Millie tried not to giggle at his offended look. She was glad Mr Steen had organized the searching though. It meant that no one would be able to smuggle the stolen crown away from the palace. After all, no one else knew about the secret way through the fence except her and Jess. “Anyway, I think Edward might be hungry so I’d better go,” she told the teacher.
Mr Larum rose from his chair and bowed. Millie noticed that his waistcoat had a large patch on the front and his shirt looked worn. As she hurried downstairs with Edward in her arms, she started wondering. Did Mr Larum need money? He certainly hadn’t bought new clothes for a while. Someone in desperate need of money might do a desperate thing…
It seemed horrid to suspect her teacher of taking the crown. He was a bit strange sometimes but he’d always been nice to her.
Reaching the gallery, she found Mr Steen and Miss Parnell staring at a dark patch on the floor. She dawdled, pretending to show Edward the books on the bookcase so that she could listen to what they were saying.
“Could it have been made by one of the gardeners?” Miss Parnell was saying.
“It looks like a trail of muddy boot prints.”
“No gardener has come upstairs today and I made Connie wash this floor first thing this morning,” snapped Mr Steen. “Whoever left this mess came past recently.”
“And the footprints are facing towards the stairs,” said Miss Parnell, “as if the person who made them was running away. Maybe this will help us find the thief who took the baby’s crown.”
“I can only hope so,” replied Mr Steen, and he and Miss Parnell carried on downstairs.
Millie stopped and stared at the muddy trail. It looked like whoever made them had quite big feet so maybe they were a man’s footprints. If Miss Parnell was right, these were the thief’s footprints. This could be an important clue!
Checking that no one was looking, Millie set Edward down for a moment and took the ribbon from her hair. She held the ribbon close to the clearest footprint. Then, when she’d lined it up properly, she made a crease in the ribbon with her fingernail. She wanted to make sure she remembered how long the footprint was and, as she didn’t have a tape measure, this seemed the easiest way to do it.
She gathered up Edward again. “We’ll sort this out, don’t you worry!” she whispered to him. “Me and Jess are going to solve the mystery and get your crown back.”
Chapter Six
A Disaster
in the Dark
Jess had never seen so many gloomy faces as that afternoon when she went round the palace finishing her chores. She searched the upstairs chambers while she was supposed to be dusting, but she didn’t find anything suspicious.
The only thing she discovered was a trail of muddy footprints on the gallery floor. As soon as the place was empty, Jess fetched a wooden spoon from the kitchen, measured one of the footprints and marked its length on the spoon with a pencil. She wanted to remember how long it was in case it was a useful clue.
After supper, she crept up to Millie’s chamber and knocked softly on the door before going in. Millie was sitting by the window in pyjamas and a purple dressing gown embroidered with a golden crown. Jax was lying at the foot of the bed. His tail thumped drowsily as Jess came in but he didn’t open his eyes.
“I’ve been trying to work things out in my head, but they just keep getting more and more muddled,” said Millie, as Jess sat next to her on the window seat. “At least we know the crown is still here in the palace.”
“How do we know that?” Jess demanded.
“As soon as the crown went missing, Mr Steen ordered the guards to search everyone at the gate,” explained Millie. “Mr Larum told me. That means no one will have sneaked it out of here.”
“OK, let’s think about it. We know the person we saw rushing away from the queen’s room can’t have been Cook or Connie,” said Jess, ticking them off on her fingers. “Connie walked past us just beforehand and Cook wouldn’t have got upstairs fast enough. But that still leaves Mr Larum, Miss Parnell and Mr Steen.”
“And the Lord Chamberlain,” added Millie. “He was here too. Although he has been the Lord Chamberlain since before my granddad died, so he doesn’t seem the right sort of person to steal the crown. But remember how your mother said it’s never the people you expect.”
“None of them seem very likely.” Jess frowned.
“I didn’t find any clues in my mother’s chamber, but I did measure a muddy footprint on the gallery.” Millie took her hair ribbon out of her pocket. “I didn’t have anything else so I just measured it with this.”
