Alice-Miranda On Holiday

by Jacqueline Harvey

  The group left the cellar in dribs and drabs, so as not to arouse any unnecessary suspicion. Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta were the next to leave.

  Hugh and Mrs Oliver lingered behind for a moment. As Hugh locked the cellar, Mrs Oliver ascended the stairs and stepped onto the veranda just in time to find Mr Greening and Lucas arriving in the jeep.

  In the back of the vehicle were a couple of large wriggling sacks.

  ‘What have you got there?’ Dolly called out.

  Hugh caught up and walked over to take a closer look.

  ‘I found these two leaving Rose Cottage – they were in a bit of a hurry too, so I thought perhaps they’d like to have a chat with Sergeant Gray about what they were doing there in the first place,’ Mr Greening said with a smile. ‘And we can thank young Lucas here for helping me catch them.’ He nodded at the boy beside him in the front seat. ‘He was out for a walk when he saw me chasing these bumbling idiots. The lad’s fast, that’s for sure. They’d have outrun me if I’d been on my own.’

  ‘I’ll give Gray a call and tell him that you’re on your way,’ Hugh replied. ‘Why don’t you come and join us, Lucas? It sounds like you’ve earned yourself a piece of cake.’

  ‘I’ll be back for some of that too,’ Mr Greening laughed. ‘Can you ask Mrs Greening to save me a dance?’

  Lucas opened the door of the jeep and walked over to Hugh.

  ‘I believe you’re Lily’s nephew,’ Hugh said. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’ He offered his hand.

  Lucas shook it cautiously. ‘Yes, I’m Lucas.’

  ‘Welcome to Highton Hall.’ Hugh patted him on the back as they walked inside.

  ‘Where have you been?’ asked Jasper, racing towards Alice-Miranda as she entered the ballroom with Millie and Jacinta close behind. ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere.’

  ‘Sorry – we got caught up with something,’ Alice-Miranda apologised. Millie and Jacinta exchanged innocent looks.

  ‘I had to dance with Mum,’ Jasper groaned, ‘and she stepped on my toes three times.’

  The ballroom was a kaleidoscope of coloured gowns – a swirl of emerald and aubergine, lilac and buttercup.

  Aunty Gee reappeared a few minutes later with Dalton by her side. He wasn’t about to let her out of his sight again.

  ‘I still can’t believe it’s actually her,’ Millie whispered in Alice-Miranda’s ear.

  Alice-Miranda took a deep breath. For the first time since she had arrived home, her strange feeling had vanished completely.

  Ambrose McLaughlin-McTavish interrupted the children. ‘Have you seen Mrs Oliver?’ he asked, his forehead wrinkled with worry.

  ‘Yes, there was a bit of a disaster in the kitchen but I believe she’ll be back any minute,’ Alice-Miranda informed him.

  Just as she spoke, Mrs Oliver emerged through the doorway, looking only slightly worse for wear.

  ‘Are you all right, dear?’ Ambrose asked. ‘I thought you must have grown sick of my company.’

  ‘No, not at all, just a bit of unexpected business to attend to. I am sorry Ambrose – it was frightfully rude of me to leave you all this time,’ Mrs Oliver apologised.

  ‘A problem in the kitchen?’ Ambrose queried.

  ‘Yes, something like that.’

  ‘That’s perfectly all right. Mrs Smith has been taking very good care of me.’ He smiled. ‘Would you care to dance?’

  ‘Are you sure? What about your bad leg?’

  ‘My dear, I’m expecting you to hold me up,’ he chuckled.

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ she said and led him to the floor.

  Cecelia and Hugh had managed to slip back to the party and were taking a twirl around the dance floor.

  ‘Do you want to dance?’ Alice-Miranda asked Jasper.

  ‘Okay, but only if you keep your feet to yourself,’ he agreed.

  ‘Where has everyone been, Alice-Miranda?’ Charlotte asked as she and Cyril danced past the swaying pair. ‘And have you seen Lawrence? He’s been missing for half an hour.’

