it's a long three miles, and a regular
downpour coming on."

Simultaneously both mother and nurse turned back to the pavement and
looked critically at the sky and the sea. There was very little to be
seen but scurrying clouds and one or two misty stars, but the boom of the
waves on the shore was loud and importunate. Without a word they came in
and shut the door.

"I don't think they _can_ be on the beach," said their mother, as
cheerfully as she could, "but it is like looking for a needle in a
haystack. I will go and speak to the policeman and the fishermen."

She spoke wearily, and the anxious line deepened between her eyes, as she
stood irresolutely on the steps, looking into the darkness and feeling
the lashing of the fine rain against her face. A sickening wave of fear
rolled over her, but nurse could not tell it by her voice.

"No doubt they started for the town--Susie is thoughtless. Open my
umbrella, please, nurse, and keep their supper hot."

"I _do_ hope Master Dick don't get his nasty cough back," said nurse.

"Oh, I don't think he will," said Mrs. Beauchamp.

She ran down the steps, holding her umbrella firmly, and battling with
the gusts of wind that swept the Parade. The insistent thunder of the
waves sounded very dreary.

She ran over to the sea wall and down the wooden steps on to the beach.
Two or three fishermen were sheltering close under the cliff; the wind
was so loud that she had to shout at them to be heard.

"Have you been here long?" she said.

"Yes, most of the day." A short black pipe was removed to allow of the
remark.

"Have you seen some children playing about--a little girl in a red
jersey, a boy in a sailor suit?"

The answer was very deliberate. A great many boys and girls had been
playing on the sands--there always were a "rack" of them--the rain came
and swamped them. He hadn't noticed no red jersey in particular.

"Did you see any of them on the rocks?"

No; but then they might have been, for he hadn't been looking that way.

"But _some_ of you would have seen them," Mrs. Beauchamp urged. "If two
children had been scrambling on the rocks at sunset, some of you would
have noticed them?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Is it high tide?" she asked.

"In another hour." And some one added out of the darkness, "Don't you be
feared, ma'am; children and chickens come home to roost."

Mrs. Beauchamp thanked him gratefully and felt comforted.

Again she wearily climbed the step