Night time, and the howling has returned to Dendringham Hall. But there’s more – a lot more!
This time the howling was different. It was stronger. Louder.
And MUCH nearer!!
Dot and Mr Holmes dashed to the window to look out, and so did Sir Charles and Herbert who’d rushed in to join them from drinking their port in the dining room next door.
There was no doubt about it now – none at all!
RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HALL, a ghostly rider, shimmering in white and grey, was cantering across the ha-ha, the rough grass beyond the lawn in front of the house.
“My God!” shouted Sir Charles. “There he is! The villain! How dare he!”
“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” the howling went again.
As he spoke, the rider turned his face towards them. But it wasn’t a face – it
was a skull, a grinning, laughing skull, under a big, broad-brimmed hat with a feather in it. And as the ghostly rider raised his whip to lash his straining, panting horse to go faster, the sleeve fell back to reveal an arm with no flesh or skin on it – the arm of a skeleton!
“Eeeek!” screamed Herbert, fainting away and falling down on the floor with a thump, knocking over Dot and Mr Holmes’ card table as he fell.
And then just as suddenly as he’d come, the ghoulish, ghostly rider disappeared – and all that was to be seen, dimly lit in the night by the lights from the front of the hall, was the outline of the Dendringham Woods in the background.
“The fiend!” roared Sir Charles. “I’ll thrash him within an inch of his life! I’ll have him locked up till the day he dies! I’ll… I’ll… ”
“AROOOOOOO!” went the howling once more, as if to mock Sir Charles, but fainter this time, fading away into the distance.
Sir Charles swung round to Mr Holmes. His face was redder than ever. Shouldn’t drink so much port wine, thought Dot.
“For heaven’s sake, man” he said angrily. “When are you going to get to grips with this outrage? Eh? What? What?”
Mr Holmes had opened his mouth to reply when the door to the Card Room burst open, and Lady Sarah came in, in a long blue and gold silk dressing gown covered in little bows. She looked white-faced and exhausted. Close behind her came Crabbings the butler, looking nearly as red in the face as Sir Charles.
“Charles, I just can’t stand this any longer!” said Lady Sarah, in a shrill, nervous voice quite unlike her usual calm and gentle way of speaking. “Unless Mr Holmes finds out who this frightful man is, I’m going up to Hanover Square until everything is all resolved. My nerves are simply in shreds!” She looked down and gasped. “And what on earth’s happened to Herbert?”
“I’ll take care of him, m’lady” said Crabbings gruffly. He picked up a carafe of water from a little side table and, dipping his fingers in it, sprinkled a little on the young man’s face.
“Nyoiaouw” groaned Herbert. “What happened?”
“Oh, did our hero faint?” came a sneering voice from the doorway.
It was Laetitia, looking as cool as ever.
“It’ll be a just a leetle difficult to horsewhip this rogue if you keep fainting Herbert, won’t it?”
“Hold your tongue, my girl!” said Sir Charles angrily. “This is no time for one of your childish arguments!”
“Shall I order the London house to be opened for Lady Sarah, sir?” asked Crabbings. “I know that Hutchings our under-butler has returned to Hanover Square from his holiday at Hastings.”
Under-butler… over-butler… how many servants did people need in those days, thought Dot!
But she didn’t say anything, of course.
“No… no… dammit, we’re not going to be driven out by some fool trying to scare us!” said Sir Charles. “We’re going to solve this, once and for all! Remember the family motto!”
“I Fear Not, For The Right Is With Me?” said Mr Holmes, speaking up at last. “It may well be true, Sir Charles, but we’re dealing with a criminal mind here - determined to terrify you and your family. Now - can you think of any reason why someone would want to do that?”
Dot looked closely at Sir Charles. So did Mr Holmes. A silence fell. It was obviously what TV interviewers a hundred years on from where she was would call “A good question.”
Mr Mouse thought so, too. “Yeah” he said softly, popping his squiffly little nose out from under the collar of Dot’s heavy dress. “Whatcha got to say to that, Sir d’Auberley?”
“It’s Sir Charles” hissed Dot.
“Whatever!” said Mr Mouse. “Is this guy coming out to bat, or what?”
“What?” seemed to be the answer. Sir Charles had gone pale. And silent. And so had Lady Sarah. Was it because of the “great wrong” they’d been talking about outside Dot’s window?
It was Mr Holmes who broke the silence.
“If you’ll forgive me” he said “I shall just take a look outside. Clues will soon vanish in the damp night air. Your servant, Lady Sarah, Sir Charles!”
And with that, he was gone.
No sooner had he left though, than Miss Walsingham came into the room. Sigh… Dot knew what was coming next…
“Dorothea!” said the governess. “Come along! Time for your bed, my dear. Say goodnight to Sir Charles and Lady Sarah!”
So she did.
But as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, following Miss Walsingham, Dot thought: That was even less scary than the ghostly bits in the ‘Scooby Doo’ movie.
And I’ve seen it all before – it’s just some kind of a projector!
But who would know how to do that in the year 1896? And how can I tell anyone what I think it is without letting them know who I really am – and where I come from!
