Read Online Matty and Bill for Keeps by Elizabeth Fensham - Free Book Online Page A

me to kiss her, so I thought I could pretend I was going to, but run away instead.’
    â€˜I’m ashamed of you!’ cried Aunt Victoria.
    Crispin hung his head in shame.
    â€˜You heard the boy’s aunt!’ cried Mr Slark. ‘We all see the situation the same way. Tying that lovely young girl up.’
    â€˜Disgraceful!’ added Mr Farquay-Jones.
    â€˜Nonsense,’ said Aunt Victoria, waving her hand as if she were getting rid of a blowfly. ‘That’s not what I’m upset with Crispin about. This situation is ridiculous. Children must have their adventures and things do go wrong. When I was three years old, my three big brothers played hide and seek with me in our family home. I had to shut my eyes and count to twenty. It didn’t help that I couldn’t count that far and I kept going from one to ten over and over again. And it also didn’t help that our house had one hundred rooms and I got horribly lost. In fact, my parents couldn’t find me for one and a half days. I kept alive by staying in one of the bathrooms and drinking from the tap. I was eventually found by one of my father’s hunting hounds. My parents weren’t at all cross with either my brothers or me. All my father did was buy me a whistle and attach it to a string around my neck so that I could whistle for help if I got lost again. I really think this upset about Isabelle being tied to a tree has been blown out of all proportion.’
    â€˜Then what has made you so cross with Crispin?’ asked Mrs Townsend.
    â€˜That the boy didn’t face up to things. Didn’t just say straight out that he didn’t fancy oysters. That he felt he had to run away and didn’t tell Isabelle quite plainly that he had no intention of kissing her,’ said Aunt Victoria. ‘Would have saved you a lot of pain, Crispin!’ she said straight to him. ‘ Nunquam retrorsum !’
    Of course, this Latin went over the heads of everyone except the three friends, who immediately recognised the de Floriette family motto.
    Sergeant Smith spoke next. ‘I believe the situation is far more complicated than it seemed at first.’ He pointed out the fact that Crispin would have been highly unlikely to be able to find the rope and the scarves by himself – that ‘a person or persons unknown must have assisted in the crime’. Bill thought this was a very clever and delicate way of saying that Isabelle had played a part in her own fate.
    For the first time that day, Crispin came to life. He said he could prove that the oyster story was true, and that this also explained why he’d been so keen to get outside. ‘I propose that we all visit the Farquay-Jones’ place right now and I’ll show where I disposed of the oysters.’
    Five cars then drove in convoy out of the school and up the hill to the Farquay-Jones’ mansion: Mrs Townsend with Mat and Bill; Sergeant Smith; Aunt Victoria with Crispin in her tiny, snail-shaped car; Mr and Mrs Farquay-Jones with Isabelle; and Mr Selwyn Slark. On arriving at the Farquay-Jones’ place, everyone followed Crispin. He went straight to where he had thrown out most of the oysters. They were still there under a lavender bush – a grey, stinky mound of the dead creatures, covered in busy ants.
    Crispin retched at the sight. Matty and Bill led him away to the shade of a jacaranda tree. Crispin sat beneath it, his head hanging between his knees. Sergeant Smith walked over and handed Crispin a bottle of water to drink. ‘You’re off the hook, mate,’ he said. ‘I declare this case closed.’
    Crispin stood up and shook Sergeant Smith’s hand. ‘You all handled yourselves in a mature manner,’ said the sergeant. When Crispin looked up, Isabelle, her parents and Mr Slark were walking back to the house. Mrs Townsend was getting into her car. Aunt Victoria walked over to the jacaranda tree. ‘Mrs