‘Perhaps I’d better go and see if everything is all right,’ thought Gpnrgf^ She was quite fearless, and the thought pf creeping through the still, dark house did not disturb her at all. Besides she had Tim! Who could be afraid with Tim beside them!
She slipped on her dressing-gown. ‘Perhaps a log has fallen out of one of the fireplaces and a rug is burning,’ she thought, sniffing as she went down the stairs. Tt would be just like Tim to smell it and warn us!’
With her hand on Tim’s head to warn him to be quite quiet, George crept softly through the hall to the sitting-room. The fire was quite all right there, just a red glow. In the kitchen all was peace too. Tim’s feet made a noise there, as his claws rattled against the linoleum.
A slight sound came from the other side of the house. Tim growled quite loudly, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose up. George stood still. Could it possibly be burglars?
Suddenly Timothy shook himself free from her fingers and kapt across the hall, down a passage, and into the
study beyond! There was the sound of an exclamation, and a noise as if someone was falling over.
‘It is a burglar!’ said George, and she ran to the study. She saw a torch shining on the floor, dropped by someone who was even now struggling with Tim.
George switched on the light, and then looked with the greatest astonishment into the study. Mr. Roland was there in his dressing-gown, rolling on the floor, trying to get away from Timothy, who, although not biting him, was holding him firmly by his dressing-gown.
‘Oh – it’s you, George! Call your beastly dog off!’ said Mr. Roland, in a low and angry voice. ‘Do you want to rouse all the household ?’
‘Why are you creeping about with a torch ?’ demanded George.
‘I heard a noise down here, and came to see what it was,’ said Mr. Roland, sitting up and trying to fend off the angry dog. ‘For goodness’ sake, call your beast off.’
‘Why didn’t you put on the light ?’ asked George, not attempting to take Tim away. She was very much enjoying the sight of an angry and frightened Mr. Roland.
‘I couldn’t find it,’ said the tutor. ‘It’s on the wrong side of the door, as you see.’
This was true. The switch was an awkward one to find if you didn’t know it. Mr. Roland tried to push Tim away again, and the dog suddenly barked.
‘Well – he’ll wake everyone!’ said the tutor, angrily. ‘I didn’t want to rouse the house. I thought I could find out for myself if there was anyone about – a burglar perhaps. Here comes your father!’
George’s father appeared, carrying a large poker. He
stood still in astonishment when he saw Mr. Roland on the ground and Timothy standing over him.
‘What’s all this?’ he exclaimed. Mr. Roland tried to get up, but Tim would not let him. George’s father called to him sternly.
‘Tim! Come here, sir!’
Timothy glanced at George to see if his mistress agreed with her father’s command. She said nothing. So Timothy took no notice of the order and merely made a snap at Mr. Roland’s ankles.
‘That dog’s mad!’ said Mr. Roland, from the floor. ‘He’s already bitten me once before, and now he’s trying to do it again!’
‘Tim! Will you come here, sir!’ shouted George’s father. ‘George, that dog is really disobedient. Call him off at once.’
‘Come here, Tim!’ said George, in a low voice. The dog at once came to her, standing by her side with the hairs on his neck still rising up stiffly. He growled softly as if to say, ‘Be careful, Mr. Roland, be careful!’
The tutor got up. He was very angry indeed. He spoke to George’s father.
‘I heard some sort of a noise and came down with my torch to see what it was,’ he said. ‘I thought it came from your study, and knowing you kept your valuable books and instruments here, I wondered if some thief was about. I had just got down, and into the room, when that dog appeared from somewhere and got me down on the ground! George came along too, and would not call him off.’
‘I can’t understand your behaviour, George; I really
can’t,’ said her father, angrily. ‘I hope you are not going to behave stupidly, as you used to behave before your cousins came last summer. And what is this I hear about Tim biting Mr. Roland before ?’
‘George had him under the table during lessons,’ said Mr. Roland. ‘I didn’t know that, and when I stretched out my legs, they touched Tim, and he bit me. I didn’t tell you before, sir, because I didn’t want to trouble you. Both George and the dog have tried to annoy me ever since I have been here.’
‘Well, Tim must go outside and live in the kennel,’ said George’s father. ‘I won’t have him in the house. It will be a punishment for him, and a punishment for you too, George. I will not have this kind of behaviour. Mr. Roland has been extremely kind to you all.’
‘I won’t let Tim live outside,’ said George furiously. ‘It’s such cold weather, and it would simply break his heart.’
‘Well, his heart must be broken then,’ said her father. ‘It will depend entirely on your behaviour from now on whether Tim is allowed in the house at all these holidays. I shall ask Mr. Roland each day how you have behaved. If you have a bad report, then Tim stays outside. Now you know! Go back to bed but first apologize to Mr. Roland!’
‘I won’t!’ said George, and choked by feelings of anger and dismay, she tore out of the room and up the stairs. The two men stared after her.
‘Let her be,’ said Mr. Roland. ‘She’s a very difficult child – and has made up her mind not to like me, that’s quite plain. But I shall be very glad, sir, to know that
that dog isn’t in the house. I’m not at all certain that Georgina wouldn’t set him on me, if she could!’
‘I’m soiry about all this,’ said George’s father. ‘I wonder what the noise was that you heard – a log falling in the grate I expect. Now – what am I to do about that tiresome dog tonight? Go and take him outside, I suppose!’
‘Leave him tonight,’ said Mr. Roland. ‘I can hear noises upstairs – the others are awake by now! Don’t let’s make any more disturbance tonight.’
‘Perhaps you are right,’ said George’s father, thankfully. He didn’t at all want to tackle a defiant little girl and an angry big dog in the middle of a cold night!
The two men went to bed and slept. George did not sleep. The others had been awake when she got upstairs, and she had told them what had happened.
‘George! You really are an idiot!’ said Dick. ‘After all, why shouldn’t Mr. Roland go down if he heard a noise! You went down! Now we shan’t have darling old Tim in the house this cold weather!’
Anne began to cry. She didn’t like hearing that the tutor she liked so much had been knocked down by Tim, and she hated hearing that Tim was to be punished.
‘Don’t be a baby,’ said George. ‘I’m not crying, and it’s my dog!’
But, when everyone had settled down again in bed, and slept peacefully, George’s pillow was very wet indeed. Tim crept up beside her and licked the salt tears off her cheek. He whined softly. Tim was always unhappy when his little mistress was sad.
Chapter Nine
A HUNT FOR THE SECRET WAY
THERE were no lessons the next day. George looked rather pale, and was very quiet. Tim was already out in the yard-kennel, and the children could hear him whining unhappily. They were all upset to hear him.
‘Oh, George, I’m awfully sorry about it all,’ said Dick. ‘I wish you wouldn’t get so fierce about things. You only get yourself into trouble – and poor old Tim.’
George was full of mixed feelings. She disliked Mr. Roland so much now that she could hardly bear to look at him – and yet she did not dare to be openly rude and rebellious because she was afraid that if she was, the tutor would give her a bad report, and perhaps she would not be allowed even to see Timothy. It was very hard for a defiant nature like hers to force herself to behave properly.
Mr. Roland took no notice of her at all. The other children tried to bring George into their talks and plans, but she remained quiet and uninterested.
‘George! We’re going over to Kirrin Farmhouse today,’ said Dick. ‘Coming? We’re going to try and find the entrance to the Secret Way. It must start somewhere there.’