Mystery of the Disappearing Cat by Enid Blyton Read Free Book Online Page B

asked Lady Candling in rather a stern tone.
    “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