Enid Blyton - Mystery #03 — The Mystery of the Secret Room

“Don’t be so silly,” said Pip. “What’s the good of crying before you know what’s happened to Fatty?”

“I knew something had happened to him. I knew he was in danger, I did, I did,” wept poor Bets. “I want to go down to Milton House and see what’s happened.”

“Well, you won’t,” said Pip. “There may be danger. You look after Buster for me. I’ll go down myself.”

“I’ll come too,” said Bets bravely, wiping her eyes.

“No, you won’t,” said Pip firmly. “I’m not going to have you running into danger. You don’t like danger, anyway. So you be a good girl and take Buster home with you. I’ll be back as soon as I can - and maybe I’ll bring Fatty with me, so cheer up.”

Still crying, poor Bets went off with the puzzled Buster, who simply could not understand what had happened to Fatty. He seemed to have disappeared into thin air!

Pip was much more worried than he had let Bets see. He couldn’t help thinking that something serious must have happened. But what could it be? Fatty would surely never allow himself to be caught. He was far too clever.

Pip went over the hill and down Chestnut Lane. He came to the gate of Milton House. He gazed in cautiously. He could see more footprints, and there were new car-wheel prints.

He went round the hedge, slipped in at a gap, and found himself by the summer-house. Inside were the rugs Fatty had taken to keep himself warm. But there was no Fatty there.

He stepped cautiously into the garden, and one of the men, who was watching, saw him from a window. He had with him the sheet of notepaper on which Fatty had written the two letters.

The man bent down, so that he could not be seen, opened the window a crack at the bottom, gave a loud whistle to attract Pip’s attention, and then let the paper float out of the window.

Pip heard the whistle and looked up. To his enormous surprise he saw a sheet of paper floating out of one of the second-storey windows. Perhaps it was a message from Fatty.

The boy ran to where the paper dropped and picked it up. He recognized Fatty’s neat hand-writing at once. He read the note through, and his heart began to beat fast.

“Fatty’s on to something,” he thought. “He’s found some stolen jewels or something and he’s guarding them. He wants us all to be in it! I’ll run back to the others, and bring them back with me. What an adventure! Good old Fatty!”

He scampered off, his face bright. The man watched him go and was satisfied. That young idiot would soon bring the other children down with him, and then they could all be locked up safely before they gave the game away!

Fatty saw Pip too and began to have a few horrid doubts. Were the Find-Outers smart enough to guess there was a secret letter in between the lines of inked writing? Suppose they didn’t? He would have led them all into a trap!

Pip ran all the way home. He was tremendously excited. What had Fatty discovered? It must be something very wonderful for him to be guarding it like that!

Bets was waiting for Fatty very anxiously. She was at the window of the playroom, and Buster was sitting on the window-sill beside her, his black nose pressed against the pane.

Pip grinned widely and waved the letter at Bets. She guessed at once that he had good news, and her heart felt lighter. She tore downstairs to meet him, Buster at her heels.

“Is Fatty all right? What has happened? Is that a letter from him?” she asked.

Pip pushed her upstairs again. “Don’t yell questions at me like that!” he said crossly. “You’ll have all the household knowing about our mystery soon!”

Just then the luncheon gong sounded, and Pip’s mother put her head in at the door. “Come along,” she said. “Don’t keep me waiting, Pip, because I have to go out immediately after lunch.”

So there was no time to show poor Bets the letter, and she was so terribly curious about it that she fidgeted all through the meal, much to her mother’s annoyance.

As soon as lunch was over, Pip and Bets flew upstairs, and Pip spread the note out on the table.

“Look there!” he said. “Fatty’s found something marvellous - and he’s guarding it. He wants us all to go down and join him. So we’d better go up to Larry’s and get him and Daisy as soon as we can.”

Bets read the note. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. This sounded too thrilling for words.

“Fatty must have solved the mystery,” she said. “Isn’t he awfully clever?”

“Let’s put on our things and go and fetch Larry and Daisy now,” said Pip. “Fatty will be expecting us as soon as possible. We’ll march up to the front door and knock loudly.”

They put on their things and ran all the way to Larry’s house. They went in at the garden door and whistled for Larry, using the signal they always kept for themselves.

“Here we are, up here,” said Daisy, popping her head out of a room upstairs. “Any news?”

“Yes, heaps,” said Pip, leaping up the stairs two at a time. “We went to call on Fatty this morning, and the maid said he hadn’t been home all night!”

“Goodness!” said Daisy.

“So I went down to Milton House, without Bets or Buster,” said Pip. “And suddenly this letter floated out of a window! It’s from old Fatty.”

He showed it to Larry and Daisy. They read it in great excitement.

“I say! He’s certainly found out something!” said Larry. “He must have got in at the coal-hole and gone up to that secret room. I vote we all go down to Milton House now, this very minute.”

“Bets was awfully silly all last night and this morning,” said Pip. “She kept on worrying and worrying because she felt sure Fatty was in trouble! She cried like anything when we found he wasn’t at home. She’s an awful baby.”

“I’m not,” said Bets, going red. “I did feel awfully worried, but I couldn’t help it. Something sort of told me that Fatty was in danger - and, as a matter of fact, I still don’t feel quite right about him. I mean - I’ve still got that uncomfortable sort of feeling.”

“Have you?” said Daisy. “How funny! But nothing can be wrong with Fatty now! You’ve read his note.”

“I know,” said Bets, and she read it again. “I wonder why he signed himself ‘Freddie,’ ” she said suddenly. “He nearly always puts ‘Fatty’ now. I suppose he just didn’t think.”

The little girl looked thoughtfully at the letter. Then she sniffed a little, turning this way and that.

“What’s the matter? You look like Buster when he smells a nice smell and doesn’t quite know where it comes from!” said Larry.

“Well - I did get a whiff of a smell that reminded me of something,” said Bets. “What was it now? Yes - I know - oranges! But there aren’t any in the room.”

“Imagination,” said Pip. “You’re always imagining things.” He took the letter and began to fold it up, but as he did so, he too began to sniff.

“How funny! I can smell oranges too now!” he said.

Bets suddenly snatched the letter from him, her eyes bright. She held it to her nose.

“This is what smells of oranges!” she said excitedly. “Smell it, all of you.”

They smelt it. Yes, it smelt of oranges - and that could only mean one thing. Fatty had written another letter on the same sheet - in orange juice, for secret ink!

Bets sat down suddenly because her knees began shaking.

“I’ve got that feeling again,” she said earnestly. “You know - that something is wrong with Fatty. Let’s test the letter quickly for secret writing.”

Daisy flew down to get a warm iron. It seemed ages to wait whilst it got hot enough. Then Pip deftly ran the warm iron over the letter.