Mystery of the Spiteful Letters by Enid Blyton Page A

in, but the policeman, surprised and exasperated at seeing Fatty there, caught hold of his arm. He pulled the boy inside the cottage.
    ‘Has this boy been interfering with the Workings of the Law?’ he demanded, in an angry voice. ‘What’s he doing here, that’s what I want to know?’
    Mrs. Lamb was afraid of Mr. Goon, but Mrs. Cockles was not.
    ‘He’s not been interfering,’ she said. ‘Only taking a friendly interest like.’
    ‘How did he know that Mrs. Lamb had received one of these here letters?’ inquired Mr. Goon, still in a furious voice.
    ‘Well, I had to ring up Mrs. Moon to tell her as how I wouldn’t be along this morning, because my sister had had a letter,’ said Mrs. Cockles. ‘And Master Frederick, he happened to be there, and he took the message. And he said he knew all about the letters and would like to see this one, and I knew he wasn’t half-bad at snooping out things, so…’
    ‘Mrs. Lamb, you didn’t show this interfering boy that letter before you showed it to me, did you?’ thundered Mr. Goon.
    ‘Well - well, sir - he did say as he’s seen them all,’ stammered poor Mrs. Lamb, frightened out of her life. ‘So I thought there wouldn’t be much harm. I only showed him the envelope though, Mr. Goon, sir.’
    Mr. Goon turned his frog-like gaze on to Fatty. ‘What’s that mean - that you’ve seen all the letters?’ he demanded. ‘They’ve been in my possession - never out of it for a minute. What you mean - you’ve seen them all?’
    ‘I must have been dreaming,’ answered Fatty, in an amiable voice. This was the voice that drove poor Mr. Goon to fury. He snorted.
    ‘You’re telling untruths,’ he said. ‘Yes, you know you are. Them letters haven’t been out of my possession, not for one minute!’
    ‘Haven’t they really?’ said Fatty. ‘Well, I couldn’t have seen them then.’
    ‘Unless you know more about them than you make out!’ said Mr. Goon, darkly and mysteriously, suddenly remembering how he had seen Fatty post a letter at Sheepsale the morning before. ‘Ho, you’re a deep one, you are - never know what your game is, I don’t! I wouldn’t put anything past you, Master Frederick Trotteville!’
    ‘Thank you, Mr. Theophilus Goon,’ said Fatty, and grinned. Mr. Goon longed to box his ears. Then he suddenly remembered that those letters had been out of his possession once - that time when he had apparently dropped them in the road, after colliding with the red-haired telegraph-boy. He stared suspiciously at Fatty.
    ‘That telegraph-boy your friend?’ he asked suddenly. Fatty looked mildly surprised.
    ‘What telegraph-boy?’ he asked.
    ‘That red-haired fellow with the freckles,’ said Mr. Goon.
    ‘I’m afraid I’ve no red-haired, freckled telegraph-boy for a friend, much as I would like one,’ said Fatty. ‘But why all these questions about a telegraph-boy?’
    Mr. Goon wasn’t going to tell him. But he made a mental note to get hold of that telegraph-boy and ask him a few questions. Perhaps he and Fatty were in league together!
    ‘Well, I’ll go now,’ said Fatty politely, ‘unless you’ve got any more questions to ask me about telegraph-boys, Mr. Goon? Oh - and would you like another clue? Wait a bit, I’ll see if I’ve got one about me!’
    To Mr. Goon’s rage he felt in his pockets and produced a doll’s straw hat. ‘Now was that a clue?’ murmured Fatty, but, seeing Mr. Goon gradually turning a familiar purple, he moved swiftly through the door.
    ‘If you don’t clear-orf,’ said Mr. Goon, between his teeth, ‘if you don’t clear-orf… I’ll… I’ll…’
    But Fatty had cleared-orf. He sprinted back to Pip’s. The mystery of the letters was warming up again!

CHAPTER XIV
    THREE MORE SUSPECTS
     
    He was soon back in the playroom, relating everything to the others. How they roared when they heard about Mr. Goon coming in and hearing that Fatty had seen all the letters!
    ‘That must have given him a shock!’ said Pip. ‘He’ll wonder for hours how you’ve seen them. I bet he’ll go about looking for