, he
was not sure that robbery was what was intended. It was quite possible
he was on the wrong tack altogether, and if this was the case, how
foolish he would look with no evidence to bring forward except this
strange offer of 'hundreds' to Thomas! How his father would laugh at
him, and even Aunt Betty would smile incredulously! He might be asked
uncomfortable questions, and have to tell about the climb up the face of
the cliff. No harm had come of it, except frightening the girls, but his
father might not regard the feat in that light.

No; on the whole he thought he had better keep his own counsel till
something more definite turned up. He would have his weather-eye open,
especially on Thomas, but otherwise let things take their usual course.
He made up his mind he would not speak of what he had heard even to
Marjorie. She might tell Estelle, and then it would be sure to leak out.
Girls could never hold their tongues, especially when there were two of
them. He had just come to this determination when, to his amazement,
Thomas, on whose broad back his eyes had been steadily fixed,
disappeared. Where? How? Was the whole thing only a dream? Thomas was
certainly in front of him only a moment ago, and now he had suddenly
gone with the rapidity of a flash of lightning.

* * * * *

It had required much self-control for Marjorie to put aside her anxiety
so entirely as to calm the fears of the two younger ones, and devote
herself to their amusement. But she was a girl of strong character, and
perhaps nothing so proved it as her quiet and cheerful manner during
that trying time of waiting.

She threw herself into the children's play, made fun of all their
efforts to pull the boat up the beach, helped with the digging of a huge
sand castle, and suggested a rampart of stones to fortify the deep moat
round it. Georgie and Estelle were delighted with the windows and doors,
the gardens with shells for flowers, the drawbridge, and the paved way
through the ramparts. Georgie even proposed to find some sea-anemones to
place among the shells as an additional ornament, and Marjorie was in
the act of explaining that it would be cruel to pull the poor things off
their rocks for such a purpose, when she was cut short by an exclamation
from Estelle.

The little girl was toiling up the beach, her hands, holding up her
overall laden with stones for the castle. It proved a heavy load for
her to carry, and s