By nine o’clock, the youngsters were making their way home through the quiet streets of Lewes.
The moon hung high above the old rooftops.
Somewhere in the distance, a church clock struck the hour.
“Well,” said Michael, “that was a rum sort of evening.”
“I should say so!” replied Billy.
“Do you suppose she really is a witch?” asked Margaret.
“Of course she is,” declared Peter.
“How else do you explain my ears?”
“Perhaps you imagined them,” suggested Susan.
“All five of us?”
Nobody could answer that.
They walked on in silence.
At last, Billy spoke.
“I say, Peter.”
“What?”
“Do you think that old slipper really is thirty-seven years old?”
“Probably.”
“Do you think she’s ever used it?”
Peter thought for a moment.
Then he remembered the sharp crack against the armchair, the old lady’s stern expression and the way she had made five mischievous youngsters scrub her doorstep without a single argument.
“I shouldn’t wonder,” he replied.
And with that, they hurried home.
Back at the cottage, Mrs Agatha Thistlewick was sitting comfortably beside her fire.
Her seven cats lay curled around her feet.
She took the old brown carpet slipper, examined its worn rubber sole and placed it carefully back beside the hearth.
“Well, Sebastian,” she said, “I think that went rather well.”
The great black cat opened one yellow eye.
“Quite,” he replied.
Mrs Thistlewick smiled.
Then she opened her enormous spell book.
On the first page, written in faded purple ink, were the words:
THE THISTLEWICK FAMILY BOOK OF SPELLS, CHARMS AND OTHER USEFUL HOUSEHOLD REMEDIES
Beneath them, in smaller writing, appeared a rather curious instruction:
For troublesome youngsters on Halloween, a little fright, a little honest work, and the sight of Grandmother’s old carpet slipper will usually do the trick.
Mrs Thistlewick closed the book.
“Goodnight, my dears,” she whispered.
The fire flickered.
The clock struck ten.
And somewhere above the ancient streets of Lewes, seven black shadows slipped silently across the rooftops.
For Mrs Thistlewick had one final task that Halloween.
She had to make quite certain that five particular youngsters arrived safely home.
