Dot is being taught her times tables (groan) in the schoolroom at Dendringham Hall – where she’s net-voyaged back to the nineteenth century. But suddenly there’s a strange howling noise outside – and her teacher, the governess Miss Walsingham, is scared to death!
“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
There it was again. Dot jumped up and ran to the window. Miss Walsingham looked like she was in shock – she was rubbing her forehead and going “Oh dear, oh dear!” and didn’t even seem to notice that her pupil had stopped doing her classwork.
Out in the park, even though it was darker still now, Dot could see – and hear - that the three dogs, Victor and Angharad and Wizzie, had heard the sound too.
Wiz had his “Don’t you come near me!” look, tail down ears flat, bark-bark-barking. Victor the St Bernard had his big head back and was barking and howling too. And Angharad the Welsh Terrier was pointing her beardy little head forward, tail up and curved over her back, one front paw lifted off the ground. From time to time she would bark too.
But there was nothing to see – nothing at all. Apart from a servant at the hall coming out to quieten the dogs down, and take them in, probably for their supper.
“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
There it went again – a kind of a howl that wasn’t really a howl. Quieter now, and it sort of sounded like a dog, but there was something strange about it… Dot couldn’t work out what…
“Dorothea! Come away from the window dear! Do, please!”
Miss Walsingham still looked white as a sheet, but she seemed to have got a bit of her nerve back. She took Dot gently by the arm and sat her down again at the desk – with a hand that Dot could feel was trembling.
“Now then” she said in her quiet voice. “What is six times nine? If you are correct, perhaps we needn’t start that table again after all.”
“54!” said Dot. It had come back with a flash, like it always did when she stopped thinking too hard about it. “But Miss Walsingham, what was that noise? It sounded like - ”
The governess tapped on the table with her pointer. “Finish your nine times table correctly my dear” she said, with a nervous little smile “and perhaps I will tell you!”
Mmm, thought Dot. Just like Mrs Rudman and her “Do what I’ve told you first and then we’ll see!” Maybe school wasn’t that different 100 years ago after all!
“Seven nines are 63, and eight nines are seventy two, nine nines are 81, ten nines are 90, eleven nines are 99, and twelve nines are 108!” she said, nearly running out of breath. “Please Miss Walsingham, what is going on?”
“Going on?” said Miss Walsingham, raising her eyebrows. “Young ladies do NOT use terms like that! I’m not even sure I know what it means!”
Grrr thought Dot.
“Still… ” the governess said, glancing nervously at he door of the schoolroom “I’m sure you’ll find out sooner or later, servants will talk!”
She took a deep breath.
“It’s why Mr Holmes is here, my dear” (that was the name of the strange man in the drawing room, Dot remembered.) “Such strange things have been happening at the Hall. Every night at dusk, just as it’s getting dark, we hear that horrible sound. I find it so… so frightening…” She stopped and shook her head and then went on.
“And then… and then… there’s The Shadow! Oh!”
Cool, thought Dot! This is like a scary movie!
“What shadow?” she asked.
Miss Walsingham gave her a little glance. “You are a very forward young lady” she said in a puzzled way. “Never in my time as a governess have I encountered such… such directness!”
You wouldn’t have, thought Dot. I’m from the 21st century and you’re in the 19th.
But she didn’t say anything of course!
Miss Walsingham went on. “Still, I promised to tell you… come to the window and look out.”
They walked over to the big window together, Miss Walsingham holding tightly onto Dot’s hand. It was nearly dark now, but you could still se the trees in the park, and beyond them, a range of hills. Dot remembered her Dad had called them the Caldacot Hills – they’d had to drive over them to get to Dendringham Hall.
“Sometimes, always just at this time of day, there is… oh look! LOOK!”
Suddenly, a ghostly white shape appeared, flying across the slope of one of the hills. It must have been huge, because it looked big even from where they were standing, and the hills were miles away from the Hall (Dot remembered again, Dad had said “Three miles to go!” when they’d driven down the other side of them.)
The shape looked like a horseman riding with a big axe in his hand. But then, almost as suddenly as it had come, it disappeared.
“Oh dear, oh dear!” went Miss Walsingham again. She seemed really scared – Dot felt sorry for her. She gave her hand a little squeeze.
“Don’t worry” she said. “Wizzie and I will sort this out!”
Miss Walsingham gave her another puzzled look. “Yes dear” she said in one of those voices her Mum used when she was thinking about something else. “I’m sure you would like to!”
But then she squeezed Dot’s hand even harder, and looked straight into her eyes. And now, she looked really terrified.
“But that isn’t all” she whispered hoarsely. “Oh no! There’s… there’s… THE GIANT PAW!”
