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spread out, and a tipping feeling. After that, however much she pushed her eyes sideways, all she could see was an empty stretch of whitewashed wall. “What friend?” she said, but inside she was saying frantically
Where is he
?
What has he done NOW?
    Dad looked at the empty part of the wall and blinked. “How odd!” he said. “I could have sworn you had a friend with you. It even struck me he had a sort of Jacobean look. Anyway, I’ll see you at supper, sunshine.” And he rushed away.
    As soon as he was out of sight, Heather unhooked the red rope and raced round and round up the tower steps. At the top, she sagged with relief. Robert was sitting in the place she liked to sit herself, with his hands clasped round his knees, staring out at the hills and the patches of wood all lit golden green as the sun began to go down.
    “You spoke to your father?” he said.
    “Well, I – er – not yet. He was in a hurry,” Heather explained.
    “I left you alone to speak with him,” Robert said reproachfully. “Where is the food you promised?”
    “Coming up soon,” Heather said. “But only if you stay
here
while I fetch it. You’re not to disappear like that again! You give me heart attacks!”

Chapter Six
    H eather plunged back down the tower stairs, knowing she only had about ten minutes, and not trusting Robert to stay there longer than that anyway. She raced through the old kitchen and into the new small one and opened the fridge. Bother. Only spam there, apart from raw food for supper. Heather collected the spam and the last of the bread and hurtled off to the tourist shop to catch Mrs Mimms before she went home.
    Mrs Mimms was clearing up, and she was very puzzled. “Something’s up today,” she said. “I don’t know! First there’s half the people went home in the middle of the afternoon, just when they usually want to come in here for their ice-creams and their tins of fizz. My takings are right down.”
    “Oh, dear,” Heather said guiltily. “Is it very bad?”
    “Only so-so,” Mrs Mimms said quite cheerfully. “It was a good morning, and Mr Mimms says most of them bought tickets to see round the house, eventhough they didn’t use them. It makes you wonder what got into everyone.”
    “Do you think something frightened everyone?” Heather suggested, picking up two packets of biscuits and a bag of peanuts.

    “Could be,” said Mrs Mimms. “Mr Mimms says he kept getting complaints there were nudist boys chasing girls in nighties all over the woods. Someone came and told me that, too, and I told her not in
Castlemaine
. But someone else told your dad and he went out to look. He said
he
couldn’t see a thing.”
    “Er – probably just some teenagers messing about,” Heather said, guiltily adding crisps and popcorn to her pile of food.
    “Bound to be,” said Mrs Mimms. “Or people imagined it, like that new guide who swore to your dad there were sheep droppings all over the Long Gallery floor. Sheep, I told him. There’s been no sheep near here for fifty years now! Next thing, I said to him, you’ll be telling me you saw Wild Robert risen from his mound, treasure and all!”
    Heather found her face had gone very hot. Knowing it must be bright red, she picked up a plastic bag labelled VISIT CASTLEMAINE and bent over it while she pushed her pile of food inside it. “Do you know all about Wild Robert then?” she asked.
    “No more than most people in the village do,” Mrs Mimms said. “I’ve only lived here half my life, after all. If you want to know about that old story, you should ask your friend Janine. Her folks have been in this area for centuries. And why are you taking all that food, Heather, may I ask?”
    “Our fridge is empty,” Heather said. “I didn’t get much lunch.”
    “And you’re acting as odd as the rest!” Mrs Mimms said. “You wouldn’t believe the strange phone call I had a while back from Mrs McManus. Little as I like that woman, I think me and Mr Mimms