Alice-Miranda could hardly have imagined a more perfect day, except perhaps if her father and Uncle Lawrence had been there too. For now she was enjoying the surprise of having her mother and aunt, and of course Lucinda and her friends, together in Paris. She was bubbling with excitement about Aunt Charlotte’s baby news too.

Last night she’d thought and thought about that photograph of Monsieur Christian’s wife but in the end decided that she must simply look like someone else.

The group wandered along the Boulevard St Michel, poking their heads into the shop windows and looking at the Parisians going about their business, until Cecelia led them through a grand entrance into a spectacular garden. They stopped to take in the view.

‘Whoa! What is this place?’ Lucas asked.

‘Well, it says here that it’s the Jardins Du Luxembourg, which I think means the Luxembourg Gardens. There’s a palace too,’ said Millie. She pointed at the stunning chateau in the middle of the grounds and then went back to scanning her guidebook. ‘It used to be for the royal family but now it’s part of the government – the building, anyway – and the rest is for the general public.’

‘You’re very well informed, miss,’ Cecelia told the flame-haired child.

‘We couldn’t go anywhere without her,’ added Jacinta. ‘She knows more about Paris than the rest of us put together.’

Millie grinned sheepishly. She’d been worried that the other kids were getting sick of her and her guidebook.

‘Thanks for bringing us here,’ said Charlotte as she linked her arm through her sister’s. ‘I loved this place when we were younger and I haven’t been here in years.’

The group walked further into the park. There was a pretty area with trees and a bandstand, a long water feature with an ornate fountain and loads of open space.

‘All right, children, gather round. The park is huge but it should be quite safe for you to explore without the two of us hovering. I think Charlotte and I will pop into the cafe over there and grab some drinks and then we’ll find a sunny spot down by the lake. They have little sailing boats for hire. It might be fun to have a regatta later,’ Cecelia suggested.

‘Just like New York, Mummy, in Central Park,’ Alice-Miranda fizzed. ‘We could have a race.’

‘Cool,’ Lucas replied.

Lucinda grinned. She was so thrilled to be in Paris with Alice-Miranda and her friends from school. She could hardly imagine that this was really her life.

‘Yes, darling, that’s a great idea. Why don’t you have a look around and then meet us by the lake in an hour,’ said Cecelia. ‘Just stay together and don’t leave the park.’

The children nodded. Some free time sounded like heaven.

‘Who has a watch?’ Cecelia asked.

‘We all do,’ Jacinta said, holding up her left arm. ‘We had to have them for the trip so we wouldn’t be late anywhere.’

‘Good thinking,’ Cecelia replied. She glanced at her own wrist. ‘All right, then. We’ll see you at half past eleven. We have to be back by four so there’s time for you to get ready to go to Notre Dame.’

The children raced off into the grounds with Alice-Miranda and Millie leading the way.

‘Hey, wait for me,’ Sloane grumbled.

They stopped outside the front of the palace. ‘Where do you want to go first?’ Millie asked.

‘What’s there to look at?’ Lucas replied.

‘Well, there are some tennis courts and a basketball court,’ Millie said.

‘But we haven’t got any equipment,’ Sloane sniped.

Millie scanned the rest of the page. ‘There are loads of statues and things to look at.’

‘Boring.’ Sloane rolled her eyes.

‘We could play hide and seek, if we just stay in one area,’ Sep suggested.

‘How old are you, big brother?’ Sloane shook her head. Something seemed to have put her in a spectacularly unpleasant mood in the past few minutes.

‘Are you all right, Sloane?’ Alice-Miranda asked. She noticed that Sloane was wearing sandals. ‘Is it your blisters?’

Everyone else looked at Sloane’s feet too.

‘What did you wear those for?’ Sep asked. ‘You complained all of the first day when you had them on.’

Sloane pulled a face at her brother. ‘I thought I might have worn them in and my blisters had started to go away. I wanted to look nice, like all these Paris people. You don’t see them wearing daggy sandshoes.’

Lucinda Finkelstein slipped her backpack off her shoulders and fished around inside. ‘Here.’ She passed Sloane two large bandaids. ‘I always get blisters too.’

Sloane smiled at the frizzy-haired girl. ‘Thanks.’

‘Mrs Winterbottom in training?’ Lucas joked.

‘Who’s that?’ Lucinda asked.

‘Our headmaster’s wife. Her backpack is like a Tardis. She gave Sloane bandaids on our first day too. And the other day Jacinta stepped in a giant dog poo and Mrs Winterbottom came to the rescue with wet wipes, rubber gloves and a disposable face mask, like a cross between a nanny and a handyman. We’re still wondering what else she carries around with her.’

