"I'll ask for the water," said Daisy. They went up to the door, which was half-open. There was the sound of an iron going thump, thump, thump.
Daisy knocked on the door. "Who's there?" said a sharp voice.
"Please could we have a drink of water?" asked Daisy.
"Come in and get it," said the voice. Daisy opened the door wide and went in. She saw a sharp-faced old lady ironing a shirt. She nodded her head towards a tap over a sink.
"Water's there," she said. "Cup's on the shelf behind."
The two boys came in whilst Daisy was running the water. "Good evening," they said politely. "Thank you so much for letting us have some water. We've cycled quite a way, and we're awfully hot," said Larry. The old lady looked at him approvingly. He was a good-looking boy, and had beautiful manners when he liked.
"Where have you come from?" she asked, thumping with her iron.
"From Peterswood," said Larry. "I don't expect you know it, do you?"
"That I do," said the old lady. "My son was in service there with a Mr. Hick."
"Oh, how funny!" said Daisy, sipping the cup of water. "We were down in Mr. Hick's garden the other night, when there was a fire."
"A fire!" said the old woman, startled "What fire?
I hadn't heard anything of that Not Mr. Hick's house., surely?"
"No — only his cottage workroom," said Pip. "No one was hurt. But surely your son would have told you about it, wouldn't he — didn't he see it?"
"When was the fire?" asked the old lady.
Pip told her. Mrs. Peeks stopped ironing and thought. "Well, now, that was the day Horace came home," she said. "That's why he didn't know anything about it. He'd had a quarrel with Mr. Hick, and he gave notice. He got here in the afternoon and gave me a real start."
Then he must have missed the fire," said Pip. "I expect he was with you all the evening, wasn't he?"
"No, he wasn't," said Mrs. Peeks. "He went out after tea on his bike, and I didn't see him again til it was dark. I didn't ask him where he went. I'm not one for poking or prying. I expect he was down at the Pig and Whistle, playing darts. He's a rare one for darts, is our Horace."
The children exchanged glances. So Horace disappeared after tea — and didn't come back till dark! That seemed very suspicious indeed. Very suspicious! Where was he that evening? It would have been so easy to slip back to Peterswood on His bike, hide in the ditch, and set fire to the cottage when no one was about — and then cycle back unseen in the darkness!
Larry wondered what sort of shoes Horace wore. He looked round the kitchen. There was a pair of shoes waiting to be cleaned in a corner. They were about the size of the footprint. But they didn't have rubber soles. Perhaps Peeks was wearing them now. The children wished he would come in.
"I must just go and pump up my front tyre," said Larry, getting up. "I won't be a minute."
But although he left the other two quite five minutes to talk, there didn't seem anything more to be found out.
"Didn't find out anything else," said Pip in a low voice. "Hallo — who's this? Do you think it is Horace?"
They saw a weedy-looking young man coming in at the gate. He had an untidy lock of hair that hung over his forehead, a weak chin, and rather bulging blue eyes, a little like Mr. Goon's. He wore a grey flannel coat!
All the children noticed this immediately. Daisy's heart began to beat fast. Could they have found the right person at last?
"What you doing here?" asked Horace Peeks.
"We came to ask for a drink of water," said Larry, wondering if he could possibly edge round Horace to see if there was a tear in his grey coat anywhere!
"And we found out that we come from the same place that you lived in only a little while ago," said Daisy brightly. "We live at Peterswood."
"That's where I worked," said Horace. "Do you know that bad-tempered old Mr. Hick? I worked for him, but nothing was ever right. Nasty old man."
"We don't like him very much ourselves," said Pip. "Did you know there was a fire at His place the day you left?"
"How do you know what day I left?" asked Mr. Peeks, astonished.
"Oh, we just mentioned the fire to your mother and she said it must have been the day you left, because you didn't know anything about it," said Pip.
"Well, all I can say is that Mr. Hick deserved to have his whole place burnt down, the mean, stingy, bad-tempered old fish!" said Horace. "I'd like to have seen it!"
The children looked at him, wondering if he was pretending or not. "Weren't you there, then?" asked Daisy, in an innocent voice.
"Never you mind where I was!" said Peeks. He looked round at Larry, who was edging all round him to see if he could spot a tear in the grey flannel coat that Horace was wearing. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Sniffing round me like a dog! Stop it!"
"You've got a spot on your coat," said Larry, making up the first excuse he could think of. "I'll rub it off."
He pulled out his handkerchief — and with it came the letter that Lily had given to him to give to Horace Peeks! It fell to the ground, address side upwards! Horace bent to pick it up and stared in the utmost astonishment at his own name on the envelope!
He turned to Larry. "What's this?" he said.
Larry could have kicked himself for his carelessness. "Oh, it's for you," he said. "Lily asked us to post it to you, but as we were coming over here we thought we might as well deliver it by hand."
Horace Peeks looked as if he was going to ask some awkward questions, and Larry thought it was about time to go. He wheeled his bicycle to the gate.
"Well, good-bye," he said. "I'll tell Lily you've got her letter."
The three of them mounted their bicycles and rode off. Horace shouted after them. "Hie! You come back a minute!"
But they didn't go back. Their minds were in a whirl! They rode for about a mile and a half, and then Larry jumped off his bicycle and went to sit on a gate. "Come on!" he called to the others. "We'll just talk a bit and see what we think."
They sat in a row on the gate, looking very serious. "I was an idiot to drag that letter out of my pocket like that," said Larry, looking ashamed of himself. "But perhaps it was as well. I suppose letters ought to be delivered — oughtn't they? Do you think Horace started the fire?"
"It looks rather like it," said Daisy thoughtfully. "He had a spite against Mr. Hick that very day, and his mother doesn't know where he was that night You didn't notice if his shoes had rubber, criss-crossed soles, did you, Larry? And was his grey flannel coat torn in any way?"
"I couldn't see his shoe-soles, and as far as I could see, his coat wasn't torn at all," said Larry. "Anyway, that letter will warn him now, and he'll be on his guard!"
They talked for a little while, wondering what to do about Peeks. They decided that they would set him aside for a while and see what Mr. Smellie was like. It seemed to rest now between Horace Peeks and Mr. Smellie. It was no good deciding about Peeks until they had also seen Smellie!
They mounted their bicycles again and set off. They free-wheeled down a hill and round a corner. Larry went into some one with a crash! He fell off and so did the other person!
Larry sat up and stared apologetically at the man in the road. To His horror it was old Clear-Orf!
"What! You again!" yelled Mr. Goon, in a most threatening voice. Larry hurriedly got up. The other two were farther down the road, laughing.
"What you doing?" yelled Mr. Goon, as Larry stood His bicycle upright, ready to mount again.
"I'm clearing orf!" shouted Larry. "Can't you see? I'm clearing orf!"