The Secret of
HOME
FROM SCHOOL
Two
Girls were standing at their front gate one sunny afternoon in July.
“The
car ought to be here by now,” said Nora. “I hope it hasn’t had a puncture or
anything. I’m longing to see Mike - and Jack too, of course.”
“So
am I,” said Peggy, her sister. “I wonder if Paul will be with them? Is he going
to spend his holidays with us - or go back to Baronia? I wonder.”
Paul
was the little Prince of Baronia, a great friend of Nora, Peggy, Mike and Jack.
He went to the same school as the boys, and had had plenty of adventures with
them.
“I
expect he’ll spend a few days with us first,” said Nora, swinging on the gate.
“He usually does, doesn’t he? Then he’ll have to go back to Baronia to see his
parents - and all his many brothers and sisters!”
“It’s
a silly idea, our school breaking up two whole days before the boys’,” said
Peggy. “We go back earlier too - that’s even more of a nuisance!”
“Here’s
a car - and it’s bringing the boys!” said Nora, suddenly. “They’ve come in
Paul’s car - the big blue and silver one. I wonder if Ranni is driving it?”
Ranni
was Paul’s man, who had vowed to look after Paul from the moment when he was
put into his arms on the day he was born. He was devoted to the little Prince,
and had shared many adventures with him. And now here he was, driving the great
Baronian blue and silver car, bringing the three boys home in state!
The
girls swung the big gates open as the car came near. They yelled as the car
swept in. “Mike! Jack! Paul! Hurrah! Welcome back!”
The
car stopped with a squeal of brakes, and Ranni, who was at the wheel, smiled at
them through his fiery red beard. Three heads were poked out of the nearest
window.
“Hallo,
girls! Jump in. We thought you’d be looking for us!” called Mike. The door was
swung open, and the girls squeezed in at the back with the three boys making
room for them.
Nora
gave Mike a hug. He was her twin, and the two were very fond of each other.
Except that Nora was smaller than Mike, they were very much alike, with black,
curly hair and bright, merry eyes. Golden-haired Peggy was a year older, but
Mike was as tall as she was.
“Hallo!”
said Jack, giving each of the girls a friendly punch. “What do you mean by
breaking up sooner than we did!”
Jack
was not their brother. He had no parents, and the
Prince
Paul never punched the girls in the friendly way that the other boys did.
Baronian manners did not allow that! He bowed politely to each of the girls,
smiling happily - but they hadn’t the beautiful manners of Baronia, and fell on
him like a couple of puppies.
“Is
he still ticklish? Yes, he is! Paul, are you going to stay with us for the
holidays - or just for a few days - or what?”
“Stop
tickling me,” said Paul, trying to push them off. “Hey, Ranni, Ranni! Stop the
car and turn them out!”
The
car swept up to the front door, and Ranni leapt out, grinning. He went to the
back to get the school trunks piled there on top of one another.
The
door flew open and Mrs. Arnold stood there smiling. “Welcome back, boys!” she
said. Mike ran to hug his mother. “We’re home!” he shouted. “Good old home!”
Jack
kissed Mrs. Arnold, and then Paul followed his usual custom, bent over her hand
with a deep bow, and kissed it politely. The others used to laugh at Paul’s
grand manners, but they had got so used to them by now that they didn’t really
notice them.
“Come
along in.” said Mrs. Arnold. “We’d better get out of Ranni’s way. He’s bringing
the trunks in. Ranni, how can you manage two trunks at once!”
Ranni
grinned. He was big, and enormously strong. Two trunks were nothing to him! He
went up the stairs with them easily.
“Mother!
What a lovely smell!” said Mike, sniffing. “Buttered toast - and hot scones!”
“Quite
right,” said his mother. “You’re probably forgotten that you asked me to have
them for tea as soon as you got home these holidays - though why you took it
into your head to ask for such things on a hot July day I don’t know.”
Jack
put his head in at the dining-room door. Tea was already laid there. “My word!”
he said. “Home-made eclairs too - and the biggest chocolate-sponge sandwich I
ever saw! When do we have tea?”
“As
soon as you’ve washed your hands,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I’ll get the toast and
scones brought in now, so don’t be long.”
They
weren’t long. All five of them tore upstairs, laughing and shouting, glad to be
together again. Prince Paul was pleased too - he loved this English family,
with its friendliness and generosity.
When
they came down, someone else was with Mrs. Arnold. The three boys smiled at the
small, grey-eyed woman sitting beside Mrs. Arnold.
“Dimmy!”
they said, and went to shake hands. Paul, as usual, bowed from his waist, and
then unexpectedly gave the little woman a hug.
Dimmy’s
real name was Miss Dimity, and she often came to help Mrs. Arnold, especially
when the children were home. They all liked her, and teased her - and although
she looked so gentle and timid, she could be very firm indeed, as they had
found out many a time.
“Good
old Dimmy!” said Mike, and looked as if he was going to try to lift her up. She
pushed him off.
“No,
no, Mike - I know you’re almost as big as I am now - but I’m really not going
to be tossed about like a bag of potatoes! Sit down before the toast gets
cold.”
For
a little while there was silence as the five children helped themselves from
the full plates on the table. Paul gave a loud sigh.
“Now
this is what I call real food - almost as good as Baronia. Mrs. Arnold, I have
been half-staved all the term!”
“Don’t
you believe it!” said Jack. “You should just see the whopping great parcels he
gets from Baronia every week!”
“I
can guess what they are like,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Paul’s mother often sends me
one too - full of the most delicious things. I had a letter from the Queen,
your mother, this morning, Paul. She sends you her love and is looking forward
to seeing you.”
“Oh
- is Paul going to Baronia very soon?” asked Nora, in a disappointed voice.
“Peggy and I haven’t seen him for a whole term. Can’t he stay with us for a
bit?”
“Well,
I have rather a surprise for you,” said her mother, smiling round. “Paul’s
father and mother have an idea that they would like to come over here for a
month or two, and get to know us all better. They want to bring two of Paul’s
brothers, as well, so that they may know a little of England before they come
over here to school.”
“Oh
Mother! How super!” cried Peggy. “But there won’t be room here for the King and
Queen and servants - they’re sure to bring servants, aren’t they, Paul? They
never travel anywhere without heaps of guards and menservants and maids. Surely
they’re not coming here?”
“No,
dear - of caurse not,” said her mother. “Don’t be silly! There’s hardly enough
room for you five to spread yourselves in the holidays. No - Paul’s father
wants us to look out for a really big place, where he can bring his wife, two
boys, and about twenty servants.”
“Gosh!”
said Mike. “He’ll want a castle!”
“That’s
just what he suggests,” said Mrs. Arnold, handing a plate of very buttery
scones round.
“I
say! Does he really?” said Nora. “Paul, did you know about this?”
Paul
shook his dark head. His mouth was too full to speak! His eyes shone, and he
tried to swallow down his mouthful too quickly, and began to choke.
There
was a lot of banging on the back at this, and Paul went purple in the face.
“Do
leave him alone,” said Mrs. Arnold. “You’re making him much worse. Drink some
tea, Paul.”
“A
castle! I say - what fun to ring up the house agents, and say, ‘Please will you
send me particulars of a dozen or so castles’,” said Mike.
“Mother,
do they know what castle they’re going to yet?” asked Nora. “Is it anywhere
near here? Can we go and see it?”
“Idiot!
You know there’s no castle near here,” said Mike.
“Let
Mother answer my questions,” said Nora. “Mother, what castle are they going
to?”
“My
dear child, I told you I only got the letter this morning,” said her mother.
“Paul’s mother has only just thought of the idea. She has asked me to find out
what I can, and perhaps go and see over any suitable place - not that I would
know in the least whether a castle would be suitable to live in or not!”
“Well,
I suppose they only want to rent one, not buy one,” said Mike. “You’d better
take Paul with you, Mother, and let him poke round a few old castles. He’ll
know what his mother will fancy! Anyone want this last scone? If so, say the
word.”
Nobody
did, so Mike took it. Everyone began to talk excitedly about the news Mrs.
Arnold had just given. Paul, recovered from his choking fit, talked more loudly
than anyone. He was really thrilled.
“You
will all be able to come and stay with me,” he announced. “We will share this
castle together. You shall know my two brothers. You shall...”
“Your
mother may not want us,” said Mike
“She
certainly won’t want you for very long,” said Mrs. Arnold with a smile. “A
noisy crowd like you! Actually, she says in her letter that she hopes we will
all go and stay for a little while, so it should be great fun.”
“If
only we can find a really good castle!” said Nora.
“What
do you mean - a good castle?” said Mike. “You don’t suppose we’re going to look
for half-ruined ones, do you? Mother, have you heard of any yet?”
“Mike
I only got the letter today,” said his mother. “Now, finish your tea for
goodness sake. We’ll have any amount of castles to see by next week.”
“Castle-hunting
- I shall like that!” said Jack. “I wonder which we’d choose - a really
exciting one, I hope!”
CHOOSING
A CASTLE
The
next few days were very exciting in more ways than one. For one thing it was
great fun to be at home again - no lessons - no bells clanging - no prep in the
evenings. For another thing it was most exciting to read through the particulars
of various castles that could be rented.
There
were not very many. Mrs. Arnold looked through the papers that came, and
quickly decided which offers were no good. Big mansions were offered as well,
and it really seemed to Mrs. Arnold that it might almost be better to take one
of those for Paul’s family. The castles seemed in such remote places, or had
been empty for some time, with just a caretaker in.
“Oh
no, Mother - do let’s have a castle,” said Mike. “A big house wouldn’t be
nearly such fun.”
“I’m
not thinking about how much fun I can provide for you children,” said his
mother. “I’m thinking about the difficulties Paul’s mother will have, in a big,
bare castle, with very old-fashioned ways of lighting and heating.”
“But
Baronia isn’t modern, either,” said Mike. “Paul’s own castle hasn’t got a lot
of things that a big hotel in England would have, for instance. Mother, do find
a castle. It sounds so much more exciting than a big house.”
“Look
through these,” said his mother. “Take the papers with you, and pore over them
with the others. They are all ones I think are no good. You will see what I
mean when you read through the particulars.”
Mike
carried away the papers, feeling rather thrilled. What fun to try to choose a
castle. He called the other four, and they took the papers out into the garden.
“Here
you are - have one or two each,” said Mike. “We’ll all read through them, and
see what we think. Mother’s turned all these down.”
They
read solemnly through the particulars. “Castle and fifty thousand acres,” said
Jack. “Whew! Do people rent fifty thousand acres as well? Oh - this castle’s no
good. It’s only got twelve rooms furnished - goodness knows how many your
parents will want, Paul. It must be maddening to be a King and Queen and have to
have such enormous places to live in.”
“I
like our castle in Baronia,” said Paul. “But I would rather be an ordinary boy
and live the life you do, Jack.”
“I
don’t wonder Mother turned these down,” said Mike, putting down his papers.
“They’re no good at all. Either the owners want to live in one wing of the
castle too - or they want Paul’s people to rent it for a whole year - or the
place isn’t furnished. It’s a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, to
get a castle for a month or two!”
“There’s
one here,” said Peggy, suddenly. “It sounds rather thrilling. I don’t quite
know why Mother turned it down. Listen.”
The
others turned to her. They were all lying on the grass, the papers spread
around them. Peggy told them about the particulars she held in her hand.
“It’s
called Moon Castle,” she said. “That’s a lovely name, isn’t it? Moon Castle!
And it’s big, but not too big - just about right for Paul’s family. It’s got
caretakers in, so it should be in fairly good order. It can be had immediately,
because the owners don’t live in it. It’s high on a hill with ‘wonderful
panoramic views over a countryside of moorland, wood and waterways’.”
“It
sounds good,” said Mike, sitting up. “Go on - anything else?”
“It’s
very old,” said Peggy. “It says here, ‘a castle full of myth and legend’,
whatever that means. And it says, ‘What stories its old walls could tell -
tales of violence and mystery, hate and greed’. Goodness, it’s just as well
that old walls don’t suddenly begin to talk, if that’s the kind of thing they
say!”
“It
really does sound rather good,” said Nora. “Why did Mother turn it down, I
wonder?”
“There
she is!” said Mike, as his mother came out into the garden, with a basket and a
pair of scissors for picking flowers. “Mother! Hey, Mother! Why did you turn
down Moon Castle? It sounds super.”
“Moon
Castle? Well, really because it sounds so very cut off from everywhere,” said
Mrs. Arnold. “It isn’t near any town - and the only village anywhere near is an
old ruined one which has the queer name of Moon. I suppose that’s how the
castle got its name.”
“But
would it matter, being cut off from everywhere?” asked Peggy.
“Yes,
I think so,” said her mother. “For a big household such as Paul’s mother would
bring, you would need good shops at least fairly near - but the nearest shops
are about twenty miles away, it seems to me. It sounded such a lonely, desolate
place - it really gave me the creeps!”
“Oh
Mother! But that’s the sort of castle we’d all love,” said Nora. “And Paul’s
mother would bring plenty of cars - wouldn’t she, Paul? So that shopping would
be easy.”
“Well
- not plenty,” said Paul, laughing. “But enough.”
“Another
drawback is that there wouldn’t be any people to make friends with,” said Mrs.
Arnold. “No neighbours, for instance. What the poor, wretched caretakers do
with themselves I really cannot imagine!”
“They
probably get in a month’s stores at once!” said Jack. He turned to the others.
“I say, do you remember when we ran away to the Secret Island - where there
were no shops - no neighbours except the rabbits and the birds - and everything
was lonely and desolate? But what a wonderful time we had!”
“Yes.
We did,” agreed the others. Mike turned to his mother. “Mother, do let’s see
what this Moon Castle is really like. Can’t we just go and see it? Paul, what
do you think? Would your mother mind its being so far from everywhere - and
having ‘old walls that could tell tales of mystery and violence’ and all the
rest of it?”
Paul
laughed. “No. Mother wouldn’t mind a bit. I expect the walls of our own castle
at home are far older than the walls of Moon Castle - and could tell just as
fiercesome tales. Mrs. Arnold, is the castle too far away for us to go and have
a look at it?”
Mike
glanced down at the papers in Peggy’s hands. “It’s nearest station is
Bolingblow,” he said. “I’ve never heard of it! Bolingblow - where is it?”
“It’s
about one hundred miles away,” said his mother. She took the papers from Peggy
and looked at them again. “Of course, I don’t know how much of the castle is
furnished - it says ‘partly furnished’ - that might mean only two or three
rooms. And we don’t even know whether the furnishings are in good repair or not
- they might be mouldering away!”
“Well,
Mother, let’s go and see,” said Mike, half-impatiently. “It will save such a
lot of writing to and fro if we go and have a look. I must say I like the sound
of it. It sounds sort of - sort of mysterious - and lost - it belongs to the
past and not to nowadays. It...”
“Mike’s
going all romantic,” said Nora, with a laugh.
“Mike,
you’ll expect King Arthur’s knights to go riding out of the castle, won’t you?”
“Don’t
be an ass,” said Mike. “Mother, can’t we just go and look? Can’t you telephone
and say we’re coming?”
“There’s
no telephone,” said his mother. “That is another reason why I turned it down.
The Queen of Baronia will not expect a castle without a telephone!”
“Oh,”
said Mike, thinking that his mother was quite right there. Then Miss Dimity
unexpectedly put in a word. She had come up to listen to the conversation.
“I
must say that I thought Moon Castle would have done very well for Paul’s
family,” she said. “Except for being twenty miles away from shops, and no
telephone, it sounded ideal to me. After all, Paul’s mother will have powerful
cars to send for any goods she wants - or to take messages. It might be worth
seeing. We’ve got to hurry up and find one, because the family want to come
almost immediately!”
“Let’s
go today,” said Mike. “Nothing like doing things at once. Mother, tell Ranni to
bring the car round. Let’s go today!”
“Yes,
do let’s,” said Paul. “I know what my parents are like! They will change their
minds about a castle and a holiday here, if they don’t get news of one very
soon!”
“Oh
dear - you do rush me so!” said Mrs. Arnold, laughing. “Well - I suppose we’d
better make up our minds and go and see this place at once. Paul, find Ranni
and tell him. We will be ready in a quarter of an hour. We won’t take a picnic
lunch - though I should like to - but it would take too long to get ready.
Mike, find the right maps, will you - we must look out the best way to go.”
After
that there was an enormous amount af rushing about, shouting and excitement. It
was a very hot day, so the girls put on clean, cool cotton frocks. The boys put
on coloured cotton shirts and shorts, except for Jack who considered himself
too big and wore grey flannel trousers.
Dimmy
was not going. Even without her it would be a tremendous squash in the big blue
and silver car belonging to Prince Paul. She waved them off.
“See
you some time tonight,” she said. “I hope you won’t give the caretakers too big
a shock, arriving so suddenly out of the blue! I shall be longing to hear all
about the castle when you come back.”
They
went off excitedly. Paul and Mike were in front with Ranni. Mrs. Arnold and the
girls and Jack were behind. Mike had the map in front, and was poring over it,
ready to tell Ranni the roads to take.
They
were soon out in the country, speeding along between hedges, with fields of
yellowing corn each side. The poppies gleamed in it here and there, and blue
chicory flowers shone by the wayside.
“This
way now,” said Mike, as they came to a corner. “Then east for a good bit till
we come to a bridge. Then to the town of Sarchester - then north towards
Bolingblow.
After
that there are only minor roads shown on the map. I hope they will be good
enough for a magnificent car like this!”
“Where
do we have lunch?” asked Peggy.
“I
thought somebody would ask that in a minute or two,” said Mrs. Arnold. “We’ll
have it at one o’clock, if we are near or in a town.”
“We
should be at Bolingblow by then,” said Mike, reckoning up quickly. “This car
goes at such a speed, it simply eats up the miles.”
“We
could perhaps ask a few questions at Bolingblow about the castle,” said Mrs.
Arnold.
“Yes,
we could,” said Peggy, and broke into a funny little song that made the others
laugh.
“O
Castle of the Moon,
We’re coming to you soon,
This very afternoon,
O Castle of the Moon!”
The
others picked up the words, and the car rushed on with everyone singing the
silly little song:
“We’re
coming to you soon,
O Castle of the Moon!”
MOON
CASTLE
Ranni
drove the car into the town of Bolingblow at just after one o’clock. It was a
pretty town with wide streets, and a market-place in the centre.
Mrs.
Arnold approved of it. “There are good shops here,” she said. “And this hotel
that Ranni has brought us to looks very nice. Old and picturesque and
spotlessly clean.”
They
were all very hungry, and delighted to find a very good lunch being served.
“Iced melon - good!” said Mike. “What’s to follow? Cold chicken and ham and
salad. Couldn’t be better. All I shall want after that is an ice-cream or two.”
The
little waitress smiled at the hungry children, and took their orders quickly.
Soon they were all tucking in, too busy to talk.
When
the bill was being paid Mrs. Arnold asked the little waitress one or two
questions.
“Is
the road to Moon Castle good, do you know? And about how long will it take us
to get there in a car?”
“Moon
Castle!” said the waitress, in surprise. “You can’t go there. It’s not open to
the public, you know. No one is allowed to see over it.”
“I
hear that it may be rented this summer,” said Mrs, Arnold. “I want to go and
see it.”
“Rented!”
said the waitress. “Well, I would never have thought anyone would want to take
an old, desolate place like that. The servants you’d want! And it’s such a way
to the nearest town. Good gracious, nobody’s lived there for years and years.”
“Oh
dear - then I don’t expect it’s in very good condition,” said Mrs. Arnold,
feeling that her journey would probably be wasted. “There are caretakers, I
believe.”
“I
don’t know,” said the waitress. “I did hear that once a month somebody comes
over in a cart to take back goods - food and oil and so on - so I suppose
caretakers are there. My word! I wouldn’t live in that lonely old place for
anything. I’ve heard that queer things go on there - very queer.”
“Ooooh!
What?” asked Nora at once.
“I
don’t know,” said the little waitress. “All I know is that some brainy fellow
went there once to ask to see some old books in the big library there - and he
was frightened out of his wits! Said the books leapt out of the shelves at him,
or something.”
Everyone
laughed. “That’s good!” said Mike. “I’d love to live in a castle where books
leap out of bookshelves. I’d say, ‘Hey there - is there a good mystery story
waiting for me? Well, jump out, please, and I’ll catch you!’ ”
The
waitress didn’t like being laughed at. She tossed her head. “Oh well - it’s a
queer old place that nobody knows much about nowadays. I wouldn’t go near it if
you paid me.”
The
children went off to find the car, smiling at the waitress’s indignant face.
They got into the car and Ranni looked round inquiringly at Mrs. Arnold.
“The
Castle, madam?” he asked. She nodded, and Mike looked at the map.
“Not
such good roads now,” he said. “Turn right at the end of the town, Ranni.”
“I
must say that I dan’t like what I hear about Moon Castle,” said Mrs. Arnold, as
they drove off. “If nobody has lived there for so long - except the caretakers
- the place must be in a very poor condition.”
“Yes
- it doesn’t sound too good,” said Mike, “How queer people are - owning a
castle and never bothering about it at all! Gosh - what a road this is!”
Ranni
had to slow down because the road became very bad just there, and continued bad
all the rest of the way. It was full of ruts, and was uneven and in places very
stony. The car went carefully.
“We
should come to a fork in the road here,” said Mike. “Yes, look - there it is.
We take the left-hand fork, Ranni.”
“That
is a good thing,” said Ranni. “We could not have taken the other fork! There is
hardly any road to be seen!”
It
was quite true. The right-hand fork was not really a road - just a fifth-rate
cart-track, unused now, and overgrown. Peggy pointed to something in the
distance, about half a mile up the track.
“Look,”
she said. “Houses of some sort. Mother, do you suppose that’s all that is left
of the ruined village of Moon. Why is it ruined, do you suppose?”
“Peggy,
dear, how should I know?” said her mother. “The people probably found it too
lonely and just left it.”
“I
can see a few of the roofs,” said Peggy. “They look all tumbledown. It might be
fun to go and explore a ruined village.”
“Well,
everyone to his taste,” said her mother. “I can think of a lot of better things
to do than wander through smelly old villages with not a soul there!”
“Why
should it be smelly?” Peggy wanted to know, but just then the car wheels went
into such a series of ruts that Mrs. Arnold was half-afraid the springs would
be broken. But Ranni assured her that they were very, very strong.
“Baronian
cars are built for country like this,” he said. “All bumps and jumps and humps.
The springs cannot break, Madam Arnold. Soon we should see the castle. There is
a hill over yonder. It must be there.”
They
all looked eagerly at the hill coming into view. It was very steep indeed,
covered with trees on the slope. Jack gave a sudden exclamation.
“There’s
the castle - there, right at the top - well, almost at the top! It backs into
the hill for protection from the wind, I suppose. Look at that one great tower!
It soars up higher than the hill. Just one tower. How queer!”
“Still,
it looks like a castle, even if it’s only got one tower,” said Nora. “I think
it’s grand. It’s got all sorts of turrets and bits and pieces sticking up round
it. What a wonderful view it must have over the countryside. All the same - it
would be lonely to live there always!”
“It
certainly looks grand enough for your father and mother, Paul,” said Jack. “I
mean - it’s a proper castle - strong and big and commanding-looking, if you
know what I mean.”
Paul
did. He was rather taken with it, from the outside. It was such typical English
countryside around too - and how his mother would love the little town of
Bolingblow, the market-place, the corn-fields, and the country-folk themselves.
“Well,
commanding-looking or not, I can’t believe that the inside will be worth seeing
as far as furnishing is concerned,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I expect it has been
allowed to fall to pieces! However, we shall soon see. We are nearly there
now.”
They
were going up the steep hill now. Ranni had put the car into bottom gear, and
it growled up slowly, the hill-road just as bad as the road they had left. The
road wound to right and left in order to make the climbing of the hill easier.
The
castle seemed even bigger and more overpowering as they came nearer. “It’s
watching us!” said Nora, suddenly. “It’s saying: ‘What is this horrible noisy thing
coming to disturb my dreaming?’ I’m sure it’s watching us.”
“Don’t
be silly,” said Peggy, uneasily. “You do say such stupid things, Nora. My word
- what a grand place it is! Towering up into the sky - its one great tower
soaring up high. I like it! It belongs to the days of the old knights and their
ladies, not to our days.”
They
came to a great gateway. The gates were shut. Jack jumped out to open them.
Ranni was afraid they might be locked, but they were not. Jack managed to open
them, though they creaked and groaned as if they hated to be touched.
The
car went through, and up a weed-covered drive that swept round to a great
entrance. A flight of wide steps went up to a great door studded with iron
nails.
“Well
- here we are,” said Mrs. Arnold, in the sort of voice that meant she wished
they weren’t! She got out of the car, helped politely by Prince Paul. Ranni
leapt up the steps to ring or knock - or whatever one did at a castle like
this.
There
was a great chain hanging down, with a wrought-iron handle on the end. “Is that
the bell?” said Mike, doubtfully. “There’s no knocker. Mother, look - there are
cobwebs all over the door - even down the opening-crack. It looks as if the
door hasn’t been opened for years!”
“It
does,” said Mrs. Arnold, beginning to wonder what they would find inside the
castle - if they ever got there!
“Shall
I pull this chain-thing and hope a bell rings?” said Mike. “Right - well, here
goes!”
He
gave the chain a big heave. Nothing happened. No sound came, no jingle, no clanging.
Mike pulled again. Still nothing happened.
Then
Ranni pulled it - and he gave it such a tug that the chain came off and dropped
round his shoulders! He threw it down in disgust.
“So
old that the rust has eaten into the chain!” he said. “I will hammer on the
door.”
He
hammered with his great fists, and then shouted so that the echoes suddenly
swept round them and made them jump.
Nobody
came. The door remained fast shut. “Well,” said Mrs. Arnold, “this is most
disappointing. I suppose we must just give it up.”
“Oh
no, Mother! We can’t just tamely go back home after actually getting to the
front door!” said Mike, quite shocked. “Let’s walk round a bit and see if we
can see another door - a back door perhaps. Or don’t castles have back doors?
Has your castle got a back door, Paul?”
“Plenty,”
said Paul, grinning. “Look - we will go this way. There seems a kind of path.”
They
followed Paul, Mrs. Arnold not at all liking the idea af trying to find another
way in. She had quite given up the idea of taking the castle for Paul’s
parents, but she knew what an outcry the children would make if she insisted on
their going back to the car at once.
The
overgrown way led round the walls of the castle. They came to a small door set
in the wall, but that had no bell, knocker or handle. They went on again and
suddenly saw a little clearing, set within a small wall of its own.
“Look,”
said Peggy, and stopped. “Washing hanging out on a line! There must be somebody
here, then! Yes, see - there’s a fairly big door set in the wall there, that
leads into that yard - or drying-ground, whatever it is - where the washing is.
This must be the kitchen quarters. If we yell, somebody might hear us now.”
Mike
obligingly yelled, and made them all jump, for he had a most stentorian voice
when he liked.
“HEY!
IS ANYONE ABOUT?” he yelled.
