Free Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead by Jacqueline Harvey

she said that she would ride back with me the whole way, the little liar.’ Sloane pouted.
    â€˜Oh, do be quiet, Sloane. Just because you’re the most pathetic rider I’ve ever seen! Consider yourself lucky not to be in hospital.’ Millie stood with her hands on her hips.
    â€˜Now, now, Miss Millie, that’s not like you,’ Charlie chastised. ‘Don’t worry about the little one. We’ll give her another ten minutes and then we can take the Land Rover out and have a look. You know she’s smart. Bonaparte’s probably thrown a shoe and she’s walking him back so he doesn’t go lame.’
    â€˜Yes, that’s probably it,’ Millie nodded, glad that Charlie had thought of such a sensible explanation. But Millie had a niggling feeling about Alice-Miranda being out there in the woods on her own. Even though it was still only mid-afternoon, the sooner Alice-Miranda was back home safely the better, as far as Millie was concerned.

Alice-Miranda called out three times before she decided she’d have to venture further inside Caledonia Manor in order to find its occupants.
    She exited the kitchen through a door which led to a long passageway. At the end, the ceiling opened up double height to a stately entrance hall dominated by an elegant carved staircase. It was truly a magnificent piece of craftsmanship, rising in one broad flight before splaying left and right to an enormous gallery landing above. Most of thefurniture in the hall was hidden under yellowed sheets, while a thick lashing of dust covered the flagstone floor. Alice-Miranda noticed that the only footsteps unsettling the grime were her own, so she decided that whoever lived in the house did not use that route to get to the second floor. She returned to the kitchen, thinking she might find a set of backstairs like the ones at home.
    Alice-Miranda tried another door off to the left. She turned the handle and was surprised to find it locked.
    â€˜Hello?’ she called. ‘Is anyone in there? I need some help, please. You see, I’m lost and I don’t know how to find my way back to school.’
    There was no reply.
    She tried another door opposite. The handle turned. Alice-Miranda opened it to find that the passage led to a smaller hallway with a much plainer staircase.
    â€˜Helloooo, is anyone up here?’ she called as she climbed, every step creaking more noisily than the one before. At the top of the stairs, Alice-Miranda could see that she was at the far end of the landing she had spied from the front hall. She was about to explore further when there was a loud crash downstairs.Alice-Miranda ran as quickly as she could down the backstairs and into the kitchen, where she glimpsed a flash of black scurrying through the door which had previously been locked.
    â€˜Stop!’ she called. ‘Please, come out. I’m lost and I’d really like to talk to you.’ She heard the door click shut. And then she saw it: a large brass key in the door lock.
    Alice-Miranda knocked on the door and then turned the tarnished brass handle. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but had in her mind something like the side sitting room at home with its comfortable couches and television in the corner. This room, however, bore no resemblance.
    It was a large space with a threadbare maroon-velvet chaise longue, just the right size for a child. There was also an impressive cedar bookcase which took up the entire length of the wall opposite the windows. A miniature pair of wingback chairs faced the garden and, in between them, on a low inlaid table, a tiny children’s tea set in delicate blue-and-white china was laid out perfectly as if guests were expected. Underneath one of the windows stood a huge Victorian doll’s house and a white rocking horse. A wicker pram full of porcelain dolls completed the picture. Alice-Miranda noticedat once that, unlike the front hallway, there was not a skerrick of