Alice-Miranda in the Alps

by Jacqueline Harvey

  The children shook their heads. ‘Nothing,’ Millie squeaked.

  Alice-Miranda rejoined them after having asked for another key at reception. ‘Got it,’ she said, triumphantly holding up the white card. She paused, noticing the woman’s vexed state. ‘Are you all right, Frau Doerflinger?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course I am all right,’ the woman said. ‘Stop minding other people’s business. Nobody likes a Schnüffler.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ Alice-Miranda apologised. ‘Have a good trip.’

  She walked off with Millie and Lucas, still troubled by the woman’s demeanour. They stopped at a door on the first landing, which provided a barrier between the hotel’s public areas and guestrooms.

  ‘I don’t know why you bother being nice to her,’ Lucas said, stopping to swipe the keypad by the big glass door.

  ‘She’s so mean,’ Millie said indignantly. ‘Seriously, she doesn’t know the first thing about being hospitable – at least not to kids.’

  The children continued upstairs until they reached the entrance to their wing.

  ‘I’ll get my gloves and meet you back here in a minute,’ Lucas said, racing off to his room while Alice-Miranda and Millie headed into their suite.

  The girls arranged their trophies on the coffee table and Millie took a few photos before they got changed and folded Herr Heffelfinger’s silks. They emerged from their room a few minutes later to find Lucas waiting for them in the corridor.

  ‘Is Zermatt really as lovely as St Moritz?’ Millie asked as the three children walked downstairs.

  Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘It’s even lovelier, although there isn’t a beautiful lake like here. The skiing is amazing and there’s the most wonderful museum. It’s across the road from Uncle Florian’s hotel and it’s full of bizarre mechanical instruments. I’ve been there lots of times. My friend Nina lives there – you’ll get to meet her. She’s a bit older than I am and she’s really sweet.’

  When they reached the reception area, Frau Doerflinger was still waiting for her car. She seemed to be staring off into the distance, deep in thought. Alice-Miranda hesitated as Millie and Lucas charged past, eager to avoid being on the receiving end of the woman’s sharp tongue again.

  ‘Excuse me, Frau Doerflinger, we’re just on our way back to the racing. Would you like me to ask Herr Fanger to have the car sent back for you?’ the child asked.

  Something resembling fear flashed in the woman’s eyes. ‘You will not say a word to Herr Fanger,’ she ordered.

  ‘Of course.’ The child smiled. ‘I just thought –’

  The same porter from before scampered towards them and picked up the woman’s suitcase. ‘Frau Doerflinger, your car has arrived,’ he announced breathlessly.

  ‘About time,’ Delphine muttered.

  ‘Thank you for having us,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Fanger’s Palace is such a lovely hotel. We’ll be leaving tomorrow to catch the Glacier Express over to see Uncle Florian and Aunt Giselle. Daddy’s there already.’

  The woman leaned down and peered into the girl’s eyes. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘We’re going to Zermatt in the morning,’ the child repeated. She wondered if the hotelier had met the Von Zwickys.

  ‘Not that. The other part,’ Delphine said impatiently.

  ‘E-excuse me, Frau, but your train will be leaving soon,’ said the fidgety porter.

  The woman turned and glared at him. ‘I’m coming!’ she barked, then turned back to the little girl. ‘Continue.’

  ‘Oh, Daddy had to go and help Uncle Florian with some urgent business yesterday,’ Alice-Miranda said, slightly disconcerted. She eyed the flecks of spittle that had begun to gather around the woman’s mouth. ‘He was sorry to miss the White Turf. He would have loved it too, although I think he might have been less enthusiastic about Millie and me racing in the Shetland Stakes,’ she added.

  Delphine drew herself up to her full height. ‘How very interesting,’ she murmured. Without a backward glance, she turned on her heel and glided out the revolving door.

  ‘Have a lovely trip,’ Alice-Miranda called as she ran to catch up to her friends.

  The children wove their way through the food stalls, past gleaming luxury cars on plinths and along a line of marquees hosting various events. There looked to be a fashion parade going on in one of them, while in another a large crowd was being serenaded by a string quartet. As they neared their destination, the children heard a loud sob.

