If they had landed, which he now regarded as very improbable, they must have at least gone willingly to the place where they believed they should find him, and unless every house in Cowes was searched from top to bottom there was no chance of finding them, carefully hidden away as they would be.

He could not see, therefore, that the police could at present be of any utility whatever.

It might be necessary finally to obtain the aid of the police, but in that case it was Scotland Yard and not Cowes that the matter must be laid before; and even this should be only a last resort, for above all things it was necessary for Bertha's sake that the matter should be kept a profound secret, and, once in the hands of the police, it would be in all the papers the next day.

If the aid of detectives was to be called in, it would be far better to put it into the hands of a private detective.
Having made up his mind upon this point, he returned to the yacht.
"I am sorry to say that I have no news," he said to Lady Greendale, who was lying on the couch, worn out with weeping.

"I have ascertained almost beyond doubt that they did not land at the club stage or either of the other two landing places." "What can it be ?" she sobbed.