Mystery of the Secret Room (6 page)

At last he gave it up. His prey had escaped him - but next time - ah, next time he saw any one with those awful teeth, he’d get them! There was something funny about two people having the same sticking-out teeth.

“I never did see teeth that stuck out so,” thought the defeated Mr. Goon, as he made his way round the side of the house and walked to the front gate. “That Frenchy fellow had them, and so had this one I’m after now. Wish I could have caught him. I’d have asked him a few straight questions, I would!”

Pip was very thankful to see him go. He waited till the policeman had disappeared round the house, and then he cautiously slid along a branch to the window, in order to get a better look inside.

There was no doubt about it at all. The room had plenty of furniture in it - a couch that was big enough for a bed, an arm-chair, two smaller chairs, a table, a book case with books in, a carpet on the floor. It was all most extraordinary.

“There’s an electric fire there too,” said Pip to himself. “But there’s no one there - and judging by the dust everywhere, there hasn’t been any one for some time. I wonder who the house belongs to.”

He looked at the bars on the window. No one could possibly get in or out of the window, that was certain. The bars were as close together as most nursery-window bars are - not even a child could slip between them.

Pip climbed cautiously down the tree, keeping a sharp look-out in case Mr. Goon was lurking somewhere. But that puzzled man had gone back to the village, comforting himself with the thought that though he had lost the boy with the teeth and eyebrows, he had at least got his mackintosh! Wait till he saw if there was a name inside!

Pip felt cold without his mackintosh. He thought ruefully of how he could explain its loss to his mother. Perhaps she wouldn’t notice it was gone. On the other hand, mothers invariably noticed anything like that almost immediately.

The fog was now getting very thick. Pip would have liked to stay and snoop round a bit, but he was afraid of getting lost if the fog grew much thicker. So he contented himself with making quite sure that the house was indeed the empty one he knew.

It was. There was no doubt about it - and the rooms on the ground floor were perfectly empty. On the gate was the name Pip had seen before - Milton House.

“It’s a mystery!” said Pip, as he plodded back in the fog. “A real mystery.” Then he stopped suddenly and hugged himself. “This might be our third mystery! We shall have to solve it somehow. There’s something very queer going on in that old empty house!”

A Few Plans

Pip made his way back to Fatty’s house, where the others were waiting for him to report on anything that had happened. Fatty had what he called a “den” - a small crowded room, full of books, games, sports things, and a cosy basket for Buster. The fog clung round Pip and made him feel damp and cold.

He was shivering when at last he went in at the side-door of Fatty’s house. He listened to see it any one was about, because he was not anxious to bump into the maid or Mrs. Trotteville in his present disguise.

He heard nothing, and made his way up the stairs. The others were playing a card-game on the floor. They looked up when Pip came in.

“Oh - here’s Pip!” said Bets, pleased, and Buster went to greet him as if he had not seen him for weeks. “Did you do anything exciting, Pip?”

“I should jolly well think I did!” said Pip, his eyes shining. He got as close to the fire as he could. “And what’s more, Find-Outers - I believe I’ve got our third mystery for you!”

They all stared at him in delight and surprise. Bets jumped up. “Tell us, quick! What do you mean? What is the mystery?”

“I’ll tell you it all from the beginning,” said Pip. “Golly, I’m cold!”

“Where’s your coat?” said Daisy, seeing how cold Pip was.

“Old Clear-Orf has got it!” said Pip. “Sickening, isn’t it?”

“Clear-Orf! But how did he get it?” said Fatty. “Was your name in it?”

“Do you remember if it was, Bets?” asked Pip, turning to his little sister.

“No, it wasn’t,” said Bets. “So Clear-Orf won’t know whose it was - unless he goes round asking our parents if one of us has lost a mack!”

“Don’t worry,” said Fatty. “My old mack is almost exactly like Pip’s. I’ve got a new one. Pip can take mine, then if Clear-Orf goes round asking our parents if we’ve lost one, Pip can produce mine.”

“Thanks, Fatty,” said Pip relieved. “You always come to the rescue. Well - let me tell my story.”

He began, and the children giggled to hear how poor old Miss Frost got such a fright to see the fierce eyebrows, red face, and awful teeth just round the corner - and roared when Pip described what a dance he had led Mr. Goon in the fog.

