The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle by Paul Mason

Author:Paul Mason
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

‘Up, Guards, and at ’em!’

It was evening, and the Duke and twins were playing indoor croquet. It would be more correct to say that Stella and Tom were playing croquet and the Duke was umpiring, as he couldn’t hold a mallet. But, being a stickler for rules, he quite enjoyed the job. The twins had borrowed the mallets from the garden and were using rolled-up socks for balls. The legs of the tables and chairs were the hoops.

Tom was lining up a shot. It was a long one: from one end of the main drawing room, all the way under one of the chairs in the dining room. Get it and the game was his. Tom had to be careful that he didn’t hit the sock ball too hard, or it might launch itself onto the dining table which was always set with glasses, cutlery and china.

‘Come on, Tom,’ said Stella. ‘You’re taking ages.’

‘I have to agree,’ said the Duke. ‘I might have to mark you down for a penalty stroke.’

‘You two just don’t want me to win, but watch this!’ Tom clattered the sock ball along the carpet. It bounced off the chair leg, and went into the fireplace.

‘I win!’ said Stella.

‘Not fair,’ grumbled Tom. ‘You made me rush my shot.’

‘Any longer on your shot and we would have been old and grey,’ said the Duke. He looked down at his hands and body. ‘Oops, too late,’ he laughed, and the twins giggled at him.

The Duke caught sight of the clock. ‘Goodness me, it’s getting on. Put the things back as they were and straight upstairs.’ The twins did as they were told.

They turned off all the lights and trooped upstairs, together with the Duke, who gave off enough of a glow for them to see where they were going.

They reached the door to the apartments, but strangely, there was bright light coming from underneath the door.

‘I thought I told you to turn the lights off upstairs when we came down,’ said the Duke.

‘I did,’ said Stella.

Looking at each other nervously, the twins pushed open the door – and froze. Inside, leaning back comfortably in one of the armchairs, was Parkin.

‘What sort of time do you call this to be going to bed?’ he said with a grin.

There was no escape. The game was well and truly up. So, hanging their heads a little (the Duke included), the three of them came in and plonked themselves on the bed, a feeling of dread washing over them.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not here to turf you out of the castle,’ Parkin said, seeing the look on their faces. ‘I’m here because I need your help.’

‘But we thought you wanted us out,’ said Tom.

Parkin nodded. ‘I admit I did at first, but then I could see you weren’t doing the castle any harm – if anything, things were a bit better round here, to be fair. Like that grandfather clock.’

‘I knew fixing that clock would make you suspicious,’ muttered the Duke.

Parkin turned to him.

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