Alice-Miranda at Sea by Jacqueline Harvey Page B

tomorrow with her granddaughter, Daisy. She was a pretty young thing, for sure, but when the old woman told him they were in domestic service he had quickly withdrawn his charm. He had no desire to take up with the hired help – no matter how attractive they might be. And with heiresses from the bow to the stern, Nicholas couldn’t help thinking he had landed in a sea of opportunity.
    Alice-Miranda had watched as he moved from table to table, laughing and smiling. With his dark eyes and prominent nose, she couldn’t help thinking that he rather reminded her of someone else she’d met recently. She just couldn’t work out who it was.

O ver at Aunty Gee’s table, conversations had ranged from Mrs Oliver’s latest organic vegetable project to Lawrence’s upcoming film and Alice-Miranda’s school play. Between hoots of laughter and hushed whispers, there was barely a second’s silence.
    â€˜Nasty business, those jewel heists,’ Hugh Kennington-Jones commented to Aunty Gee over his perfectly marinated lamb fillet. ‘It sounds like they’re ticking off a very long list if you ask me.’
    â€˜Mmm.’ Aunty Gee nodded her head and swallowed. ‘I was chatting with Inspector Gerard just last week and he assured me they’re only after Russian gems. It’s fortunate we haven’t acquired any in our collection.’
    A spate of jewel thefts around the world over the past eighteen months had been a source of chronic irritation for Chief Inspector Sexton Gerard, the Head of Interpol. The common thread seemed to be the jewel’s original owners, the long-departed Russian royal family. To date, all manner of trinkets had been stolen from private individuals on the Continent, museums in the United States and, most daringly, from the vault of the Kremlin in Moscow itself. Whoever was behind the raids was terribly well connected and exceedingly clever. So far, Gerard had no leads whatsoever.
    â€˜What’s that, Aunty Gee?’ Cecelia joined the conversation. ‘Has there been a robbery?’
    â€˜I was just saying, dear, that I don’t think we have to worry at all about those nasty thieves who seem to be amassing a trove of Russian antiquities.’
    Having finished her meal, Alice-Miranda, with Millie in tow, hurried over to ask her parents if the children might be excused to play a game of hide and seek. She poked her head around next to her father and waited for him to finish speaking.
    â€˜I’ve heard they have the Great Imperial Crown and the Sceptre with the Orlov Diamond,’ Hugh said thoughtfully. ‘She’s a real beauty that one – one of the largest in the world.’
    â€˜Good heavens!’ exclaimed Aunty Gee. ‘I would have thought the security at The Treasures of the Diamond Fund would have been better than that.’
    â€˜What are you talking about?’ Millie asked as she and Alice-Miranda squeezed in between Hugh and Cecelia’s chairs.
    â€˜Oh, hello girls. We were just talking about some robberies of Russian jewels this past year or so,’ Hugh informed them.
    â€˜Why did you say she’s a real beauty?’ Alice-Miranda asked. ‘Is the diamond a girl?’
    â€˜I suppose I always think of jewels as being female,’ her father replied.
    Alice-Miranda nodded. ‘May we be excused so we can play hide and seek?’ She could see Jacinta and the boys at their table beckoning her and Millie to return.
    â€˜Of course, darling. Run along – but just stay above deck. Don’t want anyone getting lost in the dark, do we?’ Hugh directed.
    Alice-Miranda pecked her father’s cheek and then turned to give her mother the same treatment.
    Millie waved. ‘Bye, everyone. Enjoy your dinner.’
    The group bid the girls farewell and went back to their conversations.
    Deep in thought, Charlotte glanced up from her pork loin. ‘What about the Fabergé