  ‘You must find her, you simply must!’ It was Herr Fanger and he was surrounded by a circle of grim-faced onlookers.

  ‘When did you see her last?’ asked a well-meaning woman in a black fluffy coat and red turban.

  ‘She was here just a minute ago and now she is gone,’ the man moaned, cradling his face in his hands.

  Alice-Miranda walked up to the man. ‘Excuse me, Herr Fanger, who are you looking for?’

  He turned to the child, tears welling in his eyes. ‘My little Gertie has disappeared.’

  ‘Oh dear, we can help look for her,’ she offered. ‘Millie, do you want to see if Sloane and the others are in the tent? They can help with the search too.’

  Millie wrinkled her nose, thinking of all the treats she would miss out on. ‘All right, but I want something really yummy to eat as soon as we find her,’ she said, before scurrying away.

  Alice-Miranda turned back to the distraught man. ‘She can’t have gone too far.’

  ‘It is not like her to wander off,’ Herr Fanger said, dabbing at his cheeks with a handkerchief.

  Millie reappeared with their friends in tow.

  ‘We’d better find that spoilt pooch fast. I was just about to eat the biggest, most delicious-looking slice of strudel you have ever seen. It had cream and ice-cream,’ Jacinta blustered.

  Millie cleared her throat and gestured towards Herr Fanger, who was sniffing quietly to himself.

  ‘I mean, that sweet little dog,’ Jacinta mumbled, hoping the man hadn’t heard her the first time.

  ‘Why don’t we split up and each take a couple of rows of tents?’ Alice-Miranda suggested. ‘Gertie might have wandered into one of them and found something yummy to eat, like Jacinta’s strudel.’

  ‘My princess does not like strudel at all,’ Herr Fanger whimpered. ‘She is a very fussy eater.’

  The children split up into pairs and Lucas allocated their search zones. ‘Remember,’ he instructed in a low voice, ‘if you do find the snappy mutt, she’s a princess in looks only. Take care of your hands – you’re likely to lose a finger if you go in too quickly.’

  Sep grinned and the girls giggled.

  Alice-Miranda and Millie headed around to the back of the sponsors’ tent while Lucas and Sep charged off to the other end of the food stalls. Lucas considered that, if they didn’t end up finding the dog, he could at least grab himself that rösti he’d been hankering after.

  Sloane and Jacinta darted to the back of the grandstands. As the children scattered, the afternoon train could be heard pulling out of the station.

  Millie and Alice-Miranda didn’t find anything, so they decided to try the outdoor cafe that fronted the jazz band. A U-shape of smaller tents and marquees created a square, which was packed with elegant people sitting at tables or standing in the sunshine sipping champagne.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Millie said as she poked her head under one of the tables.

  ‘What in heaven’s name are you doing, child?’ a woman reproached. Her wrinkled hands didn’t appear to belong to her flat, ironed face.

  ‘We’re looking for Herr Fanger’s dog,’ Millie replied. She stood up and walked over to the next table, where she crouched down again.

  Alice-Miranda glanced around the edge of the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a woman in a long white fur coat. She was holding a phone to her ear and, as she put it away, she dropped something onto the ground. At first Alice-Miranda thought it was a furry hat but she soon realised it wasn’t a hat at all.

/>   ‘Gertie!’ the child shouted, racing towards the woman. ‘That’s Princess Gertie, Herr Fanger’s dog!’

  Millie’s head jerked up, thumping the underside of the table. ‘Ow,’ she said, rubbing her crown. She scrambled out and ran towards her friend.

  ‘Thank goodness you found her,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Herr Fanger will be so happy.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the woman said, stepping away from the dog. ‘I didn’t find her.’

  ‘Then why do you have her?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  The woman shrugged. ‘A man paid me five hundred francs to look after her until he called, which he just did. Then he told me to let her go.’

  Gertie was dancing about, the pompoms on her coat jiggling.

  Alice-Miranda frowned. ‘Why would anyone do that?’ she wondered aloud. She grabbed an abandoned half-eaten sausage from a nearby table and knelt down in the snow. The little white fur ball wagged her tail as the girl inched closer. ‘Gertie, look what I’ve got,’ she cooed, dangling the bratwurst in the air.

