The children all wondered how Luke was getting on with the Inspector. They seemed to be a very long time together. But at last footsteps were heard coming down the gravel path.
All the children looked to see if Luke was with the Inspector.
He was, and he looked quite cheerful too! The Inspector was smiling his usual twinkling smile. Bets ran to him.
"Is Luke going to come out of hiding? What is he going to do?"
"Well, I am pleased to say that Luke agrees with me that it would be better to go back to his job than to hide here any longer," said the Inspector.
"But what about his unkind stepfather?" said Daisy, who couldn't bear the thought of Luke being beaten any more.
"Ah!" said the Inspector, "I must arrange about that. I had meant to have a word with him myself — but the time is getting on." He looked at his watch. "Hm, yes, I must be getting back. Goon, you must go down to Luke's stepfather at once, and inform him that the boy is not to be ill-treated. You must also go to Mr. Tupping, who, I understand, is the gardener next door, and inform him that Luke is to be taken back, with Lady Candling's permission, and is to be given a chance in the garden again."
Mr. Goon looked very taken aback. After encouraging both the boy's stepfather and Mr. Tupping to treat the boy sternly and hardly, it was scarcely a pleasant job for him to do. Fatty looked sharply at the Inspector.
"I bet he's making Goon do that to punish him for frightening a young boy," thought Fatty. Inspector Jenks fastened his eyes on Mr. Goon.
"You have understood my orders, Goon?" he said in a voice that sounded quite pleasant and yet had a very hard note in it. Mr. Goon nodded hastily.