Nobody
answered. A few hens scuttled across the yard and disappeared under some
bushes. A tabby cat streaked across and disappeared, too.
“HEY!”
began Mike again, and stopped. Somebody had come cautiously out of the big door
nearby - the one that led into the yard.
It
was a little plump woman with grey hair. She was followed by two others,
remarkably like her in face, but both tall and thin. All three stared at the
visitors in surprise.
“What
do you want?” said the little plump woman, in a frightened voice. “Who are you?
Why have you come here? No one’s allowed here, you know.”
INSIDE
THE CASTLE
Mrs.
Arnold stepped forward, with the order-to-view in her hand. “We have come to
see over the castle,” she said. “Is it convenient to do so now? We couldn’t
telephone you, of course, because the castle is not on the phone.”
“But
- but no one is allowed to see over the castle,” said the little woman, and her
two tall companions nodded their heads vigorously in agreement.
“We
are not sightseers,” said Mrs. Arnold. “We got the particulars of the castle
from the agents, who said that the castle could be viewed at any time, if we
took with us this order-to-view. It came with the particulars. It is possible
that it might suit a friend of mine, who wants to rent a big place for a month
or two.”
“Well
- my son isn’t in,” said the woman, looking very taken-aback. “He told me
nobody was to come in. He said nobody would ever want this place. Nobody has ever
come to see it, to buy it, or rent it before. Nobody. I really don’t know if I
can let you in.”
“But
we have come all this way to see it!” protested Mrs. Arnold. “This is
ridiculous! I’m afraid you will get into serious trouble with the owners if you
refuse to allow people to see over their castle with a view to renting it. You
would be making them lose a great deal of money. Can’t you see that? Your son
has nothing to do with it! He has to do as he is told, surely!”
“Well,
he said we weren’t to let anyone in,” said the woman, and she turned to her
tall companions, not knowing what to do. They held a hurried conference in
whispers. The children and Mrs. Arnold waited impatiently. How silly these
women were!
The
little plump woman turned round at last. “Well - I don’t know what my son will
say,” she said again, “but I suppose I must let you in! I and my two sisters
are the caretakers.”
“Yes
- I’m afraid you must let us in and also take us round,” said Mrs. Arnold,
firmly. “What does your son do here? Is he a caretaker too?”
“Oh
no. My son is very, very clever,” said the little woman, proudly. “He is a
scientist. I can’t tell you the number of exams he has passed.”
“Why
does he bury himself here then?” said Mrs. Arnold, thinking that this
mysterious son must be a spoilt and lazy fellow, living in luxury in the
castle, waited on by the three women!
“He
has work to do,” said the little woman, speaking proudly again. “Important work
that needs quiet and peace. I don’t know what he’ll say if people come to live
in the castle.”
“It
really doesn’t matter in the least what he says about it,” said Mrs. Arnold,
getting annoyed. “The castle doesn’t belong to him. If he makes this kind of
trouble every time anyone comes with an order to view it, he will certainly lose
you your job! Now please don’t say any more about your son, but just take us
round at once.”
“Yes,
madam,” said the little woman, looking scared. The other two remained quite
silent, but followed behind the party, looking grim.
“What
is your name?” asked Mrs. Arnold, as they went down a passage.
“I’m
Mrs. Brimming, and my sisters are Miss Edie Lots and Miss Hannah Lots,” said
the little woman. “Er - would the person who wants the castle need the whole
place?”
“Certainly,”
said Mrs. Arnold. “Except your own quarters, of course. Why?”
Mrs.
Brimming said nothing in answer to that, but flashed a quick look at her two
long-faced sisters. The children, finding Mrs. Brimming too slow in her
showing-round, went on in front, down the corridor, eager to see the castle.
They
came out into a great hall, hung with magnificent brocade curtains. Suits of
armour stood all round, gleaming brightly. Paul slapped one and it gave out a
hollow noise. “I’d like to wear one of these!” he said. “I’d like to pull the
vizor down over my face and peer through it.”
“You’d
be too small to wear a suit of armour,” said Jack. “I could get into one nicely
though!”
Mrs.
Arnold caught a look of alarm on Mrs. Brimming’s face. “It’s all right!” she
said, with a laugh. “They won’t really walk about in these suits of armour!
What a lovely hall this is!”
“Yes,”
said the woman, and led them to a big door. She swung it open. Inside was a
really beautiful room, with graceful furniture upholstered in a royal blue,
dimmed with the years. A carpet stretched the whole length af the room, its
colours dimmed too, in a lovely soft pattern of blues, reds and creams. The
children’s feet sank into it as they trod over it.
“My
mother would like this,” said Paul, at once. “Oh, look at that clock!”
A
great clock hung on the wall. It had been made in the shape of a church with a
spire. As the children looked at it, a bell inside the church began to toll the
hour. It was three o’clock.
“Look!
There’s an angel coming out of that door in the clock - at the bottom there!”
cried Peggy. “A little angel with wings and a trumpet!”
The
angel stood there with his trumpet, and then went slowly back again, and the
door shut.
“I’ve
never seen a clock like that before!” said Nora, in delight.
“There
are many curious things here,” said Mrs. Brimming. “Lord Moon - the one who
lived at the beginning of last century, collected many strange marvels from all
over the world. There is a musical-box that plays a hundred different tunes,
and -”
“Oh!
Where is it?” cried Peggy, in delight.
But
Mrs. Arnold, glancing at her watch, saw that there was only time to look over
the castle itself, certainly not to listen to musical-boxes playing a hundred
tunes!
“You’ll
have time to set the musical-box going if we come here,” she said. “We must
hurry up. Will you show us all the rooms there are, except, of course, your own
quarters, Mrs. Brimming? My friend, who is the Queen of Baronia, will bring her
own servants, and they will, of course, want the use of the kitchen.”
“I
see,” said Mrs. Brimming, looking as if she was about to remark that she really
didn’t know what her son would say to that! “Well, the kitchens are big enough.
We use only a corner of them. I’ll take you to the other rooms and then
upstairs.”
All
the rooms were beautiful. Upstairs the bedrooms were just the same -
magnificently furnished, with wonderful pictures, strange but beautiful
ornaments, unusual and most extravagant curtains. Some of them made Peggy think
of “cloth of gold”, they shone and shimmered so.
Nothing
was mouldering, ragged, cobwebby or dirty. Everything was beautifully kept, and
Mrs. Arnold could not see a speck of dust anywhere. Queer as these three
caretakers were, they had certainly tended the castle with the most loving and
thorough care.
Upstairs
there was a great room whose walls were lined with books from floor to ceiling.
The children gazed in amazement. Except in the big public libraries they had
never in their lives seen so many books together!
“How
wonderful!” said Mike, staring. “I say - what a room for a rainy day! We could
never, never get to the end of all these books!”
“They’re
old,” said Jack. “I bet they wouldn’t be very interesting. What a waste - to
have thousands and thousands of books - and not a soul to read them!”
“My
son reads them,” said Mrs. Brimming, proudly. Nobody said anything. Everybody
was tired of Mrs. Brimming’s son!
On
the third storey were great attics - rooms in which were stored enormous
chests, old furniture and curious junk of all kinds.
“I
don’t think my friend would want the attics,” said Mrs. Arnold, who had been
counting up the rooms as they went through them. “The first and second storeys
would be enough. How beautifully the whole place is kept! Do you and your
sisters keep it like this - does no one else help you?”
“No
one,” said Mrs. Brimming, proudly, and the Misses Edie and Hannah Lots shook
their heads too. They led the way downstairs again, to one of the rooms there.
“We
have been here by ourselves for years. We love this old castle. Our family has
always been here, doing some kind of work - yes, our
great-great-great-grandmother was here, when the present Lord’s
great-great-great-grandfather was lord. That’s his picture over there.”
The
children looked at a great portrait that hung over the fireplace of the room
they were in. It showed a grim-faced man with a lock of black hair falling over
his forehead, his eyes looking quite fiercely at them.
“He
doesn’t seem to like us much,” said Peggy. “I wish he wouldn’t look quite so
fierce. I shan’t be in this room much, if we come here - I should never feel
comfortable with great-great-great Lord Moon glaring at me!”
The
others laughed. Then Mike suddenly thought of something. “We haven’t been up
the tower - the one, tall tower! We must see that!”
There
was a silence. Mrs. Brimming looked at her sisters, and they looked back.
Nobody said anything.
“Well
- what about the tower?” said Mike again, surprised at the silence. “Can’t we
see it? I bet your mother will like the tower, Paul! She’ll sit up at the top
and gaze out over the countryside. What a view there must be from the top.
Let’s go and explore it.”
“Well.
I’ll just stay here and discuss a few things with the caretakers,” said Mrs.
Arnold, who did not particularly want to climb hundreds of stone steps up to
the top of the tall tower. “You can wander round. I suppose the tower is in
good order too. Mrs. Brimming?”
“Yes,
madam,” said Mrs. Brimming, after a little pause. “There’s nothing to see
there, though. Nothing. I am sure your friend will not want to use the tower -
so many steps up, you know - and only small, stone-walled rooms and tiny
windows - no use at all.”
“It’s
locked,” said one of the Miss Lots, unexpectedly. “Fast-locked.”
“Where’s
the key then?” said Mike at once. He wasn’t going to miss going to the top of
the tower!
There
was another pause. “It’s lost.” said the other Miss Lots.
“Lost
for years,” added the first one. “But there’s nothing there to see.”
“There’s
a view, surely!” said Mike, puzzled. He didn’t believe all this about locked
doors and lost keys. Why didn’t the caretakers want them to see the tower? Had
they neglected it?
“Well,
you must find the key before my friend comes,” said Mrs. Arnold. “She will
certainly like to see the view from the top of the tower. Now - I must just ask
a few questions about such things as food and so on. You go off for twenty
minutes, children, but keep out of mischief. please!”
“Of
course!” said Peggy, indignantly. “Come on, Mike.” She dropped her voice to a
whisper. “Let’s go and find the tower!”
AN
UNPl.EASANT FELLOW
They
went out of the room, followed by the eyes of all three caretakers. They shut
the door behind them. They were in the great hall, and the suits of armour
gleamed all around. Peggy gave a little shiver.
“Now
I feel as if these suits of armour are watching me!” she said. “Those two Miss
Lots give me the creeps. What a peculiar family.”
“The
son sounds the most peculiar of the lot,” said Mike. “I don’t feel as if I’m
going to like him somehow. But I say - what a castle! Paul, do you like it?”
“Yes,
I do, very much,” said the little Prince, his eyes shining. “And my mother will
love it. So will my two brothers. There will be plenty of room here for all of
us, you too! We shall have a grand time!”
“Now
- where would the entrance to the tower be?” wondered Jack. “It’s on the east
side of the castle. So it must be in this direction - down this passage. Come
on.”
They
all followed Jack. He took them down a dark passage hung with what seemed like
tapestry, though it was difficult to tell in the dark.
“I
wish I’d got a torch,” said Mike. “We’d better bring our torches and plenty of
batteries, because there only seem to be oil-lamps here, and I bet they don’t
light them all each night!”
They
came to the end of the passage, and found themselves in a small square room,
whose walls were lined with old chests. Mike lifted up a lid and looked inside.
A strong smell of camphor at once floated out. Nora sneezed.
“Rugs,
I think - or curtains or something,” said Mike, letting the lid shut with a
bang. “I must say those three old caretakers really do take care of everything!
Now - what about this tower?”
“There
doesn’t seem to be any entrance to it from here,” said Jack, looking all round.
He went to a hanging of tapestry that fell from the ceiling of the room to the
floor, covering a space left between the many chests. He lifted up the tapestry
and gave an exclamation.
“Here’s
the door to the tower - at least, I should think it leads to the tower.”
The
others crowded over to look. It was a tall, narrow door, black with age, and
looked very strong. There was a handle made of a black iron ring, and an
enormous keyhole.
Mike
turned the handle to and fro. He could hear a latch clicking, but however hard
he pushed at the door it would not open.
“Locked,”
he said, in disappointment. “And no key. Do you suppose it really is lost,
Jack?”
“No,”
said Jack. “I’m sure they didn’t want us to use the tower. I bet their awful
son uses it - locks himself away from the three old ladies!”
“To
do his wonderful scientific work, I suppose,” said Mike, with a grin. “Or to
laze the days away without anyone knowing. I wonder what he’s like. He won’t
like having to keep in his place when your mother comes, Paul. He’ll have to
clear out of the tower, if he does use it - we’ll have the view to ourselves
then!”
Jack
took hold of the iron handle and gave the door another shake, a very violent
one. Just as he was doing this, footsteps sounded in the long corridor that led
to the little square room where they stood.
The
children swung round to see who was coming. Jack still had his hand an the iron
ring of the tower door.
A
man came into the roam. He stopped short at once when he saw the children, and
gazed at them, astounded. He was short, burly and very dark. His eyes seemed
almost black, and his big nose and thin-lipped mouth made him very ugly.
He
shouted loudly. “What are you doing here? How dare you? Clear out at once, the
lot of you! Take your hand off that iron ring, boy. The door’s locked, and you’ve
no business to be snooping round my castle.”
The
children gasped. His castle! Whatever did he mean?
“It’s
Lord Moon’s castle,” said Jack, who was the only one who felt able to answer
the angry man. “Are you Lord Moon?”
“It
doesn’t matter who I am!” said the man, taken aback at Jack’s words. “I’ve told
you to clear out. How did you get in? Nobody is allowed here, nobody!”
“My
mother, the Queen of Baronia, is going to rent this castle from Lord Moon,”
said Prince Paul, suddenly finding his tongue, and speaking in the imperious
way that often made the children laugh. But they didn’t laugh now. They were
glad of Paul’s sudden imperiousness!
The
man stared at Paul as if he couldn’t believe his ears. His shaggy eyebrows came
down low over his eyes so that they seemed to be only slits.
“What
fairy-tale is this?” he demanded, suddenly. “The Queen of Baronia! I never
heard of her! You clear out, I say - and if you ever come round here again I’ll
take the lot of you up to the top of the tower and throw you out!”
“Don’t
be silly,” said Jack, seeing Peggy and Nora look suddenly scared. “But as you
apparently propose to go up the tower to do an idiotic thing like that, you can
tell us where the key is - and we’ll go up ourselves. My friend’s mother will
be sure to want to know what the tower is like. Where is the key?”
The
man exploded into fury. He stuttered something, raised his hands and came
towards them, looking so fierce that they backed away. The girls fled down the
corridor. The boys stood their ground a moment, and then they too took to their
heels! The man was strong and could have knocked all three of them down easily.
He raced after them.
The
five children ran down the passage, into the hall, and then flung open the door
of the room where they had left Mrs. Arnold and the three sister caretakers.
“Good
gracious!” began Mrs. Arnold, annoyed at this sudden entry, “I must say -”
After
the children came the man, muttering fiercely. He stopped in surprise in the
doorway. Then he marched in and addressed his mother.
“What’s
all this? I caught these children snooping round the castle. Who’s this woman
too?”
“Guy,
calm yourself,” said Mrs. Brimming, in a shaky voice. “This is someone with an
order-to-view. She - she thinks her friend, the Queen of Baronia, would like to
rent Moon Castle. She has come to see it - these children belong to her. And
this small boy is the son of the Queen of Baronia - Prince Paul. It’s - it’s
quite all right. They have every right to be here.”
“Didn’t
I tell you nobody was allowed in?” said her son, fiercely. “What’s all this
about renting? I don’t believe a word of it.”
Mrs.
Arnold began to feel alarmed. What an extraordinary man! She beckoned to Mike.
“Go and fetch Ranni,” she said. Mike sped off into the hall and went to the
great front door. They had left Ranni and the car outside the flight of steps
that led up to it from the drive. How Mike hoped he would be there, waiting!
The
front door was well and truly bolted, and had two great keys in the locks. Mike
dragged back the bolts, and turned the keys with difficulty. The door came open
with a terrible groan, as if it resented being awakened from its long, long
sleep.
Ranni
was down in the drive, standing patiently beside the car. He saw Mike at once,
and sprang up the steps, quick to note the urgency in the boy’s face.
“Mother
wants you,” said Mike, and ran back down the hall to the room where he had left
everyone. Big Ranni followed, his boots making a great noise on the stone
floor.
Guy,
the son of the scared Mrs. Brimming, was now examining the order-to-view, which
he had almost snatched out of Mrs. Arnold’s hand when she had offered it to him
to prove the truth of her words. His face was as black as thunder.
“Why
didn’t you write to make an appointment?” he demanded. “No one is allowed in
without an appointment! And I must tell you that no one has rented this castle
for years - not for years! I cannot -”
“You
sent for me, madam?” interrupted Ranni’s deep voice. Guy looked up at once, and
was astounded to see the enormous Baronian standing beside Mrs. Arnold.
“Yes,
Ranni,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I have been over this castle, and I think your
master, the King of Baronia, will find it to his liking. This man here - the
son of one of the caretakers - does not appear to like our coming. Do you think
your master will allow him to stay here when he brings his own servants?”
Ranni
knew perfectly well what Mrs. Arnold wanted him to say. He looked at Guy with
much dislike. Then he bowed to Mrs. Arnold and spoke loudly.
“Madam,
you know my master’s wishes. His Majesty will certainly not allow anyone here
except the caretakers. I will get His Majesty’s orders and convey them to this
man. He will certainly have no right to be here or to object to anything.”
The
children looked at Guy triumphantly. Good old Ranni! Mrs. Brimming gave a
little cry. “But he’s only my son. He always lives here. He didn’t mean to be
rude. It’s only that...”
“I
don’t think we need to talk about it any more,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Your son
will have to leave the castle while my friends are renting it. He appears to
think the castle belongs to him!”
Guy
had gone purple in the face. He took a step forward and opened his mouth - but
nobody knew what he wanted to say because Ranni also took a step forward. That was
enough! One glance at the big Ranni, with his flaming red beard and steady
eyes, made Guy change his mind quickly. He muttered something under his breath,
swung round and went out of the room.
“I
think we’ll go now,” said Mrs. Arnald, picking up the order-to-view that Guy
had flung down on a table. “I will tell the estate agents to contact Lord Moon
and arrange everything quickly. My friends would like to come in ten days’
time, as I told you - earlier if possible, if it can be arranged. I shall tell
them how beautifully kept the castle is - and you may be sure that the Queen’s
servants will keep everything just as well.”
“Madam
- please don’t tell Lord Moon that my son - that my son - behaved rudely,”
begged Mrs. Brimming, looking suddenly tearful. “He - well, he helps to look
after the castle too, you see - and he didn’t know anyone was coming to see it
- or rent it.”
“That
doesn’t excuse his behaviour,” said Mrs. Arnold. “But I assure you I shall make
no trouble for him or for you, if he makes none either. But he must certainly
leave the castle while my friend’s family is here. We expect you to remain
here, of course - but not your son or any other relations or friends. We shall
make that clear to Lord Moon.”
Mrs.
Arnold said good day and walked to the front door, followed by the children and
Ranni. The caretakers did not follow them. They remained behind, gloomy and
upset.
But
from an upstairs window two angry eyes watched the great blue and silver car
set off down the drive. Nobody saw them but Ranni - and he said nothing!
PLANS
When
the five children got back home again, they found Captain Arnold there. He had
been away on an aeroplane flight, and was very glad to see them. He swung Peggy
and Nora up in his arms, one after the other.
The
boys clustered round him, glad to see him. “Where in the world have you been?”
he demanded. “I came home expecting to find a loving wife and five excited
children to greet me - and nobody was here except Dimmy!”
“I
did my best to give him a good welcome,” Dimmy said to Mrs. Arnold. “But don’t
fret - he’s only been in ten minutes! He hasn’t had to wait long.”
It
was eight o’clock, and everyone was very hungry. “We’ll tell you our news when
we’ve washed and are sitting down to supper,” said Mrs. Arnold. “We’ve really
had a most exciting day!”
So
they told Captain Arnold all about how they had been to visit Moon Castle - its
magnificence, its grandeur, its loneliness - how beautifully it was kept by the
three caretaker-sisters, and all about the angry son.
“Ha!
He’s been frightening people away, I expect!” said Captain Arnold. “Likes to
think he’s King of the Castle - probably brings his own friends there and
impresses them very much. If I were Lord Moon I’d make a few enquiries as to
why the castle hasn’t been let before - and I’d find out how many friends of
that son have been staying at the castle - living there for months, I expect!
He sounds a bad lot.”
“He
soon came to his senses when Ranni appeared, though,” said Mike, with a grin.
“He hardly said a word after that.”
“It’s
a most lovely place,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I shall ring up the agents first thing
tomorrow, and tell them to get in touch with Paul’s father. The place is quite
ready to go into immediately. I could order all the food and other goods that
will be needed. I made enquiries about what shops to go to when I was in
Bolingblow.”
“Do
you think we’ll be there next week?” said Paul, hopefully.
“I
don’t see why not,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I imagine your people will all fly over,
Paul. If only we have a good summer! It’s such lovely country round about the
castle - real English countryside. Your mother will love it.”
“Shall
we go and stay with you as soon as your family come?” asked Nora, eagerly,
turning to Paul.
“No,
no,” said her mother, answering for Paul. “Of course not. Only Paul will go to
join them at first. We must give them time to settle in a little! But we will
certainly join them later.”
“Paul
will be able to go up the tower before we do,” said Peggy, enviously. “Paul,
write and tell us about everything, won’t you - the tower - and if the key is
produced - and if that horrid man Guy has gone, and...”
“Of
course he’ll be gone,” said her mother. “I certainly will not have him hanging
round the place. He seemed to me to be a little mad. The caretakers will have
to keep out of the way too, and not interfere with the Queen’s servants at all.
I think they will be quite sensible - especially if that man isn’t around. He
seemed to have them under his thumb.”
“I’ll
explore everything and take you everywhere when you come,” promised Paul.
Dimmy
was very interested to hear about it all. She was not going to the castle when
the others did, but Paul said that she really must come just for the day. He
was very fond of Dimmy. He turned to Captain Arnold, a thought suddenly
striking him.
“Sir
- will you be able to come too? Are you on leave for a time?”
“I
hope so,” said Captain Arnold, helping himself to a large plateful of trifle.
“It’s not certain, though. I might be off on a very interesting job.”
“What
job?” asked everyone, but he shook his head. “I shan’t tell you till I know,”
he said. “I hope it will be after we come back from Moon Castle.”
Nora
yawned hugely, patting her hand over her mouth. “Oh dear - sorry, everyone, but
I do feel so sleepy. I even feel too sleepy to have another helping of trifle,
which is an awful pity!”
“It
isn’t,” said Paul. “It means I can have it instead!”
Mike
and Paul scrabbled for the last helping and made a mess on the table. “I knew
that would happen,” said Dimmy. “Never mind! It’s nice to see every single dish
finished up - so much easier to wash! Now there’s Peggy yawning and Paul too.”
“Get
to bed, everyone,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I’d like a little peace with my husband!
I haven’t seen him for a very long time!”
The
five children went up to bed, everybody yawning now. Mike wanted to talk about
Moon Castle, but as both Jack and Paul were sound asleep as soon as their heads
were on the pillow, he had to lie and think instead.
Moon
Castle! Fancy there being a castle like that - so very, very old - so
beautifully kept - with such strange things in it. He remembered the
church-shaped clock and the angel appearing at the church door. And he must
remember to look for the musical-box that played a hundred tunes - and could he
possibly try on a suit of armour? And - and...
But
Mike was now as fast asleep as the others. Mrs. Arnold sat downstairs and
talked quietly with her much-travelled husband. He was one of the finest pilots
in the world. How many times had he flown round the world? He had lost count!
Mrs. Arnold, too, was a fine pilot, and had had gone on many record flights
with her husband. She knew almost as much about aeroplanes as he did.
“This
new job you spoke of?” she said. “Is it important? Can you tell me?”
“Yes,
I’ll tell you,” said her husband. “It is to fly a new plane - a queer one, but
a beauty! It’s a wonder-plane. It can rise straight up in the air at a great
speed, for one thing, and it gains height in a most remarkable manner.”
“Amazing!”
said Mrs. Arnold. “Will you be on a test flight with it, then? When will it be
ready? Do you know?”
“I
don’t,” said her husband. “Yes, it’s a test flight, all right. I shall put it
through a few hair-raising tests, you may be sure! The speed it goes! I’ve got
to wear special clothes, and some queer apparatus over my head because of the
enormous speed - faster than sound again, you know!”
“I
want to come and see you take off,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I always bring you luck,
don’t I? The only time I couldn’t come and watch, you had an accident. I must
come and see you this very special, important time, my dear!”
“Yes
- you must,” said Captain Arnold, knocking out his pipe. “I only hope it
doesn’t come at a time when you want to go to Moon Castle with the Queen and her
family. You’d enjoy that so much!”
“Well,
if the times clash, I shall come with you, dear - and the children can go off
to the castle with Dimmy,” said his wife. “I must come with you and bring you
luck when you fly this new plane.”
They
went to bed, and soon everyone in the house was sleeping. How many dreamt about
Moon Castle? Certainly all the five children did.
It
was their first thought in the morning too. They pestered Mrs. Arnold after
breakfast to telephone the agents at once. She protested. “I must telephone
Paul’s mother first! It takes a little time to get a clear line to telephone
Baronia.”
But
at last all the telephoning was done. The Queen approved heartily. She spoke to
Paul too, and the boy was excited to hear his mother’s voice coming so clearly
over the wire.
“Dear
Paul!” said his mother, in the Baronian language. “I shall see you soon. And
your brothers are so excited to be coming to England - such a wonderful
country! Mrs. Arnold will arrange everything as quickly as possible.”
The
agents were pleased to hear that Lord Moon’s castle had been let. “It’s the
first time for years,” they told Mrs. Arnold. “We’ve had such difficulty in
letting it. We’ve sent a few people there to see it - but they came back with
queer stories - either they couldn’t get in - or things were made difficult for
them. I don’t really know what happened. We do hope the Queen of Baronia will
like her stay there. I am glad, too, to hear that the place is in such
beautiful order. Perhaps we shall have better luck with it now.”
Mrs.
Arnold thought that Mr. Guy Brimming must have been the one who had made things
difficult! She did not say so, but determined that she would make things very
hard for that unpleasant fellow if he did not take himself off and remain away!
“Well,
we don’t even need to get into touch with Lord Moon,” she told the children.
“Apparently if the agents are satisfied, they are the judges as to whether the
new tenants may go in, and when. So I have arranged to take the castle for your
mother, Paul, this day week!”
“Oh
good!” said Paul, delighted. “Only seven days to wait! Well, I suppose Mother
will let those three old ladies know what she wants in the way of food and so
on - or are you going to do all that, Mrs. Arnold?”
“Oh,
I shall do that,” said Mrs. Arnold. “What a shock for the three old things when
cart-loads of goods arrive day after day! They will hardly know where to put
them!”
“Does
it cost a lot to rent a castle?” said Mike, thinking that he might like to rent
one himself some day.
“Good
gracious, yes!” said his mother. “Why, are you thinking of renting one, dear?
Just save up a few thousand pounds then!”