  ‘I’m sure he’ll be back soon,’ her niece giggled as Jasper attempted a fancy dip.

  Millie offered to go and get some lemonade for her and Jacinta. While she was gone, Jacinta plonked down in a chair against the wall, feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole evening. She was completely lost in her own thoughts, mumbling to herself.

  ‘Hi,’ a voice spoke.

  She looked up and saw Lucas standing in front of her.

  ‘Oh, hello,’ she replied. ‘I’m glad you decided to come.’

  ‘Well, I met your friend’s father and he forced me,’ Lucas replied.

  For the second time that day, Jacinta couldn’t help but feel that Lucas reminded her of someone. His piercing eyes seemed to look right through her. There was just something about him.

  Lily caught sight of her nephew and rushed over to greet him. ‘I’m so glad you changed your mind. Lawrence will be thrilled.’ Lucas shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and scowled at his aunt.

  ‘It’s been quite a night,’ Jacinta sighed.

  ‘Yes, you could say that,’ Lucas grinned.

  And then, all at once, that smile – Jacinta knew exactly who he reminded her of. ‘Oh!’ she gasped. ‘Has anyone ever told you, you look just like Lawrence Ridley?’

  Lucas blushed.

  ‘I just wish I knew what he was up to.’ Jacinta scanned the ballroom, not realising she had spoken out loud. ‘He was out on the veranda talking to himself earlier and then he was kneeling in front of a statue upstairs.’

  ‘Talking to himself?’ Lucas replied. ‘The way you were just having your own private conversation with yourself?’

  ‘Ha, ha,’ she said and narrowed her eyes.

  ‘I’d love to know what he was doing out there in the garden at midnight on Sunday too,’ Jacinta insisted.

  ‘Meeting my aunt, I suspect,’ Lucas offered.

  ‘Lily? But why? Does Charlotte know?’ Jacinta demanded.

  Millie returned with two glasses of lemonade just as Alice-Miranda and Jasper finished their dance and joined the group.

  ‘As a matter of fact, I think she does,’ Lucas replied.

  ‘Well, I still say he’s been up to no good – even if he is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen,’ Jacinta sighed.

  Alice-Miranda and Lucas shook their heads in unison.

  ‘What were you going to tell me yesterday, at the cubby, before you changed your mind?’ Jacinta asked, looking carefully at Lucas.

  ‘Nothing really. It’s just that, well, I met my father,’ he replied. ‘And he wants to get to know me.’

  Jacinta looked as if she had swallowed a fly. ‘Nothing much? Are you kidding? Well who is he?’ she insisted.

  ‘Umm …’ Lucas glanced around the room.

  ‘There he is.’ Alice-Miranda pointed to the terrace where Lawrence Ridley was down on one knee and Aunt Charlotte was positively beaming.

  ‘Lawrence Ridley’s your father?’ Jacinta’s mouth gaped open.

  ‘Yeah, weird, hey?’ Lucas replied.

  ‘But how? When did you find out?’ Jacinta demanded.

  ‘It’s complicated. Maybe I’ll tell you one day,’ Lucas teased.

  ‘And from the looks of what’s going on out there, I suspect he might soon be my uncle too,’ Alice-Miranda grinned. ‘That means we’ll be cousins, Lucas – how lovely!’

  Lucas glanced over at her and rolled his eyes, then smiled broadly.

  For the first time in a very long while Jacinta couldn’t think of anything more to say.

  The clock in the hallway began to strike twelve. Outside a rocket soared into the night sky, then burst into a spectacular shower of silver and blue.

  ‘Look!’ Alice-Miranda exclaimed. ‘The fireworks!’ She grabbed Millie’s and Jasper’s hands and ran out onto the terrace, with the rest of the party close behind.

  Lord Gisborne was summoned to a meeting with Aunty Gee where, in a blubbering mess, he confesse
d to everything. He had employed Rupert Blunt to find out all about the Hall under the guise of writing a history book. Clarry and his offsider were two idiots for hire. Along with Blunt, they were charged with breaking and entering, possession of an un licensed firearm and fraud. The judge handed down the longest sentences on record for crimes of that nature.

