
find out if anybody had come to Woodrising.
The next morning, warm, lovely--and far removed from any sort of
mystery--arrived, in about five minutes. Mornings do arrive swiftly when
you are thirteen and have been out sailing nearly all day before.
Everything looked the same downstairs, and Pamela felt it difficult to
believe she had a "double" and Bell Bay was the innocent scene of a
surprising secret. She found that Christobel and Adrian were already
planning a sail of some importance, and was met by a pressing invitation
to go too.
"Where?" asked Pam lazily.
"Peterock. Addie wants his hair cut, and it can be cut at Peterock just
as easily as Salterne. Besides, it’s much nearer."
Christobel said this with intent, for though nearness was nothing to her
and Adrian, she knew instinctively that her mother rather cherished the
thought of their "keeping near home". So many people who have no
experience of sailing believe that the safety is increased by keeping
near land, whereas it is just as possible to drown in one fathom of
water, as forty fathoms.
However, Christobel threw out the bait with purpose, and Mrs. Romilly,
smiling happily, said:
"That would be nice, darlings. Won’t you want lunch and tea on board?
Ask Jeep for all you need."
Both Pam and Hughie excused themselves from this expedition. The day
promised to be unusually hot and breathless, and Pamela, knowing exactly
what it would be like, preferred a bathe and a book. Hughie wanted to
test the new sails to his model boat.
This division of forces was so often practised that Mrs. Romilly took no
notice. She was sure that the two elders could manage the yawl--and for
the rest, a day in which there seemed to be neither wind nor waves, was
very satisfying to her mind. Pamela liked being alone--she and Hughie
spent hours in the cove contented and harmless. All would be well.
The morning wore on in peace, and about midday the voyagers went down,
basket-laden, and very happy.
"It will be thunder," prophesied Pam, who was sitting on a low rock,
with her back against another, learning certain enthralling rules by
heart from a certain book, "it will be quite calm and oily, and
presently you’ll have a cracking storm. I feel it in my head. Glad I’m
not going. Crow, do you remember the day when we couldn’t get anywhere,
and we threw the slices of beef overboard and they went with us for
_miles_--sort of cheek by jowl, sitting on the sea."
"That was before the War," said Crow, evading the thought, "one doesn’t
have slices of meat now, of anything, thank goodness. Beef and ham pies
would sink."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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