“Captain,” she said.  “I am much alarmed about Major Mallett.  That boat that came off here an hour ago brought a note for my daughter, saying that he had been hurt, and she went ashore with her maid to see him.  She said that she would be back in a short time, and that if she found that he was badly hurt she would send her maid back with a message to me.  She has been gone for more than an hour, and I wish you would take a boat and go ashore, find out how the Major is, and bring me back word at once.  He is at Dr. Maddison’s.  You know the house.”

The skipper hurried away with a serious face.  A little more than a minute after he had left the cabin Lady Greendale heard the rattle of the blocks of the falls.  The boat was little more than half an hour away.  Lady Greendale, in her anxiety, had told the steward to let her know when it was coming alongside, and went up on deck to get the news as quickly as possible.

“It is a rum affair altogether, my lady,” Hawkins said, as he stepped on deck.  “I went to the doctor’s, and he has seen nothing whatever of the Major, and Miss Greendale and her maid have not been to his house at all.”

Lady Greendale stood for a moment speechless with surprise and consternation.

“This is most extraordinary,” she said at last.  “What can it mean?  You are sure that there is no mistake, captain?  It was to Dr. Maddison’s house she went.”

“Yes, my lady, there ain’t no mistake about that.  I have been there to fetch medicine for you two or three times.  Besides, I saw the doctor myself.”

“Major Mallett must have been taken to some other doctor’s,” she said, “and must have made a mistake and put in the name of Dr. Maddison.  His house is some little distance from the club.  There may be another doctor’s nearer.  What is to be done?”

“I am sure I do not know, my lady,” the captain said, in perplexity.

“Where can my daughter and her maid be?” Lady Greendale went on.  “They went ashore to go to Dr. Maddison’s.”

“Perhaps, my lady, they might have heard as they went ashore that the Major was somewhere else, or some messenger might have been waiting at the landing stage to take them there direct.”

“That must be it, I suppose; but it is all very strange.  I think the best thing, captain, will be for you to go to the club.  They are sure to know there about the accident, and where he is.  You see, the landing stage is close to the club, and he might have been just going in when he was knocked down—­by a carriage, I suppose.”

“Like enough he is at the club still, my lady.  At any rate, I will go there in the first place and find out.  There is sure to be a crowd about the gates listening to the music—­they have got a band over from Newport—­so that if they do not know anything at the club, there are sure to be some people outside who saw the accident, and will know where the Major was taken.  Anyhow, I won’t come back without news.”