Nick descended the stairs with Olga behind him, and encountered the
owner thereof at the bottom. He was a large-limbed man with a permanent
slouch and a red and sullen countenance that very faithfully bore
witness to his habits. He stood and regarded Nick with a fixed and
somewhat aggressive stare.

"Where's the missis?" he said.

"That's just what I want to know," said Nick.

Briggs uttered an uneasy guffaw as if he suspected the existence of a
joke that had somewhat eluded him. His eyes rolled upward to Olga, and
back to Nick.

"Well, she ain't 'ere seemin'ly," he remarked.

"Don't you know where she is?" demanded Nick.

Briggs grinned foolishly. "That's tellin'!" he observed facetiously.

Nick turned from him. "Come along, Olga! They are not here evidently.
It's no use trying to get any sense out of this drunken beast."

"But, Nick--" said Olga in distress.

"We will go down to the shore," he said. "Here, you Briggs! Stand back,
will you?"

Briggs was blocking the narrow passage with his great bull-frame, and
showed no disposition to let them pass. He seemed to think he had a
grievance, and he commenced to state it in a rambling, disjointed
fashion, holding them prisoners on the stairs while he did so.

Nick bore with him for exactly ten seconds, and then, clean and
straight, with lightning swiftness, his one hand shot forward. It was a
single hard blow, delivered full on the jaw with a force that nearly
carried Nick with it, and it sent the offender staggering backwards on
his heels in bellowing astonishment. The opposite wall saved him from
falling headlong, but the impact was considerable, and tendered him
quite incapable of recovering his He subsided slowly onto the floor
with a flood of language that at least testified to the fact that his
injuries were not severe.

Nick's arm went round Olga in a flash. He almost lifted her over the
legs of the prostrate Briggs and hurried her down the passage. As they
emerged into the smoky sunlight, she heard him laugh, and marvelled that
he could.

"On second thoughts," he said, with the air of one resuming an
interrupted discussion, "I think we will go to the Priory. If she is not
there, she is probably on the way."

"She would go by the cliffs," Olga said.

"Yes, I know. But Mrs. Briggs is with her. We had better motor," said
Nick.

So they set off again along the glaring road.

It began to seem like a nightmare to Olga. She drove as one pursued by