Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

ramble or having a rest in their rooms. She kept thinking about Aunt Violet. The lady in the painting was much nicer to talk to than the woman downstairs. She was a bossy boots.
    Then Clementine remembered the sphynx. Aunt Violet was staying downstairs on the second floor in the Rose Room. She left Lavender sound asleep and made her way along the hall and down the main staircase to the level below. The Rose Room was by far the biggest and prettiest in the whole house. It was also the one that her mother used to advertise the hotel. The room was at the end of the corridor and had a wonderful view of the garden on three sides. It was also the only room with a new bathroom, which had been installed after Lady Clarissa won a bathroom makeover package the year before.
    Clementine knocked at the door. There was no answer so she turned the handle and opened it just enough to peek her head around.
    ‘Hello, Aunt Violet, are you here?’ she called. The room was silent.
    Clementine looked about for the black bag. Uncle Digby must have brought up Aunt Violet’s luggage from the car. Sitting on the floor at the end of the bed were three huge suitcases and a beauty case as well. Clementine thought that was a lot for someone staying just one night. Usually weekend guests had only half as much.
    One of the suitcases was open. Clementine had a peek under the flap. Sitting on top of a pile of neatly folded clothes was a small gold clock and a bronze statue of a horse. There were some silver candlesticks too. She thought Aunt Violet must really like those things a lot to take them with her for a holiday.
    A ruby velvet chaise longue sat underneath the side window. The fabric was a little frayed around the edges but Lady Clarissa had a clever way with throw rugs and cushions and could make the shabbiest of furniture seem well loved rather than in need of fixing. A tall cedar chest of drawers stood beside the doorway to the ensuite bathroom. A roll-top writing desk took up one corner of the room, and there was a dressing table too. On it sat a large vase full of red, pink and peach roses her mother had cut from the garden.
    Clementine’s favourite thing in the Rose Room was the enormous four-poster bed. It was so tall that you needed a special stepladder to climb onto it. When the house was empty, Clementine often spent time in this room, climbing up and down onto the bed. Lavender tried to get up too sometimes but her little legs just weren’t long enough.
    Clementine tiptoed around to the other side of the bed.
    ‘Sphynx,’ she whispered in a singsong voice, ‘where are you?’ Then she spotted the black bag sitting open on the floor. ‘Oh!’ Clementine gasped. The bag was empty. Maybe the creature was on the bed. She scooted up the little ladder onto the patchwork duvet and came face to face with the strangest creature she’d ever seen.
    ‘Argh!’ She drew in a sharp breath and kept as still as she could. It was lying in the middle of the bed and had huge pointy ears and a strange wrinkly head. The beast half-opened its green eyes and glared at her.

    Clementine had no idea what it was. It sort of looked like a giant rat or maybe a cat, but it didn’t have any fur. The creature stared at her in a disgusted sort of way, just like the lady had looked at her when she had spilled the orange juice the week before.
    Clementine gulped.
    ‘What are you doing in here?’ a voice demanded. Clementine Rose spun around to see Aunt Violet charging through the door. ‘You leave my Pharaoh alone,’ she growled.
    ‘I . . . I didn’t touch him, I promise,’ Clementine protested.
    ‘I told you before that he doesn’t like children.’ Violet strode towards the bed, her eyes scanning the room. ‘Have you been snooping through my things?’
    Clementine shook her head. ‘No, of course not, Aunt Violet. Well, except that I saw your horse statue and some candlesticks and a clock. They must be very precious for you to bring them on