"Yes, we are. We came yesterday. We love it - the Dolphin, I mean - and I think we'll have a lot of fun round here."

Jon stood up and stretched.

"But this is grand! We live there, you see. It's our new home and it belongs to my mother. This is Penny, my cousin."

"Our name is Morton. We'd rather have gone to Shropshire, but we couldn't manage it this time, and this country is all new to us... Come on, you two... Here, Mackie!"

When David had explained that Penny and Jon actually lived in the Dolphin, but were now on holiday too, Mary said, "We don't mind joining up with them, do we, twin? I thought this holiday was going to be dull just with David, but maybe things will happen to us like they did before."

Jon was looking at them critically.

"What do they mean?" he asked. "Anyway, what do they mean about things happening to them?"

"That's all right," David said quickly. "Don't take too much notice of them. They always talk like this, and up in Shropshire we did get mixed up in some fine adventures... We'll tell you about them some day."

Penny liked them all. David she had been sure of from the moment she had wakened. "Thanks for coming to share our adventures," she said. "Let's all stay here while the sun is still shining and have some chocolate."

Mary sat down by Jon and pulled the dog on to her lap, "Thank you very much... Can Mackie have some, too?... He likes chocolate. It nourishes him!"

"Why do you call him Mackie?" Jon asked. "Because he's Scottish?"

"Macbeth is his real name," David explained.

"Why?"

"Lots of people ask that," Mary said. "It's 'cos he murdered sleep when he was tiny... That means he barked a lot and kept our parents awake one night... He didn't like that fat woman, did he, Dickie? He hated her."

"When he hates people it means they're bad," Dickie said. "He's never wrong... Not often, anyway. I didn't care for that woman either and she was snooping along and measuring the walls and she didn't like us seeing her. We only came yesterday and I think there's something mysterious going on already."

"Oh, well! What shall we do now?" queried Mary.

"Let's have some tea," Dickie said promptly. "That's what I want more than anything."

"So do I," Penny agreed.

"A good idea," said David, "and I've got a better one. I saw a teashop up by the church this morning. Let's all walk back now and you two come and have tea with us there. Will you? Please do."

"I will if I sit next to Jon," Mary said. "He doesn't like us much yet, but he soon will."