Alice-Miranda in the Alps

by Jacqueline Harvey

  The man kissed the top of the pooch’s head. ‘Only diamonds for my little princess.’ He shook Hugh’s hand firmly. ‘Welcome, welcome, it is my great honour to have you here at Fanger’s Palace Hotel, the finest establishment in the world.’

  Millie thought that was a very bold statement. It looked rather posh from the lobby but whether it was the best hotel in the whole wide world was yet to be seen.

  ‘It’s very good to meet you too, Herr Fanger. Who’s your friend?’ Hugh was about to give the little dog a pat when the creature growled and snapped at him.

  ‘Please forgive my Gertie. She’s daddy’s girl,’ Herr Fanger said, depositing the creature into the arms of a nearby bellboy.

  The young lad eyed the terrier warily.

  ‘Take her for potty,’ Herr Fanger instructed, ‘and make sure that you … you know.’ The hotelier made a wiping motion with his hand.

  The bellboy looked at him blankly. ‘Do I have to spell it out for you?’ Otto pulled a packet of baby wipes from inside his jacket. ‘Wipe her bottom.’

  The children giggled. Hamish and Hugh couldn’t help but guffaw, though they quickly covered their mouths and pretended to cough.

  ‘My apologies,’ Otto Fanger said. He glanced at the empty tray Brigitte was holding. ‘I see you have sampled my chocolate.’

  ‘They were the best chocolates ever!’ Millie enthused.

  ‘Why, then you must have more,’ Otto said, waggling his head up and down.

  Brigitte scurried away, returning a minute later with a large gold box. Otto removed the lid and Brigitte offered the chocolates to the group.

  ‘I can personally recommend all of them. I take quality control very seriously,’ Otto remarked with utmost sincerity.

  Sloane nudged Jacinta and grinned. ‘Gee, you could never tell,’ she whispered.

  The man took a toffee-covered sweet and popped it into his mouth.

  ‘I think we’re ready to go up now, darling,’ Cecelia called to her husband. ‘I’ve booked dinner for seven-thirty at a pizza place in the village. I thought the children might prefer that tonight.’

  Otto Fanger swept towards the women, blocking their path. ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ He held up both hands, waving them about like windscreen wipers. ‘You must not proceed until I have the pleasure of making your acquaintances,’ Otto said theatrically.

  ‘Oh, I’m Cecelia Highton-Smith and this is Pippa McLoughlin-McTavish.’ The woman looked at the man quizzically, then at her husband, who shrugged. The fellow rather reminded her of Mr Plumpton, Alice-Miranda’s Science teacher, although he was quite a bit wider and a lot more confident.

  ‘I am Otto Fanger and it is my joy to have you here in my hotel.’ He smiled at the ladies, then turned back to Hugh and Hamish. ‘My dear gentlemen, you are both very lucky men. Your wives are beautiful!’ At that moment, Delphine Doerflinger walked into the foyer and shot her husband a dark look. ‘So, of course, is my own precious wife and here she is now. Come and meet the Highton-Smith-Kennington-Joneses and their friends, my petal.’

  The corners of Delphine’s mouth twitched ever so slightly before turning upwards into a smile. She was dressed in a black skirt suit with a crisp white shirt. Her hair, pulled tautly into a French roll, made her angular features seem even more pinched.

  ‘Please allow me to introduce my wife, Delphine Doerflinger,’ Otto said as Delphine strode towards them.

  ‘I wonder if she can,’ Sep muttered.

  Lucas frowned. ‘Can what?’

  ‘Fling doors,’ Sep said, sniggering.

  ‘Lame.’ Sloane shook her head slowly. ‘So lame.’

  ‘It is very good to meet you all,’ the woman said warmly. ‘I do hope you enjoy your stay with us.’

  ‘The children are looking forward to exploring the hotel,’ Cecelia said.

  ‘Of course they are,’ Delphine replied. ‘Now, if you would please excuse me, I have some urgent business to attend to.’

  Just as Frau Doerflinger turned to leave, there was a kerfuffle at the entrance to the hotel. Everyone looked over to see the revolving door spinning wildly.

  ‘Come back!’ someone shouted.

  There was a flash of white as Gertie skidded through several pairs of legs, racing towards the group.

  ‘Stop her!’ the young bellboy yelped, clutching a handful of soiled baby wipes.

  ‘Gertie, come to Papa,’ Otto called, his arms outstretched.

