Clementine had been wondering about Aunt Violet and the unfortunate incidents all afternoon. Maybe her mother had accidentally spilled orange juice on her, like Clementine had on one of the guests at breakfast last week. It wasn’t Clemmie’s fault that the lady was wearing a white pants-suit, and Clemmie was only trying to help because Uncle Digby was busy in the kitchen. Maybe her mother had accidentally snapped the key in the lock of the bathroom door when Aunt Violet was in there, as Clementine had done to another guest a few weeks before. That lady wasn’t happy at all when Uncle Digby had to climb up a ladder and go through the bathroom window to rescue her.

Clementine loved being a good helper. It was just that sometimes things didn’t work out the way she planned. She wondered if her mother had been like that too when she was younger.

On the way home from the village she had asked her mother lots of questions about Aunt Violet. But Lady Clarissa was too lost in her own thoughts to give Clemmie the answers she wanted.

When they got back to the house, two of their guests had already arrived. While her mother and Uncle Digby were busy fussing over them, Clementine was left to play on her own with Lavender. She was practising with her skipping rope on the front lawn and Lavender was munching on some long grass near the stone wall when a shiny red car roared up the driveway. Clementine knew it was an expensive one, too, because it had a big silver star on the bonnet. Uncle Digby was always saying that if he won the lottery he would buy one just like it.

Clementine ran over to say hello. She liked greeting the guests and her mother said that it was important to be friendly and make a good impression. A very thin, tall woman with the most perfect silver bobbed hairdo got out of the car. She wore a stylish lime green pants-suit and Clementine noticed her matching shoes. Her huge sunglasses were round and dark and she didn’t take them off.

The woman looked at the house and shuddered.

‘Hello,’ said Clementine. ‘I like your shoes. Are you staying here?’

‘Yes,’ the woman replied. ‘What are you doing here?’ She raised her glasses to the top of her head and narrowed her dark-blue eyes as she studied the child in her pretty dress.

‘I live here,’ Clementine replied.

The woman glared at her. ‘What do you mean you live here? Since when?’

‘Since I came with the dinner rolls,’ Clementine answered truthfully.

‘Since you came with the dinner rolls! What sort of an answer is that?’ the woman scoffed. ‘Do you know where the lady of the house is?’

‘Well, I’m not really sure because Mummy’s been running around taking care of some of the other guests. She’s been upset ever since we were in the village this morning and she found out that her Aunt Violet is coming tomorrow. I’ve never met her. She has a beautiful portrait on the stairs and I talk to her quite a bit, except that I call her Grace because I didn’t know her real name. But Mummy says that she’s horrid and she’s like a barnacle. She must be very old too, I think,’ Clementine gabbled.

The woman’s eyes seemed to change colour from blue to black right in front of Clementine.

She stared at the child.

She leaned closer.

She pointed one finger right in front of Clementine’s nose.

And just as she was about to speak, the front door of the house opened and Lady Clarissa raced out onto the driveway.

‘Oh, Aunt Violet, you’re early. It’s good to see you,’ she gushed, kissing the woman on both cheeks.

‘Really?’ Violet straightened her back and arched her perfectly plucked left eyebrow at Clarissa. ‘You’re glad to see me? That’s not what I’ve just heard. And I told you I’d be here on Friday.’

Clarissa fingered the letter in her pocket. She knew it said Saturday, but there was no point arguing with Aunt Violet.

Clementine was biting her lip. Sometimes she wished she didn’t talk so much.

‘Clemmie, come and meet your Great-aunt Violet,’ Clarissa instructed.

‘Oh, we’ve met,’ Violet snarled. ‘But when did you have a baby, Clarissa?’

‘But I told you before, Aunt Violet, I came with the dinner rolls,’ said Clementine. She wondered if her great-aunt had a hearing problem.

Clarissa began to explain.‘It’s complicated –’

‘Of course it’s complicated. It’s never simple with you, dear, is it? Now, are you going to ask me in or do I have to stand out here for the rest of the afternoon?’ asked Violet tightly.

‘Of course, Aunt Violet, the kettle’s on and I’ve got a lovely chocolate sponge.’ Clarissa turned and frowned at Clementine. Clemmie had never seen her mother like this before. ‘This way,’ said Clarissa and walked back towards the house.

‘I need to get Pharaoh,’ Violet snapped. She strode around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. She pulled out a rectangular black bag, and headed for the front door.

Clementine noticed that the bag had mesh on both ends. ‘What’s Pharaoh?’ she asked, peering into the mesh.

The occupant of the bag hissed.

Clementine recoiled. ‘I hope he’s not a snake. Mummy hates snakes and last week I got into big trouble for leaving my python in one of the bedrooms.’

‘He’s a sphynx,’ Violet replied. She glared at the little girl. ‘And he doesn’t like children. Do you, my gorgeous little man?’

Clementine tried to get a closer look. She’d never seen a sphynx before.

‘I suppose I have to show myself inside then, do I, seeing that niece of mine has vanished,’ Violet tutted.

‘I can take you.’ Clementine walked beside the woman. ‘And I’m sorry about what I said, Aunt Violet. I didn’t recognise you. You’re much older than the lady on the wall near Grandpa.’

‘Don’t apologise,’ said Violet tartly. ‘In my experience most people don’t usually mean it when they say sorry, and as you’re just a child, I don’t imagine that you ever mean it.’

Violet strode into the hall, leaving Clementine on the front steps wondering what she had meant. Clementine was sorry. She didn’t know why Aunt Violet didn’t believe her.