"Are you sure?" said Mr Holmes, looking at Dot keenly over his big beaky nose. "Absolutely sure? It was Lady Sarah who said those words?"
Dot sighed to herself. What was it with grown-ups, that they never believed you the first time you told them something unusual?
"Yes" she said. "And there was somebody with her, a man... I couldn't tell who, but I heard him - he made a kind of grunt after Lady Sarah spoke."
"Ah!" said Mr Holmes. "That sounds very like Sir Charles!"
Dot bit her lip so she didn't say "Are you sure? Absolutely sure?" - because that would have been cheeky, and nicely brought-up Victorian girls (or "gels" as Lady Sarah would have said) didn't do cheeky!
They were sitting together playing Snap in the Card Room at Dendringham Hall - there seemed to be a room for everything at the Hall - after a huge supper. Dot felt really full because she hadn't quite got over the mega tea at Fernbank Cottage. They'd had soup and a little savoury called 'Devils on Horseback' and a fish course and a meat course and there'd been three different kinds of puddings and cheese too. She hadn't had all of it but she still felt stuffed.
Lady Sarah had gone up to bed immediately after the meal - saying she had a headache, but Dot felt sure it was a something else, because she'd been very quiet during supper, and so had Sir Charles.
He wasn't now though - she could hear him through the big double doors that led into the dining room, where he and his son Herbert were drinking something called 'Port' and eating nuts.
And arguing. She could hear Herbert going on about something and Sir Charles growling out his replies.
Mr Holmes saw her looking over at the doors, and smiled a thin smile. "Not a happy household just at present, is it?" he said. "Snap!"
Grrr, thought Dot. haven't won once yet! Mr Holmes obviously wasn't one of those grown-ups who made it easy for children when he was playing games with them.
"What do you think it means, Mr Holmes?" she asked.
"Well" said Mr Holmes. "I think there's something in his past that Sir Charles wants to hide. Some wrong that he did to some person in the past. Do you remember the argument that Laetitia and Giles had at Fernbank Cottage?"
"Yes!" said Dot excitedly. "Something about... something about spoiling their special place!"
"Exactly!" said Mr Holmes. "Snap!"
Double GRRRR thought. Dot How can he do that!!
"Now who in this area would have the power to spoil their lives?"
Ermmm... thought Dot, feeling silly. Then she saw her chance. "Snap!" Mr Holmes had nearly beaten her so she got all the cards. "Humph!" said Mr Holmes crossly. Then he went on with his thoughts.
"Sir Charles has that power, as landlord. He owns the Dendringham Woods, and all that's in them. Snap!"
They stopped to shuffle the cards. He'd won!
"Furthermore" Mr Holmes went on, "Do you remember that scientific magazine I mentioned, at Fernbank Cottage?"
"Yes" said Dot. "The, ermm..."
"…‘Chronicle of Physical Sciences’ said Mr Holmes. "Now Giles was in that all the time - but just a year ago, he wasn't to be seen any more. Why?"
Dot really couldn't answer that.
But she didn't have a chance to. The next moment - there it was again! The howling!
"ARROOOOOOOOOO!"
