“Excuse me for interrupting, sir,” he said. “But there’s been a daylight robbery in Peterswood. I’ll have to go and investigate, sir. Seems pretty serious.”
“I’ll come with you,” said the Inspector, much to the disappointment of the children. He glanced round. “Sorry,” he said. “Duty calls, and all that! I may not see you again, if I have to go straight back to my office. Thanks for a very fine tea. Good-bye, Hilary. You rode very well.”
He stepped straight back on to Bonny, who also backed and pulled Hilary right over with the reins. In the general muddle Fatty spoke to Mr. Tonks the policeman.
“Where was the robbery?” he asked.
“At Norton House,” said Mr. Tonks. “Up on the hill, sir.”
“Don’t know it,” said Fatty, disappointed. He stood up and spoke persuasively to the Inspector. “I’ll come along with you, sir, shall I? I—er—might be of a little help.”
“Sorry, Frederick—can’t have you along just now,” said the Inspector. “It’ll be a plain enough job, I expect—rather beneath your powers! If it’s not—well, you’ll get going on it, no doubt!”
He went off with Tonks. Fatty stared after them gloomily. Now they would be first on the job—they would see everything, notice everything. And when Goon came back and took over from Tonks he would settle it all up and put a feather in his cap!
He sat down again. If only he could have gone to Norton House and had a snoop round himself! Now he really couldn’t—the Inspector would be annoyed to see him there after he had said he didn’t want him—and certainly the householders wouldn’t allow him to look round all by himself, if he went after the Inspector had left.
“Never mind, Fatty,” said Bets, seeing how disappointed he was. “It’s only a silly little robbery, I expect. Nothing to bother about—no real mystery!”
Then something surprising happened. Hilary burst into tears! She wailed aloud and tears ran down her podgy cheeks.
“What’s the matter? Do you feel sick?” asked Daisy, alarmed.
“No. Oh dear—it’s my home that’s been burgled!” wept Hilary. “I live at Norton House. Uncle Jenks must have forgotten it’s where I live. Oh, what shall I do?”
Fatty rose to the occasion at once. He put his arm round the weeping Hilary. “Now now,” he said, producing an extremely clean white handkerchief, and wiping Hilary’s face with it. “Don’t you worry. I’ll take you home myself. I’ll look after you. I’ll even look all round your house to make sure there isn’t a single robber left!”
“Oh, thank you,” said Hilary, still sniffing. “I should hate to go home by myself.”
“We’d better wait a bit till your godfather has had time to look round himself,” said Fatty, who wasn’t going to bump into the Inspector if he could help it.
“Then we’ll go—and I’ll soon see that everything is quite quite safe for you, Hilary!”
Fatty Takes His Chance
The others looked at Fatty in admiration. Somehow he always got what he wanted. Things always went right for him. He badly wanted to examine that burgled house, and he had been left behind by the Inspector—and lo and behold, he could now go there, taking charge of Hilary, and nobody could say a thing against it!
“I can’t go just yet,” sniffed Hilary. “I’ve got to ride once more. You won’t leave, will you? You will take me right home? You see, my parents are away, and there’s only Jinny there—she’s our housekeeper.”
Better and better! With no parents even to deal with, Fatty felt sure he could snoop as much as he wanted to. Larry and Pip looked at him rather jealously.
“We’ll take Hilary home too,” said Larry.
“Better not,” said Fatty. “Too many cooks etcetera, etcetera.”
Hilary looked at him, wondering what he meant. The others knew all right. Hilary’s tears began to fall again. “It’s my riding prizes I’m thinking of,” she explained, between sobs. “My cups, you know. I’ve won so many. The burglar might have taken them.”
This talk about prizes seemed rather surprising to the others, who had no opinion at all of either Hilary or Bonny as regards horsemanship. Fatty patted her on the shoulder and gave her his enormous handkerchief again.
“I’ll come up to your room with you and see if your things are safe,” said Fatty, feeling very pleased to think of the first-hand examination he could make. “Now don’t cry any more, Hilary.”
