On a Mission for Her Majesty Page 3

  Next thing he knew, the person she was waiting for appeared.

  And it was the guard Stanley had seen outside—the one who had moved! Stanley would recognize that mustache anywhere! He wondered where the guard had put his rifle.

  The guard and Lady Laura put their heads together and began to whisper. Stanley would have to get a little closer if he wanted to hear them. Could they be talking about the Windsor Ring?

  Right now, he was standing out in the open where the two hallways met. He couldn’t stay there without the risk of being seen. What if they spotted me already? Stanley wondered. The thought gave him the shivers.

  Stanley stood up against the wall of the larger hallway and inched slowly toward the corner. He couldn’t see Lady Laura or the guard from this angle, but as he got nearer he could hear them whispering. A little closer, and he would be able to make out the words.

  He was kind of scared, but Stanley had to smile. Being famous had helped him blend in at the ball. But being flat was coming in very handy, too! He was almost invisible from the side. In his suit, he even blended into the black-and-white patterned wallpaper!

  He was as close as he could get now, and just in time. It seemed like their conversation was about to end.

  Lady Laura stepped away from the guard, but he was still speaking. The guard rubbed his chin, blocking the sound of his voice, but Stanley could understand the last few words: “Flat as a pancake.”

  Stanley turned bright red. His heart started beating quickly. Were they talking about him?

  As he stood there, stunned, the two of them turned the corner together. Luckily, they were not looking in his direction. But he was looking in theirs, and what he saw made his heart beat even faster.

  Lady Laura’s ring was red, white, and blue. It sparkled like fireworks, even in the dim light of the hallway.

  Was it really the Windsor Ring? Stanley knew he had the equipment to answer that question. But could he figure it out before they caught him?

  Stanley Lambchop, Super Spy

  When they were out of sight, Stanley walked back up the hallway and into the ballroom. He thought hard about what to do next.

  One thing was clear. Stanley could not just walk up to Lady Laura and test her ring. She would suspect what he was up to. Maybe she suspected already! Why else would she be talking to the guard about Stanley?

  Stanley Lambchop was not an expert spy, but he knew a few things. A spy was supposed to be prepared for anything. A spy was supposed to think on his feet. He needed another plan. And he needed a little help.

  Stanley did not want to ask his mother or father. What kind of spy relied on his parents?

  Detective Bates was still here somewhere, but Stanley did not want anyone to know he was working with Scotland Yard.

  Luckily, there was another person Stanley could count on. He had wanted to be a part of the mission from the very beginning! Stanley headed over to Arthur.

  Arthur was in the middle of a group of children, playing charades. “We are supposed to keep quiet,” he told Stanley in a low voice.

  Lady Laura’s niece added, “Children should be seen and not heard.” Her auntie had probably taught her that rule, Stanley thought. Good manners were no fun!

  He scanned the kids’ corner of the ballroom. He saw pads of paper and crayons, games and toys, and that giant trunk of costumes. Stanley smiled. Sometimes a spy had to use his imagination.

  He took a step away and motioned for Arthur to follow. “How is it going?” Arthur asked.

  “Shhh,” said Stanley. “I need some help.”

  “Really?” Arthur’s face lit up. “What can I do?” he asked.

  Stanley looked at the box of costumes. “How would you feel about dressing up?” he asked.

  A little while later, Stanley lingered at the edge of the dance floor while Arthur made his way toward Lady Laura. Not that anyone would know it was Arthur.

  His suit was now hidden in the Buckingham Palace bathroom. And instead, Arthur was wearing the same outfit as the servers who were passing the trays. He was all in black, with an apron tied around his neck and waist.

  Anyone who looked carefully would notice that the pants were rolled up because they were much too long.

  Anyone who looked carefully would see that Arthur’s apron was the wrong color, since it was really just a costume.

  But no one was looking carefully. The guests were enjoying the ball!

  A good spy never broke his cover. So, while Arthur did his job—walking through the crowd, toward the ring—Stanley’s job was to act like nothing had changed. He was just a famous flat boy, here to mingle with royalty and enjoy the ball.

  When a well-known actress asked Stanley to dance, of course he said yes! “You were in my favorite movie,” he told her as he twirled. “I am your biggest fan!”

  Every time he spun around, he could see the guard standing against the wall on the edge of the ballroom. Was he watching Stanley? Was he waiting for Lady Laura to join him again? Had he noticed Arthur? His expression was hidden by his mustache.

  Stanley tried not to worry. He pretended everything was totally normal.

  “I am your biggest fan, too, Flat Stanley,” the actress said when the song was over. She kissed him on the cheek to say good-bye.

  Stanley checked on Arthur. He was moving very slowly.

  So, what else would Stanley do if he were just here for fun? He would definitely check out the dessert table, he decided. He found a large plate and piled it high with possibilities. Cookies, a slice of cake, a tart, a brownie . . . Stanley would sample one of each.

