The Mystery of the Lake Monster

by Paula Harrison

“Why don’t we swap places? I’ll get my picture painted and you can finish my chores. No one will ever know!” Jess’s eyes twinkled. She and Millie swapped places all the time so that they could both do their favourite things. Jess would go to Millie’s horse-riding lesson while Millie went to the palace kitchen to bake cakes with Cook Walsh. It was pretty awesome to be a maid and a princess all in one day!

  Millie clapped her hands excitedly. “I’d love to swap! But are you sure you don’t mind?”

  Jess grinned. “Course not! We’d better hurry though. What do I have to wear?”

  Millie went to her big wooden wardrobe and took out a long purple dress with sparkly beads all over the top and a silver sash around the waist. Jess took off her maid uniform and gave it to Millie, before pulling the dress over her white petticoat.

  Millie put the maid dress on and fastened the apron round her waist. Then she brushed Jess’s long hair until it hung beautifully over her shoulders before clipping an emerald necklace round her friend’s neck.

  Jess gazed into the large gold-framed mirror and her heart skipped. She was used to wearing royal clothes but this was one of Millie’s finest dresses which was only worn on very special occasions.

  “You look great!” Millie beamed. “Are you all right? Is the dress too scratchy?”

  “It’s fine! You’d better take this.” Jess picked up her mob cap and put it on Millie’s head. “I hope Mr Steen doesn’t give you too many chores.”

  “Don’t worry about me—” Millie broke off at the sound of footsteps.

  There was a sharp knock on the door. “Come in!” the girls called together.

  Mr Steen, the royal butler, opened the door, his eyebrows lowered in disapproval. “You were meant to fetch the princess right away, Jess,” he said to Millie. “The royal carriage is waiting.”

  “Sorry, Mr Steen.” Millie turned away to hide a giggle.

  “Here!” Jess handed her friend a gauzy white scarf and stared meaningfully at the stain on Millie’s skin. “This will keep your neck warm.”

  “Oh! Thank you.” Millie wrapped it round her neck to hide the yellow mark.

  Jess felt a fluttering in her stomach as she followed the butler downstairs. Riding out in the royal carriage wearing a special dress and an emerald necklace seemed very daring. As she sat down in the carriage, she noticed one of the gardeners leaning on his spade and staring through a window into the banquet hall.

  Just then Mr Larum, Millie’s teacher, rushed down the steps carrying a large package wrapped in brown paper and string. “I’m ready!” he gasped as he climbed into the carriage. “And I’ve got the royal paintings.”

  “You there!” Mr Steen spotted the gardener leaning on his spade. “You’re new here, aren’t you? Aren’t there some flower beds that need digging?”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sorry.” The gardener pulled his straw hat down low and hurried away.

  The coachman called to the horses and the carriage rolled forward. Jess watched the royal lake and the golden palace gates go by. Then they were rumbling down the street towards the city of Plumchester.

  Mr Larum sat opposite Jess holding the wrapped-up paintings carefully. King James had noticed their frames needed mending so he’d asked Mr Larum to take them to the artist in Bodkin Street who would surely know how to fix them.

  “There is such a lot of history behind these paintings,” said Mr Larum, straightening his dark-rimmed glasses. “They were painted more than a hundred years ago during the reign of King Ned, your great-grandfather.”

  Jess smiled and tried to listen but there were so many exciting things outside the window. Street sellers were setting out stalls with everything from fruit to feather hats. Halfpenny Square, where the biggest market was held, was filling with people and noise.

  As the carriage rolled along, Jess tried to remember one thing about each person she saw – the lace on a lady’s sleeves or the colour of a man’s coat. It was something she’d been practising in case it came in handy for solving mysteries.

  She and Millie had solved quite a few puzzles lately. It had all begun when Prince Edward’s little diamond crown went missing right before his first birthday. The two girls had searched for clues and found the crown. Jess couldn’t help wondering whether there was another mystery out there, waiting to be discovered.

  At last, the carriage turned left and drew to a stop in Bodkin Street. Jess flung the carriage door open and jumped down, quite forgetting to let the coachman open it for her like a princess should. She loved Bodkin Street. She’d lived here in her parents’ dressmaking shop, Buttons and Bows, before becoming a maid at the palace. She knew every house and shop in the lane, except the exciting new artist’s studio.

  Smiling, she waved to Miss Clackton, the kind but scatty owner of the Pet Emporium next door to her parents’ shop. The Pet Emporium was a place for pampering pets and was filled with every kind of animal toy and treat Jess could think of.

  The wonderful smell of freshly baked cakes drifted out of Mr Bibby’s bakery just across the road. Next door to the bakery was the ironmonger’s and Mr Heddon, who ran the shop, was sweeping the doorstep.

  “This way, Princess Amelia.” The coachman beckoned her towards a bright red front door. Gilbert Small’s Studio was painted in gold letters on a sign above the window.

  Jess stepped forward eagerly. Mr Gilbert Small was the only person in Bodkin Street that she’d never met. It was only two weeks since he’d moved in and set up his artist studio and this was Jess’s first chance to look inside! A proper painter like Mr Small must be very serious and probably frowned a lot while trying to get his pictures just right.

  The coachman held the door and Mr Larum staggered inside with his package of paintings. Following him, Jess gazed around with wide eyes. Tall trees with dangling tropical fruit were painted across the walls. Pictures of birds with bright feathers and monkeys with furry faces peeped from the painted branches. Dazzling flowers in magenta, gold and crimson were drawn on the forest floor. Overhead, the ceiling was a beautiful shade of blue.

  Jess caught her breath. It was like stepping into a jungle.

  “Welcome, welcome!” boomed a large man with ginger hair and a beard. He shook Mr Larum’s hand. “Nice to see you, sir! And this must be the princess.”

  “Hello!” Jess tried not to stare as she curtsied. How could someone called Mr Small be so enormous? He was like a ginger-haired giant.

  Mr Larum unwrapped the parcel of paintings and began talking to Gilbert Small about the repairs, so Jess looked around the room. Paintings of places and people were stacked against the walls. Beside a large easel was a chair with a sleepy ginger cat lying on it. Jess peeked at the paper on the easel but it was blank.

  “I’ll let you get on.” Mr Larum shook the artist’s hand again. “I’ll be back with the carriage at midday.”

  Mr Small stacked the royal pictures that Mr Larum had brought carefully to one side. Then he stroked the sleeping ginger cat. “Rumble-tum! You’re sitting on the young lady’s chair. This is Rumble-tum,” he told Jess. “I gave him that name because he purrs so loudly.”

  Rumble-tum yawned and stretched, before climbing down.

  “Will it take you long to paint me, Mr Small?” Jess asked timidly as she sat down on the chair.

  “Call me Gilbert!” he boomed, lines creasing round his eyes as he smiled. “No, it won’t take too long. Now sit as comfortably as you can and I’ll start the picture.”

  Jess tried to sit very still but she jumped when Rumble-tum sprang on to her knees. She stroked the cat’s fluffy ginger ears and he curled up on her lap, purring loudly. Jess smiled. “I think Rumble-tum wants to be in the picture too!”

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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

  Inside illustration copyright © Hatem Aly, in the style of Michelle

  Ouelette, represented by The Bright Agency, 2017

  The right of Paula Harrison and Hatem Aly to be identified as the

  author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them.

  eISBN 9781407192321

  A CIP catalogue record for this work is available from the British Library.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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