Strange, thought Lotti, how she didn’t even care. Her uncle could send her to the planet Mars for all the difference it would make. Only one thing mattered now.

“And Federico?”

“Oh, Lots.” Sally’s arm tightened round Lotti’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. A lad’s coming from Home Farm tomorrow to put him down, before your uncle and aunt leave for Scotland.”

So that was that, thought Lotti, dully. Poor, darling, naughty Federico. She had tried to rescue him and instead condemned him to death. She shivered, remembering her night in the coal cellar at school, the awful loneliness stretching on and on.

Lotti frowned. The night that stretched on and on …

Federico wasn’t dead yet. There was a night, a whole night, in which to rescue him from the coal cellar. She could smuggle him down to the Sparrowhawk! Ben would help—Clara too, probably. Together they would find a way …

Lotti wriggled out of Sally’s arms.

“Sally,” she said. “Will you help me?”

How noisy a house is, when you need it to be quiet!

Lotti, fully dressed, lay under her bedcovers. She listened to her aunt and uncle come upstairs, heard the sound of the bathroom taps, their muffled voices, then at last silence. Shortly after midnight Sally tapped softly on Lotti’s door and turned the key in the lock.

Down the landing they padded, as softly as possible, but how loud the squeak of the floorboards, how creaky the stairs … And Lotti’s heart!

Surely, someone would hear her heart!

They paused in the hall to make sure no one was following, then crept toward the servants’ corridor. As they approached the scullery, Federico heard them and began to howl.

“Soon as I open the door, you grab him and get him out of here,” Sally hissed. “And for lawks’ sake, make him shut up.”

“What are you going to do?” whispered Lotti.

“I’m going to pile up the coal under the delivery hatch, then I’m going to shove it open. Make it look like the dog climbed up and pushed his way out.”

“Uncle will never believe it.”

“You got a better plan?”

Down into the coal cellar they went, and again Lotti shivered at memories of school. But then into her arms leaped Federico. She clamped her hand round his muzzle to silence him, at the same time showering him with kisses.

“Go,” urged Sally.

In a world of shadows, under the beaming moon, Lotti and Federico ran through the garden and out on to the hills. They entered the woods. The scent of bluebells rose to meet them, heady and sweet in the night air. Lotti pushed away memories of her parents. Now was not the time to think of those lovely evenings lingering in the woods. But then as they approached the canal, a nightingale began to sing, and she doubled over with the punch of another memory.