Mystery of the Secret Room (8 page)

BOOK: Mystery of the Secret Room
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“Well - it might be just what she’s looking for,” said Fatty. “I wonder now - perhaps the people who bought it don’t like it after all - and might sell it to my aunt. Do you know their name and address?”

“Gosh! - you do seem keen on your aunt having that house,” said Pimples. “Wait a minute. I may be able to put my hand on the name. It’s in this book, I believe.”

Fatty waited whilst Pimples ran a dirty thumb down lists of names. He was very anxious to know the name and address of the person who had bought the house. He felt he must get hold of something, or the other Find-Outers wouldn’t think him very clever.

“Yes, here we are,” said Pimples at last. “Name of Crump. Miss Crump, Hillways, Little Minton - that’s quite near here, you know. Well, Miss Crump bought it, but why she didn’t live in it, goodness knows! She paid three thousand pounds for it.”

“Oh!” said Fatty. “Well - thanks awfully. I’ll get my aunt to go and see Miss Crump. Perhaps if she doesn’t want Milton House herself, she’ll be willing to sell it to my aunt.”

“So long!” said the boy, as Fatty got up to go. “Give my love to Aunt Alicia and tell her I wouldn’t mind a bit of her five thousand pounds.”

Fatty went. He was puzzled. Miss Crump didn’t sound at all mysterious. He could almost imagine what she looked like - a prim little old lady with a bun of hair at the back, high collars to her dresses, and skirts that swept the ground. She would probably have a cat or two.

Fatty took the road back to Milton House. Before he got there he met the other Find-Outers, looking rather woebegone.

“Oh - there’s Fatty!” cried Bets. “Fatty, how did you get on? Oh, Fatty, Clear-Orf found us and turned us out!”

“Golly! - did he really?” said Fatty, looking concerned. “That’s bad luck. We particularly didn’t want him snooping round about our mystery. If he really thinks we’re on to something, he’ll keep a watch on that house - and on us too now - and spoil things for us properly. Who was silly enough to get spotted by Clear-Orf?”

“Well - it was Buster who gave the game away,” said Larry. “It wasn’t really such a clever idea of yours to put him on guard by the gate, Fatty, because as soon as Clear-Orf came by, Buster nearly barked his head off. And of course Clear-Orf looked at him, knew he was your dog, and came in to see what you were doing. He found us, not you!”

“Blow!” said Fatty. “I never thought of Buster making Clear-Orf suspicious if he came by. I only thought of him warning you. Where is he?”

“Still sitting on your pullover, and he’ll be guarding it till tomorrow morning if you don’t go and get him,” said Larry. “He’s only got one thought in his doggy head now - to guard that pullover of yours.”

“I’ll go and get him,” said Fatty. “You walk on slowly and I’ll catch you up.”

He ran on down the lane to Milton House. Buster burst into a hurricane of delighted barks as soon as he saw him. “Good dog,” said Fatty, patting him. “Off guard now, old fellow - off guard. Let me get my pullover.”

Buster allowed Fatty to get his pullover and put it on. Fatty, who had not been thoroughly round the house as the others had, thought he would just take a quick look round. Maybe he might see something they had missed. So he trotted round the house and began to look carefully in at every window.

He jumped terribly when a stern voice came across the garden. “Now then! What you a-doing of? Didn’t I send you all off a few minutes ago?”

“Clear-Orf - back again,” thought Fatty, annoyed with himself for being found there. “Blow!”

Clear-Orf wheeled his bicycle over to him. “Now you tell me what you’re doing here,” he demanded.

Fatty looked all round as if hunting for something. “I left the others here,” he said. “But now they’re gone.”

“And you was peeking in at all the windows to see if they’d slipped through a crack!” said Clear-Orf smartly.

“How clever you are, Mr. Goon,” said Fatty. “You always think of such bright things. Do you know where the others are?”

“Maybe I’ve arrested them all for playing on private property,” said Mr. Goon darkly. “You tell me what you’re all so interested in here, and I’ll tell you where the others are.”

“Oh, Mr. Goon - will you really?” said Fatty, edging away. “Will you let them out of prison if I tell you? Have you told their parents yet that you’ve arrested them? What did they say?”

“You stop cheeking of me,” said Clear-Orf. “And you tell me what’s making you hang about here? This house is empty and children aren’t allowed here.”

Fatty went on edging away, and Mr. Goon went on edging after him, growing purple in the face. Of all the Five Find-Outers he detested Fatty most. Fortunately for Fatty he had Buster with him, and Buster, feeling that matters had gone quite far enough, began to growl.

