Jess, a palace maid, swung round and grinned. She had a little white apron fastened over her black uniform and her mob cap sat crookedly on her golden-brown hair. “Quick, Millie! We have to swap before they notice we’ve gone.”
Millie sped up, nearly skidding on the smooth floor. Steadying herself, she gazed into the kitchen where Cook Walsh was bustling around the stove. It was only two days till the Peveril Palace Festival and Cook had been working from sunrise to sunset all week baking pies and cakes for the competitions.
Millie longed to go and help but princesses weren’t supposed to get their clothes covered in jam and flour. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the delicious cooking smells drifting into the passageway. “Mm, cherry pie!” she murmured.
“Come on or they’ll catch us!” said Jess, laughing, and she grabbed her friend’s hand. Together they ran to the end of the passage, slipped into Jess’s chamber and closed the door behind them.
Jess and Millie had known each other since they were babies and they’d been best friends ever since Jess came to work as a maid at Peveril Palace.
The two girls were the same height and the same age (although Millie liked to remind Jess that she was ten days older). They both had glossy brown hair with golden tints that curled over their shoulders, and they both had rosy cheeks and hazel eyes. They were almost identical, except that Jess’s eyes were slightly darker.
Leaning against the door, Millie tried to catch her breath. She and Jess had the most amazing secret: they shared clothes and swapped places with each other all the time! No one ever noticed that Jess became Millie and Millie turned into Jess because they looked so alike.
Millie smiled. Having a best friend that looked the same was Very Handy Indeed. She and Jess often swapped places to do the things they liked the most. Jess would take Millie’s horse-riding lesson while Millie went to bake cakes with Cook Walsh. The kindly, grey-haired cook was the only person who knew their secret and she’d promised never to tell.
Swapping places had become extra handy because mysterious things had started happening in Plumchester. First, a crown had been stolen from the palace and then a silk dress had gone missing from Jess’s parents’ shop in Bodkin Street. The girls had turned detective to solve these puzzles. It had been great fun!
“We got away at last!” said Millie. “I was starting to think Mr Larum would never let me go. This morning he made me practise one hundred spellings.” She pulled a face. Mr Larum, her teacher, was a kind man but he was very serious sometimes.
“Mr Steen said he doesn’t want the guests to see a single speck of dust while they’re here,” groaned Jess. “He made me polish the candlesticks ten times!”
Mr Steen was the royal butler and liked everything to be shiny and perfect. Now that important guests had come to stay, he wanted everything even cleaner and shinier than usual.
The visiting lords and ladies had come to see the festival which was held every year on the palace lawn. In two days’ time, the people of Plumchester would troop through the gates of Peveril Palace and set up stalls of fruit and vegetables as well as cakes, pies and jam. There would be games, singing and dancing too. Prizes would be given out for the very best thing on each stall. Cook Walsh was determined to win first prize for the pies and cakes of course!
Footsteps sounded in the corridor. Millie crouched down and put her eye to the keyhole. “It’s Mr Steen.” She watched the lanky butler prowl down the corridor in his black suit and white gloves. Every few seconds he paused and held a large round glass to his eye. “He’s using his magnifying glass,” she whispered. “I wonder what he’s up to.”
“I bet he’s searching for dust,” muttered Jess.
Millie put her hand over her mouth to stop a giggle escaping. At last she straightened up, her eyes sparkling. “He’s gone now! Are you ready to swap?”
“Ready!” Jess nodded her head so energetically that her mob cap fell off.
Millie took off her yellow satin dress while Jess pulled off her maid uniform. Underneath they were both wearing cotton slips that looked like thin white dresses. Jess handed the maid clothes to Millie, and Millie gave the satin dress to Jess. A moment later they were wearing each other’s clothes.
“Just one more thing!” Jess popped her white mob cap on Millie’s head and tied up her own hair with her friend’s yellow ribbon.
Millie looked in the little, square mirror that hung on the wall. No one would guess she was a princess now! “I’m going to see if Cook wants any help with those cakes.”