“Goodness!”
said Mike, abandoning his ideas of castles at once. “Mother, you will be able
to come too, won’t you? I did hear you saying something to Dimmy this morning
that you might not be able to.”
“Well
- there’s a chance that your father might like to have me with him when he goes
to this new job,” said his mother. “But I shall join you afterwards - and Dimmy
can go with you, if it happens at an awkward time. But Daddy will soon know,
and I’ll tell you immediately! I promise!”
Captain
Arnold came home that night with the news they wanted. “It’s all right!” he
said. “I’m to go next week - and as the job will probably only take a week,
your mother and I will be home in time to join Paul and his people at Moon
Castle in a fortnight’s time - probably on the very day we have been asked!”
“Oh
good!” said Mike. “Paul will have to go next week, of course, when his family
come over - and then we can all go together the week after, when they are
settled in.”
“Better
enjoy this week here while you’re all together,” said Dimmy. “You’ll be all
alone with me next week!”
“Can’t
we go and watch the new tests too, Daddy?” asked Peggy. “Why can’t we?”
“Oh,
they’re very hush-hush!” said her father. “No sightseers allowed. Cheer up -
all our plans are going well these holidays! Nothing will go wrong, I’m sure!”
But
he wasn’t right about that - something did go wrong before the week was up!
THINGS
GO A LITTLE WRONG
The
first inkling that things were going wrong came in three days’ time, when Mrs.
Arnold got a letter from Paul’s mother, the Queen.
“Any
news from my mother?” asked Paul, eagerly. “What a long letter, Mrs. Arnold!”
“Yes
- it is,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Oh dear - one of your brothers is ill, Paul dear.
It’s Boris, who was coming to Moon Castle with your mother in a few days’
time!”
“Oh,”
said Paul, dolefully. “What’s the matter with him? He’s not very ill, is he?”
“No.
But they are afraid it is measles,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Oh, what a pity! Your
older brother hasn’t had measles, she says - so he will be in quarantine, if
Boris has it, as they’ve been together, of course.”
“Oh,
Mrs. Arnold - it won’t mean that my mother can’t come, will it?” said Paul,
full of dismay. “What about Moon Castle? What about -”
“Well,
we won’t begin to worry till we know for certain Boris has got measles,” said
Mrs. Arnold. “Your mother says it may not be. Perhaps she will come and bring
some of the other children, and leave Boris and his brother behind, if they
have measles. Don’t worry about it.”
But
Paul did worry, of course. Their lovely, lovely plans! Bother Boris! He was
always getting things. Now perhaps they wouldn’t be able to go to Moon Castle -
and it was going to be such an adventure!
Mike
and the others were very disappointed too, because if the trip to England was
cancelled they wouldn’t have the fun of going to Moon Castle either!
“The
only person who will be pleased about this is that horrid man Guy,” said Mike,
gloomily. “He’ll rejoice like anything!”
Two
more days passed. “Any news from my mother?” Paul asked at every post-time.
“Mrs. Arnold, we’re supposed to have the castle the day after tomorrow, aren’t
we? What will happen if Mother decides not to come? Do you just tell the
caretakers, or what?”
“Now
don’t keep worrying your head about it,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Your mother is
going to telephone today after lunch. We shall know then.”
“R-r-r-r-r-ing!”
went the telephone bell after lunch, and the children rushed into the hall.
Mrs. Arnold pushed them firmly away. She took up the receiver. A voice came to
her ear.
“A
personal call from Baronia, please, for Mrs. Arnold.”
“I
am Mrs. Arnold,” was the answer, and then came a lot of clicking noises and
far-off voices.
The
children stood round breathlessly, trying to hear what was said to Mrs. Arnold.
She listened carefully, nodding, and saying “Yes. Yes, I see. Yes, a very good
idea. Yes. Yes. No, of course not. Yes, I agree.”
The
children, who could make nothing at all of all this, went nearly mad with
impatience. Paul stood as close to Mrs. Arnold as he could, hoping to catch a
word or two from his mother’s long talk. But he couldn’t.
At
last Mrs. Arnold said good-bye, and put back the receiver with a click. Paul
gave a wail. “Why didn’t you let me speak to her? Why didn’t you?”
“Because
it was a personal call, and because that wasn’t your mother!” said Mrs. Arnold,
laughing at the little Prince’s fierce expression. “Now listen and I’ll tell
you what was being said. It’s not so bad as we feared.”
“Why?
Tell us - quick, Mother!” said Mike.
“That
was your mother’s secretary,” said Mrs. Arnold to Paul. “Boris has got measles
- and Gregor, your brother, developed it two days ago. But it’s only very
slight indeed, and they’ll be up and about in no time.”
“What’s
going to happen then? Is Mother going to leave them and come over here?”
demanded Paul.
“No.
She doesn’t want to leave them. But she is shure she will be able to come in
about ten days’ time, and bring them too,” said Mrs. Arnold. “So what she
proposes is this - as she has rented the castle from the day after tomorrow,
she thinks it would be a good idea for us all to go there and settle in till
they come!”
“Oh
how super!” cried Peggy and Nora together. Then Nora looked solemn. “But
Mother,” she said, “what about you and Daddy? You’re going off with Daddy soon,
aren’t you, to those new tests? Shall you let him go alone after all, and come
with us?”
“Well,
dear, I think I must go with Daddy,” said her mother. “I do bring him luck, you
know. But Dimmy will go with you - won’t you, Dimmy? And you’ll have Ranni as
well. And it will only be for a short time - a week or so. It will be nice for
your mother to find you well settled in, Paul, and Dimmy able to show the
servants the rooms, and where everything is to go.”
“Yes.
I’d be pleased to do that,” said Dimmy, who had been listening to everything
with interest. “I’ve not seen this wonderful castle and now I shall! But when
will the servants come? I don’t feel that I can manage hordes of Baronian
servants, all speaking a language I don’t know! Not even with Ranni’s help!”
“The
servants will not come until the day before the Queen arrives,” said Mrs.
Arnold. “The children can easily look after themselves, with your help. There
will be any amount of food arriving, because I can’t very well cancel that.
I’ll give you the lists, and you will know what is there. Well - what do you
say, children?”
“Lovely!
Super! Smashing!” said everyone at once. Peggy gave her mother a hug. “I wish
you were coming too, though,” she said. “Still - you’ll come and join us when
the Queen arrives, won’t you? The plane tests will be over by then.”
“I’ll
do my very best,” said her mother. “Now - we’ll have to get busy! There are
your clothes to see to - the agents to ring up - and I must write a letter to
the three caretakers to tell them that our plans are altered, and only you
children are coming for the time being.”
“I’ll
see to their clothes,” said Dimmy. “They won’t want to take a great deal this
warm weather. Now, you children, if you want to take any special books or games
you’d better look them out and let me have them to pack. And please, Mike,
don’t imagine that means you can take your whole railway set or anything like
that!”
“How
many books can we each take?” asked Jack. Then he remembered the big library at
the castle. “Wait, though - we’ll have all those books to read we saw in the
bookcases that covered the walls in the library at Moon Castle. We shan’t mind
a rainy day one bit!”
“Well,
I’m taking a few books of my own,” said Mike. “Those old books in the library
might be too dull to read. I’m taking my favourite adventure books.”
“We
really ought to have a book written about our adventures,” said Nora, going
upstairs with Peggy. “They would make most exciting books.”
“And
everyone would wish they knew us and could share our adventures!” said Paul. “I
bet most children would like to visit our Secret Island - the one we escaped to
the first time I knew you - do you remember?”
“Come
along, chatterboxes,” said Miss Dimmy, pushing the children up the stairs. “Let
me look at the clothes in your chests of drawers, and see exactly how much
washing and ironing and mending I’ve got to do. You’ll have to help, Peggy and
Nora, if there’s too much.”
“Oh
we will,” they promised, feeling so happy at the thought of going off to Moon
Castle that even the thought of darning stockings didn’t depress them.
Captain
Arnold was told the news when he got home that night. “Well, it’s a mercy the
boys have only got a slight attack of measles,” he said. “It would have been
maddening to cancel the visit to Moon Castle altogether. Anyway, the children
will be all right with Dimmy.”
Those
two days were very full. Mrs. Arnold rushed here and there, looking for this
and that. Dimmy washed and ironed and mended without stopping. The boys began
packing books and games at the bottom of the two big cases. Peggy and Nora
began singing the silly little Moon song again!
“O
Castle of the Moon,
We’ll see you very soon!”
Mike
added to it, after a great deal of thought:
“And
many a happy hour
We’ll spend up in the tower!”
“I
wonder if that man Guy will have gone,” said Jack, suddenly. He called to Mrs.
Arnold. “I say, Mrs. Arnold! Did you write to the caretakers? You haven’t heard
from them, I suppose?”
“There
hasn’t been time to hear from them,” said Mrs. Arnold. “Yes, I wrote, of
course. I wrote to Mrs. Brimming. Why?”
“I
was just wondering about that man called Guy,” said Jack. “I was hoping he
would have gone.”
“Oh
yes, of course he will have gone,” said Mrs. Arnold. “I told the agents that
unless he went we would not rent the castle. You needn’t worry about him. You
won’t see much of the old ladies either, I don’t suppose - unless they do any
dusting or cleaning till the Queen’s servants arrive.”
“Who’s
doing the cooking?” asked Peggy. “Dimmy? Will those three old women let her use
the kitchen stove?”
“I
don’t know,” said Mrs. Arnold. “When I wrote I said they could choose what they
would prefer to do - cook for you and be paid for it - or allow Dimmy to cook
in the kitchen. I’ve no doubt they would rather do the cooking and earn a
little extra money. I hope so, because it will be easier for Dimmy.”
“I
wish tomorrow would hurry up and come,” said Nora, appearing with an armful of
ironed clothes.
“Can’t
you think of anything else to say?” said Mike. “I’ve heard you say that about
twelve times already. What’s the time? Nearly tea-time. Well, this time
tomorrow we’ll be in the castle of the Moon!”
At
last everything was packed and ready. The suit-cases were shut. Dimmy went
round to make sure that everything necessary had been packed and nothing left
out. Mrs. Arnold and her husband were also leaving on the day following. The
children had not been told their address, as the tests were not to be made
known - in fact even Captain Arnold was not sure exactly where he was to go the
next day.
“I
vote we all go to bed early,” he said at supper-time. “I want to be absolutely
fresh for tomorrow - and you look tired out already, my dear,” he said, turning
to his wife. “So does Dimmy.”
“We’re
not tired,” said Mike. “But we’ll go to bed early and make tomorrow come all
the quicker! What time is Ranni coming for us in the car?”
“About
half-past ten,” said his mother. “You can have your lunch at that hotel at
Bolingblow again, if you like. And I suppose I need hardly warn you to take
great care of all that beautiful furniture at the castle during your stay -
and...”
“Mother,
we’ll behave like Princes and Princesses!” said Mike, laughing. “Come on,
everyone - let’s go to bed. Hurrah for tomorrow - and the Castle of the Moon!”
THE
CASTLE AGAIN
Everyone
was in a great rush the next morning. The house was to be left empty for the
time being. Mrs. Hunt, the woman who cooked and helped in the house, was to go
home, and to come in daily only to dust and open the windows. She would come
and feed the hens too.
Captain
Arnold had his bag ready, and Mrs. Arnold had packed a small one for herself.
Mike wanted to open one of the suit-cases, and put in two books he suddenly
longed to take at the last moment.
“You
can’t open them,” said Dimmy. “You’ve done that twice already and messed
everything up inside. Now I’ve locked the case and I’ve got the key safe!”
“Blow!”
said Mike, and went to see if he could open Paul’s school trunk, which he was
taking with him. But Dimmy had artfully locked that too.
Ranni
came round with the shining car at exactly half-past ten. He grinned at the
excited children. “So we go back to the castle!” he said. “The poor car - she
will bump herself to death!”
“Baronian
cars don’t mind bumps,” said Paul. “You said so yourself! Anyway, I rather like
them. Goodbye, Captain Arnold, and the very best of luck with your new tests.”
“Thank
you,” said Captain Arnold. “If you hear something that sounds like a big
sneeze, and it’s gone almost before it’s come, it’ll be me in the new plane!”
Everyone
laughed. Nora hugged her father. “Be careful, Daddy, won’t you?” she said “And
good luck!”
Soon
all the good-byes had been said and the car set off, with Captain and Mrs.
Arnold waving from the doorstep. They were off!
It
was rather a squash in the big car again, but nobody minded except Dimmy, who
said that Nora was the most fidgety person to sit next to that she had ever
known in her life. But when Peggy took Nora’s place Miss Dimmy changed her
mind, and said that she thought Peggy was worse than Nora. Certainly none af
the five children stopped talking or leaning out of windows, or stretching
across one another for the whole journey.
They
had lunch at Bolingblow again, and the same little waitress served them.
“We
went to the castle,” said Peggy, “It’s WONDERFUL!”
“And
we’re going again now - to stay!” said Nora.
The
waitress laughed. She didn’t believe Nora. “No one stays there,” she said. “So
don’t you try to pull my leg. It’s got a bad name, Moon Castle has,”
“Why
has it?” asked Mike at once.
“Well
- people say Things Happen there,” said the waitress, mysteriously. “I told you
before about the fellow who went to see some old books in the library there.”
“Oh
yes - and they jumped out of the shelves at him!” said Peggy, with a giggle.
“We do hope that will happen when we’re there! But do please believe us - we
really are going there to stay.”
The
waitress stared at them, still finding this difficult to believe. “I did hear
say that any amount of goods have been ordered and sent to the castle,” she
said. “Any amount - food and stuff. Would that be for you?”
“Well,
partly,” said Peggy. “Do you know any more tales about the castle?”
“Noises!”
said the waitress, lowering her voice as if she was half-afraid to speak.
“Noises! I did hear there were very strange noises.”
“What
sort?” asked Mike, in great interest.
“I
don’t know. Nobody knows,” said the girl. “Just noises. Don’t you go to that
castle. You go home while there’s time!”
She
went off with their plates. Peggy laughed. “This is very thrilling. Isn’t it
queer how all old places have strange stories about them? I wouldn’t be a bit
surprised if that man Guy put out these tales, just to keep the castle to
himself and prevent people going there. I bet there aren’t any Noises or Things
that Happen!”
“I
agree with you,” said Mike. “It’s just tales. Well - we’ll soon find out. Personally
I’d like something to happen.”
“Not
Noises,” said Nora. “I don’t like noises - queer noises, I mean - when you
don’t know what makes them.”
“Like
the wicker chair in our bedroom,” said Peggy. “At night it suddenly gives a
creak exactly as if somebody had sat down in it. But when I put my light on,
there’s nobody there.”
“Of
course there isn’t,” said Dimmy. “It’s merely the wickerwork relaxing after
having to bear your big lump of a weight, Peggy!”
They
were now on to ice-creams. They were so nice that Miss Dimmy ordered a second
round. Nora patted her arm affectionately.
“I
do like some of your habits, Dimmy,” she said. “Like ordering another lot of
ice-creams - and looking the other way when one of us orders a third lot.”
“There’ll
be no third lot,” said Dimmy, firmly. “I’m calling for the bill!”
The
children grinned. They didn’t really want a third ice-cream, but it was always
fun to pull Dimmy’s leg. The waitress came up with the bill.
“I’ve
been talking to my friend over there about Moon Castle,” she said in a low
voice. “She’s the niece of the grocer who sent up some of the goods. And she
says the driver of the van was so scared when he got to the castle that he just
dumped all the things in the drive, shouted ‘Here they are!’ jumped back into
the van, and went down the hill as if a hundred dogs were after him.”
“But
why was he so scared?” said Nora, puzzled. “There’s absolutely nothing
frightening about the front door! The driver must be crazy!”
“I
tell you, it’s a scary place,” said the waitress, who seemed quite determined
to make the most of what little she knew. “Well - you come in here and see me
when you’ve been there a day or two. I guess you’ll have some queer tales to
tell!”
The
children laughed. “There are only three harmless old caretakers up there now,”
said Mike. “They would be more scared than anyone else if Things Happened, like
you said.”
“Ah
- caretakers! Three of them - that’s queer!” said the waitress.
“Why?
Do you think they fly about on broomsticks at night?” asked Jack with a grin.
The
waitress was cross. She piled the plates together loudly and walked off.
“Come
on,” said Mike. “Off to the castle of the Moon, we’ll be there very soon - no,
I’ve got it wrong. Anyway, come on, everyone!”
They
went back to the car. Ranni was already in the driving-seat, waiting patiently.
It was somehow rather comforting to see him there, big and burly and confident,
after hearing the waitress’s silly tales. They all got into the car, feeling
very well-fed indeed. Now for the castle!
Ranni
drove off. They followed the same road as before, bumpy and full of ruts. Ranni
drove carefully. Nora and Peggy looked out for the fork that led to the ruined
village.
“I
meant to have asked the waitress if she knew anything about that,” said Nora,
regretfully. “But I forgot. I’m sure she would have had a wonderful story about
it.”
“Look
- there’s the fork to it,” said Peggy. “I vote we go and explore it one day.
It’s only about a mile from here. I’d like to explore a ruined village.”
They
passed the fork and the children once more caught a glimpse of tumbledown roofs
and a desolate group of houses huddled together.
And
then they were on the steep road to the castle. They wound to and fro on the
slope, their engine sounding loudly as they went. Not even the powerful
Baronian car could go up in top gear!
The
entrance gates were again shut and Mike hopped out to open them. Up the drive
they went and swept round to the front door. That too was shut.
“Well
- here we are,” said Mike, looking up at the towering castle. “It seems awfully
big when we’re as near as this. Now, what happens? Do we ring the bell again?
Oh no - you broke the chain, Ranni! I hope we don’t have to go all round the
back, like we did before.”
“The
chain is mended,” said Ranni, and the children, looking towards the door, saw
that he was right. “We can get in at the front this time!”
Jack
leapt up the wide flight of steps and took hold of the iron handle at the end
of the chain. He pulled it downwards.
This
time a bell rang! A loud jangle sounded somewhere back in the castle, a
cracked, harsh noise, as if the bell was big, but broken.
Ranni
heaved the cases and Paul’s trunk up the steps. Everyone stood patiently
waiting for the door to open. Jack got impatient and rang the bell again. Then
he jumped. The door was opening slowly and quietly in front of him.
But
no one was there! The children stood there, expecting one of the old caretakers
to appear. But no one came. Was someone behind the door?
Jack
ran in to see. No - the hall was empty. “How queer!” said Dimmy. “Somebody must
have opened the door in answer to the bell - but why should they disappear at
once?”
“One
of the Queer Things that Happen!” said Mike, with a chuckle. “Oh well - I
expect one of the sisters did open it, but got so scared of Ranni and his red
beard that she fled at once. It’s so dark in the hall that we wouldn’t notice
anyone scuttling away. Shall I give you a hand, Ranni?”
Ranni
wanted no help. “You go and find someone and ask if everything is ready for
us,” he said, standing inside the hall. Jack looked at Dimmy.
“Shall
I go and get Mrs. Brimming?” he asked. Dimmy nodded, and Jack sped off, trying
to remember the way to the back quarters.
He
came back almost immediately with Miss Edie Lots who was looking rather scared.
“I’ve found one of them,” said Jack, pleased. “She says she didn’t hear tho
bell, and doesn’t believe anyone opened the door.”
“Rubbish!”
said Dimmy. “Miss Lots, is everything ready for us to come in? You got Mrs.
Arnold’s letter, I expect - and the one from the agent, telling of our change
in plans.”
“Oh
yes. Yes,” said Miss Edie, sounding rather breathless. “We heard that only the
children were coming and a Miss Dimity. Yes. Everything is ready. You will
choose what bedrooms you want yourself. And the packages have came - dozens of
them! They are in the kitchen. Yes.”
“Thank
you,” said Dimmy. “We’ll get straight in now, then - and I’ll come and examine
everything in the kitchen later on. Now, children - come upstairs and show me
the bedrooms. What a truly magnificent place this is!”
Up
the stairs they went in excitement, talking nineteen to the dozen. What fun
they were going to have!
SETTLING
INTO THE CASTLE
Ranni
followed the children upstairs with the luggage. Dimmy thought she had better
follow quickly too, before the children took unsuitable bedrooms for
themselves! She marvelled as she went up the broad flight of stairs - what a
wonderful place this was!
“What
carpets! What hangings! What magnificent pictures!” she thought, leaning over
the broad banister and looking down into the great hall. The front door was
still open and sunlight flooded through it, gleaming on the suits of armour,
standing on their pedestals.
“Not
a speck of dust anywhere!” marvelled Dimmy. “Those caretakers may be queer, but
they do know how to take care of things!”
Ranni
had put the luggage down on the great landing, and now passed Dimmy to fetch
the rest of it. He stopped beside her.
“I
would like a small room not far from my little master, the Prince,” he said,
politely. “Or one opening out of his, if that is possible.”
“Very
well, Ranni. I will see to that,” said Dimmy, thinking for the hundredth time
how devoted Ranni was to Paul. Servant - friend - guardian; Ranni was
everything!
She
hurried towards the sound of chattering and laughter. Where were those
children?
They
were in an enormous bedroom that looked out over the countryside for miles.
Nora swung round to Dimmy, her eyes shining.
“Dimmy!
Can Peggy and I have this room? It’s wonderful! Look at the view!”
“I
shouldn’t think you can for one moment,” said Dimmy, amazed at the size of the
room. “This must be one of the biggest rooms. Paul’s mother should have it!”
“Oh
no, Dimmy - there are much bigger rooms than this!” protested Nora. “Come and
see!”
Feeling
quite dazed, Dimmy followed Nora into room after room, all beautifully
furnished, all beautifully kept. The views were marvellous.
Finally
they came to a suite of smaller rooms, leading out of one another, but each
with its own door to the landing. There were three of these, two of them double
rooms and one a single room.
“Now
these would do beautifully for you five children,” said Dimmy, at once. “No,
don’t argue, Nora - the room you wanted was far too big. Let me tell you this -
you will probably have to keep it spotlessly clean and tidy yourself, if the
caretakers are not going to take on the job - and you’d do much better to have
these small rooms, which will be very easy to keep tidy.”
“Oh,”
said Nora, disappointed. “Well - I suppose you’re right, Dimmy. And it would be
nice to have three rooms all together like this.” She went to the door and
shouted.
“Peggy!
Mike! Come here - there are three rooms all together here!”
They
all came running. Jack approved at once. “Yes, Mike and I could have this
middle one - and you two girls the one to the left of us - and Paul the one to
the right - the single room. Couldn’t be better!”
He
went to the window and looked out. “I never in my life saw such views!” he
said. “Never! I say - is that a bit of the ruined village we can see? I’m sure
I can see roof-tops and a chimney or two!”
They
all crowded together at the window. “Yes!” said Mike. “It must be. Look - you
can just make out a bit of the road there, too - the fork to the village comes
about there. I say, we must go and explore it sometime.”
Dimmy
had wandered off. She wanted to find a room for herself, and one for Ranni too.
She found a small room for Ranni a little way down the corridor, but alas, it
looked on to the hill at the back of the castle, and was rather dark, because
the walls were so near the hillside itself. The hill rose up behind the castle
like a cliff.
Only
the tall tower rose high above the hilltop. Dimmy thought what a wonderful view
there must be from that! She looked for a room for herself, hoping to find one
with a view.
She
found a tiny little room at the end of the corridor. It had no bed in it, but
seemed more like a little sitting-room. She decided to move a bed into it from
another room, and use the little room for herself - it had such a wonderful
view that she felt she would rather have it than a bigger one without a view.
She
went back to the children. They had called Ranni and he had brought their
luggage in. Dimmy smiled at the big, bearded fellow. “I’ve found a room for
you, Ranni,” she said. “Quite nearby. But it hasn’t a view.”
However
Ranni, brought up in a country of high mountains and sweeping valleys, had no
wish for a view. He had had plenty of those in Baronia! He was very pleased
with his little room, because it was so near Paul.
“There
aren’t any basins with running water,” said Nora, looking at the great
washstands. “Do we have to use these enormous jugs? I shall hardly be able to
lift mine!”
“Use
the bathrooms,” said Mike. “I counted seven on this floor already! There’s one
just opposite our rooms. It’s got a shower and everything.”
“Dimmy,
isn’t this fun?” said Nora. “Have you got a room for yourself - a nice one? Oh
Dimmy, won’t it be lovely living in a castle like this? It will take me ages to
find my way around properly.”
Dimmy
felt rather the same - but it was amazing how quickly they learnt where all the
rooms were, and the quickest way here, there and everywhere! There were two
main staircases, and two or three smaller ones.
“We
can have a marvellous time chasing one another and playing hide-and-seek,” said
Mike. “All these staircases to get away on! You know, Paul, it’s a very good
idea to let us come here on your own, before your people come - we shan’t have
such fun when they’re here, really, because all the rooms will be occupied, and
people won’t like us rushing everywhere.”
“No,
they won’t,” said Paul, thinking of the different way he would have to behave
when his family came, with all their servants. “Let’s make the most of it this
week!”
Dimmy
went down to see the three caretakers. She rang a bell from what she imagined
to be the drawing-room, but nobody came. So she found her way to the enormous
kitchens.
There
were two fireplaces in the biggest kitchen, one with a fire, the other empty.
Great cooking stoves lined the walls. Six or seven sinks showed up here and
there. Dimmy paused at the door. Goodness - what a place!
Sitting
at an open window at the far end were the three sisters. Dimmy had already seen
the one called Edie Lots. She walked over to them.
They
stood up as she came, looking nervous.
“Please
sit down,” said Dimmy, thinking what a queer trio they were. “I will sit with
you too, and find out what is the best way to manage till Her Majesty, the
Queen of Baronia, comes next week.”
They
all sat down. None of the three said a word. Dimmy talked pleasantly, and got
Mrs. Brimming to open her mouth at last.
She
arranged that the three should look after the children, herself and Ranni, and
should continue to clean the castle and keep it tidy until the Baronian
servants came.
“Everything
will go to rack and ruin then, I suppose!” said Mrs. Brimming, dolefully. “My
son said it would. Those foreign servants!”
“That’s
not a fair thing to say,” said Dimmy. “You will find that the Baronians will
take a pride in the place and keep it beautifully. In any case, that is hardly
your business. You may be sure that the Queen will see that nothing goes wrong.
Now do please cheer up - after all, Lord Moon must try to make a little money
out of a beautiful castle like this, empty for years!”
“My
son says that Lord Moon wouldn’t let it to foreigners if he knew about it,”
said Mrs. Brimming. “He says it’s only the agents that have let it, without
consulting Lord Moon. He says -”
Dimmy
began to feel as annoyed as Mrs. Arnold had felt, over this interfering son!
“I’m afraid it is no business of your son’s,” she said. Then she remembered
that one of the conditions Mrs. Arnold had made was that the interfering fellow
- what was his name yes, Guy - should go away.
“I
suppose your son is no longer here, now that the castle has been let?” she
said.
“Of
course he’s not here,” said Miss Edie Lots, in a loud voice. She glared at
Dimmy, and seemed about to say a lot more - but Mrs. Brimming nudged her
sharply and she stopped.
