Mystery Of The Burnt Cottage (10 page)

“I thought the children would like to share your eleven o’clock lunch with you, sirs” said Miss Miggle. She turned to look at Daisy. “Gracious, child - is that your hanky up the front of your jersey. What a place to keep it!”

Larry glanced at his sister and was amazed to see the curious lump behind her jersey.

“I keep all kinds of things up my jersey-front,” said Daisy, hoping that no one would ask her to show what

she had. Nobody did. Larry was just about to, but stopped hihiself in time on seeing that the lump was decidedly the shape of a shoe!

The children had milk and buns, but Mr. Smellie did not touch his. Miss Miggle kept at his elbow, trying to stop him talking and to make him eat and drink.

“You have your milk now, sir,” she kept saying. “You didn’t have your breakfast, you know.” She turned to the children. “Ever since the night of the fire poor Mr. Smellie has been terribly upset. Haven’t you, sir?”

“Well, the loss of those unique and quite irreplaceable documents in the fire gave me a shock,” said Mr. Smellie. “Worth thousands of pounds they were. Oh, I know Hick was insured and will get his money back all right, but that isn’t the point. The documents were of the greatest imaginable value.”

“Did you quarrel about those that morning?” asked Daisy.

“Oh no; you see, Hick said these documents here, that I’ve just been showing you, were written by a man called Ulinus,” said Mr. Smellie earnestly, “and I know perfectly well that they were written by three different people. I could not make Mr. Hick see reason. He flew into a terrible temper, and practically turned me out of the house. In fact, he really frightened me. He frightened me so much that I left my documents behind.”

“Poor Mr. Smellie,” said Daisy. “I suppose you didn’t know anything about the fire till the morning?”

“Not a thing!” said Mr. Smellie.

“Didn’t you go near Mr. Hick’s house when you went for your evening walk?” asked Larry. “If you had, you might have seen the fire starling.”

Mr. Smellie looked up startled. His glasses fell right off his nose. He picked them up with a trembling hand and put them on again. Miss Miggle put a hand on his arm.

“Now, now,” she said, “you just drink up your milk, sir. You’re not yourself this last day or two. You told me you didn’t know where you went that evening. You just wandered about.”

“Yes,” said Mr. Smellie, sitting down heavily in a chair. “That’s what I did, didn’t I, Miggle? I just wandered about. I can’t always remember what I do, can I?”

“No,, you can’t, sir,” said kind Miss Higgle, patting Mr. Smellie’s shoulder. “The quarrel and the fire have properly upset you. Don’t you worry, sir!”

She turned to the children and spoke in a low voice, “You’d better go. He’s got hihiself a bit upset.”

The children nodded and slipped out They went into the garden, ran down to the bottom and climbed over the wall.

“Funny, isn’t it?” said Daisy. “Why did he act so strangely when we began to ask him what he did the evening of the fire? Do you suppose he did start it - and has forgotten all about it? Or remembers it and is frightened? Or what?”

“It’s a puzzle,” said Larry. “He seehis too gentle a man to do anything so awful as burn a cottage down - but he might be fierce in some queer way. What have you got under your jersey, Daisy? “

“A rubber-soled shoe with funny markings,” said Daisy, bringing it out “Do you think it is like the footprint?”

“It looks as if it might be,” said Larry, getting excited. “Let’s go straight to the others and compare it with the drawing. Come on! I can hardly wait!”

A Surprising Talk with Lily.

Larry and Daisy rushed up to the others. They stared at the shoe in her hand in excitement.

“Daisy! Oh, Daisy! Have you found the rubber-soled shoes that belong to the man who burnt the cottage?” asked Fatty.

“I think so,” said Daisy importantly. “You see, Larry

and I went to see Mr. Smellie, as we had planned to do -and whilst he was talking to Larry I slipped away and looked in his hall cupboard where shoes and things are kept. And among the shoes I found one pair that had rubber soles - and I’m almost certain the markings are the same as in those footprints we saw.”

The children crowded round to look. “It certainly looks very like the right shoe,” said Pip.

“It is” said Fatty. “I ought to know, because I drew the prints!”

“Well, I don’t think it is,” said Bets unexpectedly. “The squares on the criss-cross pattern aren’t quite so big. I’m sare they’re not.”

“As if you could tell!” said Pip scornfully, “I think we’ve got the right shoe - and we’ll prove it. Get the drawing out of the summer-house. Fatty.”

