The cat was now leading them along the road. Pongo asked how far it was to the farm.

Oh, we’re not going to the farm now. The Colonel’s spending the night at the Folly. Crazy place, but it’s coming in very useful.€

The darkness was thinning. Soon the road ran across a stretch of heath on which, still some way ahead of them, a dark mass stood out against the gradually lightening sky. After a few moments Pongo saw that the dark mass was a great stone wall.

There you are,€ said the cat. Your puppies are behind that.€

It looks like the wall of a prison,€ said Pongo.

Nasty place,€ said the cat. The Colonel will tell you its history.€

She led them from the road over the rough grass of the heath. As they drew nearer, Pongo saw that the wall curved as the wall of a round tower curves. Above it rose the trunks of tall trees, their bare branches black against the sky.

You’d think there would be a castle, at least, inside that huge wall,€ said the cat. And they do say there was going to be, only something went wrong. All that’s there now Well, you can see for yourself.

She led the way to the rusty iron gates, and Pongo and Missis peered through the bars. There was now enough light for them to see some distance. Beyond a stretch of grass as wild as the surrounding heath, they saw the glint of water but, strangely, it seemed to be black water. Then they saw the reason why. Reflected in it was a black house.

It was the most frightening house Pongo and Missis had ever seen. Many of the windows in its large, flat face had been bricked up and those that were left looked like eyes and a nose, with the front door for a mouth. Only there were too many eyes, and the nose and the mouth were not quite in the right places, so that the whole face looked distorted.

It’s seen us!€ gasped Missis and it really did seem as if the eyes of the house were staring at them from its cracked and peeling black face.

Well, that’s Hell Hall for you,€ said the cat.

She moved on and they followed her, round the curving wall. After a few minutes they saw a tower rising high above the tree-tops. It was built of rough grey stone, like the wall, and was rather like a church tower. But there was no church. The tower simply jutted out of the wall. Some of the narrow windows were broken, and their stonework was crumbling. The place was not yet a ruin but looked as if it quite soon might be one.

Well may they call it a Folly!€ said the cat.