‘Uncle Digby,’ Clementine yelled as she ran ahead of her great-aunt into the house. Uncle Digby was sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of tea and looking his usual self again.
He grinned at her. ‘Hello there, miss.’
Clementine raced around and gave the old man a tight squeeze. ‘We missed you so much. And Mummy and Aunt Violet and Mrs Mogg had to run the whole wedding and it was almost a disaster when the hot water broke but then Aunt Violet fixed it,’ she babbled. ‘Is your heart better?’
‘My old ticker is just fine. Nothing to worry about,’ he replied.
She was glad to hear it. It seemed that Arya was right about her father being able to fix broken hearts.
Clementine released Uncle Digby and rushed over to the sideboard. Uncle Digby’s card was there with Angus’s present. She picked up the card and took it over to the table.
Aunt Violet motioned at the little box. ‘Go on, Clementine, give Uncle Digby his present too,’ she said.
‘But . . .’ Clementine began.
‘But nothing, Clementine. It’s the thought that counts,’ her great-aunt encouraged her.
Clemmie raced back and picked up the parcel. She looked with sad eyes at the old man. ‘I wanted this to be perfect.’
Uncle Digby studied the card. On the front was a picture of Clementine and Lavender standing beside Aunt Violet and Pharaoh and Lady Clarissa. It said: ‘What’s missing?’
He opened it up and inside there was a picture of himself.
‘You’, it said. A tear formed in the corner of his eye. He brushed it away hastily and then read the message aloud. Clementine had told her mother what she wanted to say and then copied it carefully into the card after her mother had written it on a piece of paper.
Dear Uncle Digby, get well soon. We miss you so much – even Aunt Violet. Lots of love, Clementine and Lavender xxx
Uncle Digby laughed. So did Lady Clarissa, and even Aunt Violet managed to smile.
‘Well, aren’t you going to open your present?’ Aunt Violet asked.
Digby Pertwhistle picked at the sticky tape and then unwrapped the paper. Clementine stood beside him as he lifted the lid off the box.
‘Oh!’ he exclaimed. ‘I’ve wanted one of these since I was a boy.’
‘Really?’ Clementine grinned. ‘Is that true?’
Aunt Violet coughed. ‘They didn’t make them a hundred years ago, Pertwhistle.’
He pulled out the remote-controlled bug, which closely resembled a giant bumblebee, and the little controller that went with it.
‘Let’s give it a whirl.’ He flicked the switch. The tiny wings began to flap. The insect took off, whizzing through the air and dive-bombing Aunt Violet.
‘Steady on there, man,’ she yelled.
His mouth twitched. ‘Oh, we’re going to have a lot of fun with this one.’ He sent the bug flying past Lavender, who grunted loudly, and Pharaoh, who swatted at it with his paw.
‘Thank you, Clementine. It’s perfect.’ Uncle Digby put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head just as the little bug crash-landed onto the table, right into the middle of one of Pierre’s strawberry sponge cakes.
Clementine gave Uncle Digby a hug and then smiled at her mother and great-aunt. Yes, it was – just perfect.
Clementine Rose Appleby
Five-year-old daughter of Lady Clarissa
Lavender
Clemmie’s teacup pig
Lady Clarissa Appleby
Clementine’s mother and the owner of Penberthy House
Digby Pertwhistle
Butler at Penberthy House
Aunt Violet Appleby
Clementine’s grandfather’s sister
Pharaoh
Aunt Violet’s beloved sphynx cat
Friends and village folk
Margaret Mogg
Owner of the Penberthy Floss village shop
Clyde Mogg
Husband of Mrs Mogg
Father Bob
Village minister
Pierre Rousseau
Owner of Pierre’s Patisserie in Highton Mill
School staff and students
Miss Arabella Critchley
Head teacher at Ellery Prep
Mrs Ethel Bottomley
Teacher at Ellery Prep
Sophie Rousseau
Clementine’s best friend – also five years old
Poppy Bauer
Clementine’s good friend – also five years old
Angus Archibald
Naughty kindergarten boy
Joshua Tribble
Friend of Angus’s
Astrid
Clever kindergarten girl
Others
Mrs Tribble
Joshua’s mother
Sebastian Smote
Wedding planner
Dr Brendan Gunalingam
Groom’s brother
Karthika Gunalingam
Groom’s sister-in-law
Arya, Alisha and Aksara Gunalingam
Groom’s nieces and nephew
Ryan Gunalingam
Groom
Harriet Fox
Bride
Roberta and Hector Fox
Bride’s parents
Uncle Orville Fox
Great-uncle of the bride
Jacqueline Harvey taught for many years in girls’ boarding schools. She is the author of the bestselling Alice-Miranda series and the Clementine Rose series, and was awarded Honour Book in the 2006 Australian CBC Awards for her picture book The Sound of the Sea. She now writes full-time and is working on more Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose adventures.
www.jacquelineharvey.com.au
Books by Jacqueline Harvey
Alice-Miranda at School
Alice-Miranda on Holiday
Alice-Miranda Takes the Lead
Alice-Miranda at Sea
Alice-Miranda in New York
Alice-Miranda Shows the Way
Alice-Miranda in Paris
Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor
Clementine Rose and the Pet Day Disaster
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Clementine Rose and the Perfect Present
9781742755465
Copyright © Jacqueline Harvey 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Random House Australia in 2013
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Harvey, Jacqueline
Title: Clementine Rose and the perfect present [electronic resource] / Jacqueline Harvey
ISBN: 9781742755465 (ebook)
Series: Harvey, Jacqueline. Clementine Rose; 3
Target audience: For primary school age
Dewey number: A823.4
Cover and internal illustrations by J.Yi
Cover design by Leanne Beattie
Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Typesetting and eBook production by Midland Typesetters, Australia
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