‘Oh, don’t remind me about that,’ Jacinta wailed. ‘It was gross.’

‘You know, yesterday she pulled out a paperclip for Mr Trout, throat lozenges for Miss Grimm and a giant safety pin for Figgy when the button on his pants popped off,’ Millie laughed. ‘I’m just waiting for her to whip out a fold-up bicycle or an electric car.’

The children giggled.

Sloane put the bandaids in place and her mood went from fug back to fizz almost immediately. She and Lucinda struck up an easy conversation and Sloane told her all about her ambitions to go to New York. By the time the group reached the avenue of trees at the other end of the park, Lucinda had invited Sloane to stay with them whenever she came to the United States.

‘Look, they’re playing boules,’ said Alice-Miranda. She was pointing at a group of elderly gentlemen who were standing in a flat rectangular area with a low wall around it. Silver balls were strewn around the red granite surface.

‘What’s that?’ Sloane asked.

‘I think the particular game they’re playing is called pétanque and it’s sort of like lawn bowls,’ the child explained. ‘We play it at home sometimes, but I’m not entirely sure of the rules.’

The children approached the game to watch. Alice-Miranda noticed another set of balls sitting to the side.

‘Bonjour, monsieur,’ she said to a gentleman wearing a red beret, who was waiting for his turn.

He smiled back at her. ‘Bonjour.’

‘Anglais?’ she asked.

The man shook his head. He didn’t speak English. Alice-Miranda pointed at the wooden box and then at her friends and in a swift series of actions managed to establish that they could indeed borrow the pétanque set and have their own game on the vacant court beside his group.

Fortunately Millie’s guidebook also had a section on traditional French games, and within a few minutes she had outlined the rules and two teams were established. As there were seven children, they needed someone to sit out each time. Millie volunteered to be first as she could help with any questions about the rules.

‘So you need to throw the little ball up into the air and then the rest of you each gets a turn . . .’

Lucas’s team won the first round. Lucinda volunteered to sit out the second round. She was watching her new friends when she realised that someone else was doing the same thing. A young fellow with white-blond hair and blue eyes was standing off to the side and seemed engrossed in their activity. At home she would have ignored him completely as she rarely spoke to boys unless they were her brothers. But there was something about being in Paris that gave Lucinda a burst of confidence.

‘Bonjour,’ she said and smiled at the lad.

He nodded.

‘Do you live here in Paris?’ Lucinda asked.

The boy nodded again.

‘It’s a beautiful park,’ she said.

‘Oui, mademoiselle,’ he whispered.

‘Do you come here often?’ Lucinda asked.

He shook his head. ‘I don’t get out very much.’

‘Oh, I didn’t either until I met Alice-Miranda. She’s the girl over there.’ Lucinda pointed. ‘I used to be like a prisoner until she helped me escape.’

‘Escape?’ The lad furrowed his brow.

‘My papa didn’t let me go anywhere but now he’s brought the whole family to Paris for a holiday and I have Alice-Miranda to thank for that,’ said Lucinda.

‘I am like a prisoner too,’ he said, and looked into Lucinda’s eyes before glancing away shyly again. ‘But not today. Today I am as free as a bird.’ Fabien’s heart skipped a beat as he said this. He hoped that his mother was as busy as he thought she would be.

There was a cheer as Alice-Miranda’s team was declared the winner of the second round.

‘Lucinda, your turn,’ the tiny child called. Then she noticed the young man standing nearby. He looked about fifteen or sixteen. ‘Bonjour. We could do with another player,’ she said as she jogged towards Lucinda. She held her hand out to the boy. ‘My name is Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and it’s very nice to meet you.’

‘Bonjour, mademoiselle,’ he replied, taking her little hand into his.

‘Oh, your hands are so soft,’ she exclaimed. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Fabien,’ he said.

‘Would you like to play with us?’

‘Oui, mademoiselle,’ he responded. ‘I would like that very much.’

Alice-Miranda grabbed him by the arm and led him towards her friends. ‘Everyone, this is Fabien and he’s going to join us.’

Sep turned around from where he was retrieving the last silver ball. He looked at the lad and wondered why he seemed familiar. And then he remembered.

‘You’re the boy from the window,’ Sep said. ‘Across the road.’

Fabien smiled and shrugged.

The younger boy pointed to himself. ‘I’m Sep.’

The other children said their names too. Fabien nodded politely and repeated each one.

‘That’s weird, isn’t it,’ Sep whispered to Lucas. ‘He’s that guy. The face in the window. It’s strange that we should meet him here.’

‘Oh well, you know what they say, the world’s a small place,’ Lucas replied.

Sep was not quite convinced. He wondered if they’d been followed.

