“And the other children have dropped, as yet, no hint as to what precisely did happen to him?”

“None.”

“Their mother has questioned them?”

“Exhaustively.”

“Yet they must surely know.”

“It is a great pity,” said Thornton, deliberately, “that when the pirates decided to kill the child, they did not invite in his sisters to watch.”

Mathias was ready to make allowances. He merely shifted his position and cleared his voice.