"
"But why, monsieur, do you remain so obstinately incredulous?"
"Well," Monk drawled, "I've known the pretty lady a number of years,
and if you ask me she's quite up to playing little games all her own."
"Pretending, you mean--for private ends?"
The eyebrows offered a gesture urbane and sceptical.
Whether or not sleep brought Monk better counsel, the morning's
ransacking of the vessel and the examination of her crew proved more
painstaking than Lanyard had expected. And the upshot was precisely as
Monk had foretold, precisely negative. He reported drily to this effect
at an informal conference in his quarters after luncheon. He himself
had supervised the entire search and had made a good part of it in
person, he said. No nook or cranny of the yacht had been overlooked.
"I trust mademoiselle is satisfied," he concluded with a mockingly
civil movement of eyebrows toward Liane.
His reply was the slightest of shrugs executed by perfect shoulders
beneath a gown of cynical transparency. Lanyard was aware that the
violet eyes, large with apprehension, flashed transiently his way, as
if in hope that he might submit some helpful suggestion.
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