  But the pampered pooch had no intention of coming to Papa. Instead, she barrelled straight into Cecelia’s legs. The woman squealed and threw her hands up in the air, knocking into Delphine and sending their key cards sliding all over the floor.

  Delphine Doerflinger looked set to explode. ‘You naughty mutt,’ she hissed.

  Otto snatched the dog into his arms. ‘Gertie, my precious. What has upset you so?’ He glared at the bellboy.

  ‘I d-d-don’t know,’ the fellow stammered. ‘She did not take kindly to my attentions.’

  Otto turned to Cecelia. ‘My apologies, madame, please let me help you.’ He tried to bend down and pick up the cards but negotiating his stomach and the dog was proving too difficult.

  Delphine rolled her eyes, then swooped down and gathered the keys herself. ‘Here, let me get them sorted for you.’

  ‘No, please don’t fuss,’ Cecelia insisted. ‘It won’t take a minute to work it out when we’re upstairs. You have somewhere to be.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Frau Doerflinger smiled tightly and handed over the key cards. ‘Otto, please see that our guests have everything they need,’ she said sternly before striding away.

  ‘I wouldn’t want to be Herr Fanger tonight,’ Millie whispered to Alice-Miranda and Sloane.

  Sloane nodded. ‘She’s fierce.’

  ‘I am terribly sorry about that,’ Otto said. ‘Gertie is a little overly enthusiastic at times. Please, may I personally invite you all to a cocktail reception in the lounge at six o’clock tonight? Might I ask how long you will be staying with us?’

  ‘We’ll be here until the weekend,’ Hugh replied. ‘We usually ski in Zermatt but my wife’s company, Highton’s, are sponsoring one of the races on Sunday.’

  ‘Ah, Zermatt – another lovely resort,’ the man replied. ‘But, alas, it does not have the White Turf. It is the most glorious spectacle – all those beautiful people and beautiful horses on that beautiful frozen lake. There is so much beauty your eyes will ache.’

  The children giggled.

  ‘Where, may I ask, do you stay when you are in Zermatt?’ Otto asked.

  ‘The Grand Hotel Von Zwicky,’ Hugh replied.

  ‘It’s owned by our dear friend the Baron,’ Cecelia added.

  ‘That is a lovely hotel,’ Otto agreed. ‘I would like to own it myself.’

  ‘Sadly, Herr Fanger, I don’t think it will be for sale anytime soon,’ Hugh replied. ‘The Baron and Baroness love their hotel as much as you love yours.’

  Otto chuckled. ‘Yes, we will see.’

  Hugh frowned, wondering exactly what the man meant by that.

  Gertie barked loudly.

  ‘What is it, my princess?’ Otto leaned towards the mutt, whose tongue shot out and licked him on the side of his lip.

  Sloane screwed up her nose. ‘Gross,’ she whispered.

  ‘I think my baby is wanting her supper,’ Otto said with a grin. ‘See you again soon,’ he trilled as Brigitte guided the family to the lift at the end of the corridor.

  Delphine Doerflinger checked her watch as she rushed down the stairs. Her delivery would be arriving any minute and she still had to check the paperwork. She swiped her key card, then pushed the door open and hurried along to a small lift.

  Delphine reached inside her skirt pocket, her fingers searching the folds of the fabric. Her stomach lurched and her heart began to hammer like a drum when she realised the key was gone. Had she left it upstairs? No, she remembered putting it in her pocket as she always did. Delphine breathed deeply.

  �
�Calm down and think,’ she muttered to herself. ‘Where could you have lost it?’

  It must have fallen out when that confounding animal caused all the fuss, Delphine thought. There was no time to search for it now. She’d have to find it later, and thankfully there was the spare in her office safe. Even though she couldn’t imagine anyone would know what to do with it, the idea that a key to the Fanger’s vault was lost in the hotel was unsettling to say the least.

  Millie pulled back the floor-to-ceiling curtains in the enormous bedroom she and Alice-Miranda were sharing. The windows looked out on the lake with the majestic Alps as a backdrop.

  ‘That view is amazing,’ she said, running to get her camera.

  ‘Look at all the marquees over there,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘That must be the racetrack.’

  ‘Wow!’ Millie snapped away, taking pictures from every angle.

  ‘It looks tiny but I suppose that’s just because the lake is enormous,’ Jacinta said. She and Sloane had already unpacked and had come to work out where they should go exploring first.

