“It’s just a cat!” Maisie told Alice again. “It seemed quite friendly to me. It’s probably lived here for ages.”
“Yes, hundreds of years!” Alice said, nodding her head stubbornly. “No one mentioned a cat when we arrived. If there was a cat in the house, wouldn’t someone have had to feed it? It would come into the kitchens to be fed. When we said that we’d seen a white cat it wouldn’t have frightened away Annie and the others, would it? They’d have told us not to be silly and that it was only the kitchen cat!”
“I suppose so,” Maisie murmured. They were walking around the gardens, exercising Eddie, while Miss Sidebotham had a rest on the sofa. Maisie thought she was probably sleeping off lunch. Mrs James had prepared plenty and somehow the encounter with the not-a-ghost-cat had left everyone feeling very hungry. “Actually, I bet it smelled Miss Sidebotham’s sandwiches!” she said suddenly. “Cats love fish, don’t they? I should think anchovy paste sandwiches would be a real treat. Perhaps it just lives on mice. It looked ever so thin, poor thing.”
“Well, whoever heard of a fat ghost?” Alice said, throwing a stick for Eddie, so he raced off across the grass, barking excitedly. He wasn’t used to such nice places to play in. Playing with him had reddened Alice’s cheeks, too, and brightened her eyes. She looked worlds better. And not as worried about the phantom cat, either, now that Maisie had touched it and lived to tell the tale.
“I suppose it could be a friendly ghost,” Alice said thoughtfully. “It hasn’t done anything awful…”
“Actually, it’s done you a favour,” Maisie pointed out. “Miss Sidebotham’s far too upset about being haunted to think about lessons now.”
Alice laughed. “You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s fun staying here and looking after ourselves, Maisie. If she writes a letter to Papa, I think we should – er – lose it…”
“Alice Honoria Lacey!” Maisie said, grinning. “Miss Sidebotham’s right. I am a bad influence on you.”
“Maisie, have you seen my silver bracelet?” Alice asked worriedly, coming into Maisie’s room as they were getting ready for bed that night.
“What, the pretty one you always wear, with the little sparkly flowers?” Maisie asked.
“Yes, I can’t find it – I took it off because I thought it would get in the way with the cooking and the washing up. I’m sure I put it on the kitchen windowsill, but I just went back downstairs to fetch it and it’s gone.”
Maisie shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen it anywhere. You’re really sure you left it there?”
“Definitely.” Alice looked at Maisie, frowning anxiously. “Do you think it’s another ghost? Miss Sidebotham would say it was one of the servants, but it can’t have been. I definitely had it on until lunchtime and they’d all left by then.”
Maisie snorted. “Or she’d say it was me.”
“Yes, but I know it wasn’t you.” Alice nibbled one of her nails. “So it must have been a ghost…”
“Why would a ghost want your bracelet?” Maisie asked, but even she felt a little worried. Miss Sidebotham’s spectacles still hadn’t turned up and now the bracelet had disappeared as well. There was definitely something odd going on. “I don’t think ghosts steal things,” she said, trying to sound as though she believed it.
“But there’s no one else here!” Alice glanced nervously from side to side, as though she expected ghosts to come creeping out from behind the curtains. “I’m not sure I can stay here after all, Maisie… It must be another ghost. Who knows how many of them there are?”
Maisie sighed. “Well, Miss Sidebotham said she was going to write to your father. She told me I have to take the letter into the village tomorrow to post it.”
Alice sighed. “I just don’t know what to do – I do like it here, but I keep thinking something awful’s going to happen…”
The next morning, Maisie hurried down the driveway with Miss Sidebotham’s letter in her hand and Eddie trotting beside her. She and Alice had talked it over and decided that they ought to post the letter. Neither the bracelet nor the spectacles had turned up and the dreadful smell from the library side of the house seemed to be getting stronger.
Miss Sidebotham’s letter told Mr Lacey that the house was mostly definitely haunted and probably built on the site of some dreadful battle. She added that she could not be held responsible for the girls’ safety.
“As if that little cat had actually done anything to us,” Maisie told Eddie with a sigh. “Goodness, it’s cold.” There was a biting wind, swooshing through the tall trees that lined the drive. “Those nests don’t look very safe,” Maisie murmured, glancing up at the loose bundles of sticks up above her head. “Oh, a magpie. One for sorrow… We don’t need any more bad luck, thank you.”
More of the black and white birds swooped down to land in the trees, chattering and squawking, and Maisie sighed happily. It was only a silly rhyme, of course, but still… “There’s lots of them, that’s all right. Seven for a secret, never to be told… I wonder what it is.”
She hurried on down the drive and turned into the road that ran through the village. Only a few minutes later, she could see the church spire up above her and she came into the main village street.
Maisie looked around, wondering where the post box would be. She was just deciding that she would have to ask someone – there was a cluster of people standing outside the greengrocer’s shop – when one of the women walked over to her.
“Good morning, Miss.”
“Oh! Hello, Annie. I didn’t recognize you for a minute.” The maid looked very different in her neat dark coat and a smart hat instead of her uniform.
“How are you, Miss? Have you and Miss Alice seen any more ghosts?”
Maisie looked at her carefully, trying to work out if she was serious or not. Her voice sounded as though she was really most anxious to know, but there was a hint of a smirk at the corner of her mouth.
“No… Well, we did see the ghost cat again. And the smell is getting worse…” she admitted. She didn’t feel like mentioning the bracelet. Annie had been so cross with Miss Sidebotham about her spectacles and Maisie didn’t want to offend her.
“Oh dear…” Annie was definitely trying not to smile, Maisie was sure of it. She thought it was funny! “I do hope that Miss Sidebotham isn’t too upset about it all,” Annie cooed sweetly.
