Amelia Dee and the Peacock Lamp by Odo Hirsch Read Free Book Online Page B

particular family shouldn’t make her important. On the other hand, perhaps Eugenie was right. You could meet plenty of people who thought they were important any day, but you couldn’t just go out and meet a princess, who really might be.
    Besides, it wasn’t because the Princess was important – or considered herself to be important – that Amelia thought it would be interesting to meet her, but to hear about her life. That would have to be interesting. Although she was so stern, and so forbidding, and Amelia hadn’t exactly got off to the best start with her.
    Amelia licked her ice-cream thoughtfully. She watched the lady serving behind the counter. Her name was Mrs Egmont and she always went about her work very seriously. Her husband, Mr Egmont, was a much more cheerful character, and always gave you more ice-cream than you paid for.
    Mrs Egmont was serving up a triple-scooper, and a little boy, who looked barely big enough to manage a double-scooper, was waiting greedily for it. He had his money ready in his grubby little hands, and was jumping from foot to foot in excitement.
    Suddenly Amelia was aware of silence around her. She looked back at Kevin and Eugenie.
    ‘Well?’ said Kevin. ‘Are you going to meet her, or aren’t you?’
    Amelia shrugged. ‘Mr Vishwanath said he’ll introduce me next Saturday, if I want.’
    ‘Oh, Amelia . . .’ said Eugenie. She sighed. ‘Next Saturday! You’re so lucky. You must, you really must. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To meet a princess. A real princess. How glamorous!’
    Eugenie’s eyes were sparkling with excitement. But Eugenie hadn’t seen the Princess as Amelia had seen her, wearing a green leotard and standing on one foot with the other foot hooked around her neck. Even Eugenie might have found it hard to think about the Princess as someone glamorous if she had seen her like that.
    ‘Do you have to wear anything special?’ asked Eugenie.
    ‘No,’ said Amelia.
    ‘I could lend you my pink top,’ said Eugenie. ‘The one with the lace.’
    ‘I don’t need it.’
    ‘Princesses like lace.’
    ‘How do you know?’ asked Kevin.
    ‘Because I do. They like sewing, as well.’
    ‘Sewing?’ demanded Kevin incredulously.
    ‘Yes. All princesses are taught to sew.’
    ‘Why would they need to? They can buy whatever they want.’
    ‘They don’t need to. That’s exactly the point. It’s because they don’t need to. A princess can learn to do anything. They can play the piano and do watercolours and speak all kinds of languages.’
    ‘Did you hear that, Amelia?’ said Kevin. ‘A princess can learn to do anything, and the less she needs to do, the more she wants to do it. Alright, Eugenie. What else can you tell us about princesses?’
    A lot of things, apparently. The list was almost endless. As they left the Sticky Sunday, Eugenie was still telling them. The fact that Eugenie had the same name as a long-dead French empress seemed to give her some special kind of closeness to royalty, at least in her own mind. She was so excited about the prospect of Amelia meeting the Princess that it almost made Amelia decide not to go, just to see what Eugenie would do. But it really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as Eugenie had said. Or at least a once-until-now-in-her-lifetime opportunity, because Amelia couldn’t tell what other opportunities would come along in her lifetime, possibly including the chance to meet another princess. But possibly not. So possibly it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And Amelia wasn’t the kind of person to give up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, or even an opportunity that might only possibly be one.
    Although the Princess was definitely scary. But she couldn’t be as horrible as she seemed, thought Amelia. No one could. She must really be a very nice old lady. That was what Mr Vishwanath had said, wasn’t it? She was probably very pleasant once you started talking to her. Even to someone who had crept in