Kayley looked at Pippa, who was the family liar.
“A horrible boy cut it because he was jealous,” said Pippa. “Our dog act was better than his.”
Mrs Platt was shocked. “People don’t know how to discipline children these days.” She looked out of the window again. “But really, I don’t think—”
She broke off. Li-Chee, who had been sitting on Nini’s lap, suddenly raced down the steps, barking at the top of his voice.
“It’s the newspaper delivery boy,” said Mrs Platt. “Well, I reckon I was wrong about him not being a watchdog.”
“Pekes are amazing like that,” said Kayley. “They’re lion dogs, bred to protect emperors and give notice of danger.”
“Are they then?” said Mrs Platt, looking at the newspaper boy, who had dropped the paper and run back to the gate. “Well, well – I guess he can stay.”
The last thing Kayley and Pippa saw as they drove away was Li-Chee sitting on the top of the steps. Nini was on one side of him and Mick on the other, but Li-Chee’s paws were stretched out in front of him and he held his head high.
Just so had his ancestors sat and guarded the palaces of emperors. And just so sat Li-Chee now, protecting Greystoke House.
24
Albina Grovels
Albina was on the floor on her hands and knees, making odd noises, clucking noises, then cooing noises, then wheedling noises. The floor was not the carpeted floor of her London house, it was the rough-boarded floor of the cottage, covered in a worn old rug.
“Please, Fleck, please. I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it. Please come out and let’s be friends.”
Hal’s parents had arrived an hour earlier. Hal had allowed himself to be embraced, but only politely. And Fleck had taken one look at Albina, growled horribly, and vanished under the sofa.
“It’s no good,” said Hal. “He’ll never forget what you did.”
“Can’t you make him come out?” begged Albina.
“No. And if I could I wouldn’t,” said Hal.
Donald had gone out with his parents to look at the boat and Hal and his mother were alone.
Albina tried again. Marnie had given her a bone and she waggled it back and forward under the sofa but Fleck ignored it. Grovelling on the floor, she went on making what she hoped were wooing noises. Then she put her hand under the sofa and pulled it back with a cry as Fleck’s teeth fastened on her fingers.
“Oh, what shall I do?” she cried, getting to her feet. “Look at my tights, they’re ruined. And my skirt.” She went over to the table and sat down. Then she let her head fall forward on to her hands and began to sob.
For a few moments Hal, sitting opposite, just let her cry. Then something horrible happened. The anger he had felt with his parents began to get weaker … and weaker still. He missed it badly, this rage which had kept him going on his adventure. But there was nothing to be done about it; it was gone. His mother had done a wicked thing; she was foolish and misguided – but she was his mother.
He put an arm round Albina.
“It’s all right,” he said. “It’s over. It’s all right.”
And at that moment Fleck came out from under the sofa and trotted over to the table. It was “forgiving time”, it seemed, and he flopped down between Albina and Hal, and yawned, and went to sleep.
Later that afternoon, Hal went for a walk along the dunes with his father. The last week, when he’d not known whether his son was dead or alive, had changed Donald Fenton. It was as though Hal’s love for his grandparents made him see his old home as he had seen it when he was a boy. He no longer felt like sneering at the shabby cottage, the old boat with its temperamental engine. While Hal was with his mother, Donald had been out and emptied the lobster pots, and helped Alec fix the pump on the Peggotty. It was a screwdriver which Donald now wore behind his ear, not a gadget connecting him with New York.
“You really like it up here, don’t you?” said Donald.
“Yes, I really do. And so does Fleck.”
Donald sighed. Fleck was here to stay, but he was not going to make life easier.
“What about Okelands? We took a lot of trouble getting you in there.”
“I’m not going to boarding school,” said Hal. “I told you, I’m not leaving Fleck. What I’d like to do is stay here and live with my grandparents. There’s a school in Seaville.”
“Yes, I know. I was there for seven years.”
Hal looked up at his father. He was staring out at the sea and he looked stern – or was it sad?
“You like it so much better here than being with us? Than being at home?” asked Donald, and Hal could not help hearing the hurt in his voice.
“It’s not exactly like that,” said Hal. “I wouldn’t like never to be at home again.” He thought of the blonde girl in the park, and Joel, the school friend he’d been pretending to stay with, and now of course there was Pippa. And his parents, who had got everything so wrong but who were trying now. Perhaps in their own way they had always tried.
“Could I stay here for another month? I’ve missed so much school anyway. Then I’ll get Fleck trained.”
Donald turned to his son and smiled with relief. There wasn’t going be a battle. Hal was going to come home.
“I don’t see why not,” he said. “I’ll come and fetch you, and spend a few days. It’s time I had a break.”
But people do not change completely, however hard they try.
“I’d like to buy you something really nice, Hal. It can cost as much as you like. I mean it – the sky’s the limit.”
Hal looked at him for a long time.
“All I ever wanted was a dog,” he said.
But as Donald’s face fell, Hal had an idea. “Actually, there is something I’d like. I’d like it a lot, but it’s not exactly for me. It’s for Pippa’s family. I’d never have made it here if it wasn’t for Pippa. They’re really hard up. If you could help them, then perhaps they could start up something for themselves. Kayley shouldn’t be working for Mr Carker anyway. He’s an awful man. Maybe they wouldn’t have to know where the money came from?”
Donald nodded.
“Consider it done,” he said, and they turned and made their way back to the cottage.
25
What Happened to the Carkers
Kayley sat in her little office at Easy Pets. She had been working since seven in the morning, making a register, alone and without pay in the deserted building, and she was absolutely exhausted.
Just a week after she brought Pippa back from Northumberland, Kayley had come to work as usual and found that the Carkers had disappeared. They had put in such a ridiculous insurance claim for the missing dogs that the accountants had started to look into their affairs, and it was found that they had been cheating on their income tax for years and years.
So the charming couple had fled to Spain, owing Kayley her wages and leaving only enough food for a couple of days for the dogs.
Fortunately, a charity which cared for animals in distress had stepped in to try and find homes for the abandoned dogs. Because the Easy Pets dogs were highly bred and had been well looked after, plenty of people had come forward to offer to have them, but Kayley had absolutely insisted on inspecting every single home to make sure that it was suitable for the dogs she had cared for and knew so well. Now she only had to check the list of new owners and the job was done.
Well, almost done. All the dogs were happily housed, except for one. No one had come forward offering to have Queen Tilly. She sat now on her hot water bottle, shrieking and twitching and shaking with ill temper, the only dog left in the huge building that only a week ago had been full of life.