Unfortunately for Mrs Bottomley, Angus had reached down to the ground just moments before and picked up the pin from the latch on the cage. He was still holding it in his hand. She saw it with her own eyes.
‘Oh!’ Mrs Bottomley gasped. Her bottom lip began to tremble. ‘Angus Archibald!’ she roared, and then started to cry.
‘But I didn’t do anything.’ Angus shook his head and then looked at the evidence in his hand. ‘It wasn’t me. I just found this on the ground.’
Aunt Violet spun around and glared at the teacher. ‘Ha! If I were you, madam, I would be a little more careful about accusing my great-niece in future, especially when your grandson is quite clearly the troublemaker. And what on earth are you wearing? Perhaps no one has ever been kind enough to say so, but brown is definitely not your colour!’
‘How dare you?’ Ethel Bottomley poked her tongue out at Aunt Violet and scurried away. Lady Clarissa raced after her. She couldn’t believe what Aunt Violet had said, even if they might all have been thinking it. Angus and Joshua were wide eyed – at least for a second, until Aunt Violet got stuck into the pair of them. Once she had finished yelling, they both made a hasty exit, wiping their eyes as they went.
Aunt Violet let out an enormous sigh. As far as she was concerned the day couldn’t possibly get any worse. But she hadn’t noticed Queen Georgiana walking towards her.
‘Oh my goodness, dear, if I didn’t think you looked alike before, you certainly do now,’ the Queen said with a grin.
‘I don’t know what you mean, Ma’am.’ Violet gulped and clutched Pharaoh closer to her chest.
Queen Georgiana touched the corner of her own lip with her forefinger.
Violet wondered what she was doing.
Clementine rushed over with Lavender in tow. She pointed at Aunt Violet’s face and passed her a tissue.
‘What? What’s the matter now?’ Violet asked.
‘Your lip, dear. It’s covered in cream,’ Queen Georgiana smiled. ‘Just like that naughty little fiend.’ She pointed at Pharaoh.
‘Oh. Thank you,’ Violet mumbled and wiped her face.
Queen Georgiana was ushered away by her bodyguard and lady-in-waiting.
‘Would you like to go home, Aunt Violet?’ Clementine asked. ‘Lavender’s exhausted. And Pharaoh looks as if he could do with a nap too.’
‘Yes, I’m going right now,’ Aunt Violet fumed and began to stride away.
‘Can I come with you?’ Clementine called. ‘Mummy and Uncle Digby are staying to help clean up and I thought we could read some more of that story.’
But Aunt Violet was in no mood to babysit. ‘No. I’m taking Pharaoh and you’re not coming.’
Clementine frowned. Uncle Digby had disappeared inside and Sophie and Poppy were nowhere to be seen either. Her mother was near the entrance to the hall, still trying to calm Mrs Bottomley.
Clemmie hadn’t noticed Angus Archibald skulking around behind her.
‘You – love – a – pig,’ Angus sniffled.
‘Go away, Angus,’ Clementine replied. ‘You’ve made enough trouble.’ She spun around to face the lad. It was obvious he’d been crying. She almost felt sorry for him.
‘I didn’t do it,’ Angus protested. ‘I didn’t.’
Clementine wondered if maybe he was telling the truth. He had been a lot better the past few days.
‘Where’s your dog?’ Clementine asked.
‘Mum took him and I have to stay here and help clean up,’ Angus explained between sniffs. ‘Then I have to go to Nan’s and she’s really mad.’
‘Well, you shouldn’t have let Pharaoh out,’ Clementine admonished. ‘Aunt Violet is really cross with you too.’
‘But I told you. I didn’t,’ Angus huffed. ‘I found that pin on the ground.’
The boy stared at Lavender, who was munching on some cake that Mrs Bottomley had scraped from her chest at the height of the drama. The little pig looked up at the boy.
‘Can I pat her?’ Angus asked Clementine.
‘Yes, but you have to promise to be gentle,’ Clemmie replied.
The lad knelt down and gave the little pig a scratch behind her ear. She pressed her snout against his other hand and gave him a nibble.
Angus giggled. ‘That tickles.’
‘See, she’s really lovely,’ Clementine said. ‘And she likes you.’
