Strange noise alarms Tam as he explores the spooky castle

Chapter 4

Tam woke up the following morning after a long, deep sleep. Bright sunshine was flooding his bedroom which seemed much bigger than he remembered from the night before. Someone had placed his breakfast on the table next to his bed.

He got out of bed and looked out of the window. There were lawns and overgrown flowerbeds stretching to the walls that surrounded the castle. In the distance, high green hills rolled into the horizon. Tam blinked his eyes a few times just to make sure he was really there and that he wasn't dreaming.

He got dressed, wolfed down his breakfast and decided to explore the castle. He had to get to know his new home before he could do anything else. He hated the uncertainty swishing around in his mind.

As Tam was going down a winding staircase, the castle was suddenly filled with a mysterious clanging noise. It was the first sound he had heard since the distant crying the night before, and it alarmed him. The noise was coming from behind a door a little way down the empty corridor, and got louder as he got closer. Tam stopped and without thinking pushed the door open. The clanging immediately stopped. He was in a kitchen with a high ceiling and with what looked like hundreds of pots and pans hanging from wooden bars stretching from one end of the room to the other. A massive square table stood in the middle of the room and an old woman dressed from top to toe in black was standing at a wide stone sink under the window. Her snow-white hair was tied at the back of her head in a tight bun.

'Ah, Mr MacWain,' the woman turned round, speaking softly with a gentle Scottish accent. 'I hope the noise from these infernal taps did not wake you. I'm afraid the water pipes on this floor of the castle need some attention. The first time I turn on the taps each morning throws the whole plumbing system into chaos.