THROUGH her tears, Nanny Cook stared towards the park. She could now see Mrs. Dearly, Nanny Butler, and the three dogs, who had just turned for home. It seemed a strange and terrible thing that they could be strolling along so happily, when every step brought them nearer to such dreadful news.

As they came across the Outer Circle, Nanny Cook ran to meet them crying so much that Mrs. Dearly found it hard to understand what had happened. The dogs heard the word puppies,€ saw Nanny Cook’s tears, and rushed down to the area. Then they went dashing over the whole house, searching, searching. Every few minutes Missis and Perdita howled, and Pongo barked furiously.

While the dogs searched and the Nannies cried on each other’s shoulders, Mrs. Dearly telephoned Mr. Dearly. He came home at once, bringing with him one of the Top Men from Scotland Yard. The Top Man found a bit of sacking on the area railings and said the puppies must have been dropped into sacks and driven away in the black van. He promised to Comb the Underworld, but warned the Dearlys that stolen dogs were seldom recovered unless a reward was offered. A reward seemed an unreasonable thing to offer to a thief, but Mr. Dearly was willing to offer it.

He rushed to Fleet Street and had large advertisements put on the front pages of the evening papers (this was rather expensive) and arranged for even larger advertisements to be on the front pages of the next day’s morning papers (this was even more expensive). Beyond this, there seemed nothing he or Mrs. Dearly could do except try to comfort each other and comfort the Nannies and the dogs. Soon the Nannies stopped crying and joined in the comforting, and prepared beautiful meals which nobody felt like eating. And at last night fell on the stricken household.

Worn out, the three dogs lay in their baskets in front of the kitchen fire.

Think of my baby Cadpig in a sack,€ said Missis with a sob.

Her big brother Patch will take care of her,€ said Pongo soothingly though he felt most unsoothed himself.

Lucky is so brave, he will bite the thieves,€ wailed Perdita. And then they will kill him.€

No, they won’t,€ said Pongo. The pups were stolen because they are valuable. No one will kill them. They are only valuable while they are alive.€

But even as he said this, a terrible suspicion was forming in his mind. And it grew and grew as the night wore on. Long after Missis and Perdita, utterly exhausted, had fallen asleep, he lay awake, staring at the fire, chewing the wicker of his basket as a man might have smoked a pipe.