He then went to sniff at Mr. Goon’s ankles and the policeman kicked him away.

“Look here, Mr. Goon, if you kick Buster, he’ll bite you, and I don’t blame him,” said Fatty, angry to hear the yelp that Buster made. “I shan’t call him off either, if he goes for you. You’ll deserve it.”

Mr. Goon kicked at Buster again, and the dog flew at him, growling furiously. Mr. Goon, seeing two rows of sharp white teeth, got on his bicycle and rode off down the drive at top speed, Buster scurrying after him, barking all the way.

“You haven’t heard the last of this!” yelled Clear-Orf, as he swung out of the gate. “I’ll get to the bottom of this, see if I don’t!”

“Good-bye, and send me a post card when you get to the bottom!” yelled Fatty. “Buster, come here!”

 

Surprising News from Miss Crump

 

The others were disappointed but not surprised to hear that Fatty had not been able to get the keys of Milton House.

“It seems funny for Miss Crump to buy a house and not move into it,” said Larry. “Why should she just furnish one room at the top, and not tell any one about it? It’s a funny secret to have.”

“We can’t very well go and ask her why she’s got that room at the top of the house like that,” said Daisy. “She’d be wild to think we had climbed the tree and looked in.”

“Of course we can’t,” said Fatty. “But we could quite well go over and see her - think up some excuse, you know - and try to get her talking.”

“What excuse can we give for going to see her in the dead of winter?” said Daisy.

“Oh! - we shall be able to think of something,” said Fatty. “Good detectives can always find some way of getting into talk with people.”

“What’s the address?” asked Pip.

Fatty told him.

“Well - we could easily go over there on our bikes,” said Larry, “I vote we do. I’m longing to get on with this mystery if we can.”

“Yes, but what excuse can we give for going to see Miss Crump?” asked Daisy, who didn’t like the idea of butting in on an old lady without some very well-thought-out excuse.

“Oh, Daisy, don’t fuss so!” said Fatty, who hadn’t yet thought of any excuse. “Leave it to me. We’ll go over there, look around a bit, and then see what’s the best way to get into talk with Miss Crumpet.”

“Miss Crump, you mean,” said Bets with a giggle. “Don’t go calling her Crumpet.”

“We can’t all go and see her,” said Daisy. “She’d be suspicious if five children descended on her to talk about Milton House.”

“Well, I’ve gone to see two house-agents, and Pip discovered the mystery, so it’s your turn, or Larry’s or Bets’ turn to do something,” said Fatty generously. He would have liked to do everything himself, really, but a good leader gives every one else a chance, aad Fatty was a good leader.

“Oh!” said Daisy, not quite liking the idea. “All right. But I think you could do it better than any one, Fatty.”

“Well, I could,” said Fatty, not very modestly. “But then I’ve been training myself for this kind of work all last term. Anyway, it will be quite easy.”

They decided to bike over and see Miss Crump that afternoon. Buster could ride in Fatty’s bicycle basket as it wasn’t very far.

“And for goodness’ sake, Buster, don’t try baling out from my basket,” said Fatty. “You did that last time I took you - saw a rabbit or something, and jumped out of my basket and nearly caused an accident.”

“Woof!” said Buster, looking upset. He always knew when Fatty was telling him not to do something or other.

“Good dog,” said every one at once, and patted Buster. They coutdn’t bear it when he looked sad.

They set off on their bicycles immediately after dinner, meeting at the corner at the top of Pip’s lane. Off they went, ringing their bells at everything they saw, with Buster sitting up straight in Fatty’s basket, his tongue hanging out in excitement.

They got to Little Minton in just under twenty minutes, and began to look for Hillways. An errand-boy directed them.

It was a nice house, old and beautiful, with leaded windows and tall chimneys. The garden was beautifully kept.

“Well, I don’t wonder Miss Crumpet preferred to live here rather than in that desolate, ugly old house,” said Fatty, getting off his bicycle. “Now - what’s our plan?”

Nobody had a plan. It suddenly seemed unexpectedly difficult to find a way to go and talk to Miss Crump about Milton House.

Fatty lifted Buster down from the bicycle basket. Buster was glad to stretch his legs. He ran into the gate of the garden.

Then things happened. A large dog suddenly rushed up the path, barking, and flew at Buster. Buster, astonished, growled and swung around. The big dog growled too and all the hairs on the back of his neck rose up.

