“TO HELL WITH SCOTLAND! I AM NOT GOING TO SCOTLAND UNTIL I’VE BEATEN THAT BRAT! AND SALLY, YOU’RE FIRED! FIRED, D’YOU HEAR ME?”

“Hubert, please don’t speak to the staff like that. I know Charlotte has upset you dreadfully, but I for one am not going to let a naughty schoolgirl and a horrid little dog ruin my holiday. Sally, the suitcases.”

The Netherburys and their luggage departed.

Lotti waited a few minutes to be sure they had gone, and crept downstairs to the study.

An oil painting hung behind Papa’s desk, of Moune’s house overlooking the river at Armande. Lotti stopped for a moment to contemplate it. “Soon,” she said.

Then, struggling a little because it was very big, she took the painting off the wall and revealed a safe.

Years ago, Papa had taught her the code of the combination lock, and Lotti hadn’t forgotten it. “Just in case something happens to Mama and me,” Papa had said. “It’s where all the important stuff is kept.”

Well, something had happened and now Lotti needed the stuff.

She held her breath as she turned the dial back and forth, until with a discreet click the lock was released and the door swung open.

The safe contained documents and Mama’s jewels, all neatly stacked in pastel-colored cases. Lotti rifled through the documents for her passport, slipped it into her pinafore pocket, then began to look through the cases. The princess pearls Mama had worn to lunch parties … the garnets, which went with summer dresses, the emerald earrings Papa had given her one birthday and the sapphires Lotti had loved because they matched Mama’s eyes. For a few minutes, Lotti was plunged into a world long lost, of parties and dinners, of spying on guests from the upstairs landing, of Mama sweeping into her room before dances to show off her frock, of perfumed kisses and the soft rustle of silk …

But she had a job to do.

From a slim puce case, she pulled a diamond necklace that Mama had never worn. “Because it is hideous!” Mama had once laughed. “It belonged to my great-aunt Agatha.”

The necklace was hideous, but goodness how it glittered when Lotti held it up to the light! How much could it be worth?

“Lots, what are you doing?”

Sally stood in the doorway of the study, her hands on her hips and a suspicious expression on her face. Lotti shoved the diamonds behind her back, then reminded herself that Sally was her friend.

“Sal, where would you go if you wanted to sell a necklace?”

Sally came into the room and stared at the pile of gems on the floor. “Sell a necklace?”

How much should Lotti tell her?

“I have decided,” she said carefully, “not to go school.”

Sally whistled.

“I think,” said Lotti, “it would be better for both of us if I didn’t tell you where I’m going instead.”