mrs. stick had overheard the conversation on the telephone - at least, she had heard george's sideof it. she knew that george's mother was better and that her father would not return till her mothercould be brought home. that would be in about ten days! the sticks could have a fine time till then,no doubt about that!
george suddenly found that her appetite had come back. she ate her bacon hungrily, and scraped thedish round with a piece of bread. she had three cups of tea, and then sat back contentedly.
"i feel better," she said. anne slipped her hand in hers. she was very glad that her aunt was going tobe all right. if it wasn't for those awful sticks they could have a lovely time. then george saidsomething that made julian cross.
"well, now that i know mother is going to be better, i can stand up to the sticks all right by myselfwith timmy. so i want you three to go back home and finish the hols without me. i shall be all right.""shut up, george," said julian. "we've argued this all out before. i've made up my mind - and i don'tchange it, any more than you do, when i've made it up. you make me cross.""well," said george, "i told you i'd got a plan - and you don't come into it, i'm afraid - and you'll findyou'll have to go back home whether you mean to or not.""don't be so mysterious, george!" said julian, impatiently. "what is this strange plan? you'd bettertell us, even if we're not in it. can't you trust us?""yes, of course. but you might try to stop me," said george, looking sulky.
"then you'd certainly better tell us," said julian feeling uneasy. george was such a madcap once shegot ideas into her head. goodness knows what she might do!
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but george wouldn't say another word. julian gave it up at last, but secretly made up his mind not tolet george out of his sight that day. if she was going to carry out some wild plan, then she wouldhave to do it under his, julian's, eye!
but george didn't seem to be carrying out any wild plan. she bathed again with the others, went for awalk with them, and went for a row on the sea. she didn't want to go to kirrin island, so the othersdidn't press her, thinking that she didn't want to be out of sight of the beach in case edgar came witha message from her father.
it was quite a pleasant day. the children bought sausage rolls again, and fruit, and picnicked on thebeach. timmy had a large and juicy bone from the butcher's.
"i've got a bit of shopping to do," said george, about tea-time. "you others go and see if mrs.
stick is getting some tea for us, and i'll fly down to the shops and get what i want."julian pricked up his ears at once. was george sending them off so that she could be alone to carryout this mysterious plan of hers?
"i'll come with you," said julian, getting up. "dick can tackle mrs. stick for once, and take timmywith him."
"no, you go," said george. "i won't be long."but julian was determined not to go. in the end they all went with george, for dick did not want toface mrs. stick without julian or george.
george went into the little general shop and got a new battery for her torch. she bought two boxes ofmatches, and a bottle of methylated spirit.
"whatever do you want that for?" said anne in surprise.
"oh, it might come in useful," said george, and said no more.
they all went back to kirrin cottage. tea was actually on the table! true, it was not a thrilling tea,being merely bread and jam and a pot of hot tea - still it was there, and was eatable.
it rained that evening. the children sat round the table and played cards. their hearts were lighternow that they had had good news of george's mother. in the middle of the game julian got up andrang the bell. the others stared at him in the greatest surprise.
"what are you ringing the bell for?" asked george, her eyes wide with astonishment.
"to tell mrs. stick to bring some supper," said julian, with a grin. but no one answered the bell.
so julian rang again and then again.
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the kitchen door opened at last and mrs. stick came up the passage, evidently in a bad temper.
she came into the sitting-room.
"you stop ringing that bell!" she said, angrily. "i'm not answering any bells rung by you.""i rang it to tell you that we wanted some supper," said julian, "and to say that if you would rather icame and got it myself from the larder - with timmy - as i did last night, i'll come with pleasure. butif not, you can bring a decent supper to us yourself.""if you come stealing things out of my larder again, i'll - i'll . . ." began mrs. stick.
"you'll call in the police!" julian finished for her. "do. that would please us very much. i can see ourlocal policeman taking down all the details in his notebook. i could give him quite a few."mrs. stick muttered something rude under her breath, glared at julian as if she could kill him, andwent off down the passage again. by the sound of the clattering and crashing of crockery in thekitchen it was plain that mrs. stick was getting some sort of supper for them, and julian grinned tohimself as he dealt out the cards.
supper was not as good as the night before, but it was not bad. it was a little cold ham, cheese and theremains of a milk pudding. there was also a plate of cooked meat for timmy.
george looked at it sharply. "take that away," she said. "i bet you've poisoned it again. take itaway!"
