Pip was anxious to go and yet very much afraid of meeting Tupping or Clear-Orf. He jumped down, waved to the others, and set off through the bushes.
There was no sign of Luke at all. Pip passed by the cat-house, but there was no one there either. He peeped into the cage where Dark Queen should have been with the others. The cats looked at him and mewed. Pip went on down the path, round by the greenhouses, and then stood hidden in the bushes. He could hear voices nearby.
He peeped through the bushes. There was a little group of people on the lawn. Pip knew most of them.
"There's Lady Candling," he thought. "And that's Miss Tremble doesn't she look upset! And there's Tupping, looking very pleased and important and that's old Clear-Orf the bobby! And oh, there's poor old Luke!"
Poor Luke was there, in the centre, looking quite bewildered and terribly scared. The policeman was standing opposite to him, big black notebook in hand, and Luke was stammering and stuttering out replies to questions that Mr. Goon was barking out at him.
At the back were two maids, plainly the cook and the parlourmaid, both looking excited. They were whispering together, nudging one another.
Pip crept nearer. He could hear the questions now that were fired at poor frightened Luke.
"What were you doing all the afternoon?"
"I was I was digging up the old peas in the Long Bed," stammered Luke.
"Is that the bed by the cat-house?" asked Mr. Goon, scribbling something down in his book.
"Y-y-y-yes, sir," stuttered Luke.
"So you were by the cats the whole afternoon?" said the policeman. "Did anyone come near them?"
"Miss T-t-tremble came at f-f-four o'clock about, with another l-l-lady," said Luke, pushing back his untidy hair. "They stayed a few minutes and went."
"And what did you do between four and five o'clock?" said Mr. Goon in a very threatening sort of voice.
Luke looked as if he was going to fall down in terror. "N-n-nothing, sir only d-d-d-dug!" he stammered. "Just d-d-d-dug alongside the cat-house. And nobody came near, not a soul, till you and Mr. Tupping came along to see the cats."
"And we found that Dark Queen was gone," said Mr. Tupping in a fierce voice. "Well, Mr. Goon the evidence is as plain as plain, isn't it? He took that cat no doubt about it and handed her to some friend of his for a bit of pocket-money. He's a bad boy is Luke, and always has been ever since I had him."
"I'm not bad, Mr. Tupping!" shouted Luke, suddenly finding a little courage. "I've never took a thing I shouldn't! I've worked hard for you! I've stood things from you I shouldn't stand. You know I'd never steal one of them cats. I'd be too scared to, even if I thought of it!"
"That's enough, now, that's enough," said Mr. Goon fiercely. "Don't you go talking to Mr. Tupping like that. What boys like you want is a good hiding."
"Ah, I'll see he gets it all right," said Mr. Tupping in a horrid voice. "I'll have a word with his stepfather. He knows what this lad's like, right enough."
"I think, Tupping," said Lady Candling in her low, clear voice, "I think there is no need to say anything to Luke's stepfather until we know a little more about this curious happening."
Tupping looked rather taken aback. He had been enjoying himself so much that he had half-forgotten Lady Candling was there. Luke turned to his mistress.
"Please, Mam," he said in an urgent voice, "please, Mam, I do beg of you not to believe what Mr. Tupping and Mr. Goon say about me. I didn't take Dark Queen. I don't know where she is. I've never taken a thing I shouldn't take from your garden!"
"And that's a lie!" said Mr. Tupping in a triumphant-voice. "What about them strawberry runners?"
To Pip's horror, poor Luke, now frightened and upset beyond bearing, burst into enormous sobs that shook his big body in an alarming manner. He put his arm across his face, trying to hide it.
"Let him go home," said Lady Candling in a gentle voice. "You have questioned him enough. He's only a fifteen-year-old boy, after all. Mr. Goon, I ask you to go now, please, and Luke, you may go home too."
Mr. Goon didn't look at all pleased. He was sorry he could not treat Luke as he would have treated a grown man. He knew he would have to let him go home. He didn't like being sent off himself by Lady Candling either. He cleared his throat loudly, gave Lady Candling a scornful look, and shut his notebook.
"I must have a few words with your stepfather," he said in a pompous tone to Luke, who turned very pale at these words. He was very much afraid of his stepfather.
"I'll walk down with you," said Mr. Tupping. "It's possible that the boy's father may tell us something about his friends. He must have given Dark Queen to one of them."
So poor Luke was marched off between Mr. Goon and Mr. Tupping, still giving enormous sobs now and then. Pip hated the policeman and the gardener. Poor Luke! What could he do against two men like that? There just wasn't a chance for him!
Pip didn't know that the two were taking Luke down nearby where he was hiding, and he didn't step back into the thick bushes in time to prevent himself from being seen. Mr. Tupping suddenly saw the boy's face peering out from rhododendron bush.