Fatty went to get it. He took it from behind the loose board and brought it out to the others. They unfolded it, fueling very thrilled.

They all gazed at the drawing, and then at the underneath of Mr. Smellie’s shoe. They looked very, very hard indeed, and then they sighed in disappointment

“Bets is right.,” said Fatty. “The squares in the pattern of ilie rubber sole are not quite so big as in my drawing. And I know my drawing is quite correct, because I measured everything carefully. I’m awfully good at things like that. I never make …”

“Shut up,” said Larry, who always felt cross when Faty began His boasting. “Bets, as you say, is quite right. Good for you, young Bets!”

Bets glowed with pleasure. She really had learnt that drawing off by heart, as she had said she would. But she was as disappointed as the others that Daisy had not found the right shoe after all.

“It’s awfully difficult being a Find-Outer, isn’t it?” said Bets. “We keep finding out things that aren’t much, help, or that make everything even more difficult. Pip, tell Larry and Daisy what the tramp said.”

“Oh yes - you must hear about that,” said Pip; and he

began to tell Larry and Daisy what had happened with the tramp.

“So now, you see, it’s a bigger puzzle than ever,” finished Pip. “The tramp saw Peeks all right, hiding in the bushes - but he heard him whispering to some one else! Was it old Mr. Smellie, do you think? You say that he went out for a walk that evening, and we know that Peeks was out at that time too. Do you suppose they planned the fire together?”

“They might have,” said Larry thoughtfully. “They must have known one another - and they might have got together that day and made up their minds to punish old Hiccup for his unkindness. However can we find out?”

“Perhaps we had better see Mr. Smellie again?” said Daisy. “Anyway, we must put back his shoe somehow. We can’t keep it. Any one seen Clear-Orf today?”

Nobody had, and nobody wanted to. The children talked over what they were to do next. At the moment everything seemed rather muddled and difficult. Although they had. ruled out Mrs. Minns and the tramp from their list of Suspects, it seemed impossible to know whether Peeks or Smellie, or both, had really done the crime.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go and see Lily,” said Fatty suddenly. “She might tell us a few things about Horace Peeks. After all, she wrote him a letter to warn him She might know more than we think!”

“But Lily wasn’t there that evening,” said Daisy. “It was her evening off. She said so.”

“Well, how are we to know she didn’t go back to Hiccup’s and hide in the garden?” said Fatty.

“It seehis as if half the village was hiding in that garden on the evening of the fire,” said Larry. “The old tramp was there - and we think Smellie was - and we know Peeks was - and now you say perhaps Lily was too!”

“I know. It’s really funny to think how full Hiccup’s garden was that evening!” grinned Fatty. “Well - don’t you think it would be a good thing to go and see Lily? I don’t suspect her of anything - but it would be just as well to see if she can tell us anything to help us,”

“Yes - it’s quite a good Idea,” said Larry. “Blow -there’s your dinner-bell. Pip. We’ll have to leave thiags till this afternoon. We’ll all go down and see Lily - we’ll take something for the cat and kittens again. And what about Mr. Smellie’s shoe? When shall we take that back?”

“We’d better take it back this evening,” said Daisy. “You take it back, Larry, when it’s dark. You may find the garden door open, and you can just slip in and put the shoe back.”

“Right,” said Larry, and he got up to go. “We’ll be back after lunch, Find-Outers. By the way - how are your bruises, Fatty?”

“Fine,” said Fatty proudly. “I’ll show you them.”

“Can’t stop now,” said Larry. “I’ll see them this afternoon. So long!”

“One’s going yellow already,” said Fatty. But Larry and Daisy were gone. Pip and Bets were running to the house, afraid of getting into trouble if they waited any longer. Fatty went off with Buster, hoping that the others wouldn’t forget about his bruises in the afternoon.

They all met together again at half-past two. Daisy had stopped at the fishmonger’s and bought some fish for the cats. It smelt very strong, and Buster kept worrying her to undo the paper. Nobody asked Fatty about his braises.

He was offended, and sat gloomily whilst the others discussed what to say to Lily. Bets noticed his face and was surprised.

“What’s the matter, Fatty?” she asked. “Are you ill?”

“No,” said Fatty. “Just a bit stiff, that’s all.”

Daisy took a look at him and gave a little squeal of laughter. “Oh, poor Fatty! We said we’d look at His bruises and we haven’t!”