"no. on the contrary, leave it here," said julian. "i'll take it down to the local chemist tomorrow andget him to test it. if, as george thinks, it's poisoned, the chemist might have a lot of interesting thingsto tell us."
mrs. stick took the meat away without a word. "horrible woman!" said george, pulling timothyclose to her. "how i hate her! i feel so afraid for timmy."somehow that spoilt the evening. as it grew dark the children became sleepy. "it's ten o'clock,"said julian. "bed, i think, everyone! anne ought to have gone long ago. she isn't nearly old enoughto stay up as late as this."
"well!" began anne, indignantly. "i'm nearly as old as george, aren't i? i can't help being younger,can i?"
"all right, all right!" said julian laughing. "i shan't make you go off to bed by yourself, don't worry.
we all keep together in this house while the sticks are about. come on! we'll go now, shall we?"37
the children were tired. they had swum, walked and rowed that day. julian tried to keep awake alittle while, but he too fell asleep very quickly.
he awoke with a jump, thinking that he had heard a noise. but everything was quiet. what could thenoise have been? was it one of the sticks creeping about? no - it couldn't be that, or tim would havebarked the house down. then what was it? something must have woken him.
"i suppose it's not old george doing anything about that plan of hers!" thought julian, suddenly.
he sat up, he felt about for his dressing-gown and put it on. without waking dick he crept to thegirls' room, and switched on his torch to see that they were all right.
anne was in her bed, sleeping peacefully. but george's bed was empty. george's clothes were gone!
"blow!" said julian, under his breath. "where has she gone? i bet she's run away to find where hermother is!"
his torch picked out a white envelope pinned to george's pillow. he stepped softly over to it.
it had his name printed on it in bold letters. "julian." julian ripped it open and read it.
"dear julian," said the note,
"don't be angry with me, please. i daren't stay in kirrin cottage any longer in case the stickssomehow poison timmy. you know that would break my heart. so i've gone to live by myself on ourisland till mother and father come back. please leave a note for father and tell him to ask jim to sailnear kirrin island with his little red flag flying from the mast as soon as they are back.
then i'll come home. you and dick and anne must go back to your own parents now i've gone.
it would be silly to stay at kirrin cottage with the sticks now i'm not there.
love from george."
julian read the note through. "well, why didn't i guess that was her plan!" he said to himself.
"that's why we didn't come into it! she meant to go off by herself with timmy. i can't let her do that.
she can't live all by herself on kirrin island for so long. she might fall ill. she might slip on a rockand hurt herself, and no one would ever know!". the boy was really worried about the determinedlittle girl. he wondered what to do. that noise he heard must have been made by george. so shecouldn't have got a very long start really. if he tore down to the beach, george might still be there,and he could stop her.
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so, in his dressing gown, he ran down the front path, out of the gate, and took the road to the beach.
the rain had stopped, and the stars were out. but it was not at all a light night.
"how can george expect to get through those rocks in the dark," he thought. "she's mad! she'll strikeher boat on a rock, and sink."
he tore on in the darkness, talking aloud to himself. "no wonder she wanted a new battery for hertorch, and matches - and i suppose the methylated spirit was for her little cooking stove!
why ever couldn't she tell us? it would have been fun to go with her."he came to the beach. he saw the light of a torch where george kept her boat. he ran to it, his feetsinking in the soft wet sand.
"george! idiot! you're not to go off like this all alone, in the dead of night!" called julian.
george was pushing her boat out into the water. she jumped when she heard julian's voice. "youcan't stop me!" she said. "i'm just off!"but julian caught hold of the boat, as he waded up to his waist in the water. "george, listen to me!
you can't go like this. you'll strike a rock. come back!""no," said george, getting cross. "you can go back to your own home, julian. i shall be all right.
let go of my boat!"
"george, why didn't you tell me your plan?" said julian, almost swept off his feet by a wave.
"dash these waves! i shall have to get into the boat."he climbed in. he could not see george, but he felt quite certain she was glaring at him. timmylicked his wet legs.
"you're spoiling everything," said george, with a break in her voice that meant she was upset.
"i'm not, silly!" said julian, in a gentle voice. "listen! - you come back to kirrin cottage with menow, george. and i'll faithfully promise you something. tomorrow we'll all go to the island withyou. see? the whole lot of us. why shouldn't we? your mother said we could spend a week there,anyway, didn't she? we shall be out of the reach of those horrible sticks. we shall enjoy ourselves,and have a marvellous time. so will you come back now, george, and let us go together tomorrow?"
