I felt desolate. There were tears on my cheeks. I must find it, I must. I crawled around . searching . searching. I must go back the way I had come. Could I be sure of the exact path I had taken across the paddock? My despair overcame me. I sat down, covered my face with my hands and wept.

Suddenly I was aware of someone close to me.

“What’s wrong?” asked Lucian Crompton.

I forgot that I had no right to be there. There was no other thought in my mind than that I had lost my most treasured possession.

I stammered: “I’ve lost my good luck pendant.”

“Your what?” he cried.

“And who are you? What are you doing here?”

I answered the questions in order.

“The pendant my Uncle Toby brought home from Hong Kong. It says ” Good Luck” on it. I’m Carmel and they didn’t ask me to the party, so I came to have a look.”

“Where do you come from?”

“From Commonwood House.”

They’re here today. “

“Yes … but not me. I was just going to watch.”

“Oh, I know. You’re the little girl who …”

I nodded.

“I was found under the azalea bush which gave Tom Yardley a lot of trouble one year. I’m Carmel, which means garden. It’s where I was found, you see.”

“And you’ve lost this pendant?”

“It was there after I’d crawled under the hedge.”

“Which hedge?”

I pointed across the paddock.

“That was the way you came in, was it?”

I nodded.

“And you had it then. Well, it can’t be far off, can it? It must be round here somewhere.”

I felt a little happier. He spoke so confidently.

“Let’s have a look for it. Which way did you come?”

I pointed.

“Well, here we go. You show me. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.

You keep yours open. This way. Watch your step. Don’t want to tread on it, do you? What does it look like? “

“It’s green and it’s got ” Good Luck” on it in Chinese letters.”

“Right. It shouldn’t be hard to find.”

We came to the edge of the shrubbery without success.

“Now,” he said.

“You crossed the paddock. I see where you got through the hedge. There’s a little opening there, isn’t there? That’s where it was.”

I nodded.

“Then we’ll make for that space. Keep your eyes open and we’ll cross the paddock. Try to remember the exact way you came.”

We walked across, a little apart and arrived at the hedge. He knelt down and gave a cry of triumph.

“Is this it?”

I could have wept with joy.

He held it up and said: “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, I 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.

I was hugging my pendant. Good luck had returned.

So I 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 I 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 I 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 there it was . just as it had been . and no one would know that there had been any trouble with the link.

Lucian was going to pay for it, but Mr. Higgs said: “Oh, that’s nothing, Mr. Lucian. Just a matter of fixing it. Glad to oblige.”

Lucian fastened the pendant round my neck.

“There,” he said.

“Safe as houses.”

And I loved him from that moment.

Nanny Gilroy did not like what she heard from Estella about my being at the party.

“Pushing,” she commented.

“Didn’t I always say?”

Estella said: “Lucian brought her in. He saw her in the shrubbery when she lost her pendant.”

“Pendant! What’s a child of her age doing with a pendant?”

“Uncle Toby gave it to her.”

She smiled in that way she did when Uncle Toby’s name was mentioned, and clicked her tongue. But clearly she thought it was not quite so bad if he had been responsible for it.

The next time Estella and Henry were invited to tea, I was too. I began to grow accustomed to going there. I liked Camilla. She never showed in any way that she thought I was not the equal of the others.

As for Lucian, I felt there was a special friendship between us because of the pendant.

So the friendship between Commonwood and the Grange was growing. The shared tutor had been the beginning and then there was Mrs. Marline’s determination to return to the sort of society she had enjoyed before she married beneath her; and she did everything she could to win the approval of Lady Crompton by devoting herself to charitable works particularly those in which her Ladyship was involved. Consequently she was a frequent visitor to the Grange.

Henry could be a friend of Lucian and Estella of Camilla. How fortunate that the sexes fitted so well in the families! I was not excluded. In fact, Lucian always had a special smile for me. At least, I imagined it was special. He would glance at the pendant which I always wore outside my dress when I was out of Nanny Gilroy’s range, and I knew he was recalling our first encounter with some amusement.

Life was very pleasant.

Mrs. Marline had always been a keen horsewoman and we all had riding lessons. Estella and Henry had their ponies and Uncle Toby had provided me with one so that I could join them. What a wonderful uncle he was to me! And I attributed the change in my fortunes to him.

I had begun to realize how important Mrs. Marline was in the household.

Even Nanny Gilroy was subdued in her presence. Everyone was in considerable awe of her even the doctor. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, especially the doctor.

I heard Nanny Gilroy talking about her to Mrs. Barton, the cook.

“She’s a holy terror,” she said.

“She goes on and on and never lets the doctor forget whose money pays most of the bills. She’s the boss all right.”

“He’s good, the doctor,” said Mrs. Barton.

“His patients think the world of him. Mrs. Gardiner said she was in agony with her leg until she went to him. He’s really a nice gentleman in his way.”