Bets looked on a little jealously. That silly little Hilary! Why did Fatty make such a fuss of her? Surely he would be ashamed of her. Bets, if she fussed like that?
“I’ll come too, Fatty,” she said. Fatty was about to say no, when he thought that probably it would be a good idea to let Bets come—Hilary could show her this, that and the other—and he could slip away unseen and snoop round by himself.
“Right, Bets,” he said. “You can come—you’ll be company for Hilary.” Bets was pleased. Now that silly little Hilary wouldn’t have Fatty all to herself—she would see to that!
An enormously loud voice began calling over the field. “Class 22, please take your places, Class 22.”
“That’s my class,” said Hilary, scrambling to her feet. She pulled her cap straight and rubbed her eyes again. She brushed the crumbs off her jacket. Bonny neighed. He wanted to be off, now that he could see various horses moving about again. He had eaten as much tea as the others! He seemed to be an expert at nosing into baskets.
Hilary went off with Bonny, a podgy little figure with a tear-stained face. Fatty looked round triumphantly, winking at the others.
“I shall be in at the start, after all,” he said. “Sorry you can’t come, Pip, Larry and Daisy—but we can’t all descend on the house. They’d smell a rat. Bets might be useful though, she can take up Hilary’s attention whilst I’m looking round.”
Bets nodded. She felt proud to be in at the start with Fatty. “Shall we go after Hilary’s ridden in this show?” she asked. Fatty considered. Yes—Tonks and the Inspector should surely be gone by then.
So, after Class 22 had competed in jumping, and Hilary had most surprisingly won the little silver cup offered, Fatty, Bets and the rest moved off, accompanied by a suddenly cheerful Hilary.
She rode Bonny, who, now that he had won something, seemed a little more sensible. The others walked beside her, till they came to the lane where Larry and Daisy had to leave them. Then a little later Pip left them to go down the lane to his home. Fatty and Bets went on up the hill with Hilary. Buster kept sedately at Fatty’s heels. He kept an eye on Bonny’s legs and thought privately to himself that horses had been supplied with far too many hooves.
They came to Norton House. The Inspector’s car was still outside. Blow! Fortunately Hilary didn’t want to go in the front way. She wanted to take Bonny to the stables, which were round at the back.
Bonny was led into his stable. “Don’t you rub him down or anything before you leave him?” asked Fatty. “I’d be pleased to do it for you, Hilary. You’ve had a tiring afternoon.”
Hilary thought that Fatty was the very nicest boy she had ever met in her life. Fancy thinking of things like that! She wouldn’t have been so much impressed if she had known how desperately Fatty was trying to stay down in the stables till the Inspector had gone!
Fatty groomed the pony so thoroughly that even Hilary was amazed. Bets watched with Buster, rather bored. “See if they’ve gone,” whispered Fatty to her, jerking his head towards the front garden. Bets disappeared. She soon came back. She nodded. Fatty straightened up, relieved. Now he could stop working on that fat, restless pony!
“Now we’ll go to the house and find out exactly what happened,” said Fatty to Hilary. “I expect your housekeeper is there. She’ll tell us everything. Then you must show Bets all the prizes you have won. She’ll love to see them. Won’t you, Bets?”
“Yes,” said Bets, doubtfully.
“You must see them too, Fatty,” said Hilary. He nodded—also doubtfully.
“Come along,” said Hilary and they walked up a long garden path to the house. It was a nice house, square-built, with plenty of windows. Trees surrounded it, and it could not be seen from the road.
They went in at the back door. A woman there gave a little scream of fright. “Oh, lawks! Oh, it’s you, Miss Hilary. I’m in such a state of nerves, I declare I’d scream if I saw my own reflection in a mirror!”
Fatty looked at her. She was a plump little woman, with bright eyes and a good-tempered, sensible mouth. He liked her. She sank down into a chair and fanned herself.
“I’ve heard about the robbery,” said Hilary. “Jinny, this is a boy who’s brought me home and this is a girl called Bets. They are friends of my godfather, Inspector Jenks.”