With Fabien’s help, Lucas’s team won the next two rounds.

The children lined up for another game. Jacinta was gazing dreamily at Lucas, who had proven himself quite the star pétanque player, when she lost her grip on the ball she was holding under her chin. She tried to catch it on the way down but it hit her big toe with a thud.

‘Ow!’ Jacinta cried. ‘Ow, ow, ow.’ She jumped around on her good foot.

‘What did you do that for?’ Lucas rushed to help her limp to the seat near the edge of the court.

‘Like I did it on purpose,’ she wailed. Her toe was throbbing and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

Millie raced over and loosened Jacinta’s shoelaces. She slipped off her shoe and sock too.

Sloane leaned in to take a look. ‘Yuck! Your big toe is a mess. And your nail is squished and there’s blood!’

Sep groaned. ‘Way to go, Sloane. Good thing you’re not smart enough to be a doctor.’

Sloane poked her tongue out at him.

‘But I can’t be injured.’ Jacinta began to cry. ‘I’ve got the gymnastics championships next month.’

‘And you have to sing tonight,’ Sloane reminded her. ‘Maybe you won’t be able to.’

‘Sloane, don’t say that,’ Millie mouthed.

Alice-Miranda knelt down to take a look. ‘I think we should find Mummy and Aunt Charlotte. I’m sure it’s nothing serious but it’s better to be on the safe side.’

Millie and Lucinda volunteered to go and locate the grown-ups.

‘Where’d Fabien go?’ Sep asked.

The lad who had been playing with them seemed to have disappeared. The children looked around but he was gone.

Jacinta was crying quietly. Her toe was throbbing like a drumbeat and she was making herself sick with worry about the gymnastics competition. As it was, she’d been concerned about taking the week off from training.

The elderly gentlemen who had been playing on the court beside the children wandered over one by one. They leaned in to take a look at Jacinta’s toe and shook their heads, except one old fellow who did speak English. ‘Those balls are heavy, especially when they hit your foot,’ he observed. ‘Probably broken. I will call an ambulance.’

‘Oh no, sir, that’s not necessary. My mother and aunt are here in the park. Millie and Lucinda have gone to find them so we’ll be fine,’ Alice-Miranda said.

Jacinta began to cry louder. ‘I’m not going in an ambulance. I just need some ice.’

‘But she needs a doctor,’ the man insisted.

‘No, monsieur, please, I’m sure Jacinta will be fine,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

‘Well, she is big crybaby,’ he said with a shrug and walked off.

‘Rude!’ Sloane said indignantly.

Lucas pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket and sat down beside Jacinta. She leaned her head on his shoulder and he reached out and held her hand. Jacinta sniffed and, despite the pain in her toe getting worse, she allowed herself a small smile.

Millie and Lucinda came running back with Cecelia in tow. Charlotte was taking it more carefully.

‘Oh darling, you poor thing.’ Cecelia knelt down to examine Jacinta’s injured toe. It was noticeably swollen and beginning to turn black, and there was a small cut too. ‘I think we should get you to a hospital to be on the safe side. We’ll take you in a taxi and then I’ll call your mother.’

Jacinta shook her head. ‘She can’t do anything. She’s at home.’

‘Perhaps.’ Cecelia smiled tightly. Turning up to see her daughter in hospital was the least Ambrosia could do, Cecelia thought to herself.

Charlotte reached the group. ‘Oh dear, are you all right, Jacinta?’ she asked.

Jacinta began to cry again.

‘We can’t take everyone to the hospital, Mummy. How about you and I take Jacinta and then Aunt Charlotte can walk everyone back to the hotel,’ Alice-Miranda suggested.

Charlotte nodded. ‘I’ll get us all some lunch and we can still hire the boats if you like. Then we can meet Cee and the girls later,’ she said, glancing around at the children.

Lucas looked at Jacinta. ‘I’ll come with you, if that’s okay.’

‘I think that’s a great idea,’ Alice-Miranda agreed. ‘Maybe I should stay and take care of Aunt Charlotte. Plus, it’s terribly mean of me to leave you too, Lucinda, when I asked you to come today.’

‘No, you should go,’ Lucinda protested. ‘I’m sure that Millie and Sloane and Sep will take good care of me. And Mama and Papa said that we could go to mass at Notre Dame to watch your performance tonight, so I’ll see you again before we leave.’

Alice-Miranda rushed over to hug her friend. Then she hugged Millie and Sloane, and Sep too for good measure.

Jacinta managed to get to her feet. With Cecelia on one side and Lucas on the other, she hobbled the short distance to one of the park exits. Alice-Miranda hailed a taxi and soon enough they were speeding towards the hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris, just by Notre Dame.