Nancy chuckled, "Uncle Jim's got a girlfriend."
"Are you crazy? He's too old." Replied Peggy.
"No he's not. He's forty. Cook says he's 'walking out with her', but I know what that means."
"Are they going to get married?"
"I hope not."
"What are we going to do about it?"
"What can we do? Mum says we're to leave them alone and that we shouldn't embarrass him."
"But it's not fair. He's our uncle, and we've never had a Dad." Nancy looked a bit queer, and for a moment Peggy thought she was going to cry. Nancy sniffed and screwed up her face.
"Well we jolly well are going to do something. If she was a good thing then she wouldn't be taking him away from us."
Nancy and peggy were lurking behind the wall opposite Beckfoot. Across the road in the stable yard Captain Flint was helping a thin woman into the back seat of Rattletrap. "Oh Lord, she's going to sit in the back seat like the GA!"
"She won't be very comfortable. Mice have eaten all the horsehair stuffing." Peggy commented. "Quick. Get down." Both girls ducked down behind the wall as the car struggled and strained over the cobbles before setting off along the road to Rio making a strange whining noise. Rio was the girls' name for the town by the lake; its real name was known only to natives of course. "Uncle Jim says the transmission needs adjusting."
"Well I bet he wishes he'd had it done it last week now. Serves him right if it breaks down. Rotten beast." Nancy and Peggy had got a good look at Captain Flint's friend and they didn't like what they saw.
"She's very thin." said Peggy.
"And did you notice she was smoking a cigarette?"
"Disgusting!"
"She didn't look very nice. She didn't smile once."
"Why does he want to spend so much time with her?"
"Cook says it's his last chance."
"Last chance for what?"
"Uncle Jim's got a girlfriend and doesn't want to play with us anymore."
"Ow don't be hard on him lass. He's entitled to a life of his own too." Old Billy was smoking his pipe while his son tended the charcoal pudding.
"Ay, that thin woman from Bigland." Young Billy joined in. "Name's Mabel. She lost her fiance in the war. They say she hasn't smiled for ten years. Bitter she is, no husband and no widow's pension neither. Now what do you suppose she wants with your uncle Jim?"
"Women has a strange effect on a man. Especially one like your uncle, what's not used to their ways. It's like an enchantment, he'll only see what she wants him to see. Question is, will he wake up from it before it's too late."
"Enchantment is it? Is that how Mum got you Old Billy?"
"Ay, it was enchantment right enough, and I'm still enchanted. Wonderful woman your mother."
"If uncle Jim had wanted to get married, he would have done so years ago. There was no shortage of wives after the war. He's always said he's too much of a rolling stone."
"Happen a man likes to settle down eventually."
"Except the ladies liked a man to have served. Especially if they were widows."
"Like Mum?"
"But Uncle Jim did serve."
"Lass, you know that, and I know that, but what he did was secret and he wasn't in uniform. Folk don't like that. Or they didn't then."
"It's so unfair. He never tells us what he did in the war."
"Ay, well he was abroad, that's all I can tell you. But I do know there was a lot of fuss made when he came home. Folks from London coming and going, coppers most likely, but not yer regular bobbies if yer knows what I mean. But it all died down soon enough."
"He was in Russia. He was friends with Lenin. Later he escaped from the Red Army."
"Aye well that's enough to rattle most folks. Never mind nobody knows where his money comes from."
"Money? He always says he hasn't got any."
"Enough to keep that houseboat on the lake and go off gallivanting who knows where whenever he takes the fancy."
"We've got to help uncle Jim wake up."
"What did Old Billy mean, 'before it's too late'?"
"He meant before she gets him to marry her. She'll move into Beckfoot you know. It belongs to Uncle Jim just as much as mother, and she'll boss us all about, maybe we'll have to live somewhere else."
"The Dog's Home? Imagine that Nancy, it would be marvellous, just like when the Ds were there."
"Don't be an idiot. It would be terrible. Imagine poor mother living in that hut!"
"Timothy will know what to do. Lets ask him." Nancy looked doubtful.
"I'm not so sure. I think he knows even less about women that Uncle Jim, but what are we talking about? We now someone who knows everything about women's devious ways."
"Who?"
"Why, us you Donk. If we can't outdo her, no one can. Come on."
Timthy was in the boathouse looking glum. "I really was relying on your Uncle to help me with this you know." He was standing on the float of a seaplane tinkering with the engine. The wings and tail had been removed to fit it in Amazon's old home and were hung from the roof beams.
"Will it fly Timothy?" asked Peggy tentatively.
"Well it did once before, twenty years ago. There's not much to go wrong with it so I don't see why not."
"Can we help?" Timothy looked dubious.
"Please. We'll do exactly what you tell us." Timothy still looked unsure, but he found it difficult to stand up to Nancy.
"If you mean it, then I suppose you can. Lord knows I need some help. We've changed the design of the float to help it get up speed on the water, but now it leaks. It needs pumping out, now, and every day really. Do you think you can manage that?" It wasn't what Nancy had in mind but it would do for a start. Ever since Timothy and Uncle Jim had pulled the old aeroplane out of a barn earlier that year, Nancy had been captivated. Now she wanted nothing quite so much as to fly in it. "What I really need is someone to get the engine going while I work on the rest of it. That's why it's such a nuisance that your uncle isn't here."
"Uncle Jim lets me help with Rattletrap. I can change the oil and adjust the valves. I expect that carburettor needs a good clean too." Timothy looked slightly taken aback.
"I take it back Nancy. It will be a pleasure to have you aboard. Can you start now? Where is your uncle anyway?"
"He's with that Mabel Lovelady from Bigland. He's always with her now." complained Peggy. Timothy reddened slightly. Nancy had been right. "I don't know why he prefers to be with her than with us." she continued.
"You're embarassing Timothy Peggy. I think he knows what they get up to."
"Spooning." Stated Peggy matter of factly.
"Who told you that?" Demanded Nancy.
"Jackie Warriner, when he brought that fish round for cook this morning. What does it mean anyway?" This was terrible. Half the countryside must know what a fool Uncle Jim was making of himself. Timothy went much redder and slipped off the float into the water with a splash. Nancy and Peggy helped him out but could hardly control their laughing.
"If only we could make him see what a fool he is making of himself." Thought Nancy.