“Yes, Mademoiselle. But she left word expressly that she did not want to be disturbed.”
“Ah, then I will not go in,” said Minnie, flying along the corridor, and running downstairs.
“But I will just ask if the _pauvre petite_ would like a _tisane?_” reflected the chambermaid knocking at Evereld’s door. “No response! ’Tis strange, I will knock again. Mademoiselle! It is I, Marie. Well, ’tis useless to wait. Without doubt she sleeps. These English are always heavy sleepers, and after all, sleep is the best cure for _la migraine_.”
But next morning when to repeated knocks there was still no answer, Marie began to feel anxious. She consulted Miss Mactavish.
“Miss Ewart often goes out early in the morning. I expect she has locked her door and taken her key to the _bureau_,” was Minnie’s matter-of-fact solution of the problem.
“No, Mademoiselle, the key is not in the bureau. It is on the inside of the door. I fear Mademoiselle must be very ill.”
“Well, we can soon find out,” said Minnie, opening her window and stepping on to the balcony.
To unbolt the _jalousies_ and open Evereld’s French window was the work of a minute, but Minnie gave a gasp of surprise when she found the room quite empty. Remembering however the curious eyes of the chambermaid she controlled herself.
“Perhaps she is with Lady Mactavish, I will see,” she exclaimed, and hastily ran down to the next floor in search of her father. She found him in their private sitting-room, writing letters, and quickly told her discovery.
“Can the child have been so foolish as to run away,” he exclaimed in dismay. “Well she can’t have gone far, that is one comfort; we shall soon track her. I will come up with you and see if we can find any clue. Run on first and tell the maid it is all right and get her out of the way.”
He followed more leisurely, and passing through his daughter’s room went by the balcony to Evereld’s deserted chamber.
“The bed has been slept in,” he remarked in a tone of satisfaction, “she has not gone far.”
It did not occur to him that it had never been made on the previous day, that was just one of those small points of detail which would escape an ordinary man. Minnie instantly thought of it, but she held her tongue, and began hurriedly to see what clothes Evereld had taken with her.