He turned to go, but had barely quitted the step before he saw Mrs.Kingdom and his sister enter the alley.
Mr.Wilks saw them too, and, turning if anything a shade paler, supported himself by the door-pest.

Kate Nugent quickened her pace as she saw them, and, after a surprised greeting to her brother, breathlessly informed him that the captain was missing.
"Hasn't been home all night," panted Mrs.Kingdom, joining them.

"I don't know what to think." They formed an excited little group round the steward's door, and Mr.
Wilks, with an instinctive feeling that the matter was one to be discussed in private, led the way indoors.

He began to apologize for the disordered condition of the room, but Jack Nugent, interrupting him brusquely, began to relate his own adventures of the past few hours.
Mrs.Kingdom listened to the narrative with unexpected calmness.

She knew the cause of her nephew's discomfiture.