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We picked up the pieces of Sir Horace and took them into the keep, which was a funny old round tower covered with ivy Inside were piles of old junk It was also very smelly because it was stuffed full of sacks of old bat poo left over from the days when it was part of the mushroom farm Morris FitzMaurice used to buy Uncle Drac’s bat poo to feed the ht more than he needed

We put all the pieces of Sir Horace on the ground and then, in the beaht--which I always carry with ether It was a bit scary too, as every now and then we heard Old Morris FitzMaurice and his daughter, Nosy Nora FitzMaurice, walk past, showing people around before the auction "Best knock this rubbish down and start again, " we heard Old Morris say to so because some people actu ally like this old stuff Could be a castle theme park, I suppose " "Huh, " said the other person "I shall knock it down andlot

There’slots What’s in there?" Suddenly the rotten old door to the keep creaked open I had switched off ht just in time Wanda and I dived behind a pile of moldy old bat poo sacks Luckily the keep was so full of junk that Old Morris and Mr Parking Lot did not notice the pieces of Sir Horace It took forever to put Sir Horace together again By the tis on Wanda’s pink fairy watch looked weird They were both aluessed it meant that it was half past five--nearly tio, " I told hi on one of the squishy bat poo sacks

He got up and groaned "Indeed, you are right, Miss Spookie I shall e " He bowed stiffly "No!" I said quickly "No, I didn’t e I o to the auction It is tiet back what rightfully belongs to you!" "What rightfully belongs to me, Miss Spookie?" Sir Horace sounded puzzled This was thefor--thePlan But sometimes Plans do not happen the way you plan thes that someone has not told you, so youall the bat poo on the shovel

But right then I didn’t know that I pulled out the deed from my pocket and said, "Soon it really will be your hoo to the auction and ill show them this! It proves that all this"--I waved my arms around like they do on airplanes when they tell you how to escape--"still belongs to you!" "If only that were true, " Sir Horace groaned "But it is true, " I told him and waved the deed in front of his visor just in case he had not seen it Sir Horace groaned and put his head in his hands, which I found very annoying since Wanda and I had just spent a very long tiotten into; he says it helps him think But it doesn’t help anyone else think "This deed is worthless, " boomed Sir Horace’s head "No it’s not, " I said "It’s your castle The deed says so " "Alas, it is not It belongs to FitzMaurice It is his " The head let out a horrible moan "

He paid me for it " Noas reallyme lies, Sir Horace " I looked at him sternly "That is not what you said before " "I only discovered the truth yesterday, " said his head with a big sigh "Yesterday?" asked Wanda "What hap pened yesterday?" Which was exactly the question I was going to ask "I am chief detective here, Wanda, " I told her "So I ask the questions " And before she could disagree I said, "What happened yester day, Sir Horace?" "You knohat happened yesterday, Miss Spookie The ring that you are wearing That happened yesterday "

"Yes, where did you get that ring, Ara?" "It’s nothing to do withlike someone who suddenly realizes they are the priht they had only been asked to the police station for a friendly chat over a cup of tea "It’s always so to do with you, " said Wanda "It is not!" "Stop!" boomed Sir Horace’s head, which sounded horribly like Nurse Watkins "I will explain " So we sat in that ss slowly ticking its way toward her right knee and six o’clock, and we listened to the terrible story of what had happened five hundred years ago in the caves far below us

Sir Horace put his head next to hiainst the wall and his head began to speak "I shall tell you the terrible tale of how I becahost " His voice echoed around the keep and sounded really spooky Wanda and I shivered and I got goose buands and thieves, " Sir Horace began "They lived in a huge castle in the next valley, but that was not enough for the ran off, which he often did at a fullfor him and ere ambushed by a party of FitzMaurices They were a nasty bunch, Miss Spookie Arels, swords, pikestaffs, and fierce hunting dogs

Edrotto beneath my castle I was sure ould be safe there, but in our haste we sprang our own portcullis trap and trapped ourselves " "I bet it was Ed it, " I whispered to Wanda "Shh!" said Wanda sharply "That is not nice, Ararotto" Sir Horace’s head moaned "I was struck down by the dastardly Jasper FitzMaurice, the leader of the gang As I lay injured, he laughed and told his gang to pile up the rocks to stop our escape and to leave us to drown He said my castle was his now But I told him that if he took my castle he would be not only aand threw it athe would buy my hovel--as he called it "

"Ooh, " gasped Wanda "That was so rude " "Indeed, Miss Wizzard, " sighed the head on the bat poo sack "The FitzMaurices have never had any manners " "So what happened then?" asked Wanda "I threw the ring back because in those days you could offer a ring for anything " "Even a rubbish old ring?" asked Wanda "Yes Its value did not er, it reed to the deal I told Jasper FitzMaurice that his worthless junk would not buy one brick ofI remember Now, Edmund--" Edmund jumped up and stood to atten tion "Yes, Sir Horace, " he squeaked

"What happened next? TellFitzMaurice, he, uauntlet and pushed the ring onto your little finger and, umHe said: `I am no thief This is payasped Wanda "That is so naughty " "It was very naughty, Wanda, " said Ed FitzMaurice, he climbed up the rocks, and his men rolled the last one in placeAnd ere trapped, and after that it was really scary and the water kept co in and, Sir Horace, you wouldn’t wake up, so I stayed with you and" "Oh, Ed to put her arhost "How horrible You were so brave "

"Thank you, Wanda, " sniffed Edmund "You are very nice " "Edmund was brave, " said Sir Horace’s head "And he was loyal But he did not tell" Ed--which he had Aunt Tabby says that not telling about so a lie "All these years I have thought I owned my own castle and I did not " Sir Horace’s head let out another groan "It is a terrible shock " I stared at er So this was the horrible Jasper FitzMaurice’s ring?Yuck I wasn’t so sure that I liked it anyer too "So how co a little bit jealous, I thought

"Never mind that, " I told her "The point is that Sir Horace does own his castle He never accepted the ring--Jasper FitzMaurice pushed it onto his finger That is totally different Now, excuse et your castle back for you " "Are we?" said Wanda "Yes, Wanda, " I said, "we are " Sir Horace stood up and put his head back on "Tonight there is a full moon, " he said "Who knohat o alone, Miss Spookie "