3

very mysterious

everyone was upset. they were sorry for mrs johns, of course, and for her husband – but as theydidn’t know them at all, except as old friends of mr mannering long ago, the children felt far, farmore miserable about their own disappointment.

‘we’d talked about it such a lot – and made such plans – and got everything ready,’ groanedphilip, looking sadly at the field-glasses hanging nearby in their brown leather cases. ‘now motherwill look for another miss lawson.’

‘no, i won’t,’ said mrs mannering. ‘i’ll give up my new job, and take you away myself. i can’tbear to see you so disappointed, poor things.’

‘no, darling aunt allie, you shan’t do that!’ said lucy-ann, flinging herself on mrs mannering.

‘we wouldn’t let you. oh dear – whatever can we do?’

nobody knew. it seemed as if their sudden disappointment made everyone incapable of furtherplanning. the bird-holiday or nothing, the bird-holiday or nothing – that was the thought in all thechildren’s minds. they spent the rest of the day pottering about miserably, getting on each other’snerves. one of their sudden quarrels blew up between philip and dinah, and with yells and shoutsthey belaboured one another in a way they had not done for at least a year.

lucy-ann began to cry. jack yelled angrily.

‘stop hitting dinah, philip. you’ll hurt her!’

but dinah could give as good as she got, and there was a loud crack as she slapped philip fullacross his cheek. philip caught her hands angrily, and she kicked him. he tripped her up, anddown she went on the floor, with her brother rolling over and over too. lucy-ann got out of theirway, still crying. kiki flew up to the electric light, and cackled loudly. she thought philip anddinah were playing.

there was such a noise that nobody heard the telephone bell ringing again. mrs mannering,frowning at the yells and bumps from the playroom, went to answer it. then she suddenlyappeared at the door of the playroom, her face beaming.

it changed when she saw dinah and philip fighting on the floor. ‘dinah! philip! get up at once!

you ought to be ashamed of yourselves, quarrelling like this now that you are so big. i’ve a goodmind not to tell you who that was on the telephone.’

philip sat up, rubbing his flaming cheek. dinah wriggled away, holding her arm. lucy-annmopped her tears, and jack scowled down at the pair on the floor.

‘what a collection of bad-tempered children!’ said mrs mannering. then she remembered thatthey all had had measles badly, and were probably feeling miserable and bad-tempered after theirdisappointment that day.

‘listen,’ she said, more gently, ‘guess who that was on the telephone.’

‘mrs johns, to say that dr johns is all right after all,’ suggested lucy-ann hopefully.

mrs mannering shook her head. ‘no – it was old bill.’

‘bill! hurrah! so he’s turned up again at last,’ cried jack. ‘is he coming to see us?’

‘well – he was very mysterious,’ said mrs mannering. ‘wouldn’t say who he was – just said hemight pop in tonight, late – if nobody else was here. of course i knew it was bill. i’d know hisvoice anywhere.’

quarrels and bad temper were immediately forgotten. the thought of seeing bill again was likea tonic. ‘did you tell him we’d had measles and were all at home?’ demanded philip. ‘does heknow he’ll see us too?’

‘no – i hadn’t time to tell him anything,’ said mrs mannering. ‘i tell you, he was mostmysterious – hardly on the telephone for half a minute. anyway, he’ll be here tonight. i wonderwhy he didn’t want to come if anyone else was here.’

‘because he doesn’t want anyone to know where he is, i should think,’ said philip. ‘he must beon one of his secret missions again. mother, we can stay up to see him, can’t we?’

‘if he isn’t later than half-past nine,’ said mrs mannering.

she went out of the room. the four looked at one another. ‘good old bill,’ said philip. ‘wehaven’t seen him for ages. hope he comes before half-past nine.’

‘well, i jolly well shan’t go to sleep till i hear him come,’ said jack. ‘wonder why he was somysterious.’

the children expected to see bill all the evening, and were most disappointed when no cardrove up, and nobody walked up to the front door. half-past nine came, and no bill.

‘i’m afraid you must all go to bed,’ said mrs mannering. ‘i’m sorry – but really you all look sotired and pale. that horrid measles! i do feel so sorry that that expedition is off – it would havedone you all the good in the world.’

the children went off to bed, grumbling. the girls had a bedroom at the back, and the boys atthe front. jack opened the window and looked out. it was a dark night. no car was to be heard, norany footsteps.

‘i shall listen for bill,’ he told philip. ‘i shall sit here by the window till he comes. you get intobed. i’ll wake you if i hear him.’