Jess grinned. “I measured it too – with this!” She took the wooden spoon out of her apron pocket and showed Millie the pencil mark on the end. “I reckon the only person with a shoe as big as this is Mr Larum. Tomorrow we have to find a way to measure his shoes.”
“That could be tricky because everyone will want to know what we’re up to. Maybe it would be easier if we were in disguise!” Millie sprang up, her eyes gleaming. She twisted her hair into a bun before putting on a straw hat. Finally, she rummaged for some face paints and drew a false moustache above her lip in thick black lines. “What do you think?”
“Scary!” said Jess, smiling. “It doesn’t quite go with the dressing gown.”
Millie grinned. “OK, let me do your disguise next, and you’re not allowed to look until I’m done.”
Jess sat down with her back to the mirror. She had no idea what Millie would do. Millie loved jokes though and would probably make her look as crazy as possible.
After painting Jess’s face and trying on different scarves, Millie stood back and studied the result. She smiled broadly. “All right, you can look now.”
Jess turned to the mirror and gasped. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail and a red scarf around her neck matched the red colouring on her lips. “Miss Parnell! You’ve made me look just like her.”
Millie giggled. “Now you’ve just got to put on her high-and-mighty manner like this!” She stuck her chin in the air. “Show me your footwork for the waltz. No, Princess Amelia! Point your TOES! You look like a PENGUIN!”
Jess swirled round the room, pretending to do a perfect waltz. The cuckoo clock chimed downstairs and she grabbed hold of a bedpost to stop herself twirling. “Eleven o’clock!
Cook will tell me off if she finds me up this late.”
Millie got a hanky and handed it to Jess so she could wipe off the face paint. Then she rubbed off her own fake moustache. “Shall I meet you in the kitchen early tomorrow? We might not need the disguises.” She cast a regretful look at the face paints.
Jess nodded. “We’ll measure Mr Larum’s shoes and see if they look muddy.” Jax jumped down from the bed and started scratching at the door. “Come on, Jax. I’ll take you downstairs with me.”
Quietly, she led Jax down the dark passage to the servant’s stairs. The lanterns were unlit so she put one hand on the wall to steady herself. Moonlight shone through the narrow window at the end of the corridor and lit the way down the stairs.
“Are you thirsty?” Jess led the spaniel to the kitchen door. “Stay! Good boy!”
Jax sat obediently by the door.
Wishing she’d brought a lantern, Jess tiptoed inside. There was a dish in one of the cupboards that was used as Jax’s water bowl. Hopefully Cook would have put it back in its usual place.
Her foot nudged something, which rolled away across the floor, hitting the opposite wall with a loud clang. She froze. What if the noise had woken Cook?
Jax gave a low whine.
“Don’t worry, boy.” Jess took another step and her foot nudged something else. She bent down and groped around on the floor. Her fingers brushed against something smooth – a spoon. She picked it up. What on earth was going on?
Tiptoeing to the window, she opened the shutter. Moonlight streamed in, lighting the room. Jess gasped.
The whole kitchen looked like a disaster. Cups, bowls and saucepans lay upside down on the gro
und. Flour was scattered across the floor and table. The birthday cake, which Millie had made so carefully, was torn open as if someone had taken huge handfuls out of it. The pots of herbs and spices had been opened and poured everywhere.
Jess stared at the mess and her stomach lurched. This couldn’t have been an accident. Someone must have done it on purpose. It was really mean, especially ruining the cake. A person who would spoil a birthday cake must be absolutely horrible.
“Jessica Woolhead!” Cook Walsh stood in the doorway wearing her long green dressing gown and holding a lantern. “Oh my! Did that dog get loose in here?”
“No, it wasn’t Jax, I promise! I just brought him in for a drink of water. The room was already like this.” Jess hoped Cook wouldn’t notice that she wasn’t in her night clothes.
“Oh my!” Cook repeated and sank on to a chair. “Perhaps it was a mouse … or a whole army of mice.”