Every one laughed. “Fatty’s an awful baby,” said Larry. “Cheer up, Fat-One. Show us your bruises and let us admire every one of them, big, medium and small.”

“They’re not worth mentioning,” said Fatty stiffly. “Come on - let’s get going. We’d better get off quickly, or it will be tea-time before we’ve finished talking.”

“We’ll see his bruises at tea-time,” whispered Daisy to Larry. “He’s gone all sulky now!”

So they set off down the lane to find Lily. They felt certain they would not be caught by Hiccup this time because Pip had seen him go by in his car not long before.

“One or two of us must talk to Mrs. Minns,” said Larry, “and the others had better try and get Lily out into the garden and talk to her. We’ll see how things go.”

But, as it happened, everything was very easy. Mrs. Minns was out, and there was no one in the kitchen but Lily. She was pleased to see the children and Buster.

“I’ll just put Sweetie and the kittens out in the hall, and shut the door,” she said. “Then that little dog can come in. I like dogs. What’s His name? Buster I That’s a nice name for a dog. Buster! Buster! Would you like a bone?”

Soon the cat and kittens were safely out of the way and Buster was gnawing a bone on the floor. Lily got out some chocolate from a drawer and handed it round. The children liked her. She seemed much more cheerful without Mrs. Minns to shout at her.

“We gave that note to Horace Peeks,” said Larry. “We found him all right.”

“Yes, I got a letter from him today,” said Lily. She looked rather sad suddenly. “That nasty Mr. Goon went up and saw Mm and said all kinds of horrible things to Mm. Horace is that worried he doesn’t know what to do.”

“Did Mr. Goon think he had started the fire, then?” asked Daisy.

“Yes,” said Lily. “A good many people are saying that. But it isn’t true.”

“How do you know?” asked Fatty.

“Well, I do know,” said Lily.

“But you weren’t here,” said Larry. “If you weren’t here, you can’t possibly know who did or didn’t start the fire. It might have been Horace for all you know.”

“Now, don’t you say a word if I teM you something, will you?” said Lily suddenly. “Promise? Say ‘Honour bright, I’ll not tell a soul.’”

The five children recited the seven words very solemnly, and Lily looked relieved.

“Well., then,,” she said, “I’ll tell you how I know it wasn’t Horace that did it. I know because I met him at five o’clock that day., and 1 was with him till I got in here at tea o’clock, which is my time for being in!”

The five children stared at her. This was indeed news.

“But why didn’t you tell every one that?” asked Larry at last. “If you said that, no one would say that Horace burnt down the cottage.”

Lily’s eyes filled with tears. “Well, you see,”she said, “My mother says I’m too young to say I’ll marry any one, but Horace Peeks, he loves me, and I love him. My father said he’d thrash me if he caught me walking out with Horace, and Mrs. Minns said she’d tell my father if ever she caught me speaking a word to him. So I didn’t dare to go out to the pictures with him, or even to talk to him in the house.”

“Poor Lily,” said Daisy. “So when you heard every one talking against him, you were very upset and wrote to warn him?”

“Yes,” said Lily. “And, you see, if I tell that I was out with him that night, my father will punish me, and maybe Mrs. Minns will send me off, so I’ll lose my job. And Horace can’t say he was with me because he knows it will be hard for me if he does.”

“Where did you go?” asked Fatty.

“I went on my bicycle half-way to Wilmer Green,” said Lily. “We met at his sister’s there and had tea together, and a bite of supper. We told his sister all about how poor Horace had lost his fob that day, and she said maybe her husband would give Mm some work till he could find another job.”

Fatty remembered that the tramp had seen Horace Peeks in the garden that evening, and he looked sharply at Lily. Could she be telling all the truth?

“Are you sure that Horace didn’t come here at all that night?” he said. The others knew why he said it - they too

remembered that the tramp had said he had seen Horace Peeks.

“No, no!” cried Lily, raising her voice in fright. She twisted her handkercMef round and round in her hands, and stared at the children. “Horace wasn’t anywhere near here. I tell you, we met at his sister’s. You can ask her. She’ll tell you.”

Larry felt certain that Lily was frightened and was not telling the truth. He decided to be bold.

“Lily,” he said, in a very solemn voice, “somebody saw Horace in the garden that evening.”

Lily stared at Larry with wide, horrified eyes. “No!” she said. “They couldn’t have seen him. They couldn’t!”

“Well, they did,” said Larry. Lily stared at him for a moment, and then began to sob.