Katherine Woodfine - Peril in Paris

First published in Great Britain 2018

by Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2018 Katherine Woodfine

Illustrations copyright © 2018 Karl James Mountford

The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted

First e-book edition 2018

978 1 4052 8704 3

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1798 4

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. All the papers we use are from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

To all the readers who asked

for more of Sophie and Lil

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain 2018 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2018 Katherine Woodfine Illustrations copyright © 2018 Karl James Mountford The moral rights of the author and illustrators have been asserted First e-book edition 2018 978 1 4052 8704 3 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1798 4 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet. Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. All the papers we use are from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

Dedication To all the readers who asked for more of Sophie and Lil

PART I PART I ‘Arnovia is as pretty as a picture postcard. It feels rather like we have gone back in time to another century. We arrived yesterday by train, travelling through a tunnel that cuts through the mountains: Papa told me it is the longest railway tunnel in Europe. Arnovia itself is a tiny country, sandwiched in between Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary. We are staying in the capital, Elffburg, on the banks of the River Elff, in lodgings close to the Royal Palace. This morning we saw the Royal Family drive out in their carriage – quite a spectacle! Papa says that his business here will be complete in three days, and then he has promised me a trip into Arnovia’s wild countryside. Until then I believe I shall be perfectly happy trying all the cakes in the city’s wonderful cake shops, which are as famous as the glorious mountains I can see in the distance . . .’ – From the diary of Alice Grayson

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

PART II

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

PART III

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PART IV

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

PART V

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

PART VI

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Back series promotional page

CHAPTER ONE

PART I

‘Arnovia is as pretty as a picture postcard. It feels rather like we have gone back in time to another century. We arrived yesterday by train, travelling through a tunnel that cuts through the mountains: Papa told me it is the longest railway tunnel in Europe.

Arnovia itself is a tiny country, sandwiched in between Germany, Switzerland and Austria-Hungary. We are staying in the capital, Elffburg, on the banks of the River Elff, in lodgings close to the Royal Palace. This morning we saw the Royal Family drive out in their carriage – quite a spectacle!

Papa says that his business here will be complete in three days, and then he has promised me a trip into Arnovia’s wild countryside. Until then I believe I shall be perfectly happy trying all the cakes in the city’s wonderful cake shops, which are as famous as the glorious mountains I can see in the distance . . .’

– From the diary of Alice Grayson

CHAPTER ONE

Wilderstein Castle, Arnovia

Anna knew that there was something strange about the new governess.

She’d had the odd feeling that something wasn’t quite right about Miss Carter from the first day she’d arrived in the schoolroom. She’d been dressed exactly as you’d expect a governess to be: spectacles, sensible shoes, hair in a neat bun. But as she’d glanced around, taking them all in – the Countess, her pouchy face patched scarlet with rouge and white with powder, the Count with his bristling moustache and his head as pink and shiny as a boiled ham, and of course, herself and Alex – Anna had thought at once that she didn’t really seem like a governess at all.

To begin with, Miss Carter was young and pretty. Their last governess had seemed at least a hundred years old. She’d had grey hair and a bonnet with a drooping black feather in it, and Alex had made up stories about how she was really a wicked witch, who lived in a cottage in the woods and kidnapped little children. But Miss Carter did not look like a witch, or not that kind of witch, anyway. Her clothes were neat and plain, but there was a sort of glamour about her. Her voice was smooth as cream as she held out a hand in the English way and said: ‘You must be Princess Anna. How do you do?’

Anna winced as she shook hands. Miss Carter had begun all wrong: she ought to have addressed Anna as ‘Your Highness’ but, more importantly, she ought to have greeted Alex first. Anna might be the eldest, but royal etiquette dictated that Alex came first in everything. The Countess pursed her lips, already displeased, but of course Alex didn’t care a bit, he just smiled and shook Miss Carter’s hand too. The new governess smiled back at him, and for a brief, flashing moment, she seemed somehow familiar. Then the moment was gone and Miss Carter was a stranger again, smiling a rather too-wide, too-white smile. It was a Cheshire Cat grin, all sugar and charm, whilst her dark eyes flitted about the room as though she was looking for something.