This amazing and terrifying note made Anne burst into tears and cling to Julian’s arm.

“Julian! Julian! George can’t have come back from her walk with Timmy last night! She must have been caught then — and Timmy, too. Oh, why didn’t we start hunting for her then?”

Julian looked very grim and white. He was thinking hard. “Yes — someone was lying in wait, I’ve no doubt — and she and Timmy were kidnapped. Then the kidnapper — or one of them — came back to the house and shut the front door to make it seem as if George was back. And someone has probably been hanging round all day to find out whether we’re worried about George, or just think she’s gone off for the day!”

“Who gave you the note?” said Dick, sharply, to the scared Jo.

She trembled.

“A man,” she said.

“What sort of a man?” asked Julian.

“I don’t know,” said Jo.

“Yes, you do,” said Dick. “You must tell, Jo.”

Jo looked sullen. Dick shook her, and she tried to get away. But he held her far too tightly. “Go on — tell us what the fellow was like,” he said.

“He was tall and had a long beard and a long nose and brown eyes,” rattled off Jo suddenly. “And he was dressed in fisherman’s clothes, and — he spoke foreign.”

The two boys looked sternly at her. “I believe you’re making all that up, Jo,” said Julian.

“I’m not,” said Jo sulkily. “I’d never seen him before, so there.”

“Jo,” said Anne, taking Jo’s brown little paw in hers, “tell us truly anything you know. We’re so very worried about George.” Tears sprang out of her eyes as she spoke, and she gave a little wail.

“Serve that George-girl right if she’s got taken away,” said Jo fiercely. “She was rude to me — she’s crool and unkind. Serve her right, I say. I wouldn’t tell you anything — not even if I knew something to tell.”

“You do know something,” said Dick. “You’re a bad little girl, Jo. I shan’t have anything more to do with you. I felt sorry and unhappy about you, but now I don’t.”

Jo looked sullen again, but her eyes were bright with tears. She turned away. “Let me go,” she said. “I tell you, that fellow gave me fifteen pence to bring this note to you, and that’s all I know. And I’m glad George is in trouble. People like her deserve it, see!”

“Let her go,” said Julian wearily. “She’s like a savage little cat — all claws and spite. I thought there might be some good in her, but there isn’t.”

“I thought so, too,” said Dick, letting go Jo’s arm. “I quite liked her. Well, go, Jo. We don’t want you any more.”

Jo rushed to the door, wrenched it open, and fled down the hall and out of the house. There was a silence after she had gone.

“Julian,” whispered Anne. “What are we going to do?”