‘we’ll take it in turns,’ said philip, getting into bed. ‘you watch for an hour, then wake me up,and i’ll watch.’

in the back bedroom the girls were already in bed. lucy-ann wished she could see bill. sheloved him very much – he was so safe and strong and wise. lucy-ann had no father or mother,and she often wished that bill was her father. aunt allie was a lovely mother, and it was nice toshare her with philip and dinah. she couldn’t share their father because he was dead.

‘i hope i shall keep awake and hear bill when he comes,’ she thought. but soon she was fastasleep, and so was dinah. the clock struck half-past ten, and then eleven.

jack woke philip. ‘nobody has come yet,’ he said. ‘your turn to watch, tufty. funny that he’sso late, isn’t it?’

philip sat down at the window. he yawned. he listened but he could hear nothing. and then hesuddenly saw a streak of bright light as his mother, downstairs, pulled back a curtain, and the lightflooded into the garden.

philip knew what it was, of course – but he suddenly stiffened as the light struck on somethingpale, hidden in a bush by the front gate. the something was moved quickly back into the shadows,but philip had guessed what it was.

‘that was someone’s face i saw! somebody is hiding in the bushes by the gate. why? it can’tbe bill. he’d come right in. then it must be somebody waiting in ambush for him. golly!’

he slipped across to the bed and awoke jack. he whispered to him what he had seen. jack wasout of bed and by the window at once. but he could see nothing, of course. mrs mannering haddrawn the curtain back over the window, and no light shone out now. the garden was in darkness.

‘we must do something quickly,’ said jack. ‘if bill comes, he’ll be knocked out, if that’s whatthat man there is waiting for. can we warn bill? it’s plain he knows there’s danger for himself, orhe wouldn’t have been so mysterious on the telephone – and insisted he couldn’t come if anyoneelse was here. i wish aunt allie would go to bed. what’s the time? the clock struck eleven sometime ago, i know.’

there came the sound of somebody clicking off lights and a door closing. ‘it’s mother,’ saidphilip. ‘she’s not going to wait any longer. she’s coming up to bed. good! now the house will bein darkness, and maybe that fellow will go.’

‘we’ll have to see that he does,’ said jack. ‘do you suppose bill will come now, philip? – it’sgetting very late.’

‘if he says he will, he will,’ said philip ‘sh – here’s mother.’

both boys hopped into bed and pretended to be asleep. mrs mannering switched the light on,and then, seeing that both boys were apparently sound asleep, she switched it off again quickly.

she did the same in the girls’ room, and then went to her own room.

philip was soon sitting by the window again, eyes and ears open for any sign of the hidden manin the bushes below. he thought he heard a faint cough.

‘he’s still there,’ he said to jack. ‘he must have got wind of bill coming here tonight.’

‘or more likely still, he knows that bill is a great friend of ours, and whatever gang he belongsto has sent a man to watch in that bush every night,’ said jack. ‘he’s hoping that bill will turn upsooner or later. bill must have a lot of enemies. he’s always tracking down crooks and criminals.’

‘listen,’ said philip, ‘i’m going to creep out of the back door, and get through the hedge of thenext-door garden, and out of their back gate, so as not to let that hidden man hear me. and i’mgoing up to watch for old bill and warn him. he’ll come up the road, not down, because that’s theway he always comes.’

‘good idea!’ said jack. ‘i’ll come too.’

‘no. one of us must watch to see what that man down there does,’ said philip. ‘we’ll have toknow if he’s there or not. i’ll go. you stay at the window. if i find bill coming along i’ll warn himand turn him back.’

‘all right,’ said jack, wishing he had the exciting job of creeping about the dark gardens to goand meet bill. ‘give him our love – and tell him to phone us if he can, and we’ll meet himsomewhere safe.’

philip slipped quietly out of the room. there was still a light in his mother’s room, so he wentvery cautiously downstairs, anxious not to disturb her. she would be very scared if she knew aboutthe hidden man.

he opened the back door quietly, shut it softly behind him, and went out into the dark garden.

he had no torch, for he did not want to show any sign of himself at all.

he squeezed through a gap in the hedge, and came into the next-door garden. he knew it verywell. he found the path, and then made his way quietly along the grass at the edge of it, afraid ofmaking the gravel crunch a little if he walked on it.

then he thought he heard a sound. he stopped dead and listened. surely there wasn’t anotherman hiding somewhere? could they be burglars, not men waiting for bill, after all? ought he tocreep back and telephone to the police?

he listened again, straining his ears, and had a queer feeling that there was someone nearby,also listening. listening for him, philip, perhaps. it was not a nice thought, there in the darkness.

he took a step forward – and then suddenly someone fell on him savagely, pinned his armsbehind him, and forced him on his face to the ground. philip bit deep into the soft earth of aflower-bed, and choked. he could not even shout for help.