  Everyone had been shown to their rooms by Brigitte and was busy settling into their sumptuous accommodation. Shilly and Dolly each had their own rooms at the end of the corridor, with Sloane and Jacinta bunked in together next door to Mrs Oliver. Pippa and Hamish came next and had volunteered to have Sep and Lucas in their spare room, while Millie and Alice-Miranda’s bedroom adjoined the sitting room of Hugh and Cecelia’s gorgeous suite. The entire wing had its own separate entrance hall from the hotel corridor.

  ‘What do you think, kids?’ Cecelia said, poking her head in from the sitting room.

  ‘It’s heavenly,’ Jacinta gushed, falling back onto the puffy duvet on Millie’s bed.

  Sep walked into the room, waving a brochure, with Lucas right behind him. ‘Hey, have you guys seen this?’

  ‘What is it?’ Millie asked, turning away from the window to take his picture.

  ‘Well, you know how they have the bobsleigh run here?’ Sep said excitedly. ‘There’s this other, even madder thing called the –’

  ‘Cresta,’ Hugh said, striding into the room. ‘Riders race headfirst down an ice track on little sleds.’

  ‘Headfirst,’ Lucas gasped. ‘Cool!’

  Sloane shuddered.

  ‘Is there an age limit for that too?’ Lucas asked.

  Sep scanned the page and nodded. ‘You have to be eighteen years old and apparently girls aren’t allowed to do it at all.’

  ‘What? That’s stupid!’ Millie protested. ‘Girls can do anything boys can. I wonder who made that rule.’

  ‘Daddy, can we go and watch the people on the Cresta?’ Alice-Miranda asked. ‘Even if we can’t do it, it would be fun to see.’

  Hugh nodded. ‘I’d love to. I might even have a go myself.’

  ‘You most certainly will not, Hugh Kennington-Jones,’ Cecelia said, shaking her head. ‘We need you in one piece.’

  Hugh pouted and blinked his big brown eyes.

  ‘Don’t even try that puppy-dog look on me,’ Cecelia said, wagging her finger. ‘It won’t work.’

  But there was a cheeky glint in Hugh’s eye that neither of the boys missed. He gave the lads a wink.

  ‘I’m going to make a suggestion,’ Cecelia announced brightly. ‘Why don’t you kids go and explore the hotel while us oldies rest for half an hour? We’re due at Herr Fanger’s cocktail party at six o’clock, so you can meet us in the lobby at five to. Just don’t leave the hotel. We can go for a walk around the village after dinner.’

  ‘That’s a good idea, Mummy,’ Alice-Miranda said, hopping off her bed.

  ‘Don’t forget to take your key.’ Cecelia handed her daughter a swipe card that was sitting on the dressing table.

  ‘I’ll get the lift,’ Millie called, rushing off ahead of the others.

  The hallway was lined with ornate antique armoires, side tables and lamps. Millie pressed the button and waited while the others caught up. As the bell dinged, the doors slid open and Frau Doerflinger strode out, clutching a red folder to her chest.

  Millie smiled up at her. ‘Hel–’

  But the woman turned on her heel and stalked to the end of the hall.

  ‘–lo.’ Millie scoffed and pulled a face. ‘Lovely to see you again too, Frau Doerflinger.’

  ‘Wow, she’s not exactly friendly,’ Sloane said as she watched the woman disappear through a door marked ‘Private’.

  ‘Perhaps Frau Doerflinger has a lot of things on her mind,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘Running a hotel must be a very busy job.’

  ‘Yeah, except that I thought service was the name of the game,’ Jacinta pointed out. ‘Her husband seemed nice enough, but did you notice that she only paid attention to the adults? I have a feeling she doesn’t like kids very much at all.’

  Alice-Miranda lingered in the hallway as the children piled into the lift. She had a strange feeling that someone was watching them, and turned to see that the door Frau Doerflinger had gone through was slightly ajar. She peered at it and could have sworn that someone was there.

  ‘Hurry up, Alice-Miranda.’ Jacinta beckoned as the lift doors began to close.

  Lucas reached out and pressed the button to reopen them.

  ‘Coming,’ the girl called, looking back again to find that the door marked ‘Private’ was now firmly closed.

  The children hurried into the reception area, eager for directions to the hotel swimming pool and to find out if there was a games room too. A concierge looked up and greeted them with a smile. ‘Hello there. How may I help you?’ he asked.

