Mystery #02 — The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat, стр. 10

"My mother has just been to tea with you, Lady Candling," said Pip in his most polite voice. "I suppose you haven't by any chance found a handkerchief of hers left behind, have you?"

"Dear me! Are you Mrs. Hilton's son Philip?" asked Lady Candling, smiling at him. "She was telling me about you, and you have a little sister, haven't you, called Bets?"

"Yes, Lady Candling," said Pip, smiling sweetly too. "She's a dear little girl. I'd like to bring her in to see you some day if I may."

"Yes, do," said Lady Candling. "Tupping, you have made a stupid mistake. This little boy quite obviously came in to look for his mother's handkerchief. Mrs. Hilton was at tea with me today."

Pip rubbed his arm hard, screwing up his face as if it hurt him. "Did Tupping hurt you?" said Lady Candling. "I'm really very sorry. Tupping, you seem to have been very rough with this child."

Tupping scowled. Things were not going at all the way he had expected.

"If we find your mother's handkerchief we will certainly send it in," said Lady Candling to Pip. "And do remember to bring in your little sister to see me, won't you? I am very fond of little girls."

"Tupping will turn us out if we come," said Pip.

"Indeed he won't!" said Lady Candling at once. "Tupping, the children are to come in when they wish to. Those are my orders."

Tupping's face went red, and he looked as if he was going to burst. But he did not dare to say anything to his mistress. He turned rudely, and went back to Mr. Goon and Luke, who were waiting some way off.

Pip shook hands with Lady Candling, thanked her, said good-bye, and went after Tupping.

"Luke!" he called. "Luke! Don't give up hope! All your friends will help you! We know you didn't do it!"

"You clear orf!" said Mr. Goon, now really angry. "None of your sauce! Always poking your nose in and interfering! Clear orf, I say!"

But Pip didn't clear off. Keeping just beyond Mr. Goon's reach he danced along behind the three, shouting encouraging messages to Luke, and annoying the policeman and the gardener beyond measure.

He heard Mr. Goon say to Mr. Tupping that he would return later in the evening to have a "good look round that cat-house."

"Oh," thought Pip, "he's going to hunt for clues to help him to put the blame on Luke. We'd better go hunting for clues first. I'll go and tell the others."

So, with a last hearty yell to Luke, Pip ran for the wall, climbed it, and rushed to tell the others all that he had heard. Things were getting really exciting!

All About Clues.

"What happened, Pip? You've been simply ages and ages!" said Larry, as Pip flung himself down beside the four children and Buster.

"Oh, Clear-Orf and Tupping have quite made up their minds that Luke Did the Deed," said Pip.

"It's funny, isn't it?" said Bets, puzzled. "We know quite well that Luke didn't do it — and yet it seems as if he simply must have! It's a real, proper mystery."

"I wonder where Dark Queen is," said Bets.

"Yes. If we could find her, we should have a better idea of who stole her," said Larry. "I mean, whoever has her now must be a friend of the thief. Golly! this is a puzzle, isn't it?"

"Can't we look for clues?" asked Bets, thinking that perhaps this might help to clear Luke.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Pip at once. "Old Clear-Orf said he was coming back tonight to have a look round the cat-house. I expect he wants to find some clues himself — clues that will point to poor old Luke, I suppose!"

"Well, I vote we go and have a look first," said Fatty at once, getting up.

"What, go over the wall now!" said Larry in surprise. "We'll get into trouble."

"We shan't," said Fatty. "We'll be gone long before Tupping and Clear-Orf get back. They'll be having a fine time telling poor old Luke's stepfather all about him."

"All right. Let's go now then," said Larry. "We might be able to find some sort of clue, though goodness knows what! Come on."

Buster was left behind; and this time he was put into the shed and locked up there, so that he wouldn't go rushing down Pip's drive and up Lady Candling's to find them!

They all climbed over the wall, Fatty giving Bets a helping hand. There didn't seem to be anyone about. The children made their way cautiously to the cat-house. The cats lay lazily on their benches, their blue eyes blinking at the children.

"Now," said Larry, "look for clues."

"What sort of clues?" whispered Bets.

"Don't know till we see some," said Larry. "Look on the ground — and all round about. See! this is where old Luke must have been working this afternoon."

The boy pointed to where a barrow stood half full of weeds. A spade was stuck in the ground. Luke's coat hung on a tree nearby.

"He was digging over that bed," said Fatty thoughtfully. "He couldn't have been working any nearer to the cat-house than that! He would have seen anyone coming or going to the cats, wouldn't he? He couldn't have helped it. The children went and stood where Luke had been working. They could see every cat from where they stood. It would surely have been impossible to take a cat out, and lock the door, without being seen by Luke.

And yet a cat had gone, and Luke swore he hadn't stolen her — so who in the wide world could have taken Dark Queen?

"Let's look all round the cat-house and see if the cat could have escaped by herself," said Larry suddenly.

"Good idea," said Fatty. So they walked all round the strongly-built wooden houses, which were set high on stout wooden legs, rather like modern hen-houses.

"There's absolutely nowhere that a cat could get out," said Pip. "Not a hole the size of a small mouse even! Dark Queen certainly couldn't have escaped. She was taken out by somebody. That's certain."

"I say — what's that?" Pip pointed to something that lay on the floor of the big cage in which all the cats lived. The children peered through the wire-netting at it.

There was a short silence. Then Fatty pursed up his lips, raised his eyebrows, and scratched his head.

"Blow!" he said. "I know what that is! It's one of those-cunning little whistles that Luke is always making for Bets."

It was. There it lay on the cage-floor, a most tiresome and shocking due. How could it have got there? Only one way — Luke must have been inside the cage and dropped the whistle. All the children felt suddenly puzzled and shocked.

"It wasn't Luke; it wasn't, it wasn't," said Bets, with tears in her voice. "We all know it wasn't."

"Yes. We all know it wasn't. And yet there in the cage is a whistle that only Luke could have dropped," said Fatty. "This is a very extraordinary mystery, I must say."

"Fatty, if Mr. Goon sees that whistle, will he say it's a proper proof that Luke was the thief?" asked Bets anxiously.

Fatty nodded. "Of course. It's a most enormous, unmistakable clue, Bets — to someone like Clear-Orf, who can't see farther than his nose."

"But it isn't a clue like that to you, is it, Fatty?" went on Bets, clutching his hand. "Oh, Fatty! you don't think Luke dropped it, do you?"

"I'll tell you what I think," said Fatty. "I think that somebody put it there so that Luke might be suspected. That's what I think."

"Golly! I think you're right!" said Larry. "This is getting very mysterious. I say, do you think we ought to leave this clue for Clear-Orf to see? After all, we're pretty certain it's a false clue, aren't we?"

"You're right," said Pip. "I vote we get the clue out, and take it away!"

The five children stared at the whistle lying on the floor. The cage was locked. The key was gone. How could they get the whistle out?

"We'll have to be quick," said Fatty desperately. "Clear-Orf may be back in a short while. For goodness' sake! how can we get that whistle out of the cage?"