  Gertie dashed towards Alice-Miranda and snatched the sausage from her hand. As she did, the child scooped the dog into her arms.

  ‘So much for Gertie being a fussy eater,’ Millie said, joining them. ‘Where was she?’

  ‘This lady was …’ Alice-Miranda turned around to find that the woman had gone.

  ‘What lady?’ Millie asked.

  ‘She was here just a second ago. She said that someone had paid her to hold onto Gertie,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  Millie eyes grew wide. ‘Like dognapping? We have to find her and call the police.’

  ‘I think we should take Gertie back to Herr Fanger first. He’ll be so relieved.’ Alice-Miranda held on to the little dog, who had now finished the sausage and was squirming like a worm.

  The girls hurried through the crowd and discovered the poor man sitting at a table sobbing into his handkerchief and blowing his nose loudly. ‘My baby. Someone find my baby,’ he wailed through hiccuping gulps.

  ‘Herr Fanger, we found her,’ Alice-Miranda called as the girls rushed towards him.

  Otto immediately stopped crying and leapt to his feet, almost knocking Alice-Miranda over as he seized Gertie. ‘My darling, where did you go?’ he said, hugging her close to him. ‘Are you hurt, my princess?’

  The creature sniffed her master’s face.

  Otto’s jaw dropped. ‘Where are her hairclips? She was wearing her diamonds and now they are gone.’

  ‘That woman must have stolen them,’ Millie said.

  ‘What woman? Where?’ Otto demanded.

  Alice-Miranda relayed what had happened and everything the woman had told her.

  ‘We must find her at once,’ Otto said. ‘I will alert security. What did she look like?’

  ‘She was tall with long blonde hair and she was wearing sunglasses and a white fur coat,’ Alice-Miranda reported.

  Millie glanced around. ‘Sort of like every other woman here at the moment.’

  Several of the ladies who had been comforting Herr Fanger shot Millie snooty glances and quickly moved away.

  ‘If she was after Gertie’s jewels, Herr Fanger, she’s probably long gone by now, especially as she knows I’ve seen her up close,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  Otto nodded and turned to one of his minders. ‘Get Gertie a fillet steak and caviar. You know she won’t eat anything less.’

  ‘Actually she just ate someone’s leftover sausage,’ Millie piped up. ‘She didn’t seem to mind that at all.’

  Otto’s jaw dropped. ‘My princess doesn’t eat leftovers!’ He looked at the dog, who licked her lips.

  ‘Did you find her?’ Lucas called as he and Sep ran over to them, with Jacinta and Sloane in tow.

  ‘Sure did,’ Millie said with a satisfied smile. She turned to Otto. ‘Good thing too, as you would have been lonely tonight without Gertie and Frau Doerflinger.’

  Otto looked at her blankly. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

  Millie bit her lip. ‘Oh, just that Frau Doerflinger has gone away on business,’ she said, wishing she’d kept quiet.

  Otto Fanger’s brows knotted. It wasn’t like his wife to disappear without any notice. What on earth was going on today?

  Millie gazed through the glass roof at the snow-covered peaks above. ‘Whoa,’ she gasped.

  ‘Just look at the beautiful mountains and the beautiful snow and all those beautiful little villages with their beautiful churches,’ Sloane trilled, mimicking Herr Fanger’s accent and mannerisms perfectly. ‘There is so much beauty it is hurting my eyes.’

  The others giggled.

  Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘Poor Herr Fanger. He’s so sweet.’

  ‘Pity about his wife,’ Millie added.

  The six children were seated together at one end of the train carriage while the adults sat behind them.

  ‘How good was that skijoring yesterday?’ Lucas said.

  Sloane nodded. ‘My heart was beating so fast I thought I had a bomb in my chest.’

  ‘It was fantastic,’ Millie agreed. ‘I’d love to have a go at it one day – but I think I might need to improve my skiing first.’

  Once they had recovered Gertie, the rest of the afternoon had gone by in a flash. Lucas had finally got his rösti for dinner and Millie was able to indulge her new-found love of Fanger’s Chocolate, although she was disappointed that there weren’t any of the giant blocks Lucas had discovered in the loading dock. Herr Fanger had sent boxes of the mouth-watering confections to each of the children to thank them for helping him find his beloved Gertie.