  Blunt claimed the buyer for the formula was Mr Addison Goldsworthy. While he couldn’t prove Golds worthy’s role in the conspiracy, it seems the government had been after him for a multitude of things. He has recently been charged with massive tax fraud as well as several hundred outstanding parking tickets and is awaiting sentencing. Lord Gisborne’s allowance was cut and he was forced to run nightly ghost tours of his crumbling castle to pay the bills. Aunty Gee felt that was punishment enough – for now.

  Hugh signed JAW contracts with twenty-eight countries. Alice-Miranda decided that Just Add Water had a much better ring to it than FDF. Mrs Oliver has since made dazzling progress on her organic vegetable project but it’s still not quite ready yet.

  Ambrose McLaughlin-McTavish has given up watching television as he much prefers taking Mrs Oliver to the movies, out for dinner and on picnics. She says she hasn’t had this much fun in years.

  Lawrence Ridley is proving himself to be a model father. After years of not knowing he had a son, he’s trying hard to make up for lost time.

  For the moment Lucas is staying with Lily and her family, until some new arrangements can be made for school, but he spends every weekend with his dad and Charlotte and is helping them to plan their wedding. Alice-Miranda will soon get to be a flower girl for the third time this year.

  Lucas and Lawrence share a love of choc-chip biscuits and watching re-runs of Doctor Who. As you can imagine, Jacinta is completely besotted – with both of them.

  Lucas’s mother has been home to visit a couple of times now. She wrote him a letter explaining everything. He’s glad she finally told him the truth.

  And it didn’t take too long for Lucas to explain everything to Jacinta either. It seems that Lawrence and his mother had been married when they were very young but had quickly realised that working in movies, often in different countries, made things impossible. They agreed to go their separate ways and then his mother found out she was pregnant. Worried that a baby would hold Lawrence back in his career, she made the difficult decision to raise Lucas on her own. She said that she had planned to tell him one day, but the time just never seemed right. Lawrence became a famous movie star and it got very complicated.

  Lily had always suspected that Lawrence was Lucas’s father. She had argued with Kitty when the boy was born and said that Lawrence had a right to know about his son. The sisters hadn’t seen each other since Lucas was a baby. But when he was expelled from school, Kitty had no choice but to ask for Lily’s help. Lily agreed, but only after Kitty promised that she would write to Lawrence and tell him everything.

  Millie and Jacinta stayed on at Highton Hall for the rest of the holidays. Together with Jasper, Poppy and Lucas, the children had new adventures every day but none quite as exciting as the night of Aunt Charlotte’s birthday party.

  And as for Alice-Miranda’s surprise? Her father recently noticed that one of their three topiary horses – the old girl affectionately known as Beetle – was missing from the front lawn. Somehow she had managed to get all the way to the city to Aunt Charlotte’s back garden – just to remind her of home.

  The Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones household

  Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones

  Only child, seven and a half years of age

  Cecelia Highton-Smith

  Alice-Miranda’s doting mother

  Hugh Kennington-Jones

  Alice-Miranda’s doting father

  Granny Valentina Highton-Smith

  Maternal grandmother

  Aunt Charlotte Highton-Smith

  Cecelia’s younger sister

  Lawrence Ridley

  Famous movie actor and Aunt Charlotte’s boyfriend

  Dolly Oliver

  Family cook, part-time food technology scientist

  Mrs Shillingsworth

  Head housekeeper

  Mr Harold Greening

  Gardener

  Mrs Maggie Greening

  Mr Greening’s wife

  Granny Bert (Albertine Rumble)

