Scruff here. After the train pulled out of the station I took off my straw hat and lay back in the seat to rest. It was a warm day, and my school uniform was kind of hot.
"Hello! I recognise that uniform!"
I looked up at the sound of the girl's voice. She wore a uniform identical to mine (except that her tie was done up properly), and she was blonde.
"Oh! Scruff," I introduced myself.
"Lucy." Lucy sat down next to me. "I'm guessing Scruff's not what your parents called you. For real, I mean."
"No, that's Lilian. But everyone calls me Scruff. Are you a new sixth-form student at Pudding Norton?"
"Oh yes. You?"
"Guilty. I got expelled from my last school."
"Really! Mine closed. What did you do?"
"Something illegal. You look a nice girl..."
"Well, everyone says so. But my dad really wants me to go to a boarding school. I know about his secretary, you see. I know he's having an affair with her."
"No!" I gasped.
"What are you listening to?"
"Episodes of 'The Shadow'," I confessed.
"Don't feel guilty! I'm sure it's fun."
The train sped on, out of London and into the Essex countryside. I was sorry to leave London behind, but it was only for a week or so.
Where were Sis and Emily, I wondered.
[Girl in Grey here] Comparing times we found that Emily and I were just leaving our home outside the Congestion Charging zone. We found that Emily was practically invisible against the black leather seats of the Jag, so she sat in the front passenger seat, and I had someone to chat to.
Of course I was wearing a light summer dress, not my Girl in Grey outfit. That came out at night.
We got from London to Norwich in about two hours. It took another two hours of driving down winding roads to get to Little Pudding. Sir Richard Arcos' house was a welcome sight, with its promises of a nice comfy chair and a friend to talk to.
I parked outside the Hall, jumped out of the car and ran up to the front door, where I rang the bell. I stood there a while, waiting and trying to look smart. Suddenly the door opened, and a tall white-haired gentleman with whiskers stepped out.
"Why, if it isn't our very own lady crime-fighter!" He lifted me clean off my feet. "Sam!"
His younger wife, Lady Samantha (younger by only about sixteen years) ran from the drawing-room to greet me.
"Well! The Girl in Grey in pink!" she exclaimed. Her voice betrayed her American origins.
"I brought a friend," I said, my feet still six inches off the ground. "Emily!"
Emily ran from the car. Lady Arcos squealed in delight.
"Gee! A real honest-to-goodness ghost!"
"I'm not a ghost," Emily prodded Lady Arcos. "An Indian occultist did this to me. I'm just a girl."
"Oh! Then you're kinda a funny-looking girl."
Suddenly Lady Arcos hugged Emily. She laughed.
"Yeah! Honey, I like her."
"I'm glad you do," Sir Richard put me down. "Shall we go inside."
We went inside. The house looked just the way an old English manor ought to, venerable and ancient, suits of armour here and there, weapons on the walls, and family portraits.
"Not mine," Sir Richard said as he saw me looking at them. "Some of 'em belong to Sam, and I bought the others with the house. Along with the ghost, I was told, but I've never seen her."
"Her?"
"Yes, a charming female ghost. The legend is that a former lady of the house got set on fire one cold winter's night, and she still roams the house, burning and screaming. Sam has slep for three weeks in the haunted bedroom, but she never saw or heard anything."
"Yeah. It's all a con," Lady Arcos muttered.
"But you're not here to discuss ghosts. We'll take your junk up to your room later."
"Room?"
"When you said you were bringing a young friend, Sam assumed she'd want to share a room with you. Doesn't she?"
"I'll be fine," Emily replied.
"Splendid! Then come into my Library."
We were conducted into a room lined with books. We sat down on a comfy leather sofa and Sir Richard paced in front of the firplace.
"I haven't met your sister, lass. I hope she's made of strong stuff."
"Scruff? You bet."
"Good, because Pudding Norton College is in fact an institution dedicated to training up criminals. The headmaster, Baron von Zstrongarm, is the most monstrous villain I've met in a long time - and we've met some pretty monstrous ones, haven't we, Sam?"
"Yeah," Lady Arcos smiled. She was a small, attractive lady, and she'd been a film star many years ago.
"Your sister will be in a place where every influence is intended to ruin her."
"Emily can be our contact."
"Yes, that's an idea. She looks like a ghost..."
"I can make myself invisible too," Emily demonstrated. Sir Richard grinned.
"By jove! You're a handy girl to have about the place!"
"Can we adopt her?" Lady Arcos asked. Sir Richard groaned.
"Sam! We've adopted more than a dozen girls over the course of our married life. I know you believe in large families, but don't you think fifteen girls ranging in age from senty-odd to twenty-three is enough?"
"No."
"Then we'll see. I think Emily has her own ideas."
"I do," Emily affirmed.
"Yeah!" Lady Arcos laughed. "I like girls who have their own ideas."
"Of course you do, they remind you of yourself. Now, I'll help get your junk in and we'll go down the pub."
"And Emily?"
"No-one will dare ask questions about my guests, lass. Sam has a regrettable habit of killing people who do."
I like the Arcos family.
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