  ‘Hello,’ Alice-Miranda said. ‘We were hoping to find the pool.’

  While they waited for the man to draw them a map, Millie gazed around admiring the decor in the hotel foyer. Her eyes came to rest upon something shiny poking out from the base of a huge ceramic pot beside the concierge desk. She bent down to pick it up.

  ‘What’s that?’ Sloane asked.

  Millie shrugged. ‘It looks like a coin, but I don’t know where it’s from.’ She turned it over in her fingers. There was a mountain goat on one side and a cross on the other.

  ‘You’d better hand it in,’ Alice-Miranda suggested.

  Millie hesitated for a second. It was so pretty and shiny. ‘Excuse me, sir, I just found this on the floor,’ she said, holding up her treasure.

  The concierge took it from her and examined the little gold disc. ‘It must have been attached to a box of chocolates. See, there is the goat of the mountains and the cross for the Swiss flag – the symbol on Fanger’s Chocolate.’

  ‘May I keep it?’ Millie asked.

  ‘Of course,’ he said, dropping it back into the girl’s hand with a friendly smile.

  Millie grinned and put it into her jacket pocket. ‘Maybe it will be my good-luck charm.’

  The children thanked the man for his help before weaving through the enormous lounge area with its timber ceilings and comfortable leather couches. There were several groups of tourists enjoying a late afternoon tea.

  They followed the concierge’s map to a staircase at the far end of the room and scampered down several flights, where they found the entrance to the hotel spa. Huge glass doors led into a cave-like grotto with a gigantic swimming pool. Along its farthest side were floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on a magnificent view of the lake and the Alps.

  ‘Look, there’s another pool outside,’ Sep said as he spied steam rising amid the snow-covered outdoor furniture.

  ‘Wow – we should try it later,’ Sloane said.

  ‘It’s supposed to be really good for you to run through the snow and then leap into the hot water,’ Alice-Miranda said.

  Millie shivered at the thought. ‘No, thank you.’

  Alice-Miranda grinned at her friend. ‘Maybe we could ice-skate on the tennis courts instead. Daddy said they freeze over in the winter, so it’s impossible to play, and they use it as a skating rink instead.’

  The children walked into the pool area t
o take a closer look.

  ‘It must be boiling.’ Millie leaned down and dipped her hand in. ‘Yup, it’s sort of like the onsen in Tokyo except we’ll get to keep our clothes on this time.’

  Jacinta cringed. ‘Don’t remind me. That was the most embarrassing day of my life.’

  ‘I wish I could have been there,’ Sloane said.

  ‘Trust me,’ Millie replied, ‘that’s one experience you wouldn’t mind missing out on.’

  Sloane and Sep sat down on two of the reclining lounge chairs beside the pool. The other kids quickly joined them.

  ‘Who wants to go for a swim after dinner?’ Jacinta asked.

  There was a chorus of yeses as hands shot up in the air.

  ‘Maybe we could go ice-skating tomorrow night,’ Alice-Miranda suggested.

  ‘We should visit the Cresta Run tomorrow too, because they don’t do it every day,’ Sep added.

  Alice-Miranda nodded. She glanced at the clock above the door and was surprised to find it was already quarter to six. ‘Oops,’ she said, jumping up. ‘We’d better get going. We have to meet the adults in ten minutes.’

  ‘That looks like a short cut,’ Jacinta said. She pointed to a sign on a door labelled ‘Lounge’, just to the left of the spa reception.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Millie said doubtfully. ‘What does it say on the map, Alice-Miranda?’

  ‘Well, I can’t really tell,’ the child replied, trying to decipher the concierge’s scribbles.

  ‘We might as well give it a go,’ Lucas said, heading for the door.

  The rest of them followed him down the passage to a door where a man in black had just walked through. The boy caught the handle before it closed. They scooted inside, none of them noticing the ‘Private’ sign which had fallen off and was lying facedown on the floor.

  They walked along an empty hallway, the decor having deteriorated significantly from the beautifully panelled walls and luxurious light fittings.

  Sloane fidgeted nervously. ‘Maybe we should just go back the way we came,’ she whispered.

  ‘Why? Are you scared?’ Jacinta teased.

  The girl lifted her chin. ‘No. It’s just that this doesn’t exactly look like the rest of the hotel,’ Sloane replied.