What on earth made Sir Charles take such fright from the words ‘Horse Soother’? And how is that puzzle to be solved? But that’s not all tat’s going on as the ghostly mystery of Dendringham Hall deepens - Mr Holmes has been at work and he has a new plan!
Supper that night was REALLY difficult... no-one seemed to want to talk at all. Usually there was a lot of gossip about what had happened during the day, about dogs and horses and farming – there were five farms on the land owned by the d'Auberley family at Dendringham Hall, and they always seemed to have problems of one kind or another that needed fixing.
It was obvious that owning a big house like Dendringham Hall and having to look after it and the hundreds of acres round it wasn't easy at all. Even with loads of servants working for you!
But tonight, even those troubles and triumphs didn’t make for conversation.
Sir Charles hardly said a word throughout the meal. He'd recovered a bit from the shock that Mr Holmes had given him with the strange words “horse soother”, but he still didn't look well. Though the ruddy red colour had come back to his cheeks, they had fallen in, as if he'd suddenly lost a lot of weight.
Lady Sarah tried to start some conversation, but it didn't work. Miss Walsingham was her usual quiet self.
And Laetitia and Herbert had had another one of their rows – Dot had heard them arguing in the corridor outside the dining room on the way in to supper, something about what had happened to them when they were children, with a lot of “I didn't!” and “Oh yes you DID!” in it.
Now they just sat there, occasionally looking up and scowling at each other, Laetitia crumbling bits of bread roll and making them up into little balls lined up round her plate.
She had about forty already, all lined up like stars round her side plate.
Dot sighed. She was dying to talk to Mr Holmes about what he thought had happened just before supper, when the words “horse soother” had had such an amazing impact on Sir Charles – but she couldn’t.
The only nice (quite nice) thing was, the dogs had been allowed to join them – on strict condition that they didn't beg for food – and were lying under the table chatting to each other.
Or arguing! Angharad was saying “I won the most games of It today! You know I did!” and Wiz was going “No, I did! That one where I fell over so you got me doesn't count! Does it Victor?” and poor Victor mumbling something Dot couldn't hear, trying to keep the peace.
She sighed. It was an angry household at the Hall tonight!
But Mr Holmes wasn't angry. He was cool and calm. He filled the gaps in the conversation by talking about some of the cases he'd been involved with.
They sounded quite scary. There was one about a snake being let into a lady's bedroom down a pipe... another one about a ghastly face at a window... and another about a giant rat! Yikes!
But no-one seemed to want to listen much, and it was a relief when supper
was over.
And that was when the fun began!
Dot was just climbing the stairs to go to bed - after losing three times at a game called 'Halma' that she'd never played before, but Miss Walsingham obviously had! - when she heard a “Pssst!” from one of the shadowy alcoves on the stairs. Dot recognized the voice – it was Mr Holmes.
He put his finger to his lips, and beckoned her to follow him to the foot of the stairs that led up to the attics. It was dark there, but he took out the old -fashioned torch that he'd used in the woods when they were chasing the mystery figure that night, and shone it downwards onto the lowest step of the stairs.
At first Dot couldn't see anything – but then she made out a VERY faint outline. It looked like a patch of dust – two, in fact – on the step. It would have been hard to see it in daylight – without the torch it would have been invisible.
“What’s that?” she whispered.
“A little preparation of my own” said Mr Holmes softly. “Which may help us solve the mystery of Dendringham Hall - once and for all!”
