Peter had also brought a jar of potted meat and a slab of cake for Jeff, and Colin had brought half a loaf and some butter. The boy took them hungrily, and didn't even wait to cut a slice of the bread.
He tore at it with his teeth, and the others watched him, feeling shocked to see such hunger.
Janet gently took the bread from him, cut a large slice, buttered it and spread it thickly with potted meat. " You'll like this better than mouthfuls of bread ! " she said.
Jeff ate everything they had brought, except the biscuits they were keeping for mid-morning. He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his jacket with a sigh.
" That was good," he said. " I can't tell you how good! "
The kitten had finished its meal now too, and was sitting beside Jeff, washing its face.
" It looks fatter already," said Janet, stroking
it. " Poor little thing ! Fancy kicking a baby like this ! You wouldn't think there'd be anyone bad enough, would you ? "
" Mr. Tizer's very bad," said Jeff. " Worse than my uncle. He kicks me too."
" We want you to tell us all you can," said Peter, settling himself as comfortably as he could, with his back to the tree-trunk. " We think we ought to try and find out what it was that Mr. Tizer and your uncle were so afraid you had overheard. They must have been planning something wrong... something that ought to be stopped."
Jeff stared at them. " Stopped ? Who's going to stop it ? Not me. Nor you either. Nobody can stop Mr. Tizer, not even the police. Anyway I don't know anything."
" Jeff, you must try and think," said Colin. " You said you were asleep in the sitting-room on the sofa when your uncle and Mr. Tizer were planning something. You said you woke up and turned over, and they were angry with you because they thought you'd heard what they were talking about. You must be able to remember something !"
" I can't," said Jeff, looking sullen.
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Peter felt sure he could if he really wanted to. " You're afraid of Mr. Tizer," he said. " That's why you won't try to remember. It's mean of you. We've been sorry for you and the kitten and helped you. Now you should help us. We'll see you don't come to any harm."
Jeff stroked the kitten, and it purred loudly. " Well, you've been jolly decent," he said at
last. " And I'll try and remember what I overheard. But it doesn't make any sense to me, and it won't to you, either . "
" Never mind. Tell us," said Colin.
Jeff frowned as he tried to remember. " Let me see," he began. " I was asleep, and I woke up, and I heard their voices . . ."
" Yes. Go on," said Peter.
" I don't know what they were talking about," said Jeff. " I was too sleepy to hear properly. I just heard a few things, things that don't make any sense."
" What things ? " asked Barbara, wishing she could jog Jeff and make him go faster in his story.
"Well, let's see... they talked about MKX," said Jeff, frowning hard. " Yes, I remember that clearly, MKX."
" MKX ? " said Jack. " What in the world does that mean ? Would it be a code-word for someone helping them in their plans? "
"I don't know," said Jeff. "But I do remember MKX. And I remember a date too... Thursday the 25th. They said that two or three times. That's next Thursday, isn't it?"
" Yes," said Peter. " It is. Perhaps that was the date of their next robbery or whatever they were planning to do! I say... this is exciting. Go on, Jeff. Remember something else! "
" Don't hurry me," said Jeff. " Else I shall remember wrong."
There was a dead silence at once. No one wanted Jeff to " remember wrong I "
" They spoke about someone too," said Jeff, wrinkling his forehead. " Let's see. Yes" Emma Lane. They kept on about Emma Lane, I do remember that."
" Emma Lane? That's a good clue," said Colin. " We might be able to find out who she is. I've never heard of her."
"Anything else?" asked Peter. "You really are doing very well, Jeff. Think hard."
Jeff was pleased. He thought again, going back in his memory to that night on the sofa, hearing the two men's voices again in his mind.
" Oh yes ! " he said suddenly, " they said something about a red pillow. That puzzled me. A red pillow. I remember that."
It puzzled the others too. A red pillow didn't seem to fit into anything. Who would have a red pillow, and what for ?
" MKX. Thursday the 25th. Emma Lane. A red pillow," said Peter. " What a mix-up ! I can't make head or tail of any plot with those four things in it. In fact, the only thing that is at all possible to follow up is the Emma Lane clue. Anything more, Jeff? Think, do think!"
" There was something about a grating," said Jeff. " Watching through a grating... yes, that was it! Does that help you at all ? "
No, it didn't. It just added to all the mystery! How were the Secret Seven to tackle all that?
