The curtains at the back of the shop opened and Mrs. Harman glowered at her small customers. Instantly Dickie turned his back and went over to the counter near the window, and as the woman groped for a stamp, Dickie declaimed in a loud voice, "I want a ball of string." He continued to demand a ball of string and when Mrs. Harman shouted to him to be quiet, Mary asked her for another stamp, while Dickie continued to utter his plaint that all he asked for was a ball of string. The pandemonium brought the desired result, for the curtains parted again to show Jenny's startled face under its tousled mop of red hair.

"Where have you been hiding, miss?" Mrs. Harman screamed. "Come and take a turn here and help me."

So Jenny ran across to Dickie, who immediately leaned over the counter and croaked in an unrecognizable voice out of the side of his mouth.

"Your name Jenny? Don't answer. Just nod."

Jenny nodded violently, and Dickie suddenly shouted: "NO. IT'S THICK STRING I GOTTA HAVE!" Then from the side of his mouth again, "I gotta secret message. Here it is. Hide it. Read it in secret and come tonight."

Then Mary's voice came loud and sweet from the post office counter:

"Thank you so much for all you've done. It's only one stamp I want after all. Are you ready, Dickie? Isn't this a funny shop?"

And Dickie said, "Thank you VERY much. It's not that sort of string I want. I need red string."

They turned together and smiled sweetly as Dickie opened the door so that the jangling of the bell drowned Mrs. Harman's angry voice. Then they went out hand in hand into the sunshine, smug in the satisfaction of work well done.

The farmyard was empty when they got back and there were no signs of Uncle Micah or Henry or Humphrey. They were only just able to make up the fire and lay the table before it was time to go back through the woods to meet Jenny.

But she came. As they watched her coming up the lane, Peter whispered to David, "She's plucky, David. She's frightened and she hates it - you can see she is - but she's made up her mind to go through with it."

Jenny was whistling and pretending she did not care, but her whistle was very quavery. After a long pause she found the courage to open the gate and step into the wood. In a flash the twins broke from cover and dived for her legs. Down came Jenny, and almost before she could struggle a bandage was over her eyes.

"Not a word," growled Dickie.

As they led her through the wood, Peter said:

"It's all right, Jenny. Just be sensible and you'll come to no harm."