“I’m going to visit the horses!” said Jess.
Opening the door a little, the girls peeked out. The corridor was empty.
“Meet you back here later!” Millie held out her little finger and Jess linked her pinkie with Millie’s. This was their secret sign that they were best friends.
“See you later, Double Trouble!” Jess grinned before slipping out of the back door into the stable yard.
Millie hurried towards the kitchen, stopping when she heard a torrent of barking at the far end of the passage. It must be Jax, her golden cocker spaniel. Millie’s heart sank. She hoped he wasn’t getting into trouble again.
Holding her mob cap to her head, Millie dashed down the passageway. All the very important guests, who were staying to see the festival, were gathered in the entrance hall.
The Duke and Duchess of Sherbourne, a short couple with grey hair, were talking quietly. Lady Snood, a thin woman in a frilly dress, was checking her face in the hall mirror. Lord Dellwort, a dark-eyed man with a silky moustache, stood watching everyone.
Barking broke out again from inside the State Room.
“This dog needs proper training!” Millie heard her father, King James, say sharply. “Where is Mr Steen? Find him at once, please.”
A palace guard ran out of the State Room. “Has anyone seen the butler?”
Millie hurried past him. Her father loved animals but he didn’t like it when Jax got overexcited. “It’s all right – I can help,” she told the guard as she went inside.
King James was taking a shiny silver key out of a wooden desk. Marching across the room, he unlocked the Royal Jewel Cabinet Cabinet and let its glass door swing open. The Jewel Cabinet was the place where all the most precious royal things were kept. The shelves were filled with masses of bracelets, tiaras, shiny goblets and crystal glasses.
Jax was gambolling round the room, his floppy ears swinging. Every now and then, he bounced up to Millie’s father and gave the king’s velvet robe a playful tug.
“Stop it, Jax!” Millie pulled her mob cap down low, hoping that her father wouldn’t notice it was her wearing the maid dress. She caught hold of Jax. The spaniel gave a woof of delight and licked her hand.
“Oh, thank goodness!” said the king. “I’ve never seen him act so naughty.”
“He must need a walk.” Millie crouched down, rubbing Jax’s fluffy coat. “I’ll take him outside right now.”
“It’s all right, everybody!” the king called to his guests. “Come in and I’ll show you the goblet I was talking about.”
The duke and duchess, Lady Snood and Lord Dellwort, trooped in. King James picked up a gleaming golden cup. “This was given to my grandfather by Queen Isidora of Plutenburg more than a hundred years ago. The gold was mined from beneath the Trummel Mountains.”
“Yes, very nice!” Lady Snood dismissed the goblet with a wave of her hand. “But what’s that shiny blue necklace at the back?”
“You mean this one?” King James put down the goblet and took out a beautiful blue stone shaped like a teardrop which hung from a gold chain. “This is the famous Sky Sapphire named for its wonderful light blue colour. Most sapphires are quite a dark blue but not this one! It’s the largest jewel in the whole kingdom and I gave it to Queen Belinda on our wedding day.”
“What a lovely gift,” said the Duchess of Sherbourne. “I bet it’s worth a lot of money.”
“All jewellery looks the same to me!” said Lord
Dellwort, yawning.
Jax gave a short bark. Millie suddenly remembered she was supposed to be taking him for a walk, not staring at the jewel cabinet. As she hurried the spaniel out of the room, she caught sight of Lady Snood reaching out to touch the sapphire necklace.
Millie saw the lady’s expression darken as the king put the jewel away. Her elegant eyes narrowed and her pale forehead scrunched into a frown. Millie remembered that stare as she bundled Jax outside. Lady Snood looked as if she wanted the Sky Sapphire all for herself.
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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2018
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2018
Text copyright © Paula Harrison, 2017
Cover illustration copyright © Hatem Aly, in the style of Michelle
Ouelette, represented by The Bright Agency, 2017
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Ouelette, represented by The Bright Agency, 2017
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The Hunt for Hidden Treasure Page 6