Dimmy
left them soon after that. “I suppose they all adore this Guy,” she thought, as
she went to find the children and help them to unpack. “Well, it’s a good thing
he’s gone. He certainly wasn’t in the kitchens. Now - which is the way to our
rooms? Good gracious - it’s a mile walk to find them, it really is!”
The
children had begun their unpacking. They wouldn’t let Dimmy help. “No, Dimmy -
you’ve got your own unpacking to do,” said Nora. “You always forget that we
have to unpack our own things at school! We can do it all right now, honestly
we can!”
“When
do we have tea - and where?” called Mike. “I’m hungry already.”
“I’ve
arranged it for half-past four,” said Dimmy. “And we’re using the smallest room
downstairs, off the righthand side of the hall - the room where there are some
queer old musical instruments on the walls.”
“Oh
yes - I know it,” said Peggy. “It’s a queer-shaped room - what do you call it -
L-shaped.”
“Yes
- it’s just like a letter L,” said Jack. “With the bottom part of the L having
windows all down the side. I vote we put a table there, and have our meals
looking out of the window. We can see for miles then!”
They
unpacked everything and arranged their things in the great drawers, leaving
half of them empty, of course, because their clothes took up very little room!
“The
drawers of these great chests are so enormous that I could almost get into
one!” said Paul, coming into the girls’ room, which was between his and the
boys’. “Are you nearly ready? I had much more to unpack than you and I’ve
finished first.”
“Well,
we’d have finished sooner if we’d just thrown everything higgledy-piggledy into
drawers, like you have,” said Peggy. “Get off those jerseys, Paul. There’s
plenty of carpet to stand on without treading on my clothes!”
“Don’t
be so fussy,” said Paul. “What time’s tea? I could do with some.”
But,
like the others, he had to wait till half-past four. What should they do after
that? Mike had an idea at once.
“The
tower! We’ll see if it’s unlocked now. It jolly well ought to be!”
QUEER
HAPPENINGS
Mrs.
Brimming brought up a really delicious tea. The children approved of it so
heartily, and said so in such loud voices, that Mrs. Brimming actually smiled!
“Thank
you, Brimmy,” said Nora, unexpectedly. Dimmy looked at her sharply, and the
others stared at Mrs. Brimming, expecting her to object at once.
But
to their surprise she didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, she actually smiled
again. “Fancy your calling me that!” she said. “I haven’t been called that
since I was nurse to Lord Moon’s youngest, years ago! They all called me Brimmy
in those days!”
She
then scurried out af the room like a frightened hen, evidently as surprised as
the children that she had made such a long speech!
“What
cheek to call her Brimmy when you’ve only seen her twice!” said Mike to Nora.
“But you just hit her on a tender spot - didn’t she, Dimmy?”
“Brimmy
and Dimmy,” said Nora, with a giggle. “I could make a nice rhyme up about
Brimmy and Dimmy.”
“Well,
I’d rather you didn’t,” said Dimmy, pouring out tea. “I’m used to your silly
ideas, but Mrs. Brimming isn’t. I’m quite sure she wouldn’t like to hear you
all singing a ridiculous song about her.”
“All
right,” said Nora. “Anyway, there aren’t any decent rhymes to Brimmy or Dimmy.
I say - what a smashing chocolate cake. Nice and big too. Big enough for us all
to have a second slice.”
“You
really mustn’t finish that enormous cake today,” said Dimmy. “I’m sure Mrs.
Brimming meant it to last us a whole week.”
“Well,
Brimmy will have a whole lot of different ideas about us before the week is
up,” said Mike. “Where did these biscuits come from? They’re not home-made.”
“I
looked at some af the piles of goods that have arrived,” said Dimmy. “I told
Mrs. Brimming she could open what she thought would do for us - but she had
already made this lovely chocalate cake.”
“Well,
I’m beginning to think she’s not a bad sort, after all,” said Jack. “What do
you think, Paul?”
Paul
thought that anyone who could make a chocolate cake as good as the one he was
eating must be a good sort. Dimmy laughed. She listened to the friendly chatter
of the five children, poured them out more cups of tea, cut slices of cake and
sponge sandwich, and decided that they really were a nice set of children.
“What
are you going to do after tea?” she asked.
“We’re
going to see the tower,” said Mike promptly. “It ought to be unlocked now. Like
to come, Dimmy?”
“I
don’t think so,” said Dimmy. “I want to go and see that the beds are all made,
and if they are aired properly. Mrs. Brimming didn’t know which rooms we were
going to choose and I saw that she had piles of sheets airing by the fire -
probably for us. I shall see to all that, and I’m sure she will help me. You go
and explore the tower if you like.”
“Right
- we’ll leave Brimmy and Dimmy to gossip together over sheets and
pillow-cases,” said Mike, getting up. “Everybody finished? Oh, sorry, Dimmy - I
didn’t see that your cup wasn’t empty.” He sat down again.
“Don’t
wait for me, please,” said Dimmy. “I always enjoy a quiet cup after you’ve all
gone! Go along now, and do whatever you want to do!”
“Dimmy’s
jolly glad to finish her tea in peace,” said Nora, tickling the back of Dimmy’s
neck affectionately as she passed her chair. “She’s been busy looking after us
the whole of the meal. If you want any help with the beds, call us, Dimmy, and
we’ll come.”
They
trooped out of the room. Dimmy sat back peacefully, and poured out another cup
of tea. They had had their meal in the curious L-shaped room as they had
planned, and the table had been set in front of the windows, in the short
bottom part of the L. Dimmy gazed out of the window at the view.
The
room was silent. Dimmy couldn’t even hear the voices of the children in the
distance - she heard only the sound of her spoon stirring her tea slowly.
TWANG!
Dimmy
jumped. The sound came so suddenly, and so very unexpectedly that for a minute
she couldn’t imagine what it was!
TWANG!
There it was again. What could it be? Dimmy suddenly remembered the old musical
instruments hung on the wall in the other part of the room - in the long part
of the L. She smiled.
“Silly
children!” she thought. “One of them has crept back to play a joke on me and
make me jump. Mike, I expect! He’s crept in and twanged one of the strings of
some instrument. Silly boy.”
She
stirred her tea again, listening for a giggle.
TWANG!
TWANG!
“I
can hear you!” called out Dimmy, cheerily. “Twang all you like - I don’t mind!”
DONG!
“Run
away and play,” called Dimmy. “Silly children!”
DONG!
Dimmy
wondered what instrument made the “dong” noise. It was a queer sound - but then
the musical instruments on the wall beyond were very queer-looking - old,
foreign and most unusual. Perhaps the “dong” noise was made by that thing that
looked like a drum but had stout strings stretched across it. Anyway, she
wasn’t going to bother to get up and see.
DONG!
“That’s
enough,” said Dimmy. “You ought to know when a joke is played out.”
She
listened for a giggle, or the scuffle of feet creeping away, but she heard
nothing. She began to drink her tea. No more of the twanging, donging noises
came, and Dimmy was certain that whichever of the children had played the trick
on her had crept away.
She
went to see about the beds, and was soon in a deep discussion with Mrs.
Brimming about sheets and pillow-cases. She felt sure that the children were
now busily exploring the tower.
But
they weren’t! They were all very angry indeed, because the tower door was still
locked!
They
had gone down the tapestry-covered corridor, and into the square-shaped room
lined with great oak chests. Mike went straight to the tapestry that hung over
the tower door to cover it.
He
pulled it to one side, expecting to see the door.
He
gaped in amazement, and turned startled eyes to the other four behind him.
“It’s gone!” he said. “There’s no door here!”
The
five looked hurriedly round the room. They could see no door at all - in fact,
the whole wall was lined with the chests. But about three feet from the
tapestry hanging was a very tall chest, taller than the others.
“I
bet it’s behind that chest!” Jack said, and stepped over to it. “I thought that
tapestry was hanging in a different place when I saw it just now. Give me a
hand, Mike - we’ll pull this chest away.”
They
tugged at it. It was astonishingly heavy, and needed all five of them to move
it. Nobody thought of taking out the contents of the drawers to make the chest
easier to handle!
Behind
the chest, just as Jack had thaught, was the tower door - tall, narrow - and
locked!
“That’s
that awful fellow Guy!” said Jack, fiercely, pulling at the ring handle. “What
does he think he’s doing? Fancy thinking he’d hide the door by putting a chest
in front of it, and hanging the tapestry somewhere else. He must be mad. What’s
the point, anyhow?”
“The
point is that he doesn’t want anyone to go into the tower - because he’s got
some secret there,” said Mike. The others nodded in agreement. Nora shook the
handle, and then bent down and peered through the keyhole.
“I
can see stone steps beyond the door,” she said. “Oh how dare that horrible Guy
do such a thing! Whatever will your mother say, Paul, when she finds that this
kind of thing is being done?”
“Perhaps
by the time your mother’s family comes, the door will be unlocked,” said Jack
slowly. “Maybe Master Guy hasn’t had time to clear out of the tower - and
thinks that he can stop us going in by silly tricks like this.”
“Yes.
I expect that’s it,” said Paul. “I bet he’s made himself a kind of home in this
tower - thinks of it as his own - and resents us coming. I bet he’s got all his
furniture in there still!”
“Well,
if we suddenly find the key in the lock, and the tower empty, we’ll know we
were right,” said Jack. “He’ll probably move out one dark night.”
“It’s
maddening,” said Peggy, shaking the handle in her turn, as if she thought that
a little temper would make the door open. She put her mouth to the keyhole.
“GUY!”
she shouted. “We know you’re up there! Come down and unlock this door!”
Jack
pulled her away. “Don’t be so silly, Peggy,” he said. “You wouldn’t like it a
bit if he came tearing down those stairs and flung the door open and glared at
you out of his horrid eyes!”
Peggy
looked at the door, rather alarmed. “No sound of footsteps!” she said, with a
laugh. “He wouldn’t hear my shouting, anyway. It wouldn’t carry through that
thick door and up those stone steps.”
Mike
was looking in the big chest they had hauled away from the door. “I’d like to
knaw what makes it so jolly heavy,” he said. “We almost couldn’t drag it away.
Look - rugs - cloth of some kind - and what’s this in the bottom drawer of the
chest, wrapped up in blue curtains?”
They
all leaned over him as he knelt down, feeling in the big bottom drawer. He
tugged at the cloth that wrapped up some great, heavy objects which could
hardly be moved.
Nobody
could move them an inch, and everyone grew very curious about what the heavy
things could be. Jack took out his penknife and ripped up the cloth that
covered them. He dragged the cut sides away, and then gave a whistle.
“Rocks!
Stones big enough to be called small rocks! My word, what a time Guy must have
had, bringing them here to weight this chest down. I wonder the drawer didn’t
break - but these chests are very old and solid.”
“No
wonder we could hardly move the thing,- said Paul. “What are we going to do?”
“Leave
the chest moved out of place so that Master Guy Brimming can see we’ve
discovered his little joke - a jolly silly one,” said Jack. “He probably didn’t
reckon there’d be five of us to move it. Well! Somehow we’ve got to get into
this tower - and it’s certainly not going to be easy!”
TWANG-DONG
AGAIN!
The
five children left the chest where it was, pulled right away from the tower
door. Guy Brimming would certainly know they had gone to explore the tower,
found the door hidden, and discovered it behind the chest! Would he do anything
further? They would wait and see.
They
decided to go back to the L-shaped room and tell Dimmy. She wasn’t there, so
they went to find her in the bedrooms upstairs, remembering that she was going
to see to the beds. She was there, as they thought, just finishing Paul’s room.
She was alone.
“Oh
Dimmy - have you done the beds all by yourself?” said Nora. “I’m sorry! I
thought you’d be sure to call Peggy and me if you didn’t have help.”
“It’s
all right, dear - Mrs. Brimming and one of the Lots came up to help me,” said
Dimmy. “I don’t know which one - they’re so alike, those two Lots. They’ve only
just gone.”
“We
couldn’t get into the tower, Dimmy,” said Peggy solemnly.
“The
door was still locked,” said Mike.
“And
somebody had tried to hide it by pulling a chest in front,” said Paul. “What do
you think of that?”
Dimmy
laughed at their very solemn faces. “Well - I don’t really think very much of
it,” she said, “I expect there are things in the tower that need to be cleaned,
or perhaps cleared out. Maybe it’s been used for storing all kinds of things in
- and I’ve no doubt the tower will be unlocked and ready for anyone to use by
the time Paul’s family arrives next week.”
“I
think you’re wrong, Dimmy,” said Jack. “I think there’s something mysterious
about it. I’m sure it’s something to do with that fellow Guy.”
“You
think a lot of foolish things,” said Dimmy. “I’ll mention it to Mrs. Brimming -
and you’ll see, she’ll have a quite ordinary explanation for it. Maybe the key
is lost, as they said before.”
“Well
- but why was the door hidden this time?” persisted Jack. “And why was the
chest that hid it weighted down with rocks so that it was almost impossible to
move?”
“Rocks!
Nonsense!” said Dimmy. “You’re joking. And, by the way, talking of jokes -
TWANG! DONG!”
She
made a loud twanging sound with her mouth and then a loud dong. The children
stared at her in wonder. She laughed.
“Yes
- you can look as innocent as you please!” she said. “But I know those innocent
faces of yours! Aha! It was funny, wasn’t it - TWANG! DONG!”
The
children looked rather alarmed at this Twang-Dong speech. They stared at Dimmy,
and then looked at one another.
“What
exactly do you mean, Dimmy?” asked Nora at last. “Honestly, we can’t imagine
what you’re getting at.”
Dimmy
looked rather annoyed. “Well, as you very well know, one of you - or maybe two
or three of you, I don’t know - crept back to the tea-room and twanged and
donged one or two of the musical instruments on the wall,” she said. “So don’t
deny it. It was a good joke, I agree, and the first time I jumped like
anything. But don’t pretend to be innocent now!”
“Not
one of us went back to play a trick,” said Jack, astonished. He looked round at
the others. “We didn’t, did we? We went straight to the tower door, and we’ve
been there ever since. We don’t know a thing about this twanging and donging.”
Dimmy
found it difficult to believe him. “Well, well - perhaps the instruments play a
little tune all by themselves,” she said. “Anyway - I’d be glad to know which
one of you it was, when you’ve made up your minds that the joke is now ended.”
The
five children left Dimmy and went down to the sitting-room, where they had had
tea. They were very puzzled. “What on earth did Dimmy mean?” said Mike, “TWANG!
DONG! I really thought she had gone suddenly dippy when she made those noises!
We certainly don’t know anything about them.”
“Perhaps
old musical instruments are like wicker chairs,” said Peggy. “Perhaps their
strings relax or something and make a noise.”
“I
never heard of such a thing before,” said Mike. “Let’s have a good look at
them.”
They
stood beside the walls and looked at all the queer instruments - some were like
big guitars, some like banjos, and there were tom-toms and tambourines - any
amount of instruments were there, many of which the children had never seen
before.
Jack
touched a string, and it twanged softly. Soon they were all touching the
various strings, and knocking on the drums and tom-toms, so that a weird noise
filled the room.
They
got tired of it after a time. “I really think Dimmy must have fallen asleep or
something, when we left her,” said Jack. “Instruments just don’t play
themselves. Come on - let’s have a game. Who says Racing Demon?”
Everyone
did, and they took the cards from the cupboard where they had put their various
games.
Dimmy
came in, in the middle of the first game. “What a nice peaceful sight!” she
said. “I’ll get some mending to do, so don’t ask me to play. I don’t like those
top-speed games!”
She
got some socks to darn, and came to sit beside them at the window. The children
were playing on the table where they had had tea. Dimmy glanced out of the
window, marvelling at the wonderful view she could see for miles on miles. The
sky was very blue, the distance was blue too. The sun was going down, and there
was a golden light over everything.
Jack
began to deal again. “Wait a moment before you begin another game,” said Dimmy.
“Look out there - did you ever see anything so lovely?”
They
all gazed out of the window, and Nora began to make up a few lines of poetry in
her mind. It was a very peaceful moment.
TWANG!
Everyone
jumped violently and Dimmy dropped the pair of scissors she was holding.
“There!”
said Dimmy, in a whisper. “That’s the noise I heard before. Wasn’t it one of
you, then?”
“No
- we told you it wasn’t,” said Nora. “And anyway, we’re all here now. Not one
of us has moved to the other part of the room, where the guitars and things are.”
Nothing
more happened. Jack got up and went round the bend of the L-shaped room into
the long part where the walls held so many instruments. Nobody was there. The
door was open and he shut it.
“Nobody
there,” he said, and sat down. “Maybe somebody crept in and twanged a guitar. I
wonder who the joker is!”
He
began to deal once more.
TWANG!
Everyone
jumped again, it was so loud. Jack and Mike raced round the bend of the room.
The door was still shut!
“But
someone might have crept in, twanged, and gone out quickly,” said Jack. “Look -
there’s a key in the door. We’ll turn it and lock the door - then the joker
will be completely done!”
He
turned the key. Dimmy looked rather startled. She had quite thought that one of
the children had played the joke on her after tea - but now she saw that they
had told the truth. Somebody else was doing the twanging!
DONG!
Jack
slapped his cards down. “This is silly!” he said., “I locked the door!”
Mike
disappeared into the other part of the room. “It’s still looked!” he called.
“Well and truly locked. Can’t be opened at all.”
He
took a look at the instruments on the wall, wondering which one had twanged. He
looked for a quivering string, but could see none. He went back to the others,
as puzzled as they were.
DONG!
“Blow
it,” said Jack. “Who’s doing it?”
“I
don’t think anyone is,” said Dimmy, picking up her scissors, which she had
dropped again. “I think it’s just one or two of the instruments doing it on
their own - perhaps it’s this hot weather - making them expand or something.”
“Well,
there doesn’t seem anything else to think,” said Peggy, “except -”
“Except
what?” asked Jack, as Peggy stopped.
“Well
- except that we heard that Queer Things Happen here,” said Peggy. “Don’t you
remember what the waitress said at that hotel? ‘Strange Noises - Queer
Happenings.’ ”
“Don’t!”
said Nora. “I didn’t believe it. And I don’t want to believe it now.”
“And
do you remember she said that books jumped out of the bookshelves?” said Peggy.
“Oh dear - I hope things don’t begin to jump about.”
“Now
listen to me,” said Dimmy, in a suddenly brisk voice, “this kind of talk is
foolish and ridiculous. I don’t want to hear any more of it. Fancy believing
the silly tales of a little waitress! Books jumping! Too silly for words!”
“Well
- but we did hear a Queer Noise,” said Peggy.
“I
dare say we did - but we’ve decided that it’s the hot weather making the
strings of some instrument or other expand, and go twang and dong,” said Dimmy.
DONG!
“Yes,
just like that,” said Dimmy firmly, as the curious dong noise came from round
the bend of the room. “Nobody is there. The door is locked - and if the
instruments like to sigh and make a noise because it’s hot, what does it
matter?”
TWANG!
“Well,
I expect you’re right, Dimmy,” said Nora. “If it’s only noises like that I
don’t mind a bit. Let’s get on with the game!”
Jack
began once more to deal, and they gathered up their cards, listening all the
time for another twang or dong.
But
none came! They began to forget about it and played with a lot of noise. Dimmy
watched them, glad that they were no longer puzzled. But she was very puzzled
indeed.
Was
she right in thinking that the noises had been natural ones? Yes, of course she
must be right. She looked out of the window at the view. The sun was sinking
low.
Bang-bang!
Everyone
jumped so much that half the cards slid off the table. Dimmy leapt to her feet.
Now what was it?
A
voice came from the ather side of the door - a plaintive, puzzled voice.
“Please,
Miss Dimity, we’re bringing your supper, and the door’s locked.”
“Gosh
- that was only Brimmy knocking at the door!” said Jack, in great relief. He
ran to open it. Brimmy was there with a large tray, and behind her were the two
solemn sisters, also with trays.
Nobody
explained the locked door. It suddenly began to seem rather silly. At the sight
of a very nice supper all six completely forgot both Twang and Dong, and
willing hands took the trays and set the table!
“Aha!”
said Jack. “A meal fit for a King - and certainly fit for a Prince! Dimmy - are
we ready? One, two, three, begin!”
AN
INTERESTING DISCOVERY
It
was fun to go to bed that night in the little suite of three rooms. The doors
between were left open so that shouting could go on between the three boys and
the two girls.
Nobody
felt sleepy at all. When they were all in pyjamas, the girls and Paul went to
sit on the beds in the middle room to talk to Mike and Jack. It wasn’t long
before a pillow-fight began, of course. With shrieks and thuds the fight raged
round the room, and a chair went over with a bang.
“We’ll
have Dimmy in if we make too much row,” panted Mike. “Oh you beast, Paul -
you’ve taken my pillow. Give it back!”
Thud!
Biff! Giggles and shrieks, bare feet pattering all over the bedroom, and
someone pinned in a corner! And then Nora gave an agonized yell.
“Paul!
Ass! Your pillow’s gone out of the window!”
There
was a pause in the battle at once. Paul looked rather abashed as Mike rounded
on him. “Idiot, Paul! What did you do that for?”
“It
sort of flew out of my hand,” explained Paul, and went to the window. He leaned
out so far that Jack caught him by his pyjama trousers, afraid that he might
pitch out and join the pillow. “I can see it,” he said. “It’s down on the grass
below. I’ll get it.”
He
ran to the door of his room and opened it. Dimmy was just coming up the
corridor! She saw him and called out.
“Paul!
You ought to be in bed long ago. What are you doing?”
“Just
looking out,” said Paul. “Are you coming to bed now, Dimmy?”
“Yes,
I am - and I shall come along just before I get into bed and make sure you are
all asleep,” said Dimmy, firmly. “So if you have any ideas of playing catch or
hide-and-seek round the castle corridors, just put them out of your head! I
suppose you’ve been pillow-fighting or something - you look so hot and
tousled.”
“We’ve
had a bit of a fight,” said Paul, grinning. “Good night, Dimmy.” He shut the
door and went back to the others, who had leapt into their beds as soon as they
had heard Dimmy’s voice.
“It
was Dimmy,” said Paul, poking his head into the boys’ room. “She’s just going
to bed - but she’s coming along last thing to see if we’re asleep. Blow! What
shall I do about the pillow? I don’t like to go down and hunt for it now in
case she comes along.”
“Wait
till she’s been along and I’ll go with you,” said Mike. “It’s getting dark now
- we’ll take our torches and slip out when it’s safe. Get into bed now, for
goodness’ sake. Ranni will be along next!”
Mike
was right. Ranni came along in about five minutes’ time and quietly opened
Paul’s door to make sure he was in bed and asleep. There was no sound as Ranni
switched on his torch and saw a curled-up heap in Paul’s bed. He went out
quietly and shut the door. Paul heaved a sigh of relief.
When
Dimmy came at last both the girls were fast asleep - and so was Paul! Dimmy had
a word with Mike and Jack, said good night, and went out.
Mike
sat up in bed. “Paul!” he called in a low voice. “Are you ready?”
No
answer! Paul was far away, lost in delightful dreams of towers and castles and
ruined villages. Mike scrambled out of bed and went to wake him - but Jack
called him back.
“Let
him be! He’ll probably make some noise and wake up Ranni. We two will go. Got
your torch?”
Without
bothering to put on their dressing-gowns the two boys crept out of the room in
slippers, each with his torch. The night was so warm that they felt hot even in
pyjamas! It was dark now, too, and they crept along the dim corridors, flashing
their torches when they came to the stretches of darkness between the lamps
that were set along the corridors at intervals.
“Better
go out of the front door,” whispered Mike. “We might bump into Brimmy or one of
the Lots if we go towards the kitchen, and we’re not sure yet where any other
door is.”
“Do
you remember how the front door opened without anyone there to open it, when we
came today?” whispered Jack. “I’d forgotten it till now.”
“Must
have been one of the Lots, I expect,” said Mike.
“It
would be just like them to scurry away as soon as they opened the door! Here we
are - isn’t it enormous?”
They
unbolted the great door, hoping that no one would hear them. They turned the
big key, and then twisted the handle. The door opened very quietly indeed,
swinging back easily on its hinges.
The
two boys went down the big flight of steps outside, “Round to the right,” said
Jack, in a low voice. “We’ll keep close to the walls, and then we are bound to
come to where the pillow fell.”
The
walls of the castle were not built in a straight line, but bulged out into odd
shapes, sometimes rounded, sometimes square, as if the builder had planned
queer-shaped rooms, or had planned towers that he had not completed.
“The
pillow ought to be somewhere about here,” whispered Jack, and shone his torch
down on to the grass. Then he looked upwards to try to make out if they were
under their bedroom windows.
He
caught Mike’s arm suddenly, and whispered in his ear. “Mike! The tower’s over
there, look - do you see what I see?”
Mike
looked up - and saw the enormously high tower against the dark night sky, where
stars shone, giving out a faint light. He gave a sudden exclamation.
“The
windows! They’re lighted! Somebody’s in the tower!”
The
two boys gazed up at the great tower, “Three of the narrow windows are
lighted,” whispered Jack. “Three! Somebody’s very busy in there tonight!”
“Perhaps
that man Guy is clearing out, as we thought,” said Mike. “Clearing out his
belongings, I mean.”
“I
wonder if it is that fellow,” said Jack, gazing up, and wishing he could see
into one of the windows just for a minute or two.
“Let’s
stay and watch for a bit - whoever is there might come to the window,” said
Mike. So they sat down on the thick grass and watched the lighted windows of
the tower. Once they saw someone passing across a window, but couldn’t make out
if it was Guy or not.
They
grew tired of watching, at last. “Let’s get the pillow and go,” said Jack,
getting up. Then he had an idea and caught hold of Mike’s arm. “Wait! What
about sneaking along to that little square room where the tower door is, and
seeing if the door’s unlocked? We know someone is in the tower now.”
“Yes!
Smashing idea,” said Mike, thrilled. “We might creep up the steps, even - and
see what’s going on. Come on - we’ll go now.”
They
made their way back to the front door. It was still open, for which Jack was
very thankful. He couldn’t help thinking that a door which could apparently
open by itself might also shut by itself! However, there it was, half-open just
as they had left it.
They
went in, shut, locked and bolted the door again, went past the silent suits af
armour and then set off to the little square room. Down the tapestried passage
they went, and into the square room. This was lighted by a lantern, hung on a
nail in the wall. It gave a poor light - just enough to make rather weird
shadows in the room, and that was all!
However,
the boys had their torches, so they didn’t mind shadows lurking round! They
flashed them to the place where the door should be. The chest was still out of
its place, where they had left it. The tall, narrow door showed up plainly, set
deeply in the wall.
Mike
tiptoed to it and took hold of the handle. He turned it carefully. Then he
groaned.
“No
good!” he said. “It’s still locked. Blow! No adventure tonight.”
“We
were silly to hope it would be open,” said Jack. “That fellow Guy wouldn’t take
any chances of being discovered in the tower, I’m sure. He’d be furious if he
thought we had been out and had seen the lighted windows!”
