Mystery of the Spiteful Letters Read Online Free Page A

the five mounted their bicycles. Buster had with difficulty been removed from halfway down a rather big rabbit-hole. He had been very angry at being hauled out, and now sat sulkily in Fatty’s basket, his ears down. Just as he had almost reached that rabbit! Another minute and he’d have got him!
    ‘Buster’s sulking,’ said Pip, and laughed. ‘Oy, Buster! Cheer up!’
    ‘I wonder if Mother’s done all the important things she said she had to do,’ said Bets to Pip. ‘Anyway she can’t say she’s been much bothered with us today!’
    They all parted at the church corner to go their different ways. ‘We’ll meet at Larry’s tomorrow!’ said Fatty. ‘In the garden if it’s fine. Cheerio!’
    Pip and Bets biked down their lane and into their drive. ‘I’m jolly thirsty,’ said Pip. ‘I wonder if Gladys would give us some ice out of the frig to put into a jug of water. I feel like a drink of iced water, I’m so hot.’
    ‘Well, don’t ask Mrs. Moon,’ said Bets. ‘She’s sure to say no!’
    They went to find Gladys. She wasn’t in the kitchen, for they peeped in at the window to see. She wasn’t upstairs either, for they went up and called her. Their mother heard them and came out of the study to greet them as they ran downstairs again.
    ‘Did you have a lovely day?’ she said. ‘I was pleased it was so fine for you.’
    ‘Yes, a super day,’ said Pip. ‘Mother, can we have a drink of iced water? We’re melting!’
    ‘Yes, if you like,’ Mrs. Hilton said. They shot off to the kitchen. They peeped in. Mrs. Moon was there, knitting.
    ‘What do you want?’ she said, looking unexpectedly amiable.
    ‘Just some iced water, please,’ said Pip. ‘But we weren’t going to ask you for it, Mrs. Moon. We were going to ask Gladys. We didn’t want to bother you.’
    ‘No bother,’ said Mrs. Moon, getting up. ‘I’ll get it.’
    ‘Is Gladys out?’ asked Bets.
    ‘Yes,’ said Mrs. Moon shortly. ‘Now, take these ice-cubes quick, and slip them into a jug. That’s right.’
    ‘But it isn’t Gladys’s day out, is it?’ said Pip, surprised. ‘She went the day before yesterday.’
    ‘There now - you’ve dropped an ice-cube!’ said Mrs. Moon. ‘Well, I’m no good at chasing ice-cubes round the kitchen floor, so you must get it yourselves.’
    Bets giggled as Pip tried to get the cold slippery ice-cube off the floor. He rinsed it under the tap and popped it into the jug.
    ‘Thanks, Mrs. Moon,’ he said and carried the jug and two glasses up to the playroom.
    ‘Mrs. Moon didn’t seem to want to talk about Gladys, did she?’ said Pip. ‘Funny.’
    ‘Pip - you don’t think Gladys has left, do you?’ suddenly said Bets. ‘I do hope she hasn’t. I did like her.’
    ‘Well - we can easily find out,’ said Pip. ‘Let’s go and peep in her bedroom. If her things are there we’ll know she’s just out for a while and is coming back.’
    They went along the landing to the little room that Gladys had. They opened the door and peeped in. They stared in dismay.
    Every single thing that had belonged to Gladys had gone! Her brush and comb, her tooth-brush, and the little blue night-dress case she had embroidered at school for herself. There was nothing at all to show that the girl had been there for a month or two.
    ‘Yes - she has gone!’ said Bets. ‘Well, why didn’t Mother tell us? Or Mrs. Moon? What’s all the mystery?’
    ‘It’s jolly funny,’ said Pip. ‘Do you think she stole anything? She seemed so nice. I liked her.’
    ‘Let’s go and ask Mother,’ said Bets. So they went down to the study. But their mother was not there. They were just turning to go out when Pip’s sharp eyes caught sight of something lying under a chair. He picked it up.
    It was a large black woollen glove. He stared at it, trying to remember who wore black woollen gloves.
    ‘Whose is it?’ asked Bets. ‘Look - isn’t that a name inside?’
    Pip looked - and the name he saw there made him stare hard. On a little tab was printed in marking ink, five letters: ‘T. GOON.’
    ‘T. Goon! Theophilus Goon!’ said