As they watched, Matthew opened the box . . .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
Sarah’s Dolls’ House
7
CHAPTER 2
Another Adventure
15
CHAPTER 3
Miss Creaklestick
23
CHAPTER 4
The Mysterious Code
35
CHAPTER 5
Jonathan has to Hide
45
CHAPTER 6
The Discovery in the Attic
57
CHAPTER 7
The Big Picture
63
CHAPTER 8
The Diamond Necklace
73
CHAPTER 1
Sarah’s Dolls’ House
It was one o’clock in the afternoon and very quiet. The cuckoo inside the kitchen cuckoo-clock came out and cuckooed. Then it went back in, and the afternoon was as quiet as ever. Outside it was raining softly. Inside the living room Jonathan Kippernickker was watching the raindrops form into little streams and trickle down the window pane. Nicolas Kippernickker was reading a book and was curled up on the chesterfield, and Matthew Kippernickker was taking a Lego helicopter apart on the floor by himself. Timothy Kippernickker was asleep in his bedroom. 7
Jonathan Kippernickker was bored. He was bored watching the rain form into little streams and trickle down the window, so he sat down on the carpet beside Sarah Kippernickker, who was playing with her dolls’ house. “Do you want to play with my dolls’ house, Jonathan?” she said. “No,” said Jonathan. He really did want to play with the doll’s house but didn’t want to admit it. “You can help me move furniture,” said Sarah Kippernickker. “Why do you want to move the furniture?” said Jonathan. “I’m having a spring-clean,” said Sarah, “I’m going to change all the things around.” “It’s all right as it is,” said Jonathan Kippernickker. “It’s for Amanda,” said Sarah. “Amanda?” said Jonathan. “Amanda needs a bedroom to herself,” said Sarah Kippernickker. “Who’s Amanda?” said Jonathan. “There,” pointed Sarah. 8
She pointed to a very new little doll with black hair who was sitting on a chair. Her face was hidden in the cushion as if she was crying. “So we need to have a spring clean,” she said, “and move the furniture around.” “Why is there a tractor in the toilet?” said Jonathan, taking an interest in the furnishings. “Oh, I wish he wouldn’t touch things,” said Sarah. “That’s Matthew!” She lifted the tractor out of the toilet and rolled it across the floor towards Matthew. “And there’s a dinosaur in the bath,” said Jonathan. “That’s Matthew again!” said Sarah, “that’s why I need to spring-clean the house,” she said. Jonathan looked at Sarah’s Dolls’ House. It was a very big Dolls’ House. It had a ground floor and large rooms, an upstairs with large rooms, and an attic with large rooms. It had a balcony, a sun deck, a porch, a reception hall and a great wooden staircase right up to the attic. It 9
had bathrooms, a kitchenette, a library, a big front door with white columns at each side, and a set of wide front steps. The outside walls were made to look like brick, and the inside walls were wallpapered. The walls opened right out like cupboard doors so you could see into the house and through all the rooms. The roof had tiles and a great chimney for the huge fireplace in the living room downstairs. The roof also lifted on hinges so you could see into the top of the house. There were lots of windows and some of the windows had curtains. It was really quite wonderful. It was carpeted, full of furniture and all kinds of things. It had a piano, a china cabinet, a refrigerator, a freezer, a workbench, several cupboards, a large chest of drawers, an ironing board, a television, pictures on the walls, ornaments on the shelves, little books and vases of flowers, a telephone, a coal-shed outside and a separate garage. There were even some horses in the front garden, andtwo small cows. Sarah said there should be three cows but that 10
Daddy had stood on one. “There’s another horse as well, somewhere,” she added. “It’s in the big bed upstairs,” said Jonathan Kippernickker. “Oh, that’s Matthew again!” said Sarah. “Could you lift it out Jonathan?” And Jonathan lifted it out of the blankets and put the blankets straight. Then he put the horse back in the garden so it could tell the other horses where it had spent the night. “Do you want to play houses with me?” said Sarah Kippernickker, “No,” said Jonathan, thinking how much fun it would be playing houses. “You can be the Daddy,” said Sarah Kippernickker. “No, I don’t want to be Daddy,” said Jonathan, thinking the work bench would look better at the other side of the little work-room. “Well do you want to be Mummy?” said Sarah Kippernickker. “No, of course not! I don’t like playing girl’s things,” said Jonathan, opening 11
the refrigerator door and looking inside at the tiny containers and bottles and thinking it needed a good clean. “Well can you get the big bed out of that small room for me? “Where has it to go?” said Jonathan lifting out the bed. “In there,” said Sarah pointing to the small bedroom at the side of the house. “If it went in the large bedroom the colour would match the wall-paper,” said Jonathan. “All right then,” said Sarah, “but we should move some chairs in too.” “What pictures would Amanda want on the wall?” asked Jonathan. “Flowers,” said Sarah Kippernickker, “she likes flowers best.” “How do you know that?” asked Jonathan. “She said,” said Sarah. Jonathan looked at all the pictures in the house one by one. “Here’s a picture of a pig,” he said, picking a picture off the wall in he attic.
12
“Jonathan! Amanda doesn’t want pictures of pigs,” said Sarah “How do you know?” said Jonathan. “It could give her a rash,” said Sarah. “How could it give her a rash!” said Jonathan, “Like Elizabeth,” said Sarah. Elizabeth was one of Sarah’s friends who had once touched an old picture in a shop and come out in a rash because of an allergy. So Jonathan put the pig picture back in the attic. “The four-post bed in the big bedroom isn’t level,” said Jonathan, now kneeling beside Sarah as both of them were busily re-arranging the furniture. Sarah touched the bed. “That’s because there’s something underneath it,” she said, and she lifted it up. “Look Jonathan!” she cried out.“It’s the Adventure Key!” And she lifted out a large silver key.
13
“Look, Jonathan!” she cried out. “It’s the Adventure Key!”
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