“Well
- it’s no good waiting about here,” said Mike. “Blow that fellow! I’d like to
go and explore that tower more than anything else in the world! Why is he so
secretive? Has he got something up there he doesn’t want anyone to see? Why
does he lock himself up?”
“I
suppose because he knows he ought to have left the castle by now,” said Jack.
“I say - let’s put something against the bottom of the door, so that when he
opens it he pushes the obstacle away.”
“What’s
the point of that?” asked Mike.
“Just
to let him know we’re about!” grinned Jack. “He’ll know we’re suspicious, he’ll
know we think there’s someone up the tower, and that we’ll be watching to see
if the obstacle we put here is moved. He can certainly put it back again if he
goes out of the door - but when he goes back he won’t be able to - and we’ll
find it out of its place, and know that he’s gone back up the tower again.”
“All
right - we’ll get a rug out of one of the chests,” said Mike. They got one,
folded it lengthways, and shoved it firmly against the bottom of the door.
“Perhaps
the door opens inwards into the tower,” said Jack, “and not outwards, into this
room. If it does, the rug won’t prove anything. Guy could open the door, see
the rug, and step over it without moving it.”
“No.
The door opens into this room,” said Mike, and pointed to a curving line on the
stone floor. “See where part of the bottom edge has scraped the stone each time
it has been opened.”
“Yes,
you’re right,” said Jack, tucking the rug even more firmly against the door. He
yawned widely. “Gosh, I’m sleepy now. Let’s go to bed. Got the pillow?”
“Yes,”
said Mike, picking up the pillow from the floor. “Well, Paul’s pillow certainly
gave us the chance of making sure the tower is occupied!”
They
went back to their rooms, keeping a sharp lookout for Ranni, who got up several
times a night, as a rule, to see that his little master was safe! They didn’t
want to run into him.
The
girls and Paul were still asleep. Mike put Paul’s pillow at the end of his bed,
and then he and Jack climbed thankfully between their sheets, and snuggled
down.
“Good
night,” said Jack. “We’ll ask Brimmy about the tower tomorrow, and see what she
says!”
There
was no answer. Mike was asleep already!
JACK
HEARS A GOOD MANY THINGS
Next
morning the two boys told the others about the lighted windows in the tower that
they had seen the night before. The girls laughed when they heard about the rug
that the boys had put in front of the door. “We’ll go to the square room
immediately after breakfast,” they decided, “and see if it’s still there.”
But
the rug had disappeared! The door was still shut and locked. Mike stared round
the room. “Guy must have come out of the tower, seen the rug, and put it away
somewhere. He just didn’t bother to put it back. He doesn’t care whether we
suspect anything or not.”
Jack
was opening the many chests and peering inside. “Here it is!” he called at
last. “Just chucked in here, still folded lengthways.”
“Well
- he knows we’re on his track,” said Nora, thrilled.
“I
wish we were.” said Jack. “As long as he slips in and out without anyone seeing
him and challenging him, and as long as he keeps the tower locked up, we can’t
possibly do anything about it.”
“We
can ask Brimmy,” said Nora. “She’s doing some dusting and sweeping in the rooms
downstairs. I saw her as we came here. Let’s go and ask her.”
They
all went to find Brimmy. She was on her knees, sweeping vigorously, her face
very red.
“I
say, Brimmy,” began Mike, “that tower door is still locked. Where’s the key?”
Brimmy
looked up nervously, pushing some stray hairs away from her face. “The key?”
she said. “Well now, perhaps it’s still lost.”
“It
isn’t,” said Jack. “Somebody’s been in and out of the tower door, so we know
there must be a key.”
“I
daresay it’s been found then,” said Brimmy, beginning to sweep vigorously
again. “There’s - er - there’s things in that tower that must be cleared out
before the Queen comes.”
“What
things?” said Jack, determined to find out something. “Do they belong to Lord
Moon? Are they very precious? Is that why they are locked up?”
“Maybe,”
said Brimmy, sounding annoyed as well as nervous. “There’s things I don’t want
to talk about, so please don’t ask so many questions. You’re only renting the
castle, not buying it! Everything will be unlocked, cleaned and ready for the
Queen when she comes next week. You don’t need the tower, and it’s not safe for
children.”
“Why?”
asked Nora.
“Oh,
these questions!” said Brimmy, pushing more hair out of her eyes and looking
really harassed. “Will you please leave me to my work, or I shall complain to
Miss Dimity? I’m sure she wouldn’t let you go up the tower, anyway, and risk
falling out of those high windows. They’re really dangerous.”
At
that moment Ranni appeared at the door. “Miss Dimity is going to take the car
into Bolingblow for some things she needs,” he said. “Would you like to come
too?”
“Yes!”
said everyone, and went out of the room, much to Mrs. Brimming’s relief.
“Listen
- I’m not coming,” sard Jack, as soon as they were out of hearing. “You go, all
of you - and I’ll hide around somewhere. I’ve an idea that Brimmy will go and
warn that Guy fellow, as soon as she thinks we’re all safely out of the way. I
might be able to find out something.”
“Right,”
said Mike. “Well - we’ll think of you snooping around while we’re having big
ice-creams!”
Jack
hid in his room while the others went off. When they were safely gone he went
cautiously into the long corridor outside his room. No one was about. He
decided to go downstairs by one of the back staircases. He might hear Brimmy
telling the two Miss Lots something.
The
staircase led to what seemed to be staff bedrooms on the ground floor. Not a
sound was to be heard. Jack passed the open doors of the bedrooms and went down
an uncarpeted passage, glad that he had on rubber shoes.
He
rounded a corner and came to an entrance to one of the kitchens. And then he
heard voices! He stood at the half-open door, trying to make out if they were
the women’s voices.
Yes
- they were certainly women’s voices, worried and anxious. And then came a
man’s voice, raised as if in anger.
“Well,
I can’t! It won’t be finished for same days. I can’t help it. You’ll have to
make what excuses you can. It’s your own fault for disobeying orders and
letting people see over the place. But that tower will be locked, I tell you -
so make what excuses you like about it. You don’t know what you’ve done,
letting these people into the castle just now!”
Then
Jack heard angry footsteps on the stone kitchen floor, footsteps that sounded
as bad-tempered and determined as the voice! The boy slid quietly behind a
cupboard.
A
man went by to the back stairs down which Jack had come. Jack peered out at
him. Was it Guy? Yes, it was, he was sure of it. Jack debated with himself -
should he follow him and see if he went back to the tower - he might even be
able to see where the key was kept. No - it would be safely in his pocket,
anyway. That was no good.
Jack
decided that on the whole it might be foolish to follow the angry man. He
stayed where he was for a minute or two and then came out from his hiding-place.
He went into the big kitchen. Brimmy was at the far end, weeping, and the two
Miss Lots were standing by gloomily. Brimmy gave a little cry when she saw
Jack.
“I
thought you’d gone out! Surely you aren’t all back yet!”
“I
didn’t go,” said Jack. “What’s the matter, Mrs. Brimming? Why are you crying?”
“Oh
- just one of my headaches, that’s all,” said Brimmy, dabbing her eyes. “Do you
want something to do? Why don’t you go and listen to the musical-box with a
hundred tunes? Or go and look round the library?”
Jack
saw that she wanted to get rid of him. Perhaps she was afraid he would ask her
some awkward questions. He changed the subject.
“Do
you know anything about that old ruined village?” he asked. “We thought we’d go
and explore it one day. Why did everyone leave it?”
There
was a dead silence. Jack looked at the three women in surprise. They looked as
if they didn’t know what in the world to say!
“What’s
up?” said Jack. “Anything mysterious about that village?”
“No.
No, of course not,” said Miss Edie Lots in a suddenly loud voice. “There used
to be mines there, you know - tin mines, I believe. And then something happened
and they were given up, and the people drifted away to Bolingblow. That’s why
it’s tumble-down, all in ruins, It’s a horrid, lonely place - a place that no
one in their senses would go near - especially at night!”
“I
see,” said Jack. “It sounds most interesting! We’ll really have to go and
explore it.”
“Those
old mines are dangerous,” said Brimmy, joining in suddenly, her voice rather
shaky. “If you fell down a shaft, that would be the end of you.”
“We
shouldn’t be so silly,” said Jack, wondering why the three women seemed so
worried. What was going on here? What was that man Guy doing? If only he could
get into the tower!
“Well
- I’ll go and find the musical-box,” said Jack, thinking that it would be fun
to get it out and have it ready for the others when they came back. “Where is
it?”
“I’ll
show you,” said Miss Edie Lots, in her harsh, loud voice. She led the way, and
soon Jack found himself in the hall, and then going down one of the corridors
that led to the rooms near their own sitting-room.
“I
say,” he said, as he followed Miss Lots. “I say - a funny thing happened
yesterday. You know those old musical instruments hanging on the wall in the
room we’ve taken for our sitting-room, don’t you? Well - they suddenly go
TWANG! or DONG! - just like that! Queer, isn’t it? Have you ever heard them?”
Miss
Edie clutched at him, and Jack was surprised to see that she looked terrified.
“You’ve heard them?” she said, in a loud whisper. “No! No! Oh, what dreadful
thing is going to happen?”
“I’ve
no idea,” said Jack, politely. “What’s up now? Why should anything dreadful
happen because a bit of twanging and danging goes an?”
“It’s
the old legend,” said Miss Edie, looking over her shoulder as if she expected a
Twang or Dong at any moment. “When those instruments make noises, something
awful always happens!”
“What
do you mean?” said Jack, with great interest. “Do you expect the castle to fall
down or something - or the tower to blow up?”
“There’s
a legend - written in one of the old books in the library - that none but the
Moon family may live here in peace,” said Miss Edie. “They say that the spirit
of the old castle gets angry and restless when others come, and queer things
happen.”
“I
don’t believe it,” said Jack. “Beliefs like that belong to centuries ago, not
to these days! You can’t frighten me like that, Miss Lots!”
“I’m
not trying to frighten you,” said Miss Edie, forgetting to whisper in her
annoyance with this unbelieving boy. “I’ve lived here all my life - I know that
what I’m saying is true. I’ve seen dreadful things happen to those who have
come here and defied the old legend. I could tell you many tales - people who
have -”
“Save
them up till the others come back, and then you can tell all of us,” said Jack.
“We’d absolutely love to hear those crazy old tales. We like a good laugh.”
Miss
Edie glared at him. She simply could not make out this smiling boy who
disbelieved all she said. Most people were scared. She lowered her voice.
“The
spirit of the old castle is restless again,” she said, sounding really
mysterious. “I can feel it! No wonder those noises came again. Now other things
will happen. They always do.”
“How
smashing!” said Jack, sounding delighted. “What kind of things? My word, the
others will be thrilled to hear all this!”
Miss
Edie had now had enough of Jack. “I am not going to tell you things just for
you to laugh at,” she said, looking most unpleasant. “You can wait and see what
happens - but be sure that my words will come true! Those noises always come
first - a warning, no doubt.”
“No
doubt at all,” agreed Jack, cheerfully. “Awfully kind of the old spirit of the
castle to warn us in such an exiting way. Well - where’s this musical-box? I’d
like to set it going, if the spirit of the castle has no objection!”
ALL
VERY PECULIAR
Miss
Edie led him into a room that seemed very dark because it faced towards the
hillside behind the castle, and not to the valley below.
“Do
you want the lamp?” she said, sounding cross. “It’s over there, if so. There
are matches beside it.”
“No
thanks,” said Jack. “Oh, is that the musical-box? My word, how enormous - and
what a beauty!”
He
went over to a long wooden box. It was about five feet long and a foot and a
half wide, and stood on a pedestal. Both box and pedestal were of walnut, and
were beautifully carved. Little dancing figures ran all round the box and the
pedestal too, carved by a clever and loving hand.
“How
do you work it?” asked Jack, lifting up the lid, and peering inside at shining
brass rollers set with myriads of tiny teeth.
There
was no answer, and Jack looked round. Miss Edie had gone without a word! Jack
grinned. Did she really think she could frighten him with those silly old
tales? He wished the others could have been there to listen to everything.
“Now
how does this box work?” he thought, bending over it. “Ah - here are the
instructions on the lid. It has to be wound up. I wonder who made it. It must be
very, very old!”
He
wound it up carefully, and pushed back the lever that set it going. The roller
went smoothly and slowly round, and the musical box began to play a merry old
tune.
Its
sweet, melodious music filled the room and Jack listened, quite entranced.
There was something unearthly and fairylike about the tinkling tunes that
followed one after another, all different. The boy recognized some of them, but
others he had never heard.
A
sound disturbed him. He looked round the dim room into which no sunshine ever
came. He saw that it was the same room that had the portrait of a long-ago Lord
Moon on the wall over the mantelpiece. The face stared down at him, dark and
forbidding, the black lock falling over the forehead. The eyes seemed to be
looking straight at Jack, angrily and fiercely.
“Sorry
if I’m disturbing you, Lord Moon,” said Jack, politely to the portrait, as
another tune began to play. “Please don’t look so fierce!”
The
same sound came again to Jack’s ears through the tinkling of the music. It
seemed as if it came from somewhere by the mantelpiece. Was it a hiss?
Jack
walked over to the great fireplace. He listened. Then he looked up at the big
portrait above his head. Lord Moon stared down as if he could say a great many
things to this stupid boy who was disturbing his peace.
And
then a curious thing happened. Lord Moon’s eyes seemed to become alive! They
glowed angrily, and seemed to flash with anger. Then came that hiss again!
Jack
backed away. He was not a timid boy, and had plenty of courage - but this was
very unexpected, and very eerie too, in that dim room, with the musical-box
playing its tinkling music all the time.
He
backed into a stool and fell over. When he got up and looked at the portrait
again, the eyes no longer glowed, though Lord Moon still looked as unpleasant
as ever.
Jack
stared up, surprised to find his heart beating fast. Had he imagined those
eyes? Was it some sudden trick of the light? The hissing noise had stopped now
too. Jack frowned and walked back to the musical-box. He suddenly looked back
over his shoulder at the portrait. Were those eyes looking at him, alive again
and angry?
They
were looking at him, certainly, but there was no glint in them now.
“Imagination!” said Jack to himself. “Well, if that’s the sort of effect this
castle is going to have on me, I’d better be careful! I could have sworn those
eyes came alive for a moment!”
The
musical-box ran down with a slowing up of the music. Jack began to wind it up
again. Then he heard a voice calling loudly.
“Jack!
Jack! Where are you?”
He
jumped violently - but then laughed at himself. It was only Mike’s voice - they
were back from Bolingblow already!
He
ran out of the room and went to find the others. “Here he is!” cried Nora’s
voice, and she ran to meet him. “Jack, you ought to have come with us! We had
meringues and ices both together. We brought you a meringue back. Here it is.”
She
gave it to him. He went into the L-shaped sitting-room where the others were.
Dimmy was there too, and they were helping her to open the various parcels she
had brought.
“What
have you been doing, Jack?” asked Dimmy. “You should have come with us!”
“I’ve
been playing that musical-box with a hundred tunes,” said Jack. “In the room
where that portrait of a long-ago Lord Moon is - with the horrid eyes!”
Something
in his voice made Mike look up. “Anything interesting?” said Mike. Jack nodded
his head towards Dimmy, and Mike understood at once that Jack had something
interesting to say, but not till they were alone. Fortunately Dimmy departed
from the room with an armful of parcels in a short time, and left the children
alone together.
“Jack!
You’ve got something to tell us!” said Mike. “What is it? Did you hear
anything? Did something happen?”
“Yes
- I heard plenty - and something did happen,” said Jack. “Listen!”
He
told the others what he had overheard Guy say to his mother and aunts. He told
them what Miss Edie had said about the old legend of the spirit of the castle.
Everyone laughed.
“Fancy
trying to make us believe that the Twang and Dong came because the castle was
angry we were here!” said Mike. “How idiotic!”
TWANG!
There
was a startled silence. The sound echoed through the air and then was gone.
“H’m!
That was timed very well,” said Jack, noting that Nora and Paul looked scared.
“Now then, spirit of the castle - what about a Dong?”
“Don’t,
Jack!” said Nora, anxiously.
No
Dong came. “The spirit of the castle’s gone a bit deaf,” said Jack, cheerfully.
“It didn’t hear my request.”
TWANG!
Everyone jumped again. Jack ran round the bend of the room and examined every
stringed instrument there. Not one had a vibrating string to show that someone
had twanged it, or that it had somehow done it of its own accord.
Jack
went back. He had suddenly remembered the gleaming eyes of the portrait. He
glanced at Nora and Paul again. They both looked a bit scared, so Jack decided
not to say anything in front of them about the portrait. He would tell Mike -
and perhaps Peggy - when they were alone with him.
“Where’s
the musical-box?” said Nora. “Let’s go and hear it.”
But
it was too late to do that because at that moment the two Miss Lots appeared
with the midday meal. Dimmy appeared too.
“Oh
thank you,” she said. “Just put the trays down, and we’ll set the table as
usual. What a lovely meal!”
Meringues
and ices did not seem to have spoilt anyone’s appetite. The children looked
joyfully at the trays left on the sideboard, lifting up the lids that covered
the various dishes.
“Cold
ham. Tongue! Tomatoes - heaps of them, look. Hard-boiled eggs in salad.
Potatoes in their jackets. And an enormous trifle with cherries on the top.”
“Stop
fiddling about with the lids,” said Dimmy. “Come along, you two girls - set the
table, please. Mike and Paul, you carry everything over carefully when the
cloth is on.”
They
were soon sitting down and tucking in. It always amazed Dimmy to see how much
the five could eat. It looked as if not a single crumb or fragment would be
left.
“If
anyone wants a biscuit or fruit, they are both on the sideboard,” said Dimmy at
the end of the meal.
Only
Mike could manage any, and he went to take a plum. Just as he was taking it,
one of the now familiar noises came from somewhere behind him.
DONG!
“There’s
the Dong you asked for,” called Mike to Jack, glancing round quickly at each of
the instruments on the wall. He took his plum back with him to the others.
Nobody said anything about the noise, not even Dimmy, and a loud chatter arose
as usual.
CRASH!
That did make them all jump!
“Whatever
was that?” said Dimmy. “It sounded round the bend of the room again, where the
instruments are.”
They
all went to look. A big blue jar lay in fragments on the floor. “Look at that!”
said Dimmy, vexed. “It’s fallen from that shelf. But how could it have
happened? What a pity!”
“It’s
a good thing you were here with us, Dimmy,” said Mike. “You might have thought
one of us had broken it! We’ll have to tell Mrs. Brimming. I wonder what made
the jar jump off like that - it must have been too near the edge.”
Jack
remembered all that Miss Edie Lots had told him, and he couldn’t help feeling a
bit uncomfortable. They went back into the windowed corner, where they had
meals. The girls began to clear the table, and stack the dirty plates and
dishes on the trays for the caretakers to take down when they came.
Miss
Edie Lots appeared in a short while, followed by Mrs. Brimming. They stared in
dismay at the broken jar; the fragments still lay on the carpet because there
was no brush to sweep them up.
“I
can’t imagine how it happened,” said Dimmy, “but we heard a crash, and when we
came into this part of the room we saw this broken jar. It must have been too
near the edge of the shelf it was on, and have fallen down.”
“It
was well back on its shelf,” said Miss Edie. “I dusted this room myself this
morning.”
“Well,
I’m sorry - but not one of us had anything to do with it,” said Dimmy. “I can’t
think how it could have happened.”
“It’s
the beginning!” said Edie Lots, in a peculiar voice that made everyone look at
her in surprise.
“The
beginning of what?” asked Dimmy.
“All
kinds of things,” said Edie. “You’d best be gone before worse happens. The old
legend is coming true again. You ask him what I said!” She nodded her head
towards Jack. “I tell you, it’s the beginning - you shouldn’t have come to this
castle. Bad things will happen!”
“Please
don’t be so silly,” said Dimmy, coldly. “I cannot imagine what you are talking
about. Take the trays and go!”
THE
RUINED VILLAGE
Mrs.
Brimming looked upset, and Edie Lots pursed up her lips and looked angry and
most unpleasant. Dimmy turned to the children.
“I’m
going upstairs for a rest. lt really is so very hot this afternoon. What are
you going to do? Go for a walk?”
“Well
- we might go and explore that old ruined village,” said Mike. “We passed the
fork to it again this morning and we felt we really must go and see it soon.”
Edie
Lots stared round at him and opened her mouth as if to say something. Dimmy saw
her, and was determined that she shouldn’t be allowed to talk again - such nonsense
as she talked too! So she began to speak herself, and went on firmly until the
trays had disappeared out of the room, carried by Brimmy and Edie!
Edie
had no chance to say whatever it was she had meant to say - though Jack could
have guessed! She would have tried to put them off going to the mines.
“I’m
going upstairs now,” said Dimmy. “Don’t start off for your walk for half an
hour or so - not immediately after your enormous lunch. Have a read.”
“Let’s
go and play that musical-box, Jack,” said Nora. “I do so love those tinkly
musical-boxes. Does it really play a hundred tunes?”
“Well,
I counted only thirty-three, and then you called me,” said Jack. “All right -
we’ll go and count a few more. It’s a lovely box - the finest I’ve ever heard.”
They
went along to the dim room with the portrait. Jack glanced up at it,
half-afraid he might see those eyes gleaming again. But they were just as
usual, staring down fiercely and broodingly. The children went over to the
musical-box.
Jack
started it. The silvery tune tinkled out, and all the children listened in
delight. Just as it ended, Dimmy came quickly into the room.
“Have
any of you been into my room? Surely you couldn’t have played such a silly joke
on me?”
All
five stared at her in surprise. “What joke?” asked Jack, at last. “You know we
haven’t been upstairs since lunch-time, Dimmy.”
“Well
- it’s very strange then,” said Dimmy, frowning. “What’s happened?” asked Jack.
“The
whole room is changed round,” said Dimmy. “The bed is in a different place. My
clothes are put into different drawers. The photos I brought with me are lying
flat on their faces - and one of the vases on the chest has fallen down and
smashed.”
“Just
like that other one did!” exclaimed Mike. “But Dimmy - who in the world could
have done such a silly thing to your room? Your room, too! Honestly, not one of
us would do such a thing.”
“No,
I don’t think you would,” said Dimmy. “Well, it must have been done in spite,
perhaps - I really don’t know! I can’t think that one of the caretakers could
have done it, grown women as they are - but it’s such a silly, spiteful thing
that one of them might have done it, just because we’ve arrived here and are
making more work for them.”
Dimmy
went out of the room. The children looked at one another. “Poor old Dimmy,”
said Peggy. “I don’t know how anyone could possibly feel spiteful towards her -
she’s so kind.”
“I
bet it’s Guy,” said Paul. “Or the spirit of the castle, whoever he may be! But
he’s a nasty fellow if he likes to smash Lord Moon’s vases!”
The
musical-box was still tinkling on. “Has anyone counted the tunes?” said Jack.
“I forgot to.”
“Yes,
I have,” said Peggy. “We’ve got to forty-one now. Oh listen - here’s Cherry
Ripe! We had it at school last term. It’s a very old tune.”
They
were all listening to Cherry Ripe when Jack heard a noise by the mantelpiece. A
distant hiss, just as he had heard before. He looked across uneasily.
Mike
had heard it too, and Paul, but the girls were too engrossed in the
musical-box. Paul suddenly gave a loud cry that made them all jump violently.
“Shut
up, Paul,” said Nora, crossly. “You nearly made me jump out of my skin!”
Paul
was staring at the portrait. Mike and Jack were doing the same.
“Its
eyes!” gulped Paul. “They came alive! They looked at me.”
Nora
and Peggy looked at the portrait too. “Don’t be so silly,” said Peggy. “You’re
imagining things! The eyes are horrid - but they’re only painted ones that seem
to look at you. Don’t be such an ass, Paul.”
CRASH!
A
picture fell suddenly off the wall behind them, and made them all jump again.
Jack stared at it. Then he went over and looked at the picture cord it had hung
on. He at once saw that the broken ends were frayed.
“It’s
all right! “ he said cheerfully to the others. “Nothing to do with the glowering
Lord Moon - just frayed-out picture cord!”
“Well,
I don’t like it,” said Paul, who looked quite pale. “I did see those eyes
gleaming just as if they were alive. Didn’t you, Mike? You were looking too.”
Jack
frowned quickly at Mike. He didn’t want him to say anything in front of the
girls, who had neither of them seen the eyes glowing as if they were alive.
So
Mike said nothing in answer to Paul, but suggested that it was time they went
for their walk. “This room is getting on my nerves,” he said. “I can’t bear
that fellow, Lord Moon, glowering at us, and pictures falling down. Stop the
musical-box, Jack, we’ll go out.”
“We
got to forty-three tunes,” said Peggy. “Listen - what’s that hissing noise?”
Everyone
had heard the hiss that time, for the musical-box was now silent. Jack gave the
girls no chance of finding out what usually followed the hiss, and he hustled
them out of the room. “It’s nothing. Let’s go, or we shan’t have time to get to
that old village.”
The
girls went out obediently. Jack glanced back into the room. Yes - those eyes
were gleaming again, as if they were alive. Was it a trick? What a peculiar
one, if so!
They
made their way to the front door and went out into the sunshine, which seemed
quite dazzling after the dim room where they had played the old musical-box.
Ranni was outside, doing something to the car.
“Oh
Ranni! What a bit of luck you’re here with the car!” said Paul. He turned to
Jack eagerly. “He could take us to the fork of the road in the car, Jack - it
would save a lot of time. Then we need only walk up the fork to the old
village. It’s so frightfully hot this afternoon.”
“Good
idea,” agreed Jack and they all got in. Ranni was quite willing to take them.
He was bored with so little to do. The car swept off down the drive and out of
the gates. It wasn’t long before they were down the hill and at the fork of the
road.
“I’ll
wait here,” said Ranni. “I can do a little polishing till you come back.”
The
five of them set off up the rough road. It had never been much more than a
village lane at any time, but now it was so overgrown that in places it was
like a field. Only the hedges each side showed the children that they were in
an old lane.
It
took them a quarter of an hour to reach the village. What a desolate sight!
Every
house was empty, the windows were broken, the roofs had gaps in them where
tiles had fallen off. A few houses had once been thatched, and there were great
holes in the straw roofs.
“This
must have been the main street,” said Jack, stopping. “Is that a little church?
What a shame to let it fall to bits like that.”
“How
silent and still it is!” said Nora. “Poor old village - no one to walk down the
streets, or bang a door or call out cheerily.”
“What’s
that over there?” said Mike, pointing. “A lot of tumble-down sheds and shacks -
and that looks like some kind of old machinery.”
“It’s
the mines, of course,” said Jack. “Don’t you remember - we heard there were
mines here once, before the people all drifted away from the village. I suppose
they were worked out. They were tin mines.”
Nobody
knew anything about tin mines. They walked over to the shacks, and looked at
the old, rusted machinery. Jack came to a shaft driven deep into the earth. He
looked down it.
“Come
and see - here’s where the miners went down,” he said. “And there’s another
entrance over here - a bigger one.”
“Let’s
go down!” said Mike.
This
was just what Jack wanted to do, of course! “Not the girls,” he said. “Do you
want to come, Paul - or would you like to stay and look after the girls?”