Jess gazed at the scattered spices, the ruined cake and the flour all over the ground. She didn’t understand. Suddenly, she noticed small round marks in the drifts of spilt flour. What had made those little circles? Were they made by the person who’d done this?
She whispered into Jax’s ear. “Fetch Millie! Go!” She patted the spaniel and he ran away up the passage. Crouching down, Jess touched one of the marks. It was perfectly round and a bit bigger than the tip of her finger.
These marks were important somehow. But what did they mean?
Chapter Seven
The Marks in
the Flour
As soon as she heard scratching at her door, Millie knew something was wrong. Opening it, she found Jax looking up at her with his deep chocolatey-brown eyes.
“Hello, Jax. You shouldn’t be up here. Where’s Jess?” She tied her dressing gown more tightly and picked up her lantern. Jax followed her along the passageway, tail wagging. Millie heard voices as she came down the back stairs. Had Jess been caught sneaking to her chamber?
She was trying to think up excuses to help Jess out when she stepped into the kitchen. Millie stared round, her heart sinking all the way to the floor. It looked like a storm had ripped through the room, throwing everything about. The bowls, the flour, the broken cake…
“Edward’s cake!” she cried, rushing to the table. “What happened?”
Cook put a hand to her chest. “Princess Amelia! You made me jump. Now don’t you go worrying about the cake. That one is just the practice cake I made yesterday. The real cake that you made is locked safely in the cupboard.” She took a bunch of keys from her dressing-gown pocket and unlocked the cupboard in the corner. Inside was the prince’s birthday cake, resting on a silver plate.
“I’m so glad it’s not spoilt!” breathed Millie. “Oh, Cook! You’re a genius to lock it away.”
“With something as precious as the little prince’s birthday cake I like to be careful.” Cook’s face was grim as she locked the cupboard again. “But I didn’t think anything like this would happen. It’s an absolute disgrace – that’s what it is!” She got up. “I’m going to check all the outside doors. Maybe I can find out how the scoundrel got in.”
As soon as she was gone, Jess whispered, “Millie, what if this has something to do with the missing crown?”
“Do you think it does?” said Millie, her eyes widening.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before,” explained Jess. “And then it happens on the very same day that the crown is stolen. It has to be connected!”
Millie wrinkled her brow. “I don’t see how.”
“I don’t either, but I bet Cook comes back and says all the doors were locked. That’ll mean this was done by someone here in the palace.” Jess pointed at the round marks in the flour. “And look at these strange marks.”
Jax licked at the flour and whined.
“Don’t worry, boy!” Millie filled a bowl with water and put it outside in the passage. She rubbed Jax’s coat as he drank.
Cook tottered back in. “Every single door is locked so goodness knows how the varmint got in.”
Millie and Jess exchanged looks.
“Oh dear, how my bones ache tonight!” sighed Cook. “And now I’ve got all this clearing up to do.”
“We’ll clear up!” said Jess quickly. “You should go back to bed.”
Cook looked doubtful. “You want to clean all this by yourselves?”
“We don’t mind!” Millie told her.
“Well, I do have a big day tomorrow, what with all the banquet food to prepare,” said Cook. “Thank you, girls! That’s really kind.”
When she was gone, Millie crouched down by the spilt flour. “It looks as if someone stuck the end of a wooden spoon into the flour.”
Jess knelt down and put a wooden spoon upside down into the mess. The spoon handle left a round mark, but it was smaller. “It’s a different size.”
Millie sighed. “It makes no sense! We’d better start clearing up, I guess.”
The girls began picking up the fallen saucepans and cups. Millie gathered up the ruined cake and then fetched a broom to sweep the floor.
Jess scooped up the spilled herbs and spices. She noticed that the pots of rosemary, thyme and saffron were now almost empty. “Look how much was wasted!” she said, showing Millie.
“Your hands have turned a funny colour,” Millie pointed out.
“Bother!” Jess began scrubbing her orange hands with soap. “I forgot the saffron always stains my fingers.”
Millie gazed at the freshly swept floor. A sudden idea made her head whirl. “You know what? Those round marks in the flour could have been made by a stick.”
