Chapter Thirteen

AILY IS SURPRISING

Aily was not shy this time. She did not run away when Julian opened the door. She was still dressed in the same few clothes, but her face glowed, and she certainly didn’t look cold!
“Hallo, Aily!” said Julian. “Come along in. We’re having dinner - and there is plenty for you!”
The dog ran right up to the door and into the room, when he smelt the dinner there. Timmy looked most surprised, and gave a very small growl.
“No, Tim, no - he’s your guest,” said George. “Remember your manners, please!”
The small dog wagged his tail vigorously. “There, Timmy! He’s telling you not to be afraid of him; he won’t hurt you!” said Anne, which made everyone laugh. Timmy wagged his tail vigorously, too, and the pair were friends at once.
Aily came in then, the lamb in her arms, in case Timmy might object to him. But Timmy didn’t. He was very interested in the little creature, and when Aily set him down and let him run about the room, Timmy ran sniffing after him, his tail still wagging fast.
Anne offered the untidy little girl some of the meat but she shook her head and pointed at the cheese. “Aily like,” she said, and looked on in delight as Anne cut her a generous piece. She sat down on the floor to eat it, and the lamb came along and nibbled at it too. It really was a dear little thing.
“Fany bach!” said the child, and kissed his little nose.
“‘Bach’ is Welsh for ‘dear’, isn’t it?” said Anne. She touched Aily on the arm. “Aily bach!” she said, and the child smiled a sudden sweet smile at her.
“Where did you sleep last night, Aily?” asked George. “Your mother was looking for you.”
But she had spoken too quickly, and Aily didn’t understand. George repeated her words slowly.
Aily nodded. “In the hay,” she said. “Down at Magga Farm.”
“Aily, listen - who lives at Old Towers?” asked Julian, speaking as slowly and clearly as he could.
“Many peoples,” said Aily, pointing to the cheese, to show that she wanted another piece. “Big mans, little mans. Big dog, too. More big than him!” and she pointed at Timmy.
The others looked at one another in surprise. Many men! Whatever were they doing at Old Towers?
“And yet that caretaker fellow said he was the only one there!” said George.
“Aily, listen - is there - an - old - lady - there?” asked Julian, slowly. “An - old - lady?”
Aily nodded her head. “Yes - one old lady I see her high up in tower - sometime she not see Aily. Aily hide.”
“Where do you hide?” asked Dick, curiously.
“Aily not tell, never not tell,” said the child, looking through half-closed eyes at Dick, as if she kept her secrets behind them.
“Did you see the old lady when you were in the fields?” asked Julian. Aily considered this, and shook her head.
“Well, where then?” asked Julian. “Look - you shall have some of this chocolate if you can tell me.” He held the bar of chocolate just out of her reach. She looked at it with bright eyes. Obviously chocolate was a rare treat for her. She reached out suddenly for it, but Julian was too quick for her.
“No. You tell me what I ask you,” he said. “Then you shall have the chocolate.”
Aily suddenly hit out with her hands and gave him a good punch in the chest. He laughed and took both her small hands in his big one.
“No, Aily, no. I am your friend. You do not hit a friend.”
“I know where you were, when you saw the old lady!” said Dick, slyly. “Aily - you were in the grounds - in the garden!”
“How you know?” cried Aily. She dragged her hands out of Julian’s hand, and leapt to her feet, facing Dick, looking furious and frightened.
“Here - don’t get so upset,” said Dick, astonished.
“How you know?” demanded Aily again. “You not tell no one?”
“Of course I’ve told no one,” said Dick, who had only just thought of the idea that very moment. “Aha! So you get into the grounds of Old Towers, do you? How do you get in?”
“Aily not tell,” said the little girl, and suddenly burst into tears. Anne put her arm round her to comfort her, but the child pushed it roughly away. “He - Dave - went there, not me, not Aily. Poor Dave - big dog bark, wuff-wuff, like that - and... and...”
“And so you went in to get Dave, didn’t you?” said Dick. “Good little Aily, brave Aily.”
The little girl rubbed her tears away with a grubby hand, and left black streaks down her cheeks. She smiled at Dick, and nodded. “Good Aily!” she repeated, and took the little dog on her knee and hugged him. “Poor Dave bach!”
“So she got into the grounds, did she?” said Julian, in a low voice to Dick. “I wonder how? Through the hedge perhaps. Aily - we want to see this old lady. Can we get through the hedge round the garden?”
