"
He was even able to smile at her.
"I am quite all right," he assured her once more.
CHAPTER XXV
Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the
empty breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang
the bell.
"Mills," she enquired, "is no one down?"
"Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship," the man
answered, "and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him."
"And Mr. Lessingham?"
"Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship," Mills continued, looking carefully
behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, "has
disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Philippa repeated. "What do you mean, Mills?"
"I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship," Mills explained,
"in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed
--I should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock.
I called him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty.
The bed had not been slept in."
"Was there no note or message?" Philippa asked incredulously.
"Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she
heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning."
"Ring up the hotel," Philippa instructed, "and see if he is there."
Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking
out of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the
beach.
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