Verity Sparks, Lost and Found Read Online Free Page B

sociable any more. In fact, I was downright grumpy. Why did Papa have to meddle? First he didn’t want me to write. Then he conspired with Mrs Rowland to send me to that silly school. And now he was trying to stop me from helping SP and Daniel with confidential inquiries. Didn’t he understand that I couldn’t just sit around in a pretty dress, embroidering doilies and talking about the weather?
    I looked up at Papa’s portrait and sighed. And then sighed again. The picture had been painted by our dear friend, the artist James Tissot, and given to Papa as a gift. Mr Tissot had caught Papa as no one else could. He looked noble, wise and kind, like one of those big lions in Trafalgar Square.
    There was a soft knock at the door. “Do you need anythin’ else, miss?” asked Kathleen.
    “Warm milk, please,” I said.

    I didn’t wait up, but somehow I couldn’t sleep until Papa came home. I was wide awake anyhow. I went over and over what SP had said to me, about the tragedies in Papa’s life, and the terrible events that brought us together.
    “The trouble with you, Verity Sparks,” I scolded myself, “is that you are much too fond of having your own way. It won’t hurt you to do what Papa wants for a change. A school for young ladies isn’t exactly prison.”
    And perhaps a change from mystery and mayhem would do me good.
    I heard the front door open, and Papa’s shoes clicking on the tiled floor. His footsteps sounded on the stairs and the creaky corridor floorboards. He stopped outside a few other doors until he found mine, and I nearly laughed out loud. That’s what comes of having such a large house, I thought.
    “Papa?”
    “Yes,
ma fille
. I’m making sure that you’re safe and sound.”
    “Papa, I have made my decision. I would love to go to Hightop House Academy for Young Ladies.”
    “Oh, Veroschka, I’m so glad. You will learn lots of new things and make many friends. And whatever you do, I will be very proud of you.” He blew me a kiss and shut the door.
    Oh, Papa! Then and there I promised myself that I would make Papa’s life easier, not harder. And if all it took was a term at an exclusive girls’ school, why not?

4
STARTING SCHOOL
    Now, you mustn’t think I’m ashamed of my past – of being adopted by Ma and Pa Sparks and working as a milliner’s apprentice. Because I’m not. But considering Papa’s plans for my social success at Hightop House, I began to wonder whether I’d told Lottie Rowland too much.
    Lottie was just eleven years old, with a mop of curly black hair, big brown eyes and an irrepressible smile. You wouldn’t guess that she’d nearly died of scarlet fever and only now was well enough to start school. She’d had a lonely time in the past year, poor thing. At our first meeting, when she and Mrs Rowland had come to Alhambra for afternoon tea, she cuddled up next to me as if we’d known each other always.
    “You and me are going to be best friends, I know we are,” she whispered.
    “Verity, why don’t you show Lottie your dolls?” suggested Mrs Rowland.
    Dolls? I’d never had any. Besides, I was nearly fourteen. But I took Lottie to my favourite place in Alhambra. It was a little tower up on top of the house. Mrs Morcom said it reminded her of a chamber-pot, but I wasn’t artistic so what it looked like didn’t bother me. It was breezy and private, and the view across the bay was wonderful. But Lottie wasn’t interested in the view.
    “Let’s tell each other everything about ourselves,” she said. “I’ll go first. My name is Charlotte Victoria Rowland and I’ve got a dog called Muffin and a canary called Pip, and I like reading – don’t you? – and I’ve got a brother called Bertram …” She prattled on, and ended up with “… and my best friend is
you
.”
    “Thank you, Lottie,” I said. I couldn’t help smiling at the childish way she spoke. I hadn’t had a girlfriend since I’d shared the attic room with Beth at Madame