“They
can look after themselves, can’t they?” said Paul, indignantly. “Or go back to
Ranni. But don’t they want to come down?”
“Not
particularly,” said Nora. “It looks so dark and horrid down there. How do you
get down?”
“There’s
an iron ladder,” said Mike, peering down. “Gosh, it’s pretty rusty, though. I
wonder if it’s safe.”
“This
one’s better!” called Jack, who was looking at the bigger shaft not far off.
“This is much more recent, I should think. We’ll try this one. I’ll go down
first.”
He
climbed down over the edge of the shaft. The others peered after him, excited.
Tin mines! What did one find in tin mines? Nora had a vague picture of sheets
of tin neatly stacked everywhere, which was very silly, of course. Mike thought
of rocks with streaks of tin in them!
Jack
called out to them when he was halfway down. “This ladder’s fine. Come on, Mike
and Paul!”
The
other two boys followed him. The ladder seemed strong and in good order,
surprisingly so, considering how long the village must have been deserted. Jack
was now at the very bottom and was waiting for the other two.
They
jumped down beside him, one by one. A hollow, most peculiar voice came down the
shaft. “Are you all right, boys?”
“It’s
Peggy,” said Jack. “How queer her voice sounds, echoing down that shaft!” He
shouted up loudly. “Yes. We’re at the bottom. There are tunnels everywhere.
We’ll have a quick look and come back again!”
“Don’t
get lost!” came Peggy’s voice again, hollow and full of echoes.
The
boys had their torches with them. Jack had switched his on as soon as he got to
the bottom af the shaft, He flashed it round.
There
were tunnels, as he had said, radiating out from the shaft. They seemed quite
ordinary tunnels. Nothing glinted in the walls, no metal shone anywhere. Jack
shone his torch into each one.
“Which
shall we take?” he said. “This is going to be quite an adventure!”
DOWN
IN THE MINES
The
three boys decided to take a fairly wide tunnel, and they went down it. The
roof was low, and Jack, the tallest, had to walk with his head bent. They came
to a cave-like room after a time, out of which two tunnels led.
“Look,”
said Jack, picking up a bent knife. “This must have belonged to one of the old
workers - and that broken mug too.”
They
shone their torches round. The roof of the cave was shored up by big timbers,
but one had given way and that side of the cave had collapsed.
“I
hope these timbers will hold up the roof till we get back!” said Mike, shining
his torch on them. “They must be very old now. Look - there’s some funny old
machine they must have used - all rusty and falling to bits.”
They
took the right-hand tunnel and went on. “We could spend a long time exploring
these old mines,” said Jack. “There seem to be heaps of tunnels. Hallo, what’s
this?”
They
had come up to what looked like a rough wall, blocking the tunnel. They shone
their torches on it. “It’s not a wall,” said Mike. “It’s a fall from the roof.
Blow! We can’t go any farther this way.”
Jack
kicked at the heap of rubble, and it fell all round him. Another lot then fell
from the roof, and rubble and stones rolled round the boys’ feet.
“There’s
a hole in the middle of all this stuff,” said Jack. “I’ll shine my torch
through and see if there’s anything to be seen.”
He
was just about to do so when Mike gave an exclamation. “Jack! Don’t shine your
torch through. There’s a light the other side of this rubble wall! Look - you
can see it shining through the hole. What can it be?”
Jack
stared in surprise. Yes - through the hole that had appeared in the fallen
rubble came a dim light. He set his eye to the hole in excitement.
He
saw a strange sight. Beyond the fall of rubble was a spacious cave, and from it
led another tunnel. Jack could see the opening to it, dark and shadowy.
On
the floor of the cave burned a fire. It burned slowly and clearly, sending up
vivid green flames from its deep-red heart. What it was burning Jack could not
see - nothing, so far as he could make out!
The
fire made a noise, almost as if squibs or small fireworks were going off in it
all the time. After every little explosion a purple tinge came into the green
flames, and they sent off circles of greenish-purple that floated away like
smoke-rings.
Jack
gazed and gazed, filled with amazement. What was all this? What was this
strange fire, and why was it burning here, in the old mines? Did anyone know of
it?
“Let
me see,” said Mike, impatiently, and pushed Jack aside. He put his eye to the
hole in his turn, and gave a loud cry of wonder.
“Gosh!
Whatever is it? A fire - a green fire, burning all by itself!”
Paul
elbowed him away in excitement. “My turn to see!” he said, and then fell silent
in amazement as he gazed through the hole at the leaping flames, and heard the
crick-crick-crack of the constant explosions.
Jack
pulled him away after a minute or two. “My turn again,” he said, and gazed
earnestly through the hole. The others, leaning close against him, felt him
suddenly stiffen and catch his breath.
“What
is it? What is it?” whispered Mike and Paul, and tried to pull Jack away so
that they too might see - but Jack resisted them, and went on looking.
Then
he started back suddenly, just as the others heard a deep roaring noise from
behind the rubble. A curious tingling came into their arms and legs, and they
began to rub them quickly.
“What
did you see? Tell us!” said Mike, rubbing his legs which felt as if they had
pins and needles from the top to the bottom.
“I
saw a figure,” said Jack, rubbing his legs too. “Gosh, why have we suddenly got
pins and needles? I saw a very strange figure, with a hood right over his face
so that I couldn’t see it. He wore very loose things, and very big - like a
diver or someone! He poured something on the fire, and it made that sudden
roaring noise, and its flames changed to brilliant purple. I simply couldn’t
look at them!”
Mike
went to peep again. But, how bitterly disappointing - the fire had disappeared!
Not a flame was to be seen, although the curious roaring noise still went on.
Then in the tunnel beyond, lighted by a strange glow, he saw two figures - not
one, as Jack had seen, but two.
They
came forward slowly with what looked like a small broom. One of them swept
gently over the place where the fire had been, and a little heap of stuff
appeared, gleaming and glowing in its own light. What colour was it?
Mike
didn’t know! He wasn’t sure that he had ever seen a colour quite like that
before. Was it green - purple - blue? No, none of these.
The
men swept the little heap into a curious narrow shovel made of some glittering
metal that seemed to make the heap of glowing dust disappear as soon as it
touched it. Then one of them put a bag or sack over the shovel, and the two of
them disappeared down the tunnel.
Mike
told the others all this. They sat back in their own tunnel, amazed and rather
alarmed. What had they seen? What was happening in these old ruined mines?
“I
wish I could get rid of these pins and needles in my arms and legs,” said Jack,
rubbing vigorously again. “As soon as I stop rubbing, the feeling gets worse.”
“Same
here,” said Mike. “Jack - what do you make of all this?”
“Nothing,”
said Jack. “I’m absolutely stumped. These are only old tin mines - tin, mark
you - quite ordinary stuff. And yet we find this queer affair going on - a
strange and most peculiar fire of green flames, that cricks and cracks - and
roars - and sends off rings of curious colour. Then for no reason at all that
we can see, it dies down - and what’s left is collected by a couple of men in
the strangest clothes I ever saw!”
“Do
you suppose that fellow Guy has anything to do with this?” asked Paul, after a
pause.
“He
might have,” said Jack. “But how do the men get into that cave? Not through the
way we came, or they would have removed this wall of rubble. I wish we could
find the right way in. Then we could perhaps hide and watch everything
properly. Yes, and see who the men are, and where they take the shovelful of
stuff to.”
“Well
- I don’t feel inclined to wander through all these mazy tunnels and get lost
for ever,” said Mike. “Couldn’t we get a map of the old mines? If so, we might
trace out a way to the cave we’ve just been looking at.”
“Yes.
That’s a good idea,” said Jack. “We’ll do that - and I bet I know where we
could get a map from, too! In that old library! This land probably belongs to Lord
Moon, and we’re sure to be able to find a book - or books - about the castle
and all this property, in the castle library. I’ve no doubt that he made a lot
of money out of the tin dug from here - or some of the Lord Moons did. I expect
the mines had fallen into ruin long before the present one inherited the
castle.”
Mike
glanced at his watch to see what the time was. “Surely it’s more than half-past
three?” he said, astonished. “Oh - it’s stopped,”
To
their surprise the watches of the others had stopped too. “Better get back,”
said Jack. “The girls will be worried. I suppose that queer fire stopped our
watches - and gave us these pins and needles too!”
They
each took one more look through the hole, and then, as they could see
absolutely nothing at all now, except for a faint glow from the floor of the
next cave, they made their way back to the foot of the shaft they had entered
by.
Nora
and Peggy were leaning over the top, feeling anxious. They heard Nora shouting
as they came to the bottom of the shaft.
“Mike!
Jack!”
“Coming!”
yelled the three boys, and then they heard Ranni’s deep voice booming down.
“It
gets late. Hurry, please.”
They
climbed up, and were very glad indeed to find themselves in the sunshine once
more. But how their pins and needles tickled and pricked when the sun fell on
their arms and legs! The three boys rubbed and scratched at top speed, much to
the amazement of the girls.
“You
have been too long, and such a pit is dangerous,” said Ranni, severely, to
Paul. “I was just coming to fetch you, little Prince. I have left the car
waiting at the fork.”
“Our
watches stopped,” said Paul. Hc turned to the girls. “Have your watches stopped
too, by any chance?” he asked.
“No,”
said Nara, glancing at hers and then at Peggy’s. “What did you see down there?
Anything thrilling?”
“Gosh,
yes,” said Jack. “We’ll tell you when we get back to the car.”
The
girls listened in the greatest astonishment when the boys related their
adventure. Ranni, at the wheel, heard every word, and he was horrified.
He
stopped the car and turned himself round to face the children at the back. “You
will not come here again,” he said, sternly. “If this tale is true, this place
is not for you. I will not have my little master mixed up in such dangers.”
“They’re
not dangers,” said Jack. “We weren’t in any danger, Ranni, really we weren’t!”
Ranni
thought differently. “Something goes on here,” he said. “Something secret. It
is not for children to meddle with it. Jack - you must promise me never to go
down those shafts again, nor to take Paul with you.”
“Oh
come!” said Jack, protestingly. “I can’t promise that, Ranni. I mean - we
really must discover what all this means.”
“You
will promise me,” said Ranni, unmoved. “If you do not, I will tell Miss Dimity,
and she shall take you back home.”
“You’re
jolly mean, Ranni,” said Jack. But he knew Ranni of old. There was nothing for
it but to promise!
“All
right - we won’t go down the beastly shafts again,” he said, sulkily.
“Nor
will you come to the village,” persisted Ranni, who was taking no chances.
“All
right,” said Jack again. “Anyone would think we were six years old and wanted
looking after. Go on - let’s get back.”
Ranni
drove off, satisfied. Jack made a few plans, which he outlined to the others.
“Even though we’ve had to promise Ranni we won’t go to the village, there’s no
reason why we shouldn’t find out a bit more about the mines from old maps.
We’ll go to the castle library after tea!”
“And
have books jumping on us from the shelves!” said Nora, with a giggle. “Like
that waitress said!”
“Well,
it will all add to the fun,” said Jack. “I say - don’t let’s say anything about
what we saw in that mine, when we get back to Dimmy. She might whisk us back
home - there’s no knowing what she’ll do if she thinks there’s something we
can’t cope with.”
“Oh,
my pins and needles!” groaned Mike. “How long will they last? Honestly, mine
are worse than ever!”
“Here
we are!” said Nora, as the car swept in at the gates. “You’re lucky, you boys,
even though you’ve got pins and needles - you’ve had a fine adventure, and we
haven’t!”
PINS
AND NEEDLES - AND JUMPING BOOKS!
Dimmy
was wondering what had happened to them all, because they were so late back to
tea. She sat at the tea-table, occasionally looking out of the window to see if
the children were coming.
She
was most relieved when she saw them walking into the room. “Ah - here you are,”
she said. “Have you had a good afternoon?”
“Yes.
We went to the old village - where the tin mines are,” said Mike. “Ranni took
us in the car. Sorry we’re late. We did quite a bit of exploring. It’s a queer
old place, that village.”
“Yes,”
said Nora, who really had explored it with Peggy, while the boys had been down
the mine. “The tumbledown houses are all covered with ramblers and blackberry
sprays, and tall-growing weeds, Dimmy. It’s a sad sort of place, really - not a
soul there. Only birds, and one or two rabbits we saw scampering around.”
“Go
and wash,” said Dimmy, “and then come back quickly. Mrs. Brimming has managed
to provide another good meal for you!”
They
were soon sitting down at the table, washed and brushed. The boys had bathed
their arms and legs in cold water to try to get rid of the pins and needles
that still attacked them. The water helped them at first, but as soon as they
sat at the table, the pins and needles came back again so fiercely that the
three boys wriggled and rubbed themselves in pain.
“What
is the matter?” said Dimmy. “Have you been stung by something?”
“No,”
said Mike.
“It’s
just pins and needles,” said Jack. “It came on us suddenly in the village. But
it won’t stop!”
When
Brimmy came to take the tea-tray, Dimmy spoke to her about the boys’ pins and
needles.
“Do
you think they’ve been stung by something?” she said, anxiously. “I can’t make
it out. Look at them - they can’t keep still for a minute. They’re wriggling
and squirming all the time.”
“They’ve
been near the mines!” said Brimmy, at once. “Been down into them too, I
wouldn’t be surprised! You can do only one thing, Miss Dimity. Put them to bed,
and I’ll give you some lotion I have so that you can soak bandages for their
arms and legs. That will soon put them right.”
“But
what is this pins and needles?” said Dimmy. “Why should it come on them like
this?”
“It’s
the illness that drove the people away from that old village,” said Brimmy. “It
came all of a sudden, they say. The men were working the mines just as usual -
and for some reason a great fire came. When it died down, the men went to work
down in the mines again - but when they came up they all had this pins and
needles.”
“Good
gracious!” said Dimmy. “Is it dangerous?”
“Oh
no, Miss,” said Brimmy. “These boys will soon get rid of it if they lie quiet
with this lotion on their limbs. But when it first came to the village it soon
attacked every man, woman and child in the place, and only when they got away
from the place did the attacks stop.”
“What
caused these attacks then?” said Dimmy, most interested.
“I
don’t rightly know,” said Brimmy. “They do say that the great fire had
something to do with it - it set loose radiations or something down in the
mine, and these seeped up into the air above, and gave the village people this
pins and needles in their limbs - a kind of tickling and prickling that drove
them nearly crazy!”
“And
so they left the village, did they?” asked Jack.
“Yes.
The place got a bad name,” said Brimmy. “No one would work the mines, and so
there was no money to be earned. In three years’ time there wasn’t a soul there
- and it’s been going to rack and ruin ever since. My, that’s over a hundred
years ago now! I remember my grandmother telling me how it all happened in her
grandad’s time. I did warn these children not to go there, Miss Dimity - but
they’re headstrong, aren’t they?”
Dimmy
wasn’t going to say anything against the five children! “Perhaps you’ll get
that lotion you kindly said you’d let us have,” she suggested. “Nora, go with
Mrs. Brimming and bring it back.”
Dimmy
thought that the three boys would be sure to make a fuss at having to go to bed
at once, but they did not. “Pins and needles can be most terribly tiring when
it doesn’t stop at all!” complained Mike, rubbing his arms hard. “It’s quite
funny when you have it for a little while - but not when you’ve got to put up
with it for hours!”
“You’re
right,” said Jack, feelingly. “It’s like hiccups - quite comical for a few
minutes, but alarming after half an hour!”
They
went up to their rooms to undress. Dimmy said she would bring the lotion as
soon as she had it. The boys opened their doors - and then stared.
Their
rooms were completely changed round, just as Dimmy’s had been! The beds were by
the window, the clothes had been taken out of the drawers and arranged on the
tops of the chests, the vase of flowers was on the floor, and their shoes were
on the window-sill.
“This
is crazy!” said Jack, staring round. A shout from Paul told him that his room
was the same. They went into the girls’ room - and that was changed round too.
“Mad!”
said Mike. “Who’s doing it? And why?”
“If
it’s the spirit of the castle, he’s been pretty busy!” said Paul.
“Stuff!”
said Jack. “This is no spirit - this is someone spiteful. But what’s the
point?”
“All
part of the Queer Happenings that the little waitress foretold, I suppose,”
said Mike, taking his shoes from the window-sill. “Look here - let’s change the
rooms round quickly and put everything tidy. Don’t let Dimmy see what’s
happened. If she gets the wind up we’ll all be taken back home - and I’m jolly
well going to find out a bit more myself.”
“Hear,
hear!” said the other two.
“Mike,
go and put the girls’ room right, I’ll do ours, and Paul can do his,” said
Jack. “Buck up! Dimmy will be here in a trice.”
They
hurried as much as their pins and needles would let them! They had got their
rooms right, and were just beginning to undress when Dimmy came in with a big
bottle of green lotion and some strips of old sheet for bandages. She looked
reproachfully at them.
“Oh!
I did think you’d all be in bed! I suppose you’ve been monkeying about, as
usual. I don’t think you’re as bad as you make out.”
“We
are,” said Mike. “Look at my leg - I’ve scratched it almost raw already! Come
on, do me first, Dimmy. I’m in bed now.”
Dimmy
put bandages soaked with the green lotion on his legs and arms, wrapping them
round loosely. Mike lay back in great relief. “That’s super! Oh, how heavenly!
That lotion feels as cold as ice. I can hardly feel the pins and needles now.”
“Mrs.
Brimming says you’ll be as right as rain in the morning,” said Dimmy. “I must
say it’s very extraordinary - the whole tale of that village is queer. In fact,
I think quite a lot of things are extraordinary here. I’ve half a mind to take
you all back home.”
Mike
sat up, shocked. “Oh no, Dimmy! Don’t be such a spoil-sport. It’s grand here.
There - you’ve made my pins and needles come back again by saying such a
worrying thing.”
“Rubbish!”
said Dimmy, and began to bandage Jack. “Lie down, Mike, I’ll leave the lotion
near you, so that when the bandages dry off, you can soak them again. Do you
want any books?”
“The
girls will get us some from the library,” said Mike, making up his mind to get
Nora and Peggy to bring up some books about the castle and the mines too, if
they could find them. “Ask Nora and Peggy to come up, will you, Dimmy?”
The
girls came up and said yes, of course they would go down to the great library
and try to find some books for the boys. So down they went. They bumped into
Edie Lots as they came to the library door. She had a duster in her hand, and
they imagined she must have been dusting the books.
She
stood with her back against the library door as they came up, her face
unsmiling.
“Oh
- er - do you mind moving, we want to go into the library,” said Peggy, seeing
that Edie was standing there for them to pass her.
Edie
stood aside and even opened the door for them. “What kind of books do you
want?” she said. “There are no books for children here.”
“Well
- we thought we’d like to read up about the old castle - and the old village,”
said Nora. “Goodness - what thousands of books there are! We’ll never be able
to find what we want here. It would be like looking for a needle in a
haystack!”
“I’ll
help you,” said Edie obligingly. “I’ve dusted these books so often I almost
know their titles by heart. You sit down there now, for a minute. I’ll get the
little ladder from the cupboard outside, so that I can climb up to the shelf
where the books are that you want.”
She
disappeared. The girls did not sit down, they began to wander round, reading
out the titles of the books at random. Nora suddenly gave a cry, and Peggy
turned round quickly. Nora had her hand to her head.
“Peggy!
You threw a book at me!” said Nora crossly. “It hit me on the head.”
“I
didn’t throw one,” said Peggy in astonishment. They bent down to pick up the
book - and immediately another crashed down beside them, hitting Peggy’s foot.
She swung round, alarmed. Where were the books coming from? Then she clutched
Nora’s arm. and pointed. High up on a shelf a book was tilting itself over -
then it seemed to spring from its place, and landed about two feet away from
the children.
“This
is just what the waitress said happened to the man who came here to see some of
the old books,” said Peggy, in a whisper. “Look out - here’s another!”
Sure
enough, yet another book tilted itself backwards, and then with a spring was
off the shelf and on the floor in a heap, lying wide open. It was near Nora and
she glanced down fearfully at it.
On
the open pages she saw a map. She picked up the book at once. A map! Would it
show the mines?
She
looked at the title. It was difficult to read because the lettering was old and
dim. “A History of Moon Castle and its Lands,” she read. “Gosh, this is just
the book we want, Peggy!”
Miss
Edie came in, carrying a small library ladder. She stopped when she saw the
books on the floor. “Now don’t you treat the books like that!” she said
angrily. “I won’t have it!”
“They
jumped off the shelves themselves,” said Nora, not expecting to be believed.
But Edie did believe her! She threw the ladder down and ran off at top speed,
looking scared out of her life! Was she pretending, or was she really scared?
She certainly looked terrified!
“Let’s
take this book to the boys and go and tell them about those jumping ones!” said
Nora. “Whatever will they say!”
SOME
EXCITING MAP-READING
The
boys were feeling very much more comfortable. As long as they kept their
bandages soaked with the green lotion they had no more pins and needles - but
if they got out of bed and walked about, then back came the prickling at once!
They
were very pleased to see the girls. Ranni had been in, and had put Paul’s bed
into the middle room with Mike and Jack, so all three were now together.
“Ha!
You’ve brought a book!” said Mike, and reached out to get it. “A history of the
castle - and its lands! Good work! This is just what we wanted. How clever of
you to find it so quickly.”
“We
didn’t find it,” said Nora. “We didn’t even look for it. It leapt straight off
a shelf and fell at our feet!”
“Don’t
be an ass,” said Mike, opening the book. “That’s only the waitress’s tale!”
“It’s
her tale, certainly - but it’s ours too,” said Peggy. “Do listen, Mike. It
really happened!”
Now
the girls had the whole attention of all three boys, of course! They listened
as the two girls told their strange little story. Then, in their turn, they
told Peggy and Nora how they had found all three rooms changed round, with
everything in a different place.
“I
can’t make out what’s happening,” said Mike. “It looks as if we’re being driven
away from here but I’m not going! I’m sticking it out till Paul’s family comes.
If things are still queer then, well, your father can go into the matter, Paul.
But I feel somehow, from what Jack overheard this morning, that it’s the next
few days that are important to somebody - Guy, perhaps - or the two men we saw
down in the mines. We just don’t know.”
They
began to discuss everything again - the Twang-Dong noises - the way the rooms
had been upset - the books flying off the shelves - the hissing noise in the
room where the musical-box was, and then Mike mentioned the gleaming eyes of
the portrait, forgetting that the girls hadn’t seen them. They listened,
finding this difficult to believe.
“It
must have been some effect of light,” said Peggy.
“It
wasn’t,” said Paul. “That room’s so dark.”
“Well,
I give it up.” said Peggy. “In fact, I give everything up. I just don’t
understand a thing. If the castle really had a spirit of its own I’d understand
what’s happened, because it might not like us, and might want us to go - but I
just can’t believe in spirits of that kind!”
“Nor
can I,” said Jack, and the others said the same, except Paul. Paul had been
brought up in far-off Baronia, a wild land of mountains and forests, where
legends were believed in, and strange things actually happened. But here - well,
here it was just impossible. And yet - what was happening then?
Mike
was looking through the book. The pages, solid with small print, were not easy
to read, so Mike was looking for maps.
He
found a section of them, unexpectedly clearly drawn. Some of them opened out
into big sheets, like motoring maps. Mike opened one and spread it out over his
bed. Paul left his bed and clambered on to Mike’s to see. Soon all the children
were poring over bits of the big map.
“It’s
the castle.” said Mike. “Here’s a plan of the downstairs floor. Let’s find our
L-shaped sitting-room.”
They
found it at last - then they found the library - the room with the musical-box
- the one with the clock like a church. They found the different staircases.
What a maze of rooms this castle possessed!
They
examined the next plan, which showed the first floor, where their own rooms
were. “Here’s our suite of rooms,” said Mike, pointing. “One - two - three -
all connected. And there’s Ranni’s room - and this must be Dimmy’s. Look - what’s
this extra door shown here - opening into Paul’s room? ls there a door there -
look, it would be in the wall on the right-hand side of your bed, Paul. Did you
notice a door there? I didn’t.”
“I’ll
go and see,” said Paul, and leapt off the bed. He took a few steps and then
hobbled back again. “Oooh, my pins and needles!” he said. “As soon as I take a
step or two they come back worse than ever. Peggy, you go and look. I’m sure
there isn’t a door. I’d have noticed it, I know.”
Peggy
and Nora went off to Paul’s room at once and looked at the right-hand wall. No
- there was no door there. The room was panelled all round, but, except for the
door that led out to the corridor and the one that led into the middle room of
the suite, there was no other door to be seen.
“No
door,” they reported when they came back. “Either it’s a mistake on the map, or
else there was once a door and it’s been removed and the wall panelled over.”
“Where
did the extra door once lead to?” asked Jack with interest. “Let me see now - if
it had been in the right-hand wall of Paul’s room, it would have led into that
blue bathroom next to it, wouldn’t it? Well, I suppose there wouldn’t have been
a bathroom there in the old days - so I daresay when the bathroom was built,
the old door was done away with.”
“You
mean, the door just led into the room that was there before the bathroom?” said
Peggy. “Let’s have another look. It’s marked with a T. I wonder why.”
“Let
me fold this map up,” said Mike impatiently. “Take your hand off, Peggy. I’ll
shake out the next map.”
He
shook it out, and there was an excited exclamation at once. “It’s the tower! A
map of the old tower!”
So
it was. The children pored over it with great interest. The tower was shown in
a diagram, as if it were cut in half from top to bottom, and the children could
quite clearly see how it was built, and could imagine what it was like inside.
“There’s
the door at the bottom - the one that’s locked,” said Mike, pointing. “Then the
stone stairway is shown - quite big, really - then the room on the first floor,
look - how queer, it’s quite round. I wonder how big it looks in reality? It
looks fairly small here. Then up goes the staircase again, from just outside
the room - it gets wider above and then narrows again to the second-storey
room.”
“I
rather imagined the tower was like that inside,” said Paul. “It’s a bit like
one we have in a castle in Baronia. Look - up go the stairs to the third-floor
room, and up again to the roof. What a view there would be from there!”
“These
square marks in each room must be the fireplaces,” said Mike, pointing. “And
this line must be the chimney, connecting all the fireplaces, and leading the
smoke somewhere out at the top.”
Nora
put her finger on a small door-shaped drawing shown in the fireplace on the
second floor.
“What’s
that?” she said. “It can’t be the door that shuts off the staircase outside the
room, because that’s shown here, look. And yet it looks like a door. What’s
that mark on it?”
“It
looks like a letter T,” said Jack.
That
rang a bell in Peggy’s mind at once. “T! Well, that secret door in Paul’s room
- the one we couldn’t find - was marked with T too, when it was shown on the
other map,” she said. “T - T for Tower perhaps.”
“Why
should a door leading off Paul’s room be marked with T for Tower?” said Mike
scornfully.
“Well
- it might have been a door that at one time led to the tower,” said Peggy,
sticking up for herself. “I mean - there might have been a passage from this
suite to the tower at some time - the tower isn’t so very far from this suite
of rooms!”
Mike
looked at her, thinking hard. “You know - she might be right,” he said to the
others. “Wait now - let’s see the other maps.”
