"They're not worth mentioning," said Fatty stiffly. "Come on - let's get going. We'd better get off quickly, or it will be tea-time before we've finished talking."
"We'll see his bruises at tea-time," whispered Daisy to Larry. "He's gone all sulky now!"
So they set off down the lane to find Lily. They felt certain they would not be caught by Hiccup this time because Pip had seen him go by in his car not long before.
"One or two of us must talk to Mrs. Minns," said Larry, "and the others had better try and get Lily out into the garden and talk to her. We'll see how things go."
But, as it happened, everything was very easy. Mrs. Minns was out, and there was no one in the kitchen but Lily. She was pleased to see the children and Buster.
"I'll just put Sweetie and the kittens out in the hall, and shut the door," she said. "Then that little dog can come in. I like dogs. What's His name? Buster I That's a nice name for a dog. Buster! Buster! Would you like a bone?"
Soon the cat and kittens were safely out of the way and Buster was gnawing a bone on the floor. Lily got out some chocolate from a drawer and handed it round. The children liked her. She seemed much more cheerful without Mrs. Minns to shout at her.
"We gave that note to Horace Peeks," said Larry. "We found him all right."
"Yes, I got a letter from him today," said Lily. She looked rather sad suddenly. "That nasty Mr. Goon went up and saw him and said all kinds of horrible things to him. Horace is that worried he doesn't know what to do."
"Did Mr. Goon think he had started the fire, then?" asked Daisy.