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Their mother worked for the new administrator, Mr. Hepplewaithe, making arrangements to convert the hall into a hospital, but that did not stop the Cooks from befriending George.
    The three kids seemed to be able go wherever they liked and do whatever they wanted. Their parents hardly appeared in the book at all. Pippa and Gordon’s father was with the army in France. George’s own father, Lord Kelmsworth, was being held in prison for a crime he did not commit. Lord Kelmsworth had worked for the Admiralty before the Great War and was being held responsible for the disappearance of some important papers.As far as Norman could tell, George had been trying to prove his father’s innocence since the beginning of the series. Since there were at least twenty books, it didn’t look as though Lord Kelmsworth was coming home any time soon.
    At the opening of
Intrepid Amongst the Gypsies
the Cook children snuck out after dark to meet George at the ancient stone lodge. Cloaked with moss, the lodge blended into the dark woods behind it, but the thick leaded glass of its windows flickered orange from the light of the wood fire that burned inside. George strode back and forth in front of the great stone hearth, waving his hands as he’d seen his father do when practising a speech. Pippa sat quietly, her brow furrowed. She had a serious look to her in her school uniform with her hair tied back in a tidy braid. Gordon fidgeted in his seat. He was shorter than his sister with more obvious freckles and excitable features beneath a head of unruly ginger hair.
    The Intrepids were faced with two problems. Two nights ago there had been a break-in at the hall. One of the back doors had been forced and the larder raided. The intruder had taken a ham, a wheel of cheese and several carving knives. The burglary had stalled their latest plan to exonerate George’s father.
    The Intrepids had planned to take the train to London to search the offices of the Kelmsworth family lawyers. George was certain that the family solicitor had something to do with the plot against his father. Pippa wasn’t convinced but was too loyal to disagree very loudly. Young Gordon believed everything his idol told him and was ready for an adventure at any time.
    The three of them had concocted an elaborate plan to distract the lawyers by releasing some sort of animal in the office. Once they had driven the lawyers out, the Intrepids would ransack the files for proof that the lawyer was working against them. George had wanted to use a snake, preferably an Armenian mountain viper or a king cobra, to execute this plan. Gordon was all for getting a trained monkey. But Pippa prevailed, and they decided that mice would be just as distracting and easier to get hold of.
    The break-in had put this scheme on hold. George had ledthem on several expeditions around the grounds. The previous night they had come across a Gypsy encampment at the edge of the estate—just a few tents in the clearing on the other side of the ravine, dim triangular shapes lit by the yellow light of two lanterns in the trees. When they’d returned the next day in daylight, the camp was gone, but George was now convinced that the Gypsies were behind the break-in.
    George paced before the fire, watched anxiously by the Cook children. “Now that Hepplewaithe has dismissed most of the servants, the hall is poorly guarded.”
    There had been more than a dozen full-time staff at the hall. Now there were only the Cooks, Administrator Hepplewaithe, a single housekeeper and a part-time cook.
    “In the old days, the groundskeeper would have made his rounds at dusk, checking that the doors and casements were locked. When there was trouble, he used to bring in extra men from the village. If Father were here, we’d have five or six men scouring the grounds.”
    “Don’t let it bother you, George,” Pippa soothed. She spoke softly and thoughtfully. Her eyes followed George as he paced back and forth. “You’ve