There
were no other big maps, except one for the attics, which was not very
interesting. But there was a curious little map, marked ALL COMMUNICATIONS,
which puzzled the children for some time.
“‘All
communications’ - that might mean such things as stairways, passages, corridors
and so on, connecting one part of the castle to the other,” said Mike. “This is
rather a muddled map if it means those though. I can’t make out any of the
staircases, for instance.”
“Communications
might mean secret ways,” said Paul suddenly. “All old castles have secret ways
and secret doors. Ours has in Baronia. They were once used for all kinds of
things - hiding-places - escape routes, ways to get in by when the castle was
surrounded by enemies. I expect Moon Castle has got its own secret
communications too!”
“You’re
probably right,” said Mike, looking suddenly excited. He pored over the map
again, and then traced a curving line with his finger. “This line is marked
with T at this end - and T at the other,” he said. “It might be showing the two
doors and the connecting passage between Paul’s room and the tower. I say!
Wouldn’t it be super if we could find a secret way into the tower?”
There
was a hush of excitement, and then Paul pounded on the bed. “We must find it!
We must! We could creep in on Guy then, and see what he is doing. We must find
it!”
“Well
- look at this,” said Mike, pointing to the map again. “It looks as if the
passage from that secret door in Paul’s room leads inside the walls somewhere,
and then comes out to another door - or perhaps an opening of some kind -
inside the chimney of one of the tower rooms. What does everybody think?”
Everybody
was only too anxious to think that Jack was right!
“I
know how we can tell if we’re right,” said Mike. “We could measure the width
inside of Paul’s room, and the width of the bathroom, and see what they come
to, together - and then we could measure the walls of both, outside, in the
corridor - and if that measurement is bigger than our first one, we’ll know it
includes a secret passage in between the two rooms!”
“Gosh
- what a super idea!” said Peggy. “I’ll get a tape-measure out of my
work-basket this very minute!”
She
soon found one, and she and Nora measured Paul’s room from wall to wall -
exactly fourteen feet. Nora popped her head into Mike’s room. “Fourteen feet
exactly,” she said. “Now we’re going ta measure the bathroom.”
They
measured it carefully, and came back to report. “Eight feet,” said Nora. “Eight
and fourteen make twenty-two. Now we’ll measure the walls outside the rooms, in
the corridor, and see what we make the length there.”
Carefully
they measured the walls that stretched along the corridor, outside Paul’s room
and then the bathroom. They counted in excitement - and then raced back into
Mike’s room.
“The
measurements are different! The inner walls measure twenty-two feet - but the
outer ones measure twenty-four! What do you think of that?”
Mike
looked excited. “Two feet missing! Just the width for a secret passage. Good
work, girls. There is a passage that starts somewhere in Paul’s room, goes
between his room and the bathroom - and then curves away behind walls to the
tower!”
“Shall
we go and find the secret door now?” said Paul excitedly, and leapt out of bed
again. But he was soon back groaning. The boys had forgotten to soak their
bandages when they had got dry, and now their pins and needles were coming back
badly. Poor Paul had started his up again at once by jumping out of bed.
“We’ll
have to leave the secret door for tonight,” said Mike dolefully. “No, Peggy -
you’re not going to look for secret doors without us, so don’t think it. It’ll
be something to do tomorrow. My word - we’ll have some fun!”
IN
THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
All
the five children felt really excited that night when bedtime came. Nobody
could sleep. As for Paul, he tossed and turned, wondering where in the world
the secret door could be in his room - if there still was one!
“But
there must be!” he thought. “Because we know there is a space in the walls
between this room and the bathroom next door.”
He
had, of course, not been able to stop himself from tapping his wall, and
banging it here and there to see if there was a door in the panelling! It
certainly sounded hollow - there was no doubt about that!
He
had to get into bed before he had really examined the right-hand wall properly,
because his pins and needles came back again with a rush. Mike heard the
tapping and called from the next room.
“Paul!
No probing about for that secret door now! You just wait till everybody can
hunt for it!”
“Right!”
said Paul, safely in bed, stretching his tingling legs out straight and rubbing
his arms. Ranni had moved his bed back into his room again, though Paul had
wanted to stay in Mike’s room for the night.
“I
shall come in two or three times, little master, to see that you are all
right,” said big Ranni, who had been most concerned about Paul’s legs. “Do not
be frightened if you see me standing by you.”
“I
wish you wouldn’t fuss so, Ranni,” said Paul. But it was of no use to say that.
Paul had been put into Ranni’s care, and the big Baronian was by his side as
much as possible.
Everyone
went to sleep at last, the girls first, because they had no pins and needles to
bother them. Paul tossed and turned for some time and then he too went to
sleep.
He
woke very suddenly, some hours later, and sat up wondering what had awakened
him. In his dreams he thought he had heard a loud click.
He
saw a dark figure over by the window, and lay down again. “Bother you, Ranni,”
he murmured. “You woke me up!” He lay watching Ranni, and then his eyes began
to close. He wondered if Ranni would come and fuss him about his bandages, and
decided to pretend to be asleep.
He
heard no further sound for a minute or two and then opened his eyes again. He
could not see anyone now - perhaps Ranni had gone. Good!
Another
loud click made him open sleepy eyes again - that must be Ranni going out of
the room. He thought he saw a shadow moving high up on the wall, and tried to
wake himself up enough to see more clearly. No - he couldn’t - he was too
sleepy. Clicks and shadows and Ranni all merged together into a muddled dream.
He
didn’t hear low voices in the next room. It was Mike and Jack talking. They too
had awakened suddenly, though they didn’t know why. Mike thought he heard a
sound in the room, and strained his eyes to see where it came from. The room
appeared to be very dark indeed - not the slightest light came from the window,
and Mike couldn’t see even one star in the sky.
Jack
spoke in a low voice. “You awake, Mike? How are your pins and needles?”
“Not
too good,” said Mike. “I’m awfully sleepy and I don’t want to get out of bed -
but I simply must get that lotion and soak my bandages again.”
“Yes,
I must too,” said Jack. “Blow these pins and needles. It’s most peculiar to get
them like this, just because we went down those mines.”
There
was a creaking of the two beds as the boys sat up. Mike felt for the torch he
always had by his bedside. He couldn’t find it.
“Put
your torch on,” he said to Jack. “I can’t find mine.”
“Right,”
said Jack, and fumbled about for it. But he couldn’t find his either! “Where on
earth did I put it?” he grumbled. “Oh for an electric-light switch to put on!
Living in a castle is great, but I do miss ordinary things like electric light.
Where’s my torch?”
“It’s
most awfully dark tonight!” said Mike. “Surprising, really, because when we
went to sleep it was such a starry night - no moon, but millions of stars. It
must have clouded up.”
Jack
got out of bed, determined to find his torch. “I may have left it on the
window-sill,” he said. “Ooooh - my pins and needles!”
He
went towards the window and fumbled for the window-sill. He couldn’t find it!
Something thick and soft and heavy hung over it.
“I
say!” said Jack suddenly, “who’s pulled the curtains over our windows? No
wonder we couldn’t see a thing! Those great heavy curtains are pulled across,
making the room as black as pitch and frightfully stuffy. No wonder I was so
hot in bed!”
“Well,
I didn’t pull them!” said Mike. “You know I hate sleeping with a shut window or
pulled curtains. I suppose Dimmy came in and did that.”
“But
whatever for?” said Jack. “She’s just the one that’s all against it! We’ll, I’m
going to pull them back again and get a bit of air. I bet it’s a beautiful
starry night.”
There
was a soft rattle of curtain rings as the heavy curtains were pulled across the
window. Jack leaned out, taking deep breaths of the warm night-air. The sky was
full of stars.
“That’s
better,” said Mike, getting out of bed. “I can breathe now. Why, the room’s
quite light, there are so many stars!”
He
leaned out of the window with Jack. It was really a beautiful night. The boys
soon felt, however, that they must get some more lotion on their bandages - the
pins and needles were beginning to prickle unbearably! They turned to find the
bottle.
“We
can see by the starlight, really,” said Jack. “But I do wish I could find my
torch. I know I put it by my bed!”
They
got the sponge, soaked it with the lotion, and dabbed the sponge over their
bandages. “That’s better already,” said Jack.
They
went to the window for one last look out at the lovely night. Both boys at once
saw something that made them stare and draw in their breath quickly.
“Look!
What is it!” said Jack, startled.
“A
light - a sort of glow - shimmering over the ruined village!” said Mike,
amazed. “What colour is it? It’s the same colour as that little heap of stuff
we saw that the men swept up after the roaring fire!”
“Yes,”
said Jack, his eyes on the soft, shimmering haze that hung over the rooftops of
the village far below. “My word - this is really very peculiar, Jack. What is
going on here and down in those mines? I’m sure it’s something that man Guy is
mixed up in.”
“Some
experiment, perhaps,” said Mike. “If so, that’s the reason why he doesn’t like
people renting the castle or even coming to look over it. And now that he knows
the Baronians are coming here in a few days, he’s got to finish up whatever
this experiment is, and clear out. No wonder he’s angry!”
The
strangely coloured haze began to fade, though it still shimmered beautifully.
The boys watched till it completely disappeared. “What a sight!” said Mike,
going back to bed. “I bet Guy would be annoyed if he thought we’d seen that!
It’s a thing he can’t hide - something that would make people enquire into it
if they saw it - and then his little experiments, or whatever they are, would
be found out!”
“Gosh
- of course - he didn’t want us to see it!” said Jack. “That’s why the curtains
were drawn across the window, so that if we woke we shouldn’t see a thing!
That’s why our torches are gone, so that if we woke we couldn’t put them on and
discover the curtains blocking out the light!”
“Well,
of all the cheek!” said Mike, sitting up indignantly in bed. “Coming in here -
drawing our curtains - hiding our torches! I say - do you suppose he did the
same in the girls’ room - and Paul’s?”
“I
bet he did,” said Jack. “I’m going to look.” He soon reported that Mike was
right. The curtains had been carefully pulled across in each room! “I’ve
dragged them back again,” said Jack. “I expect you heard me. What’s he done
with our precious torches? If he’s taken them away with him I shall be wild!”
“Well
- we’ve seen what he didn’t mean us to see,” said Mike, pleased. “We’re one up
on him! I say - he must be quite scared of us, mustn’t he - trying to stop us
discovering what he’s up to!”
“He
knows we’re snooping round,” said Jack, getting into bed and lying down. “He
must have found that rug we put against the tower door to see if he came in and
out - he saw we’d moved the chest there, when he put it to hide the tower
door.”
“Fancy
him daring to come along here in the middle of the night, and take our torches
and draw our curtains,” said Mike. “He would have to pass Ranni’s door - and
Ranni sleeps like a dog, with one ear always open.”
“He
may have come through that secret door - the one we haven’t found yet,” said
Jack, sitting up straight again. “Down the secret passage, straight from the
tower! He wouldn’t need to pass anyone’s door then - or bump into anybody. I
bet that’s what he did!”
“Gosh!
I shall never get to sleep tonight now,” said Mike. “What a place this is!
Twang-dongs, breaking vases, jumping books, gleaming eyes, secret doors,
peculiar mines - well, we’ve had a good many adventures, Jack - but this beats
the lot!”
“And
we’re only just in the middle of it so far,” said Jack. “Come on - we really
must go to sleep, Mike. We must find that secret door in Paul’s room tomorrow.
It will be very, very well-hidden, I’m sure - but we’ll find it!”
They
settled themselves down to sleep. Their pins and needles had subsided again.
They lay and looked through the uncurtained window into the starry sky,
puzzling out this and that, feeling little surges of excitement now and again.
They
went to sleep at last, and woke late in the morning. The girls were already up
and about. Peggy heard Jack speaking to Mike and went in. “Hallo,
sleepy-heads!” she said. “We’re just going down to breakfast. How are your
legs?”
“Well
- they feel absolutely all right,” said Jack, getting out of bed and trying
them. “Not a twinge! Not a pin, not a needle! Good!”
“Then
you don’t want to stay in bed for the day or anything?” said Nora, pleased.
“Good
gracious, no!” said Mike, leaping out too. “We’re quite all right. I say -
anyone lost their torches?”
“Yes,”
said Peggy and Nora together. “Ours have both gone. We thought you’d borrowed
them.”
Paul
poked his head in at the door. “Are your legs all right?” he asked. “Mine are.
Did I hear someone ask about torches? Mine’s gone too!”
“Blow!”
said Mike. “Not one of us has got a torch then. All right, girls, don’t look so
puzzled. Jack and I have got a bit of news for you - something that happened in
the night, while you were snoring your heads off! We’re in the very middle of
an adventure - the strangest one we’ve ever had. Just wait till Jack and I are
dressed, and we’ll tell you all about it - and we’ll have to Make Plans. Aha,
Plans! We’re going to be very, very busy today!”
WHERE
IS THE SECRET DOOR?
Dimmy
was pleased to find that the boys’ legs and arms were better. She told Brimmy
so when she and Edie Lots came to collect the breakfast trays.
“That
lotion is very good,” she said. “I’ve never heard of anyone keeping a lotion
for pins and needles before! How did you hear of it? Do you suffer from pins
and needles yourself?”
“No.
But my son does,” said Brimmy, and Mike nudged Jack at once. “I bet he does,”
he said, in a low voice, and Jack grinned. “I bet he gets it every time he goes
down those mines!”
“It’s
a pity it’s raining,” went on Brimmy. “It’ll keep the children in.”
“We’ve
got plenty to do,” said Jack at once, and winked at the others. They laughed.
They knew what Jack’s wink meant - they were going to hunt for that secret door
in Paul’s room. The girls and Paul had now heard of all the happenings of the
night before, and were feeling very thrilled.
“Where
are you going to play?” Dimmy asked the children after breakfast. “You can be
in here, if you like, now the breakfast is cleared.”
“Well
- we rather thought we’d go up to our suite of rooms and look for something
we’ve lost,” said Jack. “So you can sew here in peace, Dimmy. Anyway, we’ve got
a game or two up there, so there’s no need to disturb you with our shouts and
yells!”
“You
don’t disturb me,” said Dimmy. “But if you want to go up to your rooms, you
can. But wait till they are dusted and cleaned. And by the way, you must put
that book back into the library that you borrowed last night.”
“Oh
yes - I’ll fetch it now,” said Jack. “You four go and wait for me in the
library.” He sped off, and the others went to the library.
“I
hope some books do a bit of jumping,” said Nora, She looked up at the shelves.
“Books - we’re here!”
But,
most disappointingly, nothing happened. The books that had fallen out the day
before had been picked up and put away in their places. Only one gap showed in
the shelves, and that was where the History of Moon Castle had leapt from!
Jack
came in with the big book. He shut the door and looked round the room. “Any
circus performance yet?” he said. The girls shook their heads.
“No.
Most boring,” said Nora. “The books are behaving just like books!”
There
came a knock at the door. “Come in!” said Jack. The door opened and Edie Lots
looked in. “I thought I heard you,” she said. “Will you please not throw the
books about as you did yesterday. Some are very valuable.”
“We
didn’t throw them, you know we didn’t,” said Nora. “We told you what happened
and you rushed off looking scared!”
Edie
said nothing to that. She noticed the big book in Jack’s hand. “Oh, you’ve come
to put that back,” she said. “I’ll fetch the ladder for you - it belongs to
that high shelf there.”
She
went off and in a minute or two came back with the ladder. She set it up
against the shelves, and then went out again.
“She’s
a misery,” said Mike. “I don’t like her. I don’t like any of them much. Well -
does anyone want to have a squint at this book again before I put it back?”
“Let’s
not talk too loud,” said Peggy, suddenly. “I have a feeling that Edie may be
listening at the door. I’d like to have one more look at the book - where that
secret passage to the tower is.” She dropped her voice at the last words, so
that no eavesdropper could hear her.
They
all pored over the maps once again. “It’s a pity it doesn’t show the mines
too,” said Jack. “I’d like a book about those mines.”
CRASH!
They all jumped. A book lay near them, half-open, on its face. “Welcome, dear
book!” said Jack. “Are you by any chance a book about the mines?”
He
picked it up - but it wasn’t. It was called Rolland, the Duke of Barlingford. A
History of his Horses.
“Sorry,
Duke Rolland,” said Jack, “but your horses don’t really interest me. Nice of
you to throw yourself at my head, though!”
“Jack-
look,” whispered Mike, and Jack turned quickly. He saw that Mike and the others
were staring at a picture over the mantelpiece. It was swinging slowly to and
fro! It was a dark picture, of mountains and hills, of no interest at all -
except that it was swinging to and fro like a pendulum!
Jack
walked up to it and took hold of it. It stopped swinging immediately.
“I
don’t like it,” said Nora. “It’s worse than jumping books!”
THUD!
CRASH!
The
children swung round. Two more books lay on the ground - and then Jack caught
sight of another one tilting up on the shelf. Over it went and down it came!
He
took the ladder, put it below the shelf where the book had fallen from, and
climbed up. He could see nothing that could cause the books to jump out.
“All
the books have come from the same side of the room, and from the same
shelf-level,” said Paul. ’That’s queer, isn’t it? Oh my goodness, there goes
the picture again’”
Sure
enough it had begun to swing, though more slowly than before. Jack stood an the
ladder and watched it. What was the point of all these silly happenings? “Throw
the books back to me,” he said to Mike. “I’ll put them in their places.”
He
put the last one in its place, and climbed down again, expecting more to fall
out immediately.
“Let’s
get out of here,” said Nora. “I really don’t like all these happenings.”
“Come
on then - we’ll go upstairs. Our rooms will be done by now, I expect,” said
Mike. So they left the library and went up to their suite of rooms. Mrs.
Brimming was just coming out of them with a duster and a brush and pan.
“I’ve
finished them.” she said. “Now I’m going to do Miss Dimity’s.”
The
five children went into the rooms. Jack locked the outer doors of all three
rooms. “If we’re going to hunt for a secret door, we don’t want anyone bursting
in just as we’ve found it!” he said.
They
all felt excited. They went into Paul’s room and looked at the right-hand wall.
It was panelled from floor to ceiling. At first sight it seemed impossible that
there should be a door at all.
“I
wonder you didn’t hear the fellow coming through the secret door into your room
last night,” said Jack to Paul.
“Well
- I did hear a click once or twice,” said Paul. “But I thought it was Ranni
coming into my room and going out again. He stood over there by the window - I
saw his outline.”
Jack
thought for a moment. “Well, perhaps that was Ranni, Paul. The man who came in
by the secret door drew all our curtains across the window, as you know - so
you wouldn’t have been able to see his outline there, if the curtains were
drawn. The man must have come after Ranni had been.”
“Or
else Paul saw him by the window just before he drew the curtains,” said Nora.
Jack nodded.
“Yes
- that might be,” he said. “Now come on - let’s find this door. And mind - we
don’t give up till we’ve got it.”
They
each went to a portion of the right-hand wall, and began to search the
panelling carefully. They pushed this panel and that. They pressed, they
tapped. They leaned against the panels, they tried to shove them sideways.
“Well
- we’re not very successful,” said Jack, at last. “I’ve examined my portion of
the wall as high as six feet - but as far as I can see it’s all ordinary
panelling - no secrets anywhere. Let’s change over places and try our hands at
each other’s bits of wall.”
So
they changed places, and began all over again. What a probing and tapping and
pressing there was! The smallest knot of wood was examined, the tiniest crack!
In
the middle of it all somebody tried the handle of the boys’ door, and then
tapped sharply on it. The five children, intent on their search, jumped in
fright.
But
it was only Dimmy, bringing up biscuits and plums for their lunch. She was
cross because the door was locked. Peggy flew to open it.
“What
do you want to lock this door for?” demanded Dimmy.
“To
keep out Brimmy and the Lots,” said Jack, truthfully. “They’re always snooping
about. Oh thanks, Dimmy. You’re a brick - chocolate biscuits and plums - I
could do with those.”
Dimmy
went, and the children took a rest from their labours and ate all the biscuits
and the plums, sitting on Mike’s bed. They were very disappointed.
“We’ve
been over an hour looking for that wretched door,” said Jack. “We know it must
be there! It’s pretty certain our night-visitor came through it from the tower
passage. Why can’t we find it then?”
“We’ll
try again,” said Mike. He hated giving up anything. “Come on. I bet we’ll find
it this time.”
But
they did not. They had to give it up at last. “There’s not a single inch we
haven’t examined,” said Jack, with a groan. “It’s beaten us. I really don’t
feel that I can possibly look panelling in the face again - I’m fed up with
it!”
Everyone
was. “Let’s go out,” said Nora. “It’s stopped raining, and the sun’s out. I
hope to goodness nobody comes along while we’re out and changes our rooms round
again. That’s such a silly trick.”
“We’ll
lock the doors,” said Jack, “and take the keys with us.”
So
when they left their rooms they locked each of the three corridor doors, though
they left the ones connecting them wide open. Off they went into the sunshine,
and wandered all round the enormous castle, exploring it thoroughly from the
outside.
“It’s
almost lunch-time,” said Nora, at last. “We must go in. Gosh, I’m filthy! Let’s
go straight up and wash, as soon as we get in. Dimmy will have a fit if she
sees us like this.”
They
went up the stairs and came to their rooms. Jack took the keys out of his
pocket. He unlocked the girls’ room door and they all went in.
“Everything’s
all right,” said Jack, pleased. “No change-round this time. Whoever the joker
is, he or she couldn’t get in today, because the doors were all locked. Good!”
“Look
- my torch is back!” said Nora suddenly, pointing to the table beside her bed.
“So is Peggy’s.”
“So’s
mine!” said Mike, running into the middle room, “and Jack’s. But - the doors
were all locked, weren’t they?”
“They
were,” said Jack. “So - whoever brought back the torches came through the
secret door - the one we couldn’t find. There’s no other way in. It is there!
It is! And he came through it. Oh, why can’t we find it? Paul - can’t you think
of anything that might help? You’re the one that heard the clicks, and saw a
man. Think hard - tell us everything you heard or saw.”
“I
have,” said Paul, frowning hard, trying to remember the least detail. “I just
remember a last click, that I thought was Ranni going out of the room - and a
sort of shadow high up on the wall - and -”
“A
shadow! High up on the wall! That’s it, that’s it!” cried Jack, his eyes
shining. ‘This entrance must be high up, of course - higher than we looked -
that shadow must have been the secret visitor going back through the door - but
a door that is set high up in the wall! We’ll find it now - we will!”
A
STRANGE NIGHT JOURNEY
The
children could not stop then and there to look for the door, because it was
past their lunch-time already. Dimmy would be coming to look for them, not at
all pleased. In excitement they flew into the bathroom, washed their hands, and
then rushed back to brush their hair.
Downstairs
they went, to find Dimmy just about to set out to fetch them, looking most
annoyed. Peggy caught her round the waist and gave her a sudden hug, which
stopped Dimmy’s scolding at once. She couldn’t help laughing, as Peggy nearly
swung her over.
“Don’t
be so violent,” she said. “And please set the table quickly. The meal has been
here for ten minutes.”
All
the children longed to discuss the secret door, and longed even more to set to
work and find it, but, of course, they did not want to discuss it in front of
Dimmy. They would have to answer so many, many questiens if they did. It was
their secret, and they hugged it to themselves all lunch-time.
“I’ve
told Ranni to be here with the car at two o’clock,” said Dimmy, dropping a
sudden bombshell. “Mrs. Brimming has told me of a glorious bathing-pool about
six miles from here, and, as it’s so very hot today, I thought you would all
enjoy a really good bathe. We’re taking our tea with us, and our supper too!”
To
her great surprise nobody seemed at all pleased. She did not know their
tremendous impatience to get back to hunting for the secret door, now that they
thought they knew where it was! She looked round, surprised at the lack of
excitement.
“Don’t
you want to go?” she said. “What funny children you are! I thought you’d love
it. I suppose you had made other plans. Well, never mind, your plans can wait
till tomorrow. I’ve ordered the picnic tea and supper now. Fetch your
bathing-things quickly after lunch, because I don’t want to keep Ranni
waiting.”
Jack
saw that Dimmy was disappointed because they didn’t seem pleased. He was
kind-hearted enough to pretend that he was thrilled, and he kicked the others
under the table to make them follow his lead.
They
played up valiantly, and soon Dimmy was thinking that she had been mistaken -
the children really did want to go! Actually, when they went to fetch their
bathing-things, they began to feel excited about the unexpected treat. A bathe
would be heavenly this hot weather - and a picnic tea and supper would be
heavenly too!
“The
secret door won’t run away,” Jack said. “It will still be there, waiting for us
this evening. We’ll find it all right, now we are sure it’s higher up in the
panelling than we searched. I never thought of that. Let’s enjoy ourselves, and
look forward to a good hunt this evening!”
So
they went off happily, and had a really wonderful time, bathing in a pool as
blue as forget-me-nots, lying to dry themselves in the hot sun, and then
bathing again and again. The picnic was better than they had hoped - and as for
the supper, even Dimmy was amazed to see what Mrs. Brimming had provided. They
all enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
They
were very tired when they got back. They had done so much swimming that their
arms and legs ached all over! “You must go straight to bed,” said Dimmy, seeing
them yawn one after another. “You’ve had a lovely day - so have I - and we’re all
burnt a deeper brown than ever!”
They
said good night to Dimmy and went upstairs. Their enthusiasm for the secret
door was not quite so high as it had been. In fact, only Jack and Mike seemed
able to hunt for it!
“We’ll
get into bed,” said Peggy. “Nora and I can hardly stand. Do you mind looking
for the door by yourselves, you and Mike, Jack? I’m sure Paul won’t want to
stand on chairs with you and tap the walls above his head! He can hardly keep
awake.”
“You
get into bed, and Paul too - and Mike and I will tell you as soon as we’ve
spotted the door,” said Jack. “Good thing we’ve got our torches back. We can
see what we’re doing now.”
The
girls got into bed - and so did Paul, although he felt he really ought to go
and help the two boys. He lay and watched them put chairs against the wall, and
then, quite suddenly, fell fast asleep.
“Blow,”
said Jack, looking at him. “I meant to have asked him if there was a chair
standing close to the wall when he woke up this morning; because it seems to me
that whoever climbed back through the high-up door would certainly have to have
a chair to stand on!”
“Yes,
you’re right,” said Mike. “I remember seeing one, Jack - just about here, it
was! Let’s stand on one here and see if there’s anything queer high up on the panelling
above.”
They
put one of Paul’s chairs in the place Mike pointed out, and Jack stood on it.
He felt round the panelling there, and was lucky, almost at once!
“I’ve
got something!” he said, in a low, excited voice. “A knob! I’m pressing it -
gosh, this whole big panel is moving!”
Mike
shone his torch up from below, his heart beating in excitement. Yes - a big
panel had moved with a loud click to one side, and a dark gap showed in the
wall. They had found the secret door! What a well-hidden one! Who would think
of looking high up in the panelling for an entrance?
“Mike!
See if the girls are awake,” said Jack. “We’ll tell them. Don’t wake Paul. He’s
absolutely sound asleep. We’d have to yell the place down to wake him.”
