Dot has had her first breakfast at Dendringham Hall, with lots of people she doesn't know (kind of embarrassing!) Then, suddenly, Mr Holmes appears - dressed as a tramp, so at first no-one knows who he is. Out of his disguise, he suddenly produces the strange handle-like thing he and Dot found when they chased the ghostly figure into the woods round Dendringham Hall...
“How very strange!” said Miss Walsingham, busily re-arranging a pile of books on the table in the schoolroom. One of them said ‘Principles of Arithmetical Calculation’ in big old-fashioned letters on the cover. Dot’s heart sank as she saw her governess open it at a page that looked VERY difficult indeed!
But another one of the books looked a bit more interesting – it had a picture of a man in a funny white hat on the cover, looking very fierce, with a huge moustache. He was dressed in a bright red jacket with dark trousers and boots and he was pointing at an African man kneeling in front of him as if he was telling him off. The book was called ‘Heroes Of Her Majesty’s Empire’.
Hmmm, thought Dot. Need to find out more about that.
“So what happened next, Dorothea?” asked Miss Walsingham, scrubbing the sums from the day before off the blackboard. She was obviously ready to talk –there were still ten minutes to go till lesson time.
Dot wondered if she could make the free time last longer – like you always could with Mrs Redman at St Mary’s if you asked her how her garden was getting on…!
“Well, everyone was really surprised at what Mr Holmes had brought in” said Dot. Must remember that I’m not supposed to know about it, she thought to herself – she hated keeping secrets like this, but she knew she could trust Mr Holmes. “It was quite a shock for them!”
It had been too. Sir Charles had said he’d never seen anything like it in his life - looked like “some dratted thing one of those infernal Germans would dream up.”
Lady Sarah hadn’t said anything but she’d clearly been upset by it. Why…?
Herbert had taken it from Mr Holmes and gone round the room going “Bang bang, got you” until Laetitia had lost patience with him and snatched it out of his hand. Her face had gone paler than ever when she first saw it though – and Dot noticed she clenched her fist on the table so that her knuckles stood out white on her hand.
Again… why..?
But no-one had known anything about the strange thing Mr Holmes and Dot had found – so the investigator had tucked it in his pocket and sat down to breakfast, just as the time came for Dot’s lessons. When she left he was talking with Laetitia about “the science of detective work”, as if nothing had happened!
“Well it’s all MOST peculiar” said Miss Walsingham. “Trust Herbert to play the giddy goat like that, though! He’s always been a bit of a silly boy – such a trial for poor Sir Charles. Herbert will have to run the Hall one day after all – he’s his only son, after all.”
“Laetitia didn’t seem scared at all…” said Dot. She was doing what her Dad called “fishing” – trying to find things out without asking.
“Oh no, she’s a very self-confident young lady!” said Miss Walsingham, brushing the chalk off her hands. “Quite the modern miss! Mind you, the Langtons always have been forward thinkers. Her brother Giles is some kind of scientist in one of those new universities – Birmingham I think. Not a penny to his name though, for all the inventions he dreams up, poor fellow.”
Bong! went the old-fashioned clock on the mantelpiece. In his bed in the little cage, Mr Mouse woke up with a start.
“Now, time to study, Dorothea my dear!” said Miss Walsingham. “I think we can do a little more today – you seem to be much better from your influenza. I do hope that your parents are recovering as well as you. We must remember that was why Sir Charles and Lady Sarah invited you here, so that your dear mother and father could take the sea air at Bournemouth in peace. It’s very lucky that your papa and Sir Charles became such firm friends when they were in the Army together.”
“Can I have Mr Mouse with me while we do our lessons?” asked Dot. It was very nice cage that he was in, but it was still a cage!
“No, dear” said Miss Walsingham firmly. “Not until we have done our arithmetic!”
Mr Mouse let out a sigh – which only Dot could hear – and pulled the cover of his little bed over his head.
“Now, then!” said the governess. “Let’s start with our nine times table!”
GROAN!!!
