Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor 1 by Jacqueline Harvey Page B

safari,’ the girls chorused. Lavender snorted happily.

A t half past eight, after a wonderful tale about mischief-making monkeys and a hippo who liked to eat liquorice, the children brushed their teeth and crawled into their makeshift beds. Outside, the rain had begun to splatter against the windows but within minutes the only noise inside the tents was the shallow breathing of little bodies and a small squeak coming from Lavender, who was also fast asleep.
    Clarissa peeked in on the group, switched off the children’s torches and closed the library door.
    Aunt Violet had stayed in her room for the rest of the day. Clarissa had taken her a tea tray of boiled eggs and toasty soldiers for her supper, but Violet was fast asleep. Beside her, Pharaoh opened one eye and stared at his hostess, then curled his lip. Clarissa thought Clementine was quite right when she said that he was the strangest creature she’d ever seen.
    Clarissa looked at the bags and clothes covering the room. Her aunt certainly had a lot of luggage with her. She walked over to straighten the cushions on the chaise longue and noticed a letter on the desk.
    Clarissa leaned in to take a closer look, scanning the page. She glanced towards the bed where her aunt slept. ‘So that’s why you’re here,’ she whispered. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have nowhere to go. And while Aunt Violet was a lot of things, cranky and rude being top of the list, she was also family.
    Just after 10 pm, Digby Pertwhistle retired to his room. It wasn’t long afterwards that Lady Clarissa made a final check on the children and went up to bed too.
    Outside, the wind was beginning to howl. A loose shutter on the far end of the house had started to bang and Clarissa hoped that it didn’t wake anyone. She hated the thought of having to go and attend to it in her nightdress, but it wouldn’t be the first time. Overhead, thunder rumbled but down in the library the children slept without stirring.

    Clementine was in the middle of a lovely dream about her grandpa. She was telling him a new poem she had learned when suddenly lightning tore open the darkness and filled the library with light. She awoke with a start and felt as if she was falling through a giant hole in the sky.
    It took her a few moments to remember where she was.
    Clementine lay awake under the desk as the light flickered around her. Goosebumps suddenly sprang up along her arms. It wasn’t just the storm – she had a feeling there was someone else in the room. She crept to the edge of the tent and pulled open the sheets. A figure dressed in white stood at the end of the room. It had silver hair and bare feet and there was a glow coming from the end if its arm. Clementine wondered if it was one of her ancestors, perhaps from the portraits on the walls. She watched as the ghost pulled some books from the shelf. Clementine rubbed her eyes and wondered if she was still dreaming.
    ‘I knew it,’ a voice whispered. ‘I knew you were in here. And now you’re mine.’
    It was the ghost speaking. Clementine reached for the camera beside her.
    Sophie stirred. ‘What are you doing?’ she yawned.
    ‘Shhhh!’ Clementine pressed her finger against Sophie’s lips. ‘There’s a ghost out there.’

    Sophie’s eyes widened. ‘A ghost? On our safari?’
    ‘I’m going to take its picture,’ Clementine whispered.
    Sophie shook her head. ‘No!’
    ‘Stay here.’ Clementine began to crawl out from under the desk.
    The ghost had its back to her. It turned around and at the same time a huge streak of lightning lit up the window and the whole library.
    ‘Oh!’ The ghost caught its breath. ‘Who’s there?’ it whispered urgently when it saw Jules’s two-storey tent.
    Clementine crept in front of the white figure and pressed the button on the camera. The flash went off and Aunt Violet stood frozen to the spot.
    ‘You again! What are you doing?’ she demanded.
    ‘Phew!’ Clementine let out the