Dot and Mr Holmes have found the walled garden where the projector making the ghostly noises must have been smuggled into Dendringham Hall, up the secret stairs they’ve also discovered… but now they can hear Miss Walsingham, Dot’s governess, who’s found Dot missing from her bedroom and is frantically searching and calling out for her…
“Wait here, please!” said Miss Walsingham.
With a rustle of her skirts, she walked up to the big heavy door of Sir Charles’ study and knocked.
“COME IN!” boomed a voice from the other side of the door.
Without looking back, Miss Walsingham turned the heavy brass door handle and went in, shutting the door behind her.
Dot was in trouble. BIG trouble!
After she’d heard Miss Walsingham calling her from inside the funny walled garden, she’d realized straight away that she couldn’t tell anyone what she and Mr Holmes had been doing.
So did Mr Holmes. As Miss Walsingham’s cries of “Dorothea! DoroTHEA!! Where are you?” got louder and louder, the detective had looked at her and said: “We cannot tell anyone what we have been doing, Dorothea. You understand that, don’t you? Our investigations are at such a critical stage – if we reveal all we know now, without all the facts at our fingertips, we may fail!”
He smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “I fear I must ask you to make up a story – very wrong, but it’s all for the good of the cause!”
“All right!” said Dot, smiling up at his pale face in the moonlight. Those words “Our investigations” had made her feel warm all over. Being a detective was such fun – and being the helper of the greatest detective ever was just – well, totally cool!
She wasn’t going to put that at risk, no way!
“I’ll think of something!” she said.
“Good man!” said Mr Holmes. “Oh – I mean - ”
“DO-RO-THE-A!!!”
“It’s all right!” Dot said. “You’d better go!”
That bit was easy, anyway. With a swirl of his funny long ‘Ulster’ coat, Mr Holmes went up to where the door had been and pressed on one of the stones in the wall. Without a sound, the hidden door swung back. Mr Holmes gave her a brief wave and disappeared as the door closed again behind him.
It wasn’t a moment too soon. With a creaking and a groaning, a dusty, cobwebby dirty old gate in the wall at the far end of the garden swung open.
It looked like it hadn’t been open for years. But it was now!
And through it came a very red-faced Miss Walsingham, followed by Old Josiah.
Neither of them looked very happy. And the moonlight, casting a pale glow on their faces, made them look unhappier still.
“Oh Dorothea! There you are! Where on earth have you been?” said Miss Walsingham. She was out of breath and looked more worried than ever. She pushed a stray lock of hair up from her face.
“I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for you! You are SUCH a naughty girl! It’s well past your bedtime, and… and… ”
“You’re for it now, my liddle girl!” said Old Josiah grimly.
It sounded awful, but he was standing behind the governess as he said it – and as Dot looked up he gave her an enormous wink and a big grin!
Miss Walsingham turned round, but by the time she’d done so, Josiah’s lined old face was back to its usual grim expression.
He reminded Dot a lot of Fred, the schoolkeeper at St Mary’s – he was always going "Blooming kids!” and ticking everyone off, but when you needed his help he was always there – not least with some of his special ginger and dark chocolate biscuits if you knocked on the door of his den in break!
She had to make up a story, quick!
So she did.
“I was just… I was just… exploring” she said. “I went out to say goodnight to Wiz before going to bed… you said I could, before… and when I was coming back I wondered what was over this wall” - she pointed to where they’d come through “so I just climbed over... and… ”
She was really proud of herself that she’d thought she couldn’t say she’d come through the dusty old gate in the wall of the hidden garden. Because it was all too obvious that no-one had for years, until Old Josiah and Miss Walsingham came through it! A* Dot!
But it still felt bad to be lying. She hated doing that.
“Well I DON’T know what I am going to do with you” said Miss Walsingham. She looked more worried and tired than ever. Dot felt really sorry for her, but she just couldn’t tell the truth. Not yet, anyway.
“I think” Miss Walsingham went on “I think you should have a little chat with Sir Charles. If he cannot make you behave yourself, no-one can!”
“COME IN DOROTHEA!” the voice boomed again.
