The four children rushed out of the front gate and didn’t stop till they got to the Peep-Hole. How nice and friendly it seemed, and how kind Dimmy looked as she stood picking peas for supper in the garden!
“Dimmy!” cried Nora, rushing up to her. “Some people are going to buy the Old House.”
Dimmy looked astonished. “Whatever for?” she asked. “It’s no use except for a school or for a hotel or something like that - it’s so lonely for an ordinary family.”
“Dimmy, they are queer people,” said Jack, and he told what had happened. “Do you suppose they really would punish us if we go there again?”
“Quite likely,” said Dimmy, going indoors with the peas. “If they are buying the house it will be theirs. So keep away from it. Surely you’ve got plenty to do without going wandering over that old place! “
“Well, you see, it’s a mysterious sort of place, somehow,” said Jack. “It looks as if anything might happen there. I keep looking at it and wondering about it.”
“So do I,” said Nora. “I don’t like the old house - but I can’t help thinking about it.”
“Rubbish!” said Miss Dimity. “No doubt these people will move in and make it a holiday place, and it will be just as ordinary as Peep-Hole.”
“Let’s go and bathe,” said Mike suddenly. “Don’t let’s think about it any more. They were horrid people, and we’ll forget them.”
They fetched their towels in silence. They had all had a shock, for never had they thought that anyone could speak to them so fiercely, or threaten them so unkindly. However, when they were splashing in the warm water they forgot the strange old house and the queer couple that were going to buy it, and shouted gaily to one another.