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“Ah, I see. Look. The clasp is broken. That’s why it dropped off.”
    “Broken,” I said in dismay, my joy evaporating.
    He studied it intently.
    “Oh, 1 see. A link has come off. All it needs is to fix it back. The clasp itself is all right. It’s a job for the jeweller, though. Old Higgs in the High Street will fix it in a few minutes. Then it will be all right.”
    He handed it to me. I clutched it, half joyful, half tearful. I had not lost it, but I had to get it to old Higgs in the High Street.
    Nanny would not allow that. I should have to get Estella or Henry to help me. Perhaps Sally could.
    He was watching. Then he smiled.
    “I tell you what we’ll do,” he said.
    “After tea I’ll take it to Higgs and he’ll do it right away.”
    “Would you?” I cried.
    “I don’t see why not.”
    “After…”
    “Well, we ought to be there now, you know. Let’s go.”
    “But I’m not supposed to be there.”
    “I’ve invited you. This will be my house one day and I can ask whom I like.”
    “Nanny …”
    “Nanny who?”
    “Nanny Gilroy. She’d say it wasn’t right for you to ask me. You see, I was found under the azalea bush. Nanny would say I didn’t belong ..
    ”
     
    “If I say you belong, you belong,” he said in a swaggering way which made me laugh.
    1 was hugging my pendant. Good luck had returned.
    So 1 went back with him to the Grange. Estella was amazed, and so was
    Henry. Lucian told them about the pendant and Camilla wanted to see it and hear about the Chinese letters which meant “Good Luck’.
    “It’s lovely,” she said.
    “I wish I had one.”
    I glowed with pleasure and was very happy.
    Estella looked alarmed. She said: “You know Carmel is … not really one of us.”
    “Oh yes,” said Lucian.
    “She was found under the bush. She told me. Why wasn’t she asked?”
    “Well … she’s a foundling,” said Estella.
    “What fun!” cried Camilla.
    “It sounds exciting. Like something out of Shakespeare or a romance.”
    “She was left under an azalea bush.”
    “Yes!” said Lucian.
    “The one that gave poor old Tom Yardley a lot of trouble one year.”
    He and Camilla looked at each other and laughed.
    I liked them. They were very friendly. I guessed it was because they were rich and important and did not have to keep reminding people that they were really better than they seemed. They behaved to me as though I were just another guest. The cake was delicious. It was sprinkled with coconut and I had two pieces.
    “Do you like it?” asked Lucian, smiling at me as I took my second piece.
    “It’s lovely.”
    “This is better than crouching in the shrubbery, eh?”
    He and Camilla laughed and I said: “It’s a lot better.”
    They both seemed to like me and as soon as tea was over Lucian went to the stables and told the groom that he was going to take the dog-can into the town and we were all going. Lucian seemed to be very important, for all of them did what he said without question; and we all crowded into the dog-cart which was fun. Lucian drove and 1 sat beside him.
    Then we went into Mr. Higgs’s shop and Mr. Higgs himself came out and said: “Good afternoon, Mr. Lucian. What can 1 do for you?”
     
    “Just a little job,” said Lucian.
    “It’s a link on this chain. It just needs fixing, I think.”
    Mr. Higgs looked at it and nodded.
    “Jim will do it,” he said.
    “It won’t take more than a minute or two.
    Just needs fixing on the ring. Jim! Here’s Mr. Lucian. Wants this fixing. See what’s happened? “
    Jim nodded and went off.
    “Little girl’s pendant, is it?” said Mr. Higgs.
    “Yes, her uncle brought it from Hong Kong for her.”
    “Chinese, yes. Good craftsmen. They turn out some interesting stuff.
    And how’s everyone up at the Grange? “
    Lucian assured Mr. Higgs that they were all in excellent health, and I listened in admiration to his easy manner of conversation while I waited impatiently for the return of my pendant.
    And