“No,” said Aily, shaking her head vigorously. “Fence there - big high fence that bites.”
Everyone laughed at the idea of a biting fence. But George guessed what she meant. “An electric fence!” she said. “So that’s what they’ve put round. My word - the place is like a fort! Locked gates, a fierce dog, an electric fence!”
“How on earth did Aily get in, then?” said Dick. “Aily - have you seen this old woman many times? Has she seen you?”
Aily didn’t understand and he had to ask his questions again, more simply. The child nodded her head. “Many times Aily see her - up high - and one time she see Aily. She throw out papers - little bits - out of the window.”
“Aily - did you pick them up?” said Julian, sitting up straight at once. “Was there writing on them?”
Everyone waited for Aily’s answers. She nodded her head. “Yes. Writings like they do at school - pen writings.”
“Did you read any of them?” asked Dick.
Aily suddenly wore a hunted expression. She shook her head - then she nodded it. “Yes, Aily read them,” she said. “They say ‘Good morning, Aily. How are you, Aily?’”
“Does the old woman know you then?” asked Dick, surprised.
“No, she not know Aily - only Aily’s Mam,” said the child. “She say on her papers ‘Aily, you good girl. Aily, you very good!’”
“She’s not telling the truth now,” said Dick, noticing that the child would not look at them when she spoke. “I wonder why?”
“I think I know,” said Anne. She took a piece of paper and wrote on it clearly. “Good morning, Aily.” Then she showed it to the child. “Read that, Aily,” she said.
But Aily couldn’t! She had no idea what was written on the paper.
“She can’t even read,” said Anne. “And she was ashamed, so she pretended she could. Never mind, Aily! Listen - have you any of those bits of paper that the old woman dropped?”
Aily felt about in her few clothes, and at last produced a piece of paper that looked as if it had been tom from the top of a page in a book. She gave it to Dick.
All the four bent over it, reading what was written there, in small, rather illegible writing.
“I want help. I am a prisoner here, in my own house, while terrible things go on. They have killed my son. Help me, help me! Bronwen Thomas.”
“Good gracious!” said Julian, very startled. “I say - this is extraordinary, isn’t it! Do you think we ought to show it to the police?”
“Well - there is probably only one policeman shared between three or four of these little places,” said Dick. “And there’s another thing - the old lady might be off her head, you know. What she says may not be true.”
“How can we possibly find out if it is or not?” said George.
Dick turned to Aily. “Aily - we want to see the old lady - we want to take her something nice to eat - she is all by herself, she is sad. Will you show us the way into the grounds?”
“No,” said Aily, shaking her head vigorously. “Big dog there - dog with teeth like this!” And she bared her own small white teeth and snarled, much to Timmy’s astonishment. The children laughed.
“Well - we can’t make her tell us,” said Julian. “And anyway, even if we got into the grounds, that dog would be there - and - I don’t fancy him, somehow.”
“Aily show you way into house,” suddenly said the small girl, much to everyone’s astonishment. They all stared at her.
“Into the house!” said Dick. “But - you’d have to show us the way into the grounds first if we are to get into the house, Aily!”
“No,” said Aily, shaking her head. “Aily show you way to house. Aily do that. No big dog there!”
Just then Timmy began to bark, and someone came by the door, looking in as she passed. It was Aily’s mother, who had again been to take some things to her shepherd husband. She saw Aily sitting on the floor and gave an angry shout. Then standing at the door she poured out a long string of Welsh words which the children didn’t understand. In a great fright Aily ran straight to a cupboard, her dog and lamb with her.
But it was no good. Her mother stormed into the hut and dragged Aily out, shaking her well. Timmy growled, but Aily’s little dog was as frightened as she was, and the lamb bleated pitifully in the child’s arms.
“I take Aily home!” said her angry mother, glaring at the four children as if she thought they were responsible for the child’s keeping away from home. “I whip her well!”
And out she went, holding the protesting child firmly by one arm. The children could do nothing. After all, she was Aily’s mother, and the child really was a little monkey, the way she wandered round the country.
“You know - I think we’d better go down to the farm and tell Morgan what we know,” said Julian, making up his mind. “I really do. If this thing is serious - and if the old lady is really a prisoner - I don’t see how we can do a thing - but Morgan might be able to. He’d know the police for one thing. Come on - let’s go down now. We can stay at the farm for the night if it gets dark. Buck up - let’s go straightaway!”