Angus didn’t notice the shadow looming over them, blocking out the sun. When finally he glanced up, his face crumpled and he raced off to put a safe distance between him and Clementine’s terrifying great-aunt.
‘Well, are you coming or not?’ Aunt Violet had deposited Pharaoh into the car and returned to the scene of the crime.
The child smiled up at her. ‘Oh, yes please,’ Clementine said. ‘You take Lavender and I’ll just find Mummy and Uncle Digby and let them know I’m going with you.’ She thrust the pig into Aunt Violet’s arms.
The old woman flinched. She held Lavender out in front of her and the little pig kicked her legs about. Aunt Violet walked back to the car, where she placed Lavender on the back seat beside Pharaoh, who was locked up in his borrowed cage.
Aunt Violet started the car. ‘I’m not reading anything until I’ve had a strong cup of tea and a lie down,’ she announced.
‘But you didn’t say you wouldn’t read to me at all,’ Clementine smiled.
Aunt Violet said nothing. She simply put the car into gear and pulled away from the kerb.
Clementine turned her head to look at the animals in the back. She was surprised to see Pharaoh curled up on the seat beside Lavender.
‘Aunt Violet, did you lock Pharaoh in the cage?’ the child asked.
‘Of course I did.’ The woman kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead. ‘I latched it myself.’
‘Well, it’s just . . . I think you might have to apologise to Angus,’ Clementine began.
‘I’ll do no such thing,’ Aunt Violet retorted.
‘I think you should,’ Clementine insisted.
‘Why?’ Aunt Violet snapped.
‘Because Pharoah’s a magician,’ the child said, frowning. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that Pharaoh was smiling.
The Appleby household
Clementine Rose Appleby
Five-year-old daughter of Lady Clarissa
Lavender
Clemmie’s teacup pig
Lady Clarissa Appleby
Clementine’s mother and the owner of Penberthy House
Digby Pertwhistle
Butler at Penberthy House
Aunt Violet Appleby
Clementine’s grandfather’s sister
Pharaoh
Aunt Violet’s beloved sphynx
Friends and village folk
Margaret Mogg
Owner of the Penberthy Floss village shop
Father Bob
Village minister
Adrian
Father Bob’s dribbly bulldog
Pierre Rousseau
Owner of Pierre’s Patisserie in Highton Mill
Odette Rousseau
Wife of Pierre and mother of Jules and Sophie
Jules Rousseau
Seven-year-old brother of Sophie
Sophie Rousseau
Mintie
Sophie’s white kitten
Poppy Bauer
Clementine’s friend who lives on the farm at Highton Hall
Jasper Bauer
Poppy’s older brother
Lily Bauer
Poppy and Jasper’s mother
School staff and students
Miss Arabella
Critchley
Head teacher at
Ellery Prep
Mrs Ethel Bottomley
Teacher at Ellery Prep
&nbs
p; Quentin Pickles
Caretaker
Mrs Winky
Dinner lady
Angus Archibald
Naughty kindergarten boy
Joshua
Friend of Angus’s
Astrid
Clever kindergarten girl
Others
Dr Everingham
Clementine’s family doctor
Daisy Rumble
Doctor’s temp receptionist
Jacqueline Harvey has spent her working life teaching in girls’ boarding schools. She is the author of the bestselling Alice-Miranda series and the Clementine Rose series, and was awarded Honour Book in the 2006 Australian CBC Awards for her picture book The Sound of the Sea. She is currently working on more Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose adventures.
www.jacquelineharvey.com.au
Also by Jacqueline Harvey
Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor
Alice-Miranda at School
Alice-Miranda on Holiday
Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead
Alice-Miranda at Sea
Alice-Miranda in New York
Alice-Miranda Shows the Way
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster
9781742755441
Copyright © Jacqueline Harvey 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Random House Australia in 2013
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Harvey, Jacqueline
Title: Clementine Rose and the pet day disaster [electronic resource] / Jacqueline Harvey
ISBN: 9781742755441 (ebook)
Series: Harvey, Jacqueline. Clementine Rose; 2
Target audience: For primary school age
Dewey number: A823.4
Cover and internal illustrations by J.Yi
Cover design by Leanne Beattie
Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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