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"Angry! You could hear him all over the house and the garden too!" said Mrs. Mi
Lily appeared out of the larder, looking sulky. The children couldn't help feeling sorry for her. The girl put the dripping down on the table with a bang.
"Any need to try and break the basin?" inquired Mrs. Mi
Lily went out, clanking a pail. "Tell us about the tramp," said Pip. "What time did Mr. Hick see Mm stealing eggs?"
"Oh, sometime in the morning," said Mrs. Mi
"Perhaps he fired the cottage," said Pip. But Mrs. Mi
"He was a sly one," she said. "He'd come down into my kitchen at nights, when every one was in bed, and he'd go to my larder and take out a meat-pie or a few buns or anything he'd a mind to. Well, what I say is, if some one can do that, they'll set fire to a cottage too."
Pip remembered with a very guilty feeling that once, being terribly hungry, he had slipped down to the school larder and eaten some biscuits. He wondered if he was also capable of setting fire to a cottage, but he felt sure he could never do that. He didn't think that Mrs. Mi
Suddenly, from somewhere in the house, there came the sound of a furious flow of words. Mrs. Mi
"That's the master," she said. "Fallen over something, I shouldn't wonder."
Sweetie, the big black and white cat, suddenly flew into the kitchen, her fur up, and her tail swollen to twice its size. Mrs. Mi
"Oh, Sweetie I Did you get under his feet again! Poor lamb, poor darling lamb!"
The poor darling lamb retired under the table, hissing. The three kittens in the basket stiffened in alarm, and hissed too. Mr. Hick appeared in the kitchen, looking extremely angry.
"Mrs. Mi
"Sir, the day you drown my cat I walk out!" said Mrs. Mi
Mr. Hick glared at the cook as if he would like to drown her as well as the cat. "Why you want to keep such an ugly and vicious animal, I ca
"They are, sir," said Mrs. Mi
Mr. Hick then saw the two children, and appeared to be just as displeased to see them as he had been to see the kittens.
"What are these children doing here?" he asked sharply.
"You ought to know better, Mrs. Minus., than to keep your kitchen full of tiresome children and wretched cats and kittens! Tell them to go!"
He marched out of the door, first setting down the empty cup and saucer he was carrying. Mrs. Mi
"For two pins I'd bum your precious cottage down if it wasn't already gone!" she called after Mr. Hick, when he was safely out of hearing. Sweetie rubbed against her skirt, purring loudly. She beat down and stroked her.
"Did the nasty man tramp on you?" she asked fondly. "Did he say nasty things about the dear little kittens? Never you mind, Sweetie!"
"We'd better be going," said Daisy, afraid that Mr. Hick might hear what Mrs. Mi
Mrs. Mi
"We've learnt such a lot that it's going to be difficult to sort it all out!" said Pip. "It see his as if at least three people might have done the crime — and really, if that's the kind of way that Mr. Hick usually behaves I can't help feeling there must be about twenty people who would only be too glad to pay him back for something!"
The Tramp — Clear-Orf — and Fatty
The four children met in the old summer-house of excitement. Bets and Buster were not yet back, but they couldn't wait for them to come. They had to tell their news.
"We saw the chauffeur! He's called Thomas," said Larry. "He told us all about the valet called Peeks. He was chucked out on the day of the fire, for wearing his master's clothes!"
"I'm sure he did the crime," said Fatty eagerly. "We must find out more about him. He lives in the next village."
"Yes, but listen!" said Daisy. "It might be old Mr. Smellie!"
"Who?" said Larry and Fatty, in astonishment. "Mr. Smellie!"
"Yes," said Daisy, with a giggle. "We thought it couldn't be a real name, too, when we heard it, but it is."
"Mr. Hiccup and Mr. Smellie," said Fatty unexpectedly. "What a lovely pair!"
Larry chuckled. "Daisy and Pip don't know about Mr. Hick and cup," he said. He told them. They laughed.
"It isn't really very fu
She told Larry and Fatty all that Mrs. Mi
"Golly!" said Larry, surprised. "It looks as if old Mrs. Mi
"You know, we have already found four suspects," said Fatty solemnly. "I mean — we can quite properly suspect four persons of firing that cottage — the old tramp, Mr. Smellie, Mr. Peeks and Mrs. Mi
"Getting on?" said Larry. "Well, I don't know about that. We seem to find more and more people to suspect, which makes it all more and more difficult. I can't think how in the world we're going to discover which it is".
"We must find out the movements of the four suspects.," said Fatty wisely. "For instance, if we find out that Mr. Smellie, whoever he is, spent the evening of the day before yesterday fifty miles away from here, we can rule him out. And if we find that Horace Peeks was at home with His mother all that evening, we can rule him out. And so on."
"What we shall probably find is that all four people were messing about somewhere near the place" said Pip. "And how in the world are we going to trace that old tramp? You know what tramps are — they wander about for miles., and nobody knows where they go or where they come from."
"Yes — the tramp's going to be difficult," said Daisy. "Very difficult. We can't rush all over the country looking for a tramp. And if we did find him, it's going to be difficult to ask him if he set fire to the cottage."