Soon, when Betty had ransacked the house, she came to the conclusion that Marguerite had gone into the village. For some reason, on hearing this, Whittaker appeared to be calmer, and only growled an order that he was to be informed instantly of Miss Garth's return. Betty retreated to the kitchen. When the door was safely closed she said to her mother: "That Percy Whittaker is daft, an' it's easy to see what ails him. If I was Miss Meg I wouldn't have him if he was hung with diamonds." "You're nobbut a fond lass," commented Mrs. Jackson, cracking an egg on the side of a basin preparatory to emptying its contents into a frying-pan. "Always thinkin' of young men, like the rest of 'em. Poor Meg Garth has other things to bother her. If you hadn't lost a good father when you were too little to ken owt about it, you'd know what she's goin' through now." "But she says her father is livin'," said Betty. "Tell me summat fresh," retorted her mother. "Wouldn't it be better for her if he wasn't? You mark my words. There'll be a bonny row i' this house afore we're much older. Now, hurry up with t' toast. No matter what else happens, folk mun eat." CHAPTER XIII DEUS EX MACHINA After a while, Betty came to Armathwaite again. "If you please, sir, breakfast is ready. Shall I bring it in, or will you wait for Miss Meg?" she said. That a second inquiry as to Marguerite's whereabouts should be necessary seemed to surprise him. "You were looking for Miss Garth a few minutes ago. Didn't you find her?" he inquired. "No, sir. She's not in the house." "But what can have become of her?" "I thought, sir, she might ha' gone into t' village." "Why?" "She knows everybody i' t' place. She said last night that now she was makin' a bit of a stay she'd be seein' some o' t' folk." "I think I should have noticed her if she had gone out by the gate," he said, weighing the point. "Smith!" he called, "has Miss Meg left the house recently--within the past ten minutes, I mean?" "Not that I know of, sir," said Smith; "but I'm that worritted by the state of some o' these here beds that ammost owt (almost anything) might ha' happened without me givin' it heed." "Bang that gong at the front door," said Armathwaite to Betty. "It should be heard in every house in Elmdale, and she will understand." The gong was duly banged, and its effect on Elmdale was immediately perceptible. Old Mrs. Bolland vowed afterwards that she would sit permanently at the back bedroom window, because, being rheumaticky, she couldn't get upstairs quickly enough, and there was summat to see nowadays at t' Grange. But the tocsin failed to reach the one ear for which it was intended. The village produced every live inhabitant except Marguerite Ogilvey.