“A stick?” Jess stared.
“You know – a walking stick – just like the one the Lord Chamberlain uses.”
“But we were talking about Mr Larum before. He’s the only one with big enough feet to have made those footprints in the gallery.”
Millie shook her head. “Maybe the footprints have nothing to do with Edward’s crown. I didn’t even notice them till after we’d come back from Emerald Alley, and that means they could have been made hours after the crown went missing.”
Jess rubbed her forehead with stained orange fingers. “So the thief could be Mr Larum with his big shoes or the Lord Chamberlain with his walking stick.”
“I guess so!” said Millie. “And if one of them is the thief then they’ll want to sneak the crown out of the palace. I think we should watch them really carefully tomorrow.”
Millie woke up late the next morning, tired out by all the excitement of the night before. Her heart sank as she remembered that today was Edward’s party. This afternoon lots of important lords and ladies would arrive and the Baby Diamond Crown was still missing. She sprang out of bed. She’d better get dressed!
Millie went down to breakfast and gave Edward a hug. “Happy birthday, little brother!”
Edward gurgled and waved his jammy toast.
He was the only one at the breakfast table who looked happy. Millie’s father, King James, was eating a pastry with a deep frown on his face.
Queen Belinda was pale and there were shadows under her eyes. She offered Millie some toast. “Amelia, would you set out the name cards on the banquet table before everyone arrives? I have so many other things to do!”
“Yes, I can do it!” Millie took the bundle of name cards and the toast.
“Oh, and Miss Parnell wants you to go straight to the hall after breakfast for one more dancing lesson,” added her mother.
Millie stifled a groan. She was about to ask if she could skip the dancing when Mr Larum came in, followed by Jess.
“I do apologize for appearing at breakfast dressed so oddly,” Mr Larum told the queen, pointing at his tweed slippers. “But one of my shoes has gone missing. It’s very strange indeed.”
Millie looked at Jess. She knew her friend was thinking the same: it was very suspicious that Mr Larum’s shoe had disappeared just when they wanted to measure it.
“I suppose there could be
a shoe thief as well as a crown thief in our midst.” Mr Larum tried to laugh but stopped when he saw the queen’s serious face.
Jess whispered in Millie’s ear as she passed by with a tray, “You keep an eye on the Lord Chamberlain and I’ll follow Mr Larum.”
Millie nodded, her mouth full of toast. She finished her breakfast quickly. She hoped to set the name cards out on the banquet table and go looking for the Lord Chamberlain, but Miss Parnell pounced on her as soon as she reached the banquet hall.
“Princess Amelia, I hope you are ready to shine on the dance floor?” Miss Parnell arched one eyebrow. She was already wearing her party dress, which was made from peach-coloured silk, along with high-heeled shoes and white satin gloves.
Millie was suddenly aware how messy her hair was (because she hadn’t brushed it), and that she had jam on her dress from hugging Edward.
The Lord Chamberlain came in, leaning heavily on his stick, and began instructing some grooms from the stables about where to hang the streamers.
Millie tried to hear what he was saying. If the Lord Chamberlain had hidden the crown where would it be? It seemed wrong to suspect him when he was so old and so hard-working!
“Are you listening, Amelia?” Miss Parnell put her hands on her hips. “Remember to point your toes while you waltz. Show me your steps now, please, and then we must practise the foxtrot as well.” She clapped out a rhythm. “One, two, three, one, two, three…”
Millie began to twirl. She saw the Lord Chamberlain leave in the direction of the kitchen. Why was he going that way? Her mind whirled faster than her feet. If only Miss Parnell would let her go. She had a missing crown to find and she was running out of time.
Chapter Eight
Two Princesses
As soon as Miss Parnell let her go, Millie dashed to the banquet table and hurriedly set out the name cards. The hall looked amazing. Silver and gold garlands hung from the ceiling. The long table was set with white china plates and crystal glasses. Mr Steen was busy sweeping the dance floor and, at the far end of the hall, an orchestra was unpacking their instruments.
The Case of the Stolen Crown Page 3