  The party on the lake had continued long after the horses had been trucked back to their stables and, to top it all off, there was a huge fireworks display which lit up the whole village and half the mountain. By the time their party had wandered back to the hotel, it was well past nine o’clock. Suffice to say there were a few tired travellers the following morning.

  After the group had farewelled Mrs Oliver and Mrs Shillingsworth, who were catching a train to Zurich an hour later, they boarded the Glacier Express, bound for Zermatt and another week of skiing.

  All of the passengers were given headsets so they could listen to the commentary about the history of the train and some of the locations and landmarks they passed along the way. A gong conveniently sounded each time an audio recording began.

  ‘Do we have to listen to every bit?’ Sloane griped. ‘These things hurt my ears.’

  ‘Do what you like,’ Sep said, ‘but I’m not going to miss any of it.’ He put the earbuds in and turned up the volume.

  The train had just travelled through a section of track that seemed to go around in circles and was now approaching the famous Landwasser Viaduct, a long curved stone bridge over a deep ravine. Its pillars rose from the valley below, creating another picturesque scene. Millie snapped away with her camera, trying to get as many shots as she could, although the reflection on the window was making it a tad tricky.

  ‘It’s a pity your father’s not here,’ Millie said to Alice-Miranda as the train forged on through a pretty village with a tall church spire and A-framed houses.

  ‘Oh, he had to go this way to Zermatt. Even though the train’s slow, this is still the most direct route from St Moritz,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

  ‘Will we be coming back this way as well?’ Sloane asked.

  Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘I think so, unless Daddy would prefer to drive.’

  Cecelia had been worried that the children might get bored as the journey would take almost eight hours but there was no sign of it as they played cards, took photographs and listened to the commentary. At one stage, she thought it was far too quiet and was surprised to see that Millie and Sloane had fallen asleep. Sep was reading the guidebook and Alice-Miranda, Lucas and Jacinta were all staring out the windows, mesmerised by the landscape.

  ‘Look at that stunning building!’ Alice-Miranda exclaimed as the train drew into a station.

  L
ucas read the name on the platform. ‘Disentis. Isn’t this where the Fanger’s Chocolate factory is?’

  Millie roused at the sound of her favourite sweet. ‘Did someone say chocolate factory?’ she said sleepily. ‘Can you see it?’

  Lucas shook his head. ‘I think it was that building Alice-Miranda spotted just before the station.’

  ‘Keep an eye out for Grouchy Doerflinger. She’s probably lurking around here somewhere,’ Millie said, before falling back to sleep.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time the train started to climb high into the mountains, towards Andermatt, where the snow was thick and the extra-toothed track in the centre of the rail lines clawed at the circular cogs beneath the carriages, propelling the train forward on the icy rails. Sep was fascinated by the engineering of the railway and had borrowed Millie’s guidebook to read about it.

  Millie’s stomach grumbled. ‘Do they have snacks in the dining car?’ she asked Alice-Miranda.

  ‘I’m sure they will,’ the child replied. ‘Do you want to go and have a look?’

  Millie nodded. The girls stood up and asked if anyone wanted anything. The others were keen for a walk, so they all headed off together. The dining car was only one carriage along from where they were sitting.

  ‘Who wants a hot chocolate?’ Millie asked, scanning the menu. She ordered six of them and some cakes too. The children sat together at the tables, which were mostly empty apart from one couple, who were staring into one another’s eyes while holding hands.

  ‘Do you want to walk to the end of the train before we go back to our seats?’ Sep asked. ‘I think my backside’s numb from all that sitting.’

  There was a murmur of agreement and the children finished their drinks and set off towards the front of the train. They weren’t sure how far they’d get but calculated there were at least four passenger carriages ahead.

  A young man in a uniform stepped in front of them as they reached the door to the engine. ‘May I help you?’ he asked.

  ‘Hello,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘We were just stretching our legs. I’m Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and these are my friends.’ Alice-Miranda proceeded to introduce everyone.