“Could you tell me where to find the post box, please?” Maisie asked, trying not to sound too cross.
“Just over there, Miss,” Annie said pointing. “Important letter home, is it?” She peered at the address on the letter in Maisie’s hand. “To Miss Alice’s father?”
“Yes.” Maisie scowled. “Miss Sidebotham has written to tell him about the strange goings-on in the house.”
“Oh, is that so?” Annie was smiling widely and Maisie stalked away to the post box without saying goodbye. She was sure now that Annie hadn’t believed in the ghost at all. She had probably been angry that Miss Sidebotham had accused her of stealing and then had convinced everyone the ghost story was true, just to pay the governess back!
Maisie marched back to Wisteria Lodge with a determined look on her face. She was certain now that the ghosts were just a bunch of silly stories. And she was going to prove it.
Unfortunately, she had absolutely no idea how…
“How dare she?” Alice squeaked, after Maisie told her about the meeting with Annie. She banged her hands crossly into the bread dough she was kneading. “Oh, Maisie, you shouldn’t have posted that letter! Now Papa will make us come home, for no reason at all.”
“I know,” Maisie agreed. “I almost didn’t post it, but then I thought about the smell. I can’t think what’s causing it, but I bet it isn’t good for you. And there are those shrieking noises – when I woke up this morning, I’d been dreaming that there was a ghost screaming in my ear. I jumped out of bed and then I saw that Eddie was awake too, whining, and the fur on the back of his neck was sticking up. I think there really was a strange noise, even if it wasn’t a ghost. I heard it while I was asleep and it went into my dream. So I want to find out what it is. Besides, if we solve the mystery, we can write again and tell your father we can stay, can’t we?”
“You should have woken me up and told me!” Alice said. “I’m always moaning to you about things. Urrgh. This means we have to go back to the library,” she added, shuddering. “Even though I’m almost sure the ghosts were all made up, I still don’t want to. It’s so spooky in there.”
“You don’t have to come—” Maisie started to say, but Alice glared at her.
“Of course I’m coming with you! Me and Eddie are your faithful assistants.” She pulled off her apron and looked rather doubtfully at the bread dough. “Do you think that looks right? It’s ever such an odd greyish colour.”
Maisie thought it looked dreadful, but she decided not to say so. “I’m sure it always looks like that before it’s baked.”
“Maybe… Come on then!” Alice started to walk bravely out of the kitchen, but she turned back before she reached the door to grab Maisie’s hand.
The smell got worse and worse as they started down the passage from the entrance hall to the library. It was almost choking and the darkness of the passage made it seem even harder to breathe. They had brought a candle with them from the kitchen, but it didn’t seem to burn very brightly.
“It’s dreadful!” Maisie coughed, pulling out her handkerchief and pressing it to her nose as they reached the open library door.
“Are there any green mists rising out of the floor?” Alice asked, as they peered into the dim room.
“Not that I can see…” Maisie told her. “Oh, Eddie, come back!”
The little dog had pricked up his ears and then dashed into the room, barking loudly.
“It’s the phantom cat!” Alice clutched Maisie’s arm. “Look, there it is, walking along the back of the sofa! Eddie, don’t chase it, it might do something awful to you!”
“Eddie!” Maisie yelled, but he was far too excited to listen. He never did listen when he was chasing cats, she remembered, thinking of that time on the way to Alice’s house, a few days before.
The ghost cat saw Eddie hurtling towards it. It took a flying leap off the sofa and disappeared behind one of the huge bookcases that stuck out into the room. Eddie went after it.
Maisie forgot the awfulness of the smell and ran after them. That was no ghost! Surely a ghost cat wouldn’t need to run away? If Eddie tried to catch a ghost cat, he’d just run straight through it, wouldn’t he? And a ghost cat wouldn’t smell like a proper cat either, so Eddie probably wouldn’t want to chase it anyway.
I should have thought of that before, Maisie told herself crossly. He’s behaving just like he did with that cat in the street. It was a real cat, this proved it for sure.
She hurried round the bookcase, expecting to find Eddie and the cat hissing and scratching at each other, or maybe the cat halfway up the long velvet curtains that were draped behind the bookcase. Then she stopped in surprise and Alice caught up with her. Eddie and the cat had completely disappeared.
“Where is he?” Alice asked, and then she gave a horrified gasp. “Oh, Maisie, that ghost cat’s eaten Eddie!”
“It can’t have done,” Maisie murmured, running her fingers along the bookcase and frowning. “Eddie didn’t think that cat was a ghost and neither do I. They’ve just gone – somewhere.”
There was a scuttling, scratching noise from behind the bookshelf and both girls took a step back, clutching each other’s hands. A black nose appeared round the edge of the bookcase and Alice took in a panicked breath. Then Eddie came out into the library, looking grumpy.
“Eddie!” Both girls rushed to hug him, but even that didn’t seem to cheer him up. His ears had gone back to being flat and floppy again and his eyes were gloomy. “Did that cat get away, Eddie?” Maisie said, patting him. “You shouldn’t chase them, anyway. But where did you go?” She stood up and went to look round the edge of the bookcase, pushing the curtain out of the way.
A narrow, dark gap opened out behind the bookcase – just big enough for a slim person to slip through.
“Alice! Look! A secret passage!” Maisie poked her head in, holding up the candle so she could look around. “It must lead to the floor above, there’s a little staircase. So this is how that white cat kept appearing and disappearing all over the place! There must be passages like this all over the house!”
Alice shuddered. “Ooohh. I don’t like the sound of that – people could creep up on us all the time.”
“I suppose so,” Maisie agreed. “But it’s very clever. I’m going to see where it goes.”
Alice gulped, but she and Eddie followed Maisie into the black gap and up the winding wooden stairs.