“They’re going to fight!” shrieked Bets. “Oh, get Buster, Fatty!”

But before Fatty could get hold of Buster, the big dog pounced on him, and a fight began. Bets howled. The dogs barked angrily and growled furiously. All the children yelled at Buster.

“Come here, Buster - come here, sir! BUSTER, come here!”

But Buster was not going to turn tail and run away in the middle of a fight. He enjoyed a fight, and he hardly ever got one. He didn’t mind about the other dog being bigger than he was - he could bite as hard as he did!

The front door opened and someone came out. It was a pleasant, plump, middle-aged lady, looking very worried. She ran up the path.

“Oh dear! is Thomas attacking your dog?” she said. “Thomas, stop it!”

But neither Thomas nor Buster took the slightest notice. This was their own enjoyable, private fight, and they were going on with it.

Bets cried bitterly. She was very upset at the noise and scuffling, and terribly afraid that Buster might be killed. The plump lady was distressed to hear Bets’ sobs.

“Half a minute, dear - I know how to stop them!” she said to Bets. “Don’t cry any more!”

She rushed indoors and came out again with a large pail of water. She threw it over both the snarling dogs.

They had such a shock as the icy water drenched them that they both leapt back from one another in horror. Miss Crump at once caught hold of Thomas, and Fatty made a grab for Buster.

“You bad dog, Thomas!” scolded the plump lady. “You shall be locked in your kennel yard all day.”

She turned to the children. “Just wait whilst I put him into his kennel,” she said, “then I’ll be back.”

She went off round the house, leading a cross and disappointed Thomas.

“Is that Miss Crump?” whispered Larry.

Fatty nodded. “I expect so. I say - look at poor old Buster. He’s been bitten on this leg. He’s bleeding.”

Bets sobbed with shock and misery. She couldn’t bear to see Buster bleeding. Buster was the only one who didn’t seem to mind about his bite. He licked his leg, then wagged his tail hard as if to say, “Jolly good fight, that. Pity it ended so soon.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Buster,” said Daisy. “That horrid big dog flew at you.”

Miss Crump came back, looking very sorry about the whole affair. Bets was still crying. She put her arm round the little girl and hugged her.

“Stop crying, dear,” she said. “That bad dog Thomas hasn’t hurt your little dog very much. Thomas is such a fighter. He’s my brother’s dog, and if any other dog or cat so much as sets a foot in this garden, he flies into a temper and pounces on them.”

“Poor B-b-b-buster’s b-b-b-bleeding,” wailed Bets, who never liked the sight of blood.

“Well, we’ll take him indoors and bathe his leg and put a bandage on. How would you like that?” said Miss Crump.

“Yes. I’d like that,” said Bets, drying her eyes. She thought Buster would look lovely with a bandaged leg. She would love him a lot.

“Well, come along then,” said Miss Crump. “Leave your bicycles by the gate. That’s right. My name is Miss Crump, and I live here with my brother.”

“Oh!” said Daisy, and thought she had better tell Miss Crump their names too. So she introduced every one politely. Soon they were in a comfortable cosy sitting-room, and Miss Crump was bathing Buster’s leg and bandaging it beautifully. Buster liked all the attention immensely.

“I believe Cook has just made some buns,” said Miss Crump, beaming round at the children when she had finished the bandaging. “Could you manage one or two, do you think?”

Every one was sure that plenty of buns could be “managed.” They thought Miss Crump was very nice. When she went to get the buns, Fatty nudged Daisy.

“You’d better start off asking questions,” he said. “It’s a wonderful chance, this.”

Daisy wondered how to begin asking questions about Milton House, but it was all unexpectedly easy.

When Miss Crump came back with the buns, she handed them round and said, “Where have you bicycled from? Very far?”

“Oh no.” said Daisy. “Only from Peterswood. We live there.”

“Do you really?” said Miss Crump, offering a bun to the surprised and grateful Buster. “Well, you know, I nearly went to live there a year ago. I don’t expect you know a place called Milton House, do you?”

“Oh yes, we do,” answered every one in a chorus.

Miss Crump looked surprised to think that Milton House should apparently be so well known.

“I bought Milton House.” said Miss Crump, taking a bun herself. “My brother wanted to live in this county, and he seemed to think Milton House would do for us.”

“Oh!” said Daisy, after a nudge from Fatty. “Well - er - why didn’t you go and live there, then? I mean - you seem to live here.”

BOOK: Mystery of the Secret Room
5.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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