Chapter Seven

A Kitten on the Loose

Bea stared round the passageway, desperately wondering where Tiger had gone. Then she spotted a flash of ginger fur behind a bookcase. The kitten scampered out of hiding and scratched an expensive-looking chair. Bea pulled a face. Mrs Stickler was bound to notice those scratch marks!

Next Tiger leapt on to a side table and peered into a gold-painted vase. Bea crept up to the kitten, planning to catch him while he wasn’t looking. But as soon as she got close, Tiger sprang off the table and darted towards the stairs.

Alfie, whose knee seemed much better, ran after Bea. “Let me help!” he yelled. “I’ll catch him!”

Bea didn’t wait for him. Her stomach was churning. What if Tiger ran outside? The palace gardens were so big he was sure to get lost somewhere.

Tiger raced down the stairs and Bea and Alfie chased after him. Alfie tried to overtake his sister by leaping down the last two steps. He lost his balance and banged his injured knee on the floor. “Ouch!” he yelled, clutching his leg.

Tiger jumped in surprise and ran behind a shoe rack. Then he peeked over the top of the king’s wellington boots, his whiskers trembling.

“Prince Alfred, what on earth is the matter?” Mrs Stickler came rushing out of the dining room. “For a moment I thought something terrible had happened.”

“Sorry!” Alfie rubbed his knee. “I just banged my leg.”

“Then perhaps you should try coming downstairs a little more carefully,” said the housekeeper sharply. “I hope you weren’t chasing him, Princess Beatrice.”

“No, I wasn’t. I promise!” Bea edged in front of the shoe rack to hide the kitten from view. She really hoped Tiger didn’t move until Mrs Stickler went away again.

“Well, I hope you aren’t coming to dinner dressed in those dusty clothes,” said the housekeeper. “Dinner’s in twenty minutes so there’s plenty of time to change.”

Bea tried to think of an excuse for staying downstairs. “I’m just looking for my jumper. I think I left it somewhere.” She pretended to look around.

There was a scraping noise from the shoe rack behind her and a wellington boot slowly toppled to the floor.

Luckily Mrs Stickler was brushing dust off a picture frame and didn’t notice the fallen boot. She inspected the grey fluff on her finger and tutted. “Nancy!” she called. “You didn’t dust properly over here.”

Nancy scurried out of the king’s study with a cleaning cloth. Through the doorway, Bea saw a row of gold and silver crowns laid out on the desk. Each one sparkled with rubies, emeralds and diamonds.

“Sorry, Mrs Stickler,” said Nancy. “I was just polishing the king’s crowns. I’ll clean the picture frames now.” She swept the cloth along each frame.

Bea caught a flash of something grey outside the study window but she was worrying about Tiger too much to wonder what it was. “Try to catch the kitten!” she muttered to Alfie. “I’ll keep Mrs Stickler busy.”

Alfie peered at the shoe rack. “I think Tiger’s gone,” he whispered back. “I can’t see him anywhere.”

Bea’s heart thudded. Nudging Alfie aside, she crouched down to look under the shoe rack. Tiger had been there just a second ago! Surely he couldn’t have disappeared that fast.

“Princess Beatrice, what on earth are you doing?” snapped the housekeeper.

“Um… I just wondered if my jumper was down here,” said Bea.

“I don’t understand how the two of you lose things so easily.” Mrs Stickler turned back to the maid. “Have you finished now, Nancy?”

Bea looked around frantically. Then she spotted the welly boot that had fallen off the rack. It was twitching and wobbling. Then it jumped forwards as if there was a frog inside it. Bea’s heart leapt. Tiger must have burrowed his way inside the welly!

Alfie giggled and Bea tried to shush him.

“There’s nothing funny about dusting, Prince Alfred!” Mrs Stickler frowned. “Please let Nancy concentrate on what she’s doing. It’s very important that the palace is absolutely spotless at all times.”

“Yes, Mrs Stickler.” Alfie sidled towards the boot with the kitten inside but Mrs Stickler reached for it first.

“Here, you can put this back where it belongs.” She bent down to pick up the boot just as a little ginger paw poked out of the top.

Bea panicked. “DUST!” she shrieked, pointing to a cabinet filled with china plates. “Look there’s dust right there!”

Mrs Stickler turned round to look at the cabinet. The welly boot performed a funny one-footed jig behind her. Nancy saw it moving and stared, round-eyed.

“Princess Be-a-trice.” The housekeeper pronounced Bea’s name very slowly. “If you’re over-excited I suggest you go and lie down before dinner.”

“Yes Mrs Stickler – sorry!” Bea edged past her and grabbed the welly, holding it tightly as she hurried back upstairs. Luckily Mrs Stickler was too busy staring at the imaginary dust on the cabinet to watch her closely.

Bea didn’t stop running until she reached her bedroom. Then she sank on to the bed and tried to get her breath back. Tiger popped his head out of the welly and his little nose twitched.

“Are you going to spend five minutes without getting into trouble?” Bea smiled as she lifted the kitten out of the boot and gave him a cuddle. Then she set Tiger down beside his food bowl and went to the window.

Daylight was fading outside. A man in a grey jacket was walking across the palace drive. Bea’s heart lifted for a moment as she wondered whether he’d seen her “Lost and Found” posters. Maybe he had some information about who Tiger belonged to. But the man turned away from the palace steps and disappeared behind a line of trees.

Bea didn’t eat much dinner because she wanted to get back to Tiger as quickly as she could. The kitten seemed happy though and spent the evening exploring Bea’s bedroom. His favourite pastime was still climbing the curtains but he also liked clambering up the bookcase and on to the wardrobe. He would shake his whiskers happily every time he reached the top before mewing sadly because he didn’t dare jump down again. Each time Bea laughed and climbed up to rescue him.

Bea made Tiger a kitten bed using an empty cardboard box from the pantry with a blanket stuffed inside. At last Tiger grew tired and snuggled down on the soft blanket. Bea opened the window a little to let in the cool breeze. Lying down in bed she watched the moon rise above the palace garden.

Tiger was such a lovely pet. Bea wished with all her heart that somewhere out there was a good home for the little kitten.