‘Why, Mr. Goon!’ he said, taking off his cap in a most aggravatingly polite manner, ‘fancy seeing you here! Come for a little bike-ride too? Lovely day, isn’t it?’
Mr. Goon almost exploded. ‘Now what are you a-doing of here?’ he demanded. ‘You tell me that, see?’
‘All I’m a-doing of at the moment is having a nice bike-ride,’ answered Fatty cheerfully. ‘What are you a-doing of, Mr. Goon? Having a ginger-beer? I see there’s a card in the window. I think I’ll have something to drink myself. It’s a jolly hot day.’
And, to the other children’s delight, and Mr. Goon’s annoyance, Fatty strolled up the little front path and entered the door. Inside was a small table at which people could sit down to have their lemonade. Fatty sat down.
‘You clear-orf out of here,’ ordered Mr. Goon. ‘I’m here on business, see? And I’m not having busy-bodies like you interfering. I know what you’ve come here for - snooping around - trying to find clues, and making nuisances of yourselves.’
‘Oh, that reminds me,’ said Fatty, beginning to feel in his pockets with a serious look, ‘didn’t we say we’d swap clues, Mr. Goon? Now where did I put that...’
‘If you bring out that there white rat again I’ll skin you alive!’ boomed Mr. Goon, whose fingers were itching to box Fatty’s ears.
‘That white rat wasn’t a clue after all,’ said Fatty gravely. ‘I made a mistake. That must have been a clue in another case I’m working on. Wait a bit - ah, this may be a clue!’
He fished a clothes-peg out of his pocket and looked at it solemnly. Mr. Goon, quite beside himself with rage, snatched at it, threw it down on the floor, and jumped on it! Then, looking as if he was going to burst, he took his bicycle by the handle-bars, and turned to Gladys and the other woman.
‘Now don’t you forget what I’ve said. And you let me hear as soon as anything else happens. Don’t talk to nobody at all about this here case - them’s my strict orders!’