Chapter Five A MYSTERY
　　EVERYONE stared at Uncle Quentin. There he was, intently watching the jackdaws, his handsin his trousers pockets. He hadn't seen the children or his wife.
　　Timmy leapt to his feet, and gamboled over to George's father. He barked loudly. Uncle Quentinjumped and turned round. He saw Timmy - and then he saw all the others, staring at him in realastonishment.
　　Uncle Quentin did not look particularly pleased to see anyone. He walked slowly over to them, aslight frown on his face. 'This is a surprise,' he said. 'I had no idea you were all coming today.'
　　'Oh Quentin!' said his wife, reproachfully. 'I wrote it down for you in your diary. You know Idid.'
　　'Did you? Well, I haven't looked at my diary since, so it's no wonder I forgot,' said UncleQuentin, a little peevishly¹. He kissed his wife, George and Anne, and shook hands with the boys.
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　　'Uncle Quentin - where did you come from?' asked Dick, who was eaten up with curiosity.
　　'We've looked for you for ages.'
　　'Oh, I was in my workroom,' said Uncle Quentin, vaguely².
　　'Well, but where's that?' demanded Dick. 'Honestly, Uncle, we can't imagine where you hideyourself. We even went up the tower to see if you were in that funny glass room at the top.'
　　'What!' exploded his uncle, in a sudden surprising fury. 'You dared to go up there? You mighthave been in great danger. I've just finished an experiment, and all those wires in there wereconnected with it.'
　　'Yes, we saw them acting³ a bit queerly,' said Julian.
　　'You've no business to come over here, and interfere⁴ with my work,' said his uncle, still lookingfurious. 'How did you get into that tower? I locked it.'
　　'Yes, it was locked all right,' said Julian. 'But you left the key in, you see, Uncle - so I thought itwouldn't matter if...'
　　'Oh, that's where the key is, is it?' said his uncle. 'I thought I'd lost it. Well, don't you ever go intothat tower again. I tell you, it's dangerous.'
　　'Uncle Quentin, you haven't told us yet where your workroom is,' said Dick, who was quitedetermined to know. 'We can't imagine 'where you suddenly came from.'
　　'I told them you would turn up, Quentin,' said his wife. 'You look a bit thin, dear. Have you beenhaving regular meals. You know, I left you plenty of good soup to heat up.'

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