  Former housekeeper

  Daisy Rumble

  Granddaughter of Granny Bert, a maid at Highton Hall

  Heinrich Bauer

  Runs the farm at Highton Hall

  Lily Bauer

  Heinrich’s wife

  Jasper Bauer

  The Bauers’ nine-year-old son

  Poppy Bauer

  The Bauers’ five-year-old daughter

  Lucas Nixon

  Lily’s nephew

  Max

  Stablehand

  Cyril

  Helicopter pilot

  Bonaparte

  Alice-Miranda’s pony

  Shergar

  Hugh’s magnificent hunter

  Phinnie

  Family pony

  Boo

  Aunt Charlotte’s horse

  Birdy

  Bell Jet Ranger Helicopter

  Friends of the Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones family

  Ambrose McLaughlin-McTavish

  Millie’s grandfather

  Aunty Gee

  Granny Highton-Smith’s best friend and Cecelia’s godmother (among other things!)

  Lord Percy Gisborne

  Crusty old friend of the Highton-Smith-Kennington-Joneses’

  Dr Marsh

  Family doctor

  Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies staff

  Miss Ophelia Grimm

  Headmistress

  Aldous Grump

  Miss Grimm’s husband

  Mrs Louella Derby (nee Higgins)

  Personal secretary to the headmistress

  Miss Livinia Reedy

  English teacher

  Mr Josiah Plumpton

  Science teacher

  Cook (Mrs Doreen Smith)

  School cook

  Charlie Weatherly (Mr Charles)

  Gardener

  Students

  Millicent Jane McLoughlin-McTavish-McNoughton-McGill

  Alice-Miranda’s best friend and room mate

  Jacinta Headlington-Bear

  Talented gymnast, school’s former second best tantrum thrower and a friend of Alice-Miranda’s

  Alethea Goldsworthy

  Ex-head prefect, school’s very best tantrum thrower and enemy of most girls

  Other

  Addison Goldsworthy

  Alethea’s father, a man of ill repute

  Rupert Blunt

  Author (among other things)

  Read on for a sample of Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead

  Twelve pairs of eyes widened in unison, awaiting Miss Ophelia Grimm’s next move. She stood in the corner of the room, a scarlet flush creeping up from her neck to her cheeks. Her blonde hair sparked with static and her lips drew tightly together.

  ‘Out!’ Her shrill voice shattered the silence. ‘Get out and don’t come back, you horrid little monsters!’

  Eleven girls reeled backwards in terror, their hands clutching pallid faces. Millie’s freckles turned white and Jacinta’s mouth gaped open. Only Alice-Miranda dared to smile.

  ‘And that, my dears, was how I got rid of the two cheeky chimps who had taken up residence in our room!’ Miss Grimm smiled and plonked herself down in the striped armchair beside the fireplace in her study.

  The girls exchanged quizzical looks and then disintegrated into fits of giggles. Mr Grump, who was sitting in the armchair opposite, roared with laughter.

  ‘You should have seen those poor monkeys.’ Aldous Grump grinned at his new wife. ‘They didn’t have a hope with Ophelia after them. Ran for their lives, they did – thought they’d be better off taking their chances with the lions out on
the game reserve.’

  ‘Very funny darling,’ Miss Grimm admonished. ‘I was just tired of the little brutes raiding my makeup purse, that’s all. I hadn’t realised chimps were fond of lipstick and blush until I caught them giving each other a makeover at the dressing table after we returned from breakfast one morning.’

  Dressed casually in jeans and a pretty orange shirt, Ophelia Grimm was a picture of happiness.

  ‘We must have stayed at the same lodge when we were on safari last year,’ said Alice-Miranda, ‘because the very same thing happened to Mummy. The manager, Mr Van Rensburg, said that his chimps had collected enough stolen lipstick to start their own beauty parlour. Apart from that, it does sound like you had a lovely time.’

  ‘We most certainly did,’ Mr Grump nodded.

  Millie took the last sip of her hot chocolate, upended the delicate blue-and-white mug and allowed a sodden marshmallow to slide into her mouth.

  ‘Mmm, yum!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘All done?’ Miss Grimm asked.

  Millie nodded.

  ‘Well girls, I think you had better be heading off. School tomorrow and we have loads of exciting things planned for the term.’ Miss Grimm stood up and walked towards the oak door.