Alice-Miranda to the Rescue Read Online Free PDF Page A

Couture for Designer Dogs. Is that you?’ Reg said. He’d seen it advertised on the telly the other night after the movie had finished.
    â€˜That’s us!’ Roberta beamed, all teeth and lips. She wiggled her bottom with the HH logo on it in Reg’s direction.
    â€˜It gave me a laugh seeing all those dogs on the runway,’ Reg said. ‘Beautiful creatures, they were.’
    Myrtle rolled her eyes.
    â€˜Two of them were my big girls and Farrah Fawcett, of course. She’s a natural when it comes to modelling – you’ve never seen a dog with a more effortless twirl,’ Roberta said proudly, pushing her shoulders back and her bosoms forward.
    â€˜Do you really mean to tell me that’s where your hounds live?’ Myrtle asked. ‘That’s preposterous!’
    Over on the ladder, Barry Dankworth winced. He wished Myrtle hadn’t said that. Roberta never took kindly to criticism when it came to her beloved dogs.
    â€˜No, it’s not!’ Roberta snapped. ‘My babies deserve only the very best.’
    Myrtle snorted. ‘Next you’ll be telling me it has central heating and a swimming pool out the back.’
    Roberta glared at the woman. ‘Well, for your information –’
    â€˜Perhaps we should let you get on with moving in,’ Reg interjected. ‘I think we’ve intruded for far too long, Myrtle.’
    â€˜We haven’t had our tea yet,’ the woman bristled and hurried back to the kitchen.
    There was a stony silence as Roberta stalked along behind Myrtle and picked up the cake knife.
    â€˜How many hounds do you have?’ Myrtle asked.
    â€˜Six,’ the woman replied curtly, ‘including the current Chudleigh’s Grand Champion.’
    Myrtle poured water into the teapot. ‘Are they barkers?’
    â€˜I can assure you they are not , and even if they were, you wouldn’t hear them anyway. We had the Poochie Palace fully insulated, double-glazed and soundproofed,’ Roberta replied tartly.
    Myrtle had never heard anything so ridiculous – a double-glazed doghouse! She and Reginald only had their windows upgraded a few years back. ‘Oh, I’ve just remembered I have some urgent things to attend to before the Show Society meeting tomorrow,’ Myrtle said. ‘I’m the president, you know.’
    A thin smile perched on Roberta’s otherwise extremely full lips. ‘Never mind then.’
    Reg Parker shook Barry’s hand and nodded at Roberta. ‘It was lovely to meet you,’ he said, apologising with his eyes.
    Myrtle was already halfway down the hall when she called out her goodbyes. ‘Well, that was disappointing,’ she sniffed as her husband caught up to her on the garden path.
    â€˜It was kind of you to make the cake but, really, I’m sure it would have been better received if we’d waited another day or two,’ Reg said, gently touching his wife’s arm.
    Myrtle flinched. ‘She didn’t even say thank you. Did you see that, Reginald? Not a word of thanks from that woman’s overblown lips.’
    Meanwhile, back at the Dankworth residence, Roberta’s mood was similarly glum.
    â€˜Who’s she to tell me what my babies should and shouldn’t have?’ Roberta huffed as she put away Farrah’s tea set.
    â€˜She’s probably just never seen anyone as dedicated as you are,’ Barry said, trying to placate her as he popped a piece of cake into his mouth. ‘Mmm, this is delicious.’
    â€˜Make sure you enjoy it because you won’t be having another one ever again,’ Roberta said. ‘I can assure you Myrtle Parker and I are not going to be friends.’

Millie picked at the coloured skin around her fingernails as she and Caprice waited outside Miss Grimm’s study. The headmistress’s secretary was nowhere to be seen, leaving Millie to surmise that she was probably still in the dining room