Chapter Twelve
Who Chose the Hymn?
"ONE DAY OVER," said Forester to himself, with a sigh of relief when he woke the following morning. "Only Saturday and Sunday now."
The weather appeared to be ready to help him out of his difficulty, for when he jumped out of bed he found that it was a pouring wet day. There would be no sitting on the rocks or walking on the shore. He would not even have the pain of imagining Doris at work on her picture, with the seat on the rock beside her -- his seat -- either filled by Jack or left empty. He looked out, but beyond a driving mist he could see nothing. It reminded him of his first day of camp life here on the headland, and his feelings seemed to be in harmony with the climate.
He was boiling his kettle inside the tent when he heard footsteps coming up the lane. He looked out and saw Val Sinclair in a long mackintosh coming towards him.
"Hello!" he called out to him, "what are you after, taking your walks out here in the rain like a duck?"
"I've come for you," said Val. "Put out that horrible stove, put your coat on and come at once. Breakfast is almost ready, and mother wants you to spend the day at the castle."
Forester as usual made many excuses, but Val would hear none of them and carried him off with him. Young Joyce was feeding the collies at the door when they arrived in the courtyard, and called to them that breakfast was on the table. This was certainly a pleasant exchange for the doctor from the damp, dismal tent. It was a chilly morning, and a fire had been lit in the broad fireplace of the parlour, looking cheery and bright.
Mrs. Norris was bringing in a dish of fried ham and eggs, and greeted Norman Forester with a pleasant smile. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair welcomed him most kindly, and their three boys Val, Dick and Billy were delighted to have a visitor to help them pass what promised to be a somewhat monotonous day. During breakfast Dick boasted that he had been up before any of them.
"I heard you go past my door," said Mrs. Sinclair. "Why did you get up so soon, on such an awfully wet morning? Surely you did not go down to the beach to bathe!"
"Not I," said Dick, "but I made up my mind last night that I would see whether old Sly-boots and the long-haired one really did go away on the coach. I had my suspicions when they told us they were going that it was only a blind. I had an idea that they wanted us to think they were gone, so that we would be off our guard, but they would still be sneaking around all the time."
Forester remembered what he had seen the day before, when he went to the cottage by the shore, and listened with great interest.
"Well," he said, "go on. What did you find out?"
"I got up at six," said Dick, "for I didn't know exactly what time that lumbering old bus would start. Rupert Norris was only just going out, and I expect he wondered what I was after. I ran down the hill for fear I'd be late, but when I got to the village I saw a man pulling out the coach and harnessing the horses. I knew then that I was too soon, so I had a walk up the village, but saw nothing of those two fellows. However, after I got back to the bus, and had watched all sorts of old dames getting in with their baskets, I suddenly caught sight of them coming down the hill. Sly-boots soon spied me, and had the impudence to cross the road and shake hands with me as if I was a dear friend of his."
"Did they go in the bus?" asked Forester.
"Oh yes, they went right enough, and called out goodbye to everybody they saw, and waved their hats and pocket-handkerchiefs until they were out of sight."
"Was that fellow Daniel anywhere about?" asked Forester.
"Not that I know of," said Dick. "I never caught sight of him."
"I'm awfully glad they've gone," said Val.
"I'm awfully sorry," said Dick.
His brother looked surprised. "Why sorry?"
"Oh, because I wanted to find out what they were after at the castle, and I thought I was on the scent, and now I've lost it again."
The heavy rain lasted all day, and it seemed useless to think of going out. Forester and the Sinclair boys took a brisk walk over the hill in the afternoon, but beyond that there was nothing to be done outside. In the comfortable castle parlour, however, they had all manner of games, and the day passed more quickly than any of them would have thought possible.
Jack Mainwaring came up the hill to fetch Forester to the Bank, but the doctor was glad under the circumstances that he had this previous invitation, so he was able to decline. He had won his way successfully through two days, and now there was only Sunday to be lived through. Then he would be able to relax the constraint which he had put upon himself. Monday was no day, he told himself, for he would be too busy taking down the tent and packing up his belongings to have time for thought of any kind. Surely no one would expect him to come onto the shore on such a busy morning.