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Mama sailed out of the room, head high, as Julia watched, aghast.
“Oh dear,” James said mildly. “Well, Keeble, Mrs Graham, you had better set about finding this clock without delay.”
“I don’t know where to begin looking, sir, and that’s a fact,” Mrs Graham said tearfully.
“When things go missing, they often turn up in a different room,” Julia said. “Have a good look around the rooms on this floor.”
“Yes, Miss Julia.” She bobbed a curtsy and scuttled away, Keeble in her wake.
“Is it true then what your mama was saying?” James said, with a frown. “That things regularly disappear?”
“Yes, but they always turn up again,” Julia said. “Usually it’s little things — scissors or a journal. I don’t remember anything so valuable disappearing before.”
“We should all of us join the search,” Angie said. “This is a big house, and it might be anywhere. The wine cellar, or the kitchens, perhaps.”
“That hardly seems likely,” James said.
“But we have to do something,” Angie said, dashing for the door. “I am going to make a start on the bedrooms.”
“I am going to lie down until all this to-do has died down,” Aunt Madge said. “Mr Plummer, you had best go home.”
With these uncompromising words, she sailed out of the room.
“Yes, go,” Julia said. “I will see you at dinner.”
“Are you sure you do not need another pair of hands for the search?” he said. “I know every nook and cranny in the house, after all.”
“I don’t think we need to worry about nooks and crannies,” Julia said airily. “The clock will turn up. These missing things always do.”
He looked as if he were about to protest, but she gave a quick shake of her head and he smiled. “Well, you know best, I dare say. Good day, Julia. Good day, Miss Fletcher.”
Rosie and Julia curtsied demurely, and he bowed himself out of the room.
“But we must dosomething, Jules,” Rosie said, tears shining on her lashes. “How dreadful if the poor servants should be turned off.”
“No chance of that,” Julia said. “Mama will relent when she comes back down to earth, and Pa wouldn’t let her do it, anyway.”
“But what was the matter with her?” Rosie said. “I have never seen her angry like that, and… and unreasonable! She is usually so calm.
“Never mind that,” Julia said. “There’s no time to lose. Come on.”
Grabbing Rosie’s hand, she made for the door.
“Where are we going?” Rosie said.
“To find the clock, of course, but we have to be quick.”
Out in the hall, Julia stopped. “Oh, botheration, no candle! Never mind, we’ll just have to use the service stairs. Come on, quickly, Rosie.”
“Are we allowed to?” Rosie said, although she let Julia pull her through the door and up the stairs.
“Of course,” Julia said scornfully. “It’s our house, so we can go where we like. I was going to use the secret stairs, but there’s no time to get a candle. Up another level, Rosie.”
“The attics?”
“The attics,” Julia said firmly.
Cautiously, she opened the door and peered out. No one was in sight. “This way.”