“Fancy him not looking up into the trees,” said Fatty. “He’ll never make a detective! But you haven’t come to the mystery yet, Pip - what is it?”

“Well,” said Pip importantly, “as you all know, Milton House is empty - has been empty for ages, hasn’t it?”

The others nodded. They all knew the house quite well.

“All right,” said Pip, “well listen to this. One of the rooms at the very top of the house is fully furnished!”

Every one stared in amazement.

“Fully furnished!” said Fatty. “How very extraordinary! Does some one live there after all, then - and if so, why does he live at the top of the house? Pip, this is certainly very queer.”

“It is, isn’t it,” said Pip, pleased at the interest he had caused. “Don’t you think it’s going to be our third mystery? Fm sure there’s something queer about it.”

“Well, it certainly sounds jolly strange,” said Fatty. “Yes, it’s a mystery all right.”

“Hurrah!” said Bets. “We’ve got one for these hols, after all! How shall we solve it?”

“Well - it’s not our usual sort of mystery,” said Fatty thoughtfully. “I mean - in the ones before we have had Clues and Suspects to work on - this time all we’ve got is a fully furnished room at the top of an empty house. We don’t even know if there’s anything wrong about it. But it’s certainly queer and unusual enough for us to try and find out what’s behind it.”

“Ooooh, how lovely!” said Bets joyfully. “I did so want a mystery these hols. Especially as we’ve got so many good detective tricks.”

“Well, Pip, you certainly had a good afternoon,” said Larry. “Do take off that awful disguise now. I can’t bear to look at you. It’s the teeth that make you look so revolting.”

“I know,” said Pip, taking them out and going to a basin to rinse them and dry them. “They’re marvellous. Old Clear-Orf nearly had a fit when he saw them flashing at him again, after seeing them in the French boy’s mouth!”

The others laughed at the thought of Mr. Goon’s surprise. Fatty suddenly looked thoughtful.

“I only hope old Clear-Orf won’t go snooping round after us,” he said. “I know it was fun to make him think we were in the middle of a new mystery he knew nothing about - but now that we really have stumbled on to one, it will be sickening if he follows us around. It will cramp our style terribly.”

“Blow!” said Larry. “We shan’t be able to keep this mystery to ourselves if Clear-Orf sniffs it out. I must say it sounds a first-class one - I find myself asking all kinds of questions! Who uses the room? Why in an empty house? Does the owner know about it? When does the one who uses it come and go?”

“Yes - there are all sort of questions to answer,” said Fatty. “It’s going to be interesting - but difficult! I vote we try and get into the room.”

“On no!” said every one at once.

“We daren’t do that,” said Larry. “We can’t break into houses - even empty ones. You know we can’t.”

“We don’t need to break in,” said Fatty, in a dignified manner. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t go to the house-agent’s and ask for the key to look over the house, is there?”

No one had thought of that. Daisy stared doubtfully at Fatty. “They wouldn’t give the key to children, silly,” she said.

“They might give it to me,” said Fatty, who thought he could do anything. “Anyway I can but try. Did you happen to notice the name on the House for Sale board, Pip - I mean the name of the house-agent?”

“No. I don’t remember seeing a board.” said Pip. “But it was so foggy. We could go and find out sometime.”

“Let’s go now,” said Bets eagerly. But the others shook their heads.

“Too foggy, Bets,” said Larry. “You can’t see a thing now. It’s a good thing we all know our way home so well or we’d get lost!”

The fog was indeed very thick. It wasn’t any good doing anything that day. The Find-Outers felt a little impatient. They wanted to get on with this new mystery!

“We shall have to be jolly careful we don’t let Clear-Orf know what we’re doing,” said Larry. “We’d better try and put him on the wrong track, if we think he is snooping after us.”

“Oh yes!” said Bets. “Let’s do that. That would be fun. We could make up a mystery for him, couldn’t we? - a big robbery or something.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Larry. “If we could get Clear-Orf on to the track of a false mystery, he wouldn’t spend any time or attention on our real one. So, if we do find he’s snooping around, following us, or making inquiries, we’ll present him with a first-class mystery - that we’ll make up for him ourselves!”