Mike
went into the girls’ room with his torch and came back immediately. “Sound
asleep too,” he reported. “I shook Nora, but she didn’t even stir! We’d better
go exploring alone, Jack. Anyway, it’s probably better there should be only the
two of us!”
“Right.”
said Jack. “I think we’d better get a couple of our suit-cases to put on this
chair, to stand on. I don’t see how we can climb into this hole unless we get a
bit nearer to it!”
Mike
fetched two suit-cases and put them on the chair. It was easy to clamber into
the hole then! Jack went first, making quite a noise, but Paul didn’t even
move!
“There
are steps this other side,” said Jack, feeling with his foot. “That’s good!
Pass me my torch, Mike. I’ve left it down there.”
Mike
passed it to him and Jack shone it into the passage. “Yes - it’s a proper
passage,” he said. “About eighteen inches wide. I’ll go down the steps. You get
through and follow.”
Mike
clambered through the queer high-up door, and followed Jack down the steps into
the passage. The steps were more like a ladder clamped to the wall, but were
quite easy to get down.
Now
the two boys stood one behind the other in the passage. They both felt
exultant. They had found the way! Now where would this lead to? To a chimney of
the tower? And if so, what would they find there? A way out into a room? And
who would be in the room?
They
began to make their way along the passage. It was hot and stuffy. It ran
straight for a little way and then bent sharply to the right. “I think we’re
walking behind the walls of some of the rooms on this floor,” said Jack.
“Hallo, we go downwards here - there’s a slope.”
They
went downwards, and then very sharply upwards. The passage wound in and out,
just as had been shown on the plan. And then, quite abruptly, it stopped!
It
came to an end against a stone wall. Up the wall some iron staples were set,
evidently meant for climbing. “We go up here,” said Jack, in a low voice,
flashing his torch upwards.
They
went up a little distance and then Jack stopped. “Can’t go any farther up,” he
said. “There’s a stone roof. But there’s a grille or something here, just at
the side of the iron staples. It’s got a kind of handle. I’ll pull it back. I
hope it doesn’t make a noise!”
He
pulled it slowly back. It made not the slightest sound, and Jack guessed that
it was well oiled. No doubt this was the way that the night-visitor used
whenever he wanted to visit the three-room suite, or any other of the rooms on
that floor, for any purpose!
Jack
looked through the opening left by the sliding grille. He could see nothing but
utter blackness. Was he looking into the chimney-piece of the room in the
tower, which had been marked with a T door on the map? He must be! He listened.
He could not hear a sound nor see a light.
“I’m
climbing through the opening,” he whispered to Mike, below him. “I think it’s
safe. Stay there till you hear a low whistle, then come up.”
Jack
climbed through the opening and felt about for some way to get down. His feet
found some stone ledges, and he stepped down cautiously, not daring to put his
torch on yet. He put out his hands and touched cold stone in front of him, at
the back of him and at the sides! He decided to flick his torch on and off
quickly.
When
he did so he saw at once that he was standing upright in a big chimney, his
feet in the empty stone fireplace. He had only to bend down, walk forward, and
he would be out in one of the tower rooms!
He
bent down. There was pitch darkness in the room, but in a short time Jack made
out a small strip of starry sky! He knew he was looking at one of the narrow
tower windows, with the stars shining through it.
He
gave a low whistle, and heard the sounds of Mike climbing up, then scrambling
through the grille and down the stone ledges. Soon the two boys stood together
in the dark room. Jack switched on his torch. The room was a sitting-room -
very comfortably furnished indeed. Nobody was there.
“What
a lot of armchairs!” whispered Jack. “Guy believes, in making himself
comfortable. What do we do now?”
“Find
the stone tower-stairway and go up it,” whispered back Mike. “There are more
rooms above. We know that from the map. Come on. The stairway will be outside
that door over there.”
They
went carefully to the door and opened it. Outside was a dim light, evidently
for lighting the stairway. Jack opened the window of the lantern in which the
light shone, and blew out the candle there! “We shan’t run so much risk of
being spotted if we go up in the dark,” he whispered. “Be careful, now. We
don’t know what we might come up against!”
They
went silently up the stone steps in their rubber shoes. The stairway appeared
to wind round and round the inside of the tower walls. They came to a door,
which was a little ajar. The room beyond was in darkness.
Jack
listened but could hear nothing. He pushed the door open, and looked in. He was
sure nobody was there. He flashed on his torch quickly, and stared in
astonishment.
“A
bedroom!” he whispered to Mike. “But look at the beds - heaps of them! Whoever
lives up here? Goodness, it isn’t only that Guy fellow - it’s a whole lot of
people. What can they be doing in this tower?”
“There’s
another room above this,” whispered Mike, whose heart was thumping like a
piston. “Perhaps something will be going on there.”
They
left the bedroom and went up the stone stairs again. Before they came to the
next door, they heard loud voices!
They
stopped at once, and pressed close together, hardly breathing. Some kind of
quarrel was going on in that top room of the tower.
There
were angry shouts in a foreign language. Then came the sound af something being
flung over - a table perhaps?
“Who
are they?” whispered Jack. “There sounds to be quite a lot. I vote we creep up
and listen! Come on!”
A
TRULY ADVENTUROUS TIME
The
two boys crept up the few remaining stone steps and came to another door which,
like the rest, was a little ajar. There was a small platform outside this door,
and from it a narrower stairway led upwards.
Jack
put his mouth to Mike’s ear. “We’ll scoot up these steps if anyone comes
rushing out. They’re not likely to think there’s anyone up there at this time
of night. I expect it only leads to the roof of the tower.”
Mike
nodded. He set his eye to the crack of the door, and so did Jack. The crack was
wide and gave the boys a very good view of the whole room. They were astonished
to see so many men.
Half
of them were in the curious garb that the boys had seen being worn by the
figures in the mine. Their heads were hidden in a hood which had eye-holes
covered by some stiff, transparent material. Jack thought it was a kind of
mica, which resisted heat.
The
other half were in ordinary clothes, but wore overalls over them. Jack gave
Mike a nudge as he recognized Guy in overalls. There was no mistaking that ugly
face with its fierce eyes!
It
was plain that everyone was angry with Guy. They shouted at him in strange
tongues. They shook their fists and threatened him. He stood there, glowering.
“You
told us we were safe here, and could do our work in secret. You told us no one
ever came to this castle, or to the mines. And now, before our work is
finished, you say we have to clear out of this tower!”
Someone
yelled something in a foreign language and Guy scowled.
“I’ve
told you it’s no fault of mine,” he said. “We’ve been here, unseen, for nearly
two years now - thanks to the help my mother and aunts have given me - ever
since I first discovered the priceless metal in that old mine. I put you on to
it, didn’t I? I’ve helped you with my knowledge. But I tell you, if we stay
here in this tower now, everything will be disoovered. The place has been let -
and the tower has got to be opened.”
More
yells. Then a quiet-looking man spoke up. “What you suggest, then, is that you
take the stuff that is ready, and hide it away. And we leave this tower and go
to live down in the mines, working there till the castle is empty of its
tenants, and we can come back again and live in the tower while we finish our
work?”
“Yes.
And that’s the only sensible thing to do,” said Guy. “You know that. Lord Moon
owns the castle - and the mines and everything in them, valuable or not. He
thinks they are only tin mines - we know better. Because of that strange fire
years ago, which drove the miners away and gave them that curious tingling
disease, a new metal was formed. We’ve called it ‘Stellastepheny’, and it’s
going to be one of the most powerful and valuable in the world...”
More
shouts, and someone pounded on a table.
“And
you want us to let you go off and sell it, while we go down and live in the
mines!” shouted one of the men in the hoods. “We don’t trust you, Guy Brimming.
We never did. You’re not straight.”
Guy
looked round at them bitterly. “Not straight? And which of you is straight? Not
one! Well, either you trust me, and we save something out of this - or you
don’t trust me, and all our work goes west.”
There
was a heated discussion in all kinds of languages. Then the quiet-spoken man
gave the verdict.
“All
right. We have to trust you. Let’s finish the last lot of stuff, and you can
take it with the other. Then we’ll take the secret way to the mines and stay
there, at work, till we hear from you that things are safe. We’ve plenty of
food down there.”
“You’re
wise.” said Guy, his face surly and unpleasant. “Get cracking, then. I want to
go tonight. I’d hoped to scare away the fools who want the castle - but they
won’t be scared. I daren’t stay any longer.”
“Right,”
said the quiet man. “We’ll finish off this last lot of stuff, and you can take
it and go. Then tomorrow we’ll heave all the beds down into the cellars
underneath the tower, so that no one suspects anything when they see the room.
The other furniture won’t matter. Then we’ll clear up here. But tonight we must
go to the mines. We all saw that light over the ruined village after we’d left
last night. There will be many things to do there at once.”
There
was a good deal of muttering, but it was plain that everyone was now agreed.
Jack and Mike watched the next proceedings in the greatest wonder.
One
of the men put what looked like a glass cylinder in the middle of the floor. He
clamped it down, and attached some glass tubes to it. Then the men in the loose
robes and hoods brought up two or three narrow shovels, covered in bags of some
kind.
“Stand
back,” they said to the men in overalls. “Cover your faces.”
Everyone
stood back. Some of the men turned round to face the wall, and crouched down.
Jack and Mike felt rather frightened, but they could not stop watching.
The
hooded men uncovered their narrow shovels quickly and emptied the curious,
shining, misty stuff on them into the wide opening at the top of the glass
cylinder. Another man poured some colourless liquid into the little tubes as
the shimmering material slid into the cylinder.
And
then the whole room seemed to disappear! A shimmering radiance came instead, that
blotted out every single thing - a radiance that was of the same strange,
unknown colour that the boys had seen hanging over the ruined village the night
before.
Mike
and Jack gazed through the crack, fascinated and entranced. What was this? They
could see nothing at all in the room but this unearthly light. Men, chairs,
floor, walls - everything was gone.
Jack’s
eyes began to hurt him. So did Mike’s. They put their hands over them and
stumbled away from the door and a little way up the stone steps. They sat down,
unable to see for some time. No wonder the men had been told to cover their
eyes!
“If
that radiant stuff makes ‘Stellastepheny’ or whatever they called it, it’s
really wonderful,” whispered Jack, at last. “I’ve never in my life seen
anything like it.”
“Listen
- somebody’s coming to the door,” said Mike, clutching Jack’s arm. “It must be
Guy, with the stuff he wants to get away with tonight.”
Somebody
stumbled out of the open door and down the stone steps. The boys saw vaguely
that he carried a metal box under his arm. Was the precious “Stellastepheny” in
that? It must be.
“Let’s
follow and see if he goes out of the tower door at the bottom,” whispered Jack.
So they followed, and when they came to the bedroom, they saw that a light was
there. Guy must have gone into that room. Perhaps he was getting a few of his
clothes?
And
then Jack did something so quickly that Mike could not at first make out what
he was doing. He ran down the two steps to the door, shut it firmly, and turned
a key that stuck out from the lock! There was a startled cry from inside, and
an angry voice shouted:
“Who’s
that? What are you doing?” Then footsteps could be heard running over to the
door. The man inside pulled at it violently, shouting again when he found it
locked.
“Oh
Jack! You’ve caught him! You’ve got him prisoner!” said Mike, in amazed
delight. “He can’t get out of that room. He can’t even be heard in the room
above.”
“It
won’t matter if he is,” said Jack. “I’m taking the key!” He took the key and
put it into his pocket!
“What
do we do now?” whispered Mike, his voice shaking with excitement.
“Shall
we follow the men to the mine?” said Jack.
“No.
Let’s lock them into the top room, like you’ve locked Guy into this one,” said
Mike, almost choking over his brilliant idea.
“Come
on, then!” said Jack, quite beside himself with all these sudden thrills. They
raced up the stairs and came to the top-room again. They peered cautiously
through the crack.
The
men were there, evidently getting ready to go, for all of them now had on the
loose, hooded clothes. Jack saw that he must lock them in at once or they would
be coming out. He banged the door, and felt for the key.
There
wasn’t one! Angry shouts came from inside, and Jack caught Mike’s arm. “We must
hide! There’s no key!”
He
pulled Mike up the steps that ascended to the roof, just as the door was
wrenched open, and a man came out, looking very weird in his hooded garb.
“Who’s
that?” shouted the man. “Who’s monkeying about with the door? Is it you, Guy?”
A
murmur came from behind him, and he was pushed forward. “Of course it’s Guy.
Who else could it be? What’s he doing, staying on here still? Come on, let’s go
down after him and see what he’s up to.”
Then
the whole crowd of men poured down the stairs, never dreaming that two scared
bays were on the stone steps just a little way above them!
They
made a great noise, clattering down the stairs - such a noise that when Guy
shouted to them as they passed the locked bedroom door, not one of them heard
him. The boys, following down cautiously afterwards, heard him clearly, and
grinned.
The
men clattered right down to the foot of the tower, and then stopped. “He’s
gone. He’s unlocked the tower and gone, after all,” said one of them. “It must
have been the wind that banged that top door shut! My, we must be scary to act
like this!”
Another
man produced a big key and fitted it into the tower door. He unlocked it and
went out into the little square room beyond. The others followed.
One
man gave a sudden exclamation. “I’ve forgotten to get my notes out of the
sitting-room. I’ll go and get them and catch you up. Give me the key and I’ll
lock the tower door behind me when I’ve got my notes.”
He
was given the key. Jack and Mike fled back up the steps, as silently as they could.
If that man was coming to get something from the room above they would be
caught if they did not get out of the way!
The
man came up the stairs, slowly and heavily. He had not heard the boys. They
shot past the door of the sitting-room and stood on the steps above, shaking
with excitement. The man went into the room and switched on a torch. They heard
him opening a drawer.
“Come
on - we’ll go down,” said Jack, in a sudden whisper. “It’s our chance to get
out of the tower before he locks it - and watch where he goes. There must be a
secret way to the mines, as we thought!”
They
ran silently down the steps to the very bottom, went out of the tall, narrow
tower door, and crouched at the side of a chest, waiting.
Soon
they heard footsteps and the man came down again, He pushed through the
doorway, lighting his way with a torch, shut the door and locked it carefully.
The boys watched breathlessly. What was he going to do?
He
went to the side of the little square room, fumbled behind a chest and pulled
at something there. In the very middle of the floor a big stone slid quietly
downwards, as silently as if it had been oiled. The boys stared at the gap in
the floor lit by the light of the man’s torch. They were really amazed. Why,
they had trodden over that stone a dozen times!
The
man went over to the hole, sat down on the edge of it and let himself down
carefully into the gap. He disappeared. After a few seconds the boys came out
from their hiding-place and switched on a torch. Just as they flashed it they
saw the stone rising slowly and silently back into place!
“Look
at that!” said Jack. “I’m not sure we aren’t in some peculiar kind of dream,
Mike! What are we going to do now?”
“Follow
that man!” said Mike promptly. Jack shook his head. “Too dangerous,” he said.
“I’d like to - but we might get lost undergrourd trying to find where the man
has gone. He’s got too good a start. I know what we’ll do!”
“What?”
said Mike.
“Help
me pull a heavy chest right over the stone that goes up and down!” said Jack.
“Then none of the men will be able to get out. They’ll be caught! If they lower
the stone it won’t provide a way out - because the chest will be on top! We’ll
have got them properly!”
So
the two boys hauled one of the biggest chests right over the stone trap-door,
and then stared at one another in delight.
“We’ve
got Guy locked up in the bedroom of the tower - and we’ve blocked the way out
of the others - unless they like to find their way through that wall of rubble
we found down in the mines, and come up the shaft. But I bet they won’t do
that!” Mike rubbed his hands in glee.
“Now
what do we do?” said Jack. “Go to bed? Everyone is a prisoner, so we might as
well! We’ll tell Dimmy and Ranni in the morning - what a surprise for them, and
the others, too! Come on.”
“I
hope we shan’t wake up and find it’s all a dream,” said Mike. “Honestly, it’s
been one of the most adventurous nights we’ve ever had!”
AN
EXCITING FINISH
Next
morning Mike and Jack were still sound asleep when the others were fully awake.
It was Paul who woke them.
He
came running into the boys’ room. “I say, what happened last night? You found
the secret entrance and never woke me! It’s still open in my room. I say!”
The
girls joined him, thrilled to hear his news. Mike and Jack woke up with a jump.
Jack immediately remembered the happenings of the night before, and gave Mike
an excited punch.
“I
say, Mike, I wonder how all our prisoners are!”
Mike
grinned, remembering everything in a rush. Goodness! What a night! Then Paul
and the girls began to clamour to know all about the secret door, and if the
boys had gone into the passage, and what had happened?
They
could hardly believe their ears when the boys told them. They listened, their
eyes nearly falling out of their heads. All those men! Living in the tower too!
And Guy finding out about that precious stuff, whatever it was - and getting
men to work the mines for it, keeping it a dead secret.
“And
he’s locked up in the tower bedroom, you say!” cried Nora, with a squeal. “How
did you think of such a thing! And all those men imprisoned underground! Quick
- let’s find Dimmy and Ranni!”
Dimmy
was surprised to find five such excited children descending on her, as she sat
waiting for them to come to breakfast. “Dimmy, Dimmy! Listen to what Jack and
Mike have found out!” shouted Nora.
“I’m
fetching Ranni,” said Paul. “He ought to hear all this too,” and he sped off,
coming back with the big Baronian, wha looked very puzzled at this sudden call.
Breakfast
was forgotten as the children poured out their tale. Dimmy listened, almost
speechless with astonishment. Ranni listened too, nodding his great head from
time to time, and finally bursting into a great guffaw of laughter as he heard
how Guy had been locked up in the tower bedroom.
He
laughed still more when he heard how the two boys had put a heavy chest over
the entrance to the underground passage to the mines. Then he looked grave.
“I
should not laugh,” he said apologetically to Dimmy, who looked very serious,
and felt it. “There has been danger here for us - great danger. I can see that.
Many things are clear to me now which puzzled me before.”
“And
to me too,” said Dimmy soberly. “Well - the children seem to have managed
everything very well without our help - but I think we should get the police in
now, Ranni.”
“Yes,”
said Ranni. “This is a serious business. Lord Moon must be told. He must fly
back from America, or wherever he is.”
“I
had better ring for Mrs. Brimming and the Lots,” said Dimmy. “I am sure they
knew all about this.”
They
did, of course. They were three frightened women as they stood before Dimmy and
Ranni, and answered their stern questions.
Mrs.
Brimming wept bitterly and would not stop. Her two tall sisters were
frightened, but Edie Lots was defiant as well.
“Don’t
blame my sister, Mrs. Brimming,” she said. “She never wanted her son to do
this. But I urged him on. He’s clever! He should be one of the greatest
scientists in the world. He should -”
“He
won’t be,” said Dimmy. “He has done wrong. The mines are not his, and he had no
right to bring all those men here and put them into the tower like that. What
will Lord Moon say when he knows all this?”
Mrs.
Brimming sobbed more loudly. The children felt sorry for her. Edie Lots spoke
loudly.
“Lord
Moon never comes here. He has no use for his castle or for the mines. Why
shouldn’t my nephew use them?”
“It
is foolish to talk like that,” said Dimmy. “Don’t you realize that all of you
will get into serious trouble over this?”
“I
suppose all those queer happenings were caused by you three?” said Jack. “The
jumping books - and Twang-Dong noises and so on. You wanted to scare us away,
didn’t you?”
“Yes,”
said Edie Lots, still defiant. “But I was the only one who worked them. My
sisters wouldn’t. My nephew Guy invented them - I tell you, he’s a genius - and
he showed me how to work them. The front door opening by itself - that’s done
by a wire. And the jumping books - there’s a little passage behind the library
bookcases, and Guy made some small holes in the back of one of the shelves, so
that when I went into the passage behind I could poke my finger into a book,
and send it leaping off the shelf.”
“Very
simple!” said Jack. “We didn’t look for small holes at the back of the shelf!
What about the Twang-Dong noises? How did the instruments on the wall make
them?”
“They
didn’t,” said Edie Lots, sounding quite proud. “There’s a mechanical device up
the chimney. When it goes off, it makes those two noises at intervals.”
“Gosh!
So that’s why we could never spot who did it - even when the door was locked!”
said Mike. “Oh - and what about those gleaming eyes in Lord Moon’s portrait?”
“The
canvas eyes have been scraped very thin, and then painted again, and a hole
made in each,” said Edie Lots. “And there is a light behind each eye that can
be turned on from outside the room. I waited outside when you were inside, and
kept turning the light on and off. And the hissing noise was made by a bellows
worked at the same time. My nephew thought of all those things.”
“And
did you change the rooms round - and break the vases?” asked Dimmy, entering
suddenly into this extraordinary conversation.
“I
did everything,” said Edie, proudly. “I made the picture swing too. Guy
arranged that.” Her tall sister hung her head, and Mrs. Brimming still sobbed,
heart-broken. But Edie was proud and glad. She had helped her beloved nephew,
and that was all she cared about!
“Oh
well - it’s rather disappointing - everything has got quite a reasonable
explanation!” said Peggy. “But goodness me, some people would have been very
scared!”
“Some
people were,” said Edie, and the children thought of the man who had gone to
the library to look at the old books. How pleased the sisters must have been
when he spread the tale of Queer Happenings about!
Nobody
seemed to want any breakfast at all! Dimmy dismissed the three caretakers, and
began to pour out the tea. Ranni sat down to join them, his arm round Paul. He
seemed to think that Paul had escaped great dangers and must now be guarded
every minute!
They
talked soberly for some time. “I think you should take the car and go and
inform the police, Ranni,” said Dimmy. “I don’t see that this will make any
difference to Her Majesty the Queen of Baronia coming here, as arranged - but
we must get this business settled up before she comes.”
“Yes.
Guy will have to come out of the tower bedroom, for instance!” said Nora.
Ranni
got up to go. The children made a very poor breakfast, they were so excited and
so eager to talk. They watched for Ranni to come with the police, and were
thrilled when they heard the car hooting below to tell them he was back.
Things
happened very quickly after that. Ranni had told the police most of the strange
story. Two men were dispatched to get the angry Guy from the tower bedroom.
They forced the tower door easily enough, and went up the stone stair, having
been presented with the bedroom key by Jack. Soon a very dishevelled Guy was
being hustled into a police car, angry, astonished and bewildered.
His
weeping mother and two aunts were not allowed to speak to him. Nothing was
being done about them for the time being. Lord Moon would decide everything
when he returned the next day, called back from America. He was flying over,
most astonished at what the police had told him on the radio.
As
for the underground miners, they were soon rounded up by a most formidable
posse of police. Jack and Mike got permission to go down the secret passage to
the mines, behind the police, provided they stayed close to Ranni. Much to
Paul’s anger Ranni would not allow him to come.
The
heavy chest was moved away from the stone trapdoor. Mike went to the side of
the room and fumbled, behind the same chest as he had seen the man go to. He
found an iron lever sticking a little way out of the wall. He pulled it - and
lo and behold, the stone in the middle of the floor slid downwards, and exposed
the opening to the secret passage!
Down
they all went. The underground passage was not a pleasant one, for most of the
way it was narrow, low-roofed and dripping wet. It led down the hill,
meandering about. Ranni thought it must have been the bed of an underground
steam, which had more or less dried up and left its bed as a tunnel.
They
came into the mines at last, and at once the passage became dry and the roof
rose high. The boys soon found themselves in a little tunnel near the place
where they had seen the wonderful, roaring fire. It was just opposite the wall
of rubble from behind which they had watched such a strange sight.
The
men were all gathered together in the main cave, puzzled and anxious. They had
been back to the trapdoor entrance, and had moved the stone trapdoor, to get
out and back into the tower. But, of course, they had found the way blocked by
the heavy chest, and had not dared to try to move it. In fact, they had no idea
what it was! They had closed the stone trapdoor again and retreated into the
mines.
When
they saw the uniforms of the police, a murmur went up from the miners, who
looked very strange in their queer hooded garments. Ranni was quite startled to
see them!
The
men had been expecting something like this ever since they had found the
trapdoor blocked. They felt sure that Guy was at the bottom of it, and were
ready to give away everything, to get even with him! It was not until they had
told the police every single bit of information they knew that they were told
that Guy was a prisoner too - and had been locked up all night in the tower
bedroom!
“If
only the men had known, they could have escaped that way,” said Jack, pointing
to the wall of rubble on the opposite side of the cave. “They could have
knocked down the rubble and escaped up a shaft. We knew that - but they
didn’t!”
“The
things you kids know just don’t bear thinking about,” said a tall policeman,
with a grin. “Keep behind your red-bearded friend, now - we don’t need your
help in front.”
The
prisoners were all taken away in police cars. Ranni and Dimmy sighed with
relief. Goodness gracious - to think of all the secrets that had been going on
in Moon Castle!
“I
think we’ll take the car and go into Bolingblow for lunch,” said Dimmy, heaving
an enormous sigh. “I’m sure Mrs. Brimming and her sisters won’t be able to
provide anything like a lunch today!”
“Yes,
let’s go,” said Nora, at once. “We can tell that little waitress she was quite
right. There were Queer Happenings and Noises in Moon Castle. Do let’s.”
“You’re
not to say a single word to her,” said Dimmy. “It’s nothing to do with her. We
don’t want the news all over the town, exaggerated and garbled - we’d never
hear the last of it!”
“Dimmy
- come and see the tower,” begged Jack.
“No,
thank you,” said Dimmy, firmly. “I don’t feel strong enough today to tackle
that awful tower - though I would like to see the view from the top.”
“My
mother is still coming, isn’t she?” said Paul anxiously. “You haven’t put her
off, have you, Dimmy?”
“On
the contrary,” said Dimmy. “I had a letter from her this morning - which, in
all the excitement, I forgot to mention - and as your brothers are quite well
again, they’re all coming tomorrow! What do you think of that?”
“Smashing!”
said Mike, at once. “It was going to be dull, now this adventure is over,
waiting and waiting for them to come. Now we’ll have hardly any waiting at all.
Couldn’t be better!”
“In
fact, we’ve cleared up all the mysteries at exactly the right moment,” said
Jack. “Aren’t we clever, Dimmy?”
Dimmy
wouldn’t say they were. She laughed and ruffled Jack’s hair.
TWANG!
“Oh,
my goodness - don’t say that awful Twang-Dong is still going!” cried Dimmy. “I
can’t bear it!”
DONG!
The
children roared with laughter. Jack went round the bend of the L-shaped room
and looked up the chimney, shining his torch there.
He
put up his hand and pulled down a curious little contrivance of metal,
clockwork and tiny hammers.
“There
you are,” he said, putting it on the table. “The Twang-Dong itself. One of the
mysterious secrets of Moon Castle!”
“Hurrah
for Moon Castle!” said Nora. “And hurrah for all its secrets, Twang-Dongs and
everything!”
The
Twang-Dong made a curious noise. Its clockwork seemed to be running down. It
slowly raised one of its little hammers and struck the metal beneath.
DONG!
“It’s
finished,” said Jack. “Finished - like this adventure. Well, it was GRAND FUN
while it lasted!”
THE
END