'Well, we really must go now,' said Mr. Roland. 'Come and say good-bye to Mrs. Sanders.'
They all went into the warm kitchen, where Mrs. Sanders was cooking something that smelt most delicious.
'Something for our lunch, Mrs. Sanders?' said Mr. Wilton. 'My word, you really are a wonderful cook!'
Mrs. Sanders smiled. She turned to the children. 'Well, dearies, did you find what you wanted?' she asked.
'No,' said Mr. Roland, answering for them. 'We haven't been able to find the secret way, after all!'
'The secret way?' said Mrs. Sanders, in surprise. 'What do you know about that now? I thought it had all been forgotten - in fact, I haven't believed in that secret way for many a year!'
'Oh, Mrs, Sanders - do you know about it?' cried Julian. 'Where is it?'
'I don't know, dear - the secret of it has been lost for many a day,' said the old lady. 'I remember my old grandmother telling me something about it when I was smaller than any of you. But I wasn't interested in things like that when I was little. I was all for cows and hens and sheep.'
'Oh, Mrs. Sanders - do, do try and remember something!' begged Dick. 'What was the secret way?'
'Well, it was supposed to be a hidden way from Kirrin " Farm-house to somewhere else,' said Mrs. Sanders. 'I don't know where, I'm sure. It was used in the olden days when people wanted to hide from enemies.'
It was disappointing that Mrs. Sanders knew so little. The children said good-bye and went off with their tutor, feeling that their morning had been wasted., George was indoors when they got to Kirrin Cottage.
Her cheeks were not so pale, now, and she greeted the children eagerly.
'Did you discover anything? Tell me all about it!' she said.
'There's nothing to tell,' said Dick, rather gloomily. 'We found three rooms facing east, with stone floors, but only two of them had wooden panelling, so we hunted round those, tapping and punching - but there wasn't anything to be discovered at all.'
'We saw the two artists,' said Anne. 'One was tall and thin, and had a long nose with glasses on. He was called Mr. Thomas. The other was younger, with little piggy eyes and an enormous mouth.'
'I met them out this morning,' said George. 'It must have been them. Mr. Roland was with them, and they were all talking together. They didn't see me.'
'Oh, it couldn't have been the artists you saw,' said Anne, at once. 'Mr. Roland didn't know them. I had to introduce them.'
'Well, I'm sure I heard Mr. Roland call one of them Wilton,' said George, puzzled. 'lie must have known them.'
'It couldn't have been the artists,' said Anne, again. 'They really didn't know Mr. Roland. Mr. Thomas asked if he was a friend of ours.'
'I'm sure I'm not mistaken,' said George, looking obstinate. 'If Mr. Roland said he didn't know the two artists, he was telling lies.'
'Oh, you're always making out that he is doing something horrid!' cried Anne, indignantly. 'You just make up things about him!'
'Sh!' said Julian. 'Here he is.'
The door opened and the tutor came in. 'Well,' he said, 'it was disappointing that we couldn't find the secret way, wasn't it! Anyway, we were rather foolish to hunt about that drawing-room as we did - the panelling there wasn't really old - it must have been put in years after the other.'
'Oh - well, it's no good looking there again,' said Julian, disappointed. 'And I'm pretty sure there's nothing to be found in that other little room. We went all over it so thoroughly. Isn't it disappointing?'
'It Js,' said Mr. Roland. 'Well, Julian, how did you like the two artists? I was pleased to meet them - they seemed nice fellows, and I shall like to know them.'
George looked at the tutor. Could he possibly be telling untruths in such a truthful voice? The little girl was very puzzled. She felt sure it was the artists she had seen him with. But why should he pretend he didn't know them? She must be mistaken. But all the same, she felt uncomfortable about it, and made up her mind to find out the truth, if she could.
Chapter Ten
A SHOCK FOR GEORGE AND TIM
NEXT morning there were lessons again - and no Timothy, under the table! George felt very much inclined to refuse to work, but what would be the good of that? Grown-ups were so powerful, and could dole out all kinds of punishments. She didn't care how much she was punished herself but she couldn't bear to think that Timothy might have to share in the punishments too.
So, pale and sullen, the little girl sat down at the table with the others. Anne was eager to join in the lessons - in, fact she was eager to do anything to please Mr. Roland, because he had given her the fairy doll from the top of the Christmas tree! Anne thought she was the prettiest doll she had ever seen.
George had scowled at the doll when Anne showed it to her. She didn't like dolls, and she certainly wasn't going to like one that Mr. Roland had chosen, and given to Anne! But Anne loved it, and had made up her mind to do lessons with the others, and work as well as she could.
George did as little as she could without getting into trouble. Mr. Roland took no interest in her or in her work. He praised the others, and took a lot of trouble' to show Julian something he found difficult.
The children heard Tim whining outside as they worked. This troubled them very much, for Timothy was such a companion, and so dear to them all. They could not bear to think of him left out of everything, cold and miserable in the yard-kennel. When the ten minutes' break came, and Mr. Roland went out of the room for a few minutes, Julian spoke to George.
'George! It's awful for us to hear poor old Tim whining out there in the cold. And I'm sure I heard him cough. Let me speak to Mr. Roland about him. You must feel simply dreadful knowing that Tim is out there.'
'I thought I heard him cough, too,' said George, looking worried. 'I hope he won't get a cold. He simply doesn't understand why I have to put him there. He thinks I'm terribly unkind.'
The little girl turned her head away, afraid that tears might come into her eyes. She always boasted that she never cried - but it was very difficult to keep the tears away when she thought of Timothy out there in the cold.
Dick took her arm. 'Listen, George - you just hate Mr. Roland, and I suppose you can't help it. But we can none of us bear Timothy being out there all alone - and it looks like snow today, which would be awful for him. Could you be awfully, awfully good today, and forget your dislike, so that when your father asks Mr. Roland for your report, he can say you were very good - and then we'll all ask Mr. Roland if he wouldn't let Timmy come back into the house.'
'See?'
Timothy coughed again, out in the yard, and George's heart went cold. Suppose he got that awful illness called pneumonia - and she couldn't nurse him because he had to live in the kennel? She would die of unhappiness! She turned to Julian and Dick.
'All right,' she said. 'I do hate Mr. Roland - but I love Timothy more than I hate the tutor - so for Tim's sake I'll pretend to be good and sweet and hard-working. And then you can beg him to let Timothy come back.'
'Good girl!' said Julian. 'Now here he comes - so do your best.'
To the tutor's enormous surprise, George gave him a smile when he came into the room. This was so unexpected that it puzzled him. He was even more puzzled to find that George worked harder than anyone for the rest of the morning, and she answered politely and cheerfully when he spoke to her. He gave her a word of praise.
'Well done, Georgina! I can see you've got brains.'
'Thank you," said George, and gave him another smile - a very watery, poor affair, compared with the happy smiles the others had been used to - but still, it was a smile!
At dinner-time George looked after Mr. Roland most politely - passed him the salt, offered him more bread, got up to fill his glass when it was empty! The others looked at her in admiration. George had plenty of pluck. She must be finding it very difficult to behave as if Mr. Roland was a great friend, when she really disliked him so much!