This seemed a fine idea. It didn’t occur to any of the children to take Mr. Goon into their confidence and let him work with them. He disliked them so much, and was such a blunderer, that if any one was to be told, they preferred to tell their friend, Inspector Jenks - the “very high-up policeman” as Bets called him. He would listen to them with attention and interest, and would certainly not take any credit that was due to them. Clear-Orf, they knew, would pooh-pooh anything they did, and pretend that he had done all the brainwork.

But he was a suspicious fellow, and if he thought they really were at work on some mystery again, he would certainly try to interfere. The children felt terribly excited when they thought of this new mystery. They had so much enjoyed their first two mysteries - now here was another - and a very peculiar one too.

“Let’s see,” said Fatty, considering. “I think the first thing to do is to find out who the house-agent is, as I’ve said, and try to get the keys. Then we could explore that room and find out if possible what it’s for and why it’s fully furnished.”

“Right,” said Larry. “You can tackle the house-agent tomorrow, then. You’re good at that sort of thing. But if you manage to get the keys out of him, I’ll be surprised!”

“You wait and see,” said Fatty, who now had such a high opinion of himself that he thought nothing was impossible. He could already see himself at the head of all the British Police, the most famous solver of mysteries the world had ever known.

Nobody seemed to want to play a game. The thought of the new mystery made them feel unsettled and excited.

“Do you think it will be a dangerous mystery?” asked Bets rather anxiously. “The other two we did weren’t dangerous. I don’t think I’d like a dangerous mystery.”

“Well, if it is dangerous, we three boys will tackle it,” said Fatty rather pompously. “And you two girls must keep out of it.”

“I certainly shan’t!” said Daisy indignantly. “Bets can do as she likes - but I’m sharing this mystery from the beginning to the end, Fatty. I’m as good as you boys any day.”

“All right, all right,” said Fatty. “Keep your hair on. Good! - there’s the bell for tea. I’m frightfully hungry.”

“You always are,” said Daisy, still feeling cross.

But at the sight of the fine tea Mrs. Trotteville had provided, not one of them had any feelings but pleasure. A good tea - and a first-class mystery waiting to be solved. What could be nicer?

Old Clear-Orf is a Nuisance

It was decided that all the Find-Outers should meet next day and walk to Milton House, to see the house-agent’s board.

“We could also do a bit of snooping round,” said Daisy. “I want to climb that tree, for one thing!”

“Well, we mustn’t let Clear-Orf see us doing it,” said Pip. “That would give the game away.”

“As soon as we’ve got the name of the house-agent we’ll let Fatty go and do his stuff,” said Larry. “We could wait at the house till he comes back. Then we could use the keys he brings, and go in.”

This seemed a good plan. They all hoped that the fog would clear away the next day, otherwise their parents might not let them go walking away from the roads they knew well. Milton House lay over the hill, rather off the usual track. Beyond it lay the open country, and big empty fields stretched away for miles.

The day was fine and sunny. Every one rejoiced. Now they could certainly go to Milton House. They set off soon after breakfast, joining up at different corners. Buster went with them, of course, and walked along more solemnly than usual, just as if he knew a mystery was somewhere near.

They walked over the hill, and made their way down the rather secluded lane to Milton House. It was the last house, and stood well back in its own overgrown grounds. It was plain that no gardener had worked there for years. It looked a lonely and desolate place. The house itself was large, high, and rambling, and had two or three absurd little towers.

“Well, there it is - our Mystery House,” said Pip, as they stood and looked at it from the drive. “Now wouldn’t you say that house was completely empty and unlived in? And yet there’s a furnished room at the top of it, where some one must come and live at times!”

The children felt a little shiver go down their backs. It was exciting. Probably no one but themselves and the one who furnished the room knew about that secret.

“Well - let’s take down the house-agent’s name and address,” said Fatty. “Any one seen the board?”

Nobody had. And what was more, there didn’t appear to be one to see. Other empty houses they had passed on their way all had at least one, if not two boards up, with the notice “For Sale. Apply to -” on them. But Milton House didn’t seem to have a board at all.

“But surely it’s for sale?” said Larry, puzzled, when they had made quite certain that there was no For Sale board. “Surely all empty houses are for sale or to be let? The owner wouldn’t want them to stand empty, gradually falling into ruin.”