  “Got your pudding sorted, Stonley?” said a voice beside him. It was Detective Bates! “Huh?” As usual, Stanley was not sure what he meant. There was no pudding on the dessert table. He wasn’t sorting anything at all.

  Detective Bates grinned. “I mean, have you decided what to have for dessert?”

  He could speak the same English as Stanley! Sometimes even the best spies were surprised.

  “Oh, yes, everything is sorted,” Stanley told him meaningfully. He hoped Detective Bates understood his double meaning. He was talking about his dessert and his mission at the same time. The plan was moving ahead.

  Just then, from the corner of his eye, Stanley saw Arthur get to Lady Laura at last. Stanley left his dessert with Detective Bates. It was time to join his brother!

  Like all the servers at the ball, Arthur was carrying a tray. But there was nothing to eat on the tray. There was just a folded piece of paper.

  “Excuse me, ma’am?” said Arthur to Lady Laura. (It came out as “mom,” because he was using his best English accent.) “I have an important message for you.”

  Lady Laura wheeled around. “Pardon?” she said. She looked Arthur up and down.

  “I have a special delivery. An urgent message.”

  She stood up a little straighter, almost like she had been waiting for news.

  Arthur fumbled in his apron. “But first you need to sign for it . . .”

  He produced a small clipboard. Stanley and Arthur had found it in the dress-up box.

  Arthur patted his pockets. “Now I just need to find my pen.”

  Stanley knew that Arthur did not have a pen. This line was his cue to get ready.

  He took a step closer for a clear look at the ring on Lady Laura’s finger. Stanley thought, I would have noticed it even if I wasn’t on a spy mission! It was the biggest ring he had ever seen, and it flashed with every move she made. The red, white, and blue reflected the brilliant light from the ballroom’s chandeliers.

  Stanley was excited. It certainly looked like it could be the Windsor Ring! In a moment, he would test it to be sure.

  Meanwhile, Arthur was still pretending to look for something to write with. Carefully, he checked all of his pockets. Then he checked them all over again.

  Lady Laura was getting impatient. She put on her glasses, and the ring flashed. She brushed some lint off her dress, and the ring flashed. She glare
d at Arthur. “May I just read the message?” she said coolly.

  “The sender insists on your signature, ma’am,” said Arthur. He held his lips in a tight line. Was he trying not to laugh? If he laughed, Arthur would ruin everything!

  It was time for the real spy to step in.

  “I have a pen,” Stanley volunteered quickly, as if he had just arrived and noticed they needed help. “Would you like to borrow it?”

  “Please,” said Lady Laura.

  She did not meet Stanley’s eyes as she reached for the pen. She did not even look at the pen. Did she think it was beneath her? Did she think it was improper?

  Whatever the problem was, Stanley was glad she was distracted. Because the thing he was handing over was not a pen at all. It was the ultraviolet flashlight from Scotland Yard!

  Lady Laura moved her hand toward Stanley’s hand, and he flicked the switch.

  Suddenly a blinding light was focused on her ring!

  Twin Rings

  Shocked by the beam of light, the guard sprang into action and thundered toward Stanley, Arthur, and Lady Laura. “What is the meaning of this?” he bellowed. He pushed Lady Laura out of the way and stood in front of Stanley. “I demand an explanation!”

  Lady Laura blinked. She did not know what had happened. “I just want to read the message,” she told Arthur in a tight voice. She did not understand—yet—that it had all been a trick.

  Arthur looked at his feet. He looked to Stanley for help. He knew the “message” was just a paper with some scribbles on it.

  Stanley was still reeling from the message he had received from the ultraviolet light. In disbelief, he gripped the flashlight in his hand. Lady Laura was not wearing the Windsor Ring after all. The light had revealed some cloudy spots on the red, white, and blue stones. Now Stanley knew it was a perfect fake.

  His mission had failed.

  He would not be able to return the missing crown jewel to the queen or—someday—to the new king.

  Stanley sighed. He decided to be honest. Well, mostly honest. “I am here on a mission,” he explained to Lady Laura and the guard. “My brother is only trying to help. We have been looking for some stolen property.”

  The guard’s eyes bulged out, just as they had when he first spotted Stanley. “Yes, I have purchased some property,” he said.

  Stanley looked at his brother. What did that have to do with anything?

  Maybe, with his furry hat, the guard had not heard quite right?

  Lady Laura stood up even straighter than before. “I know it is unusual,” she explained, “for a member of the Queen’s Guard to do business with a member of the royal family, but it is true. I have sold him a plot of land.”

  Stanley felt like he had wandered into the wrong conversation.

  Arthur looked like he was about to laugh again.

  Just then, Detective Bates arrived. He showed his badge from Scotland Yard. “I hove been working with Stonley Lombchop,” he told Lady Laura and the guard. “He has been on a special assignment for the queen. Now could you tell me more about this . . . property?”

  The guard spoke up. “It’s a beautiful spot, sir. Perfect for my farm. Many acres for the sheep to graze. And plenty of space for planting, too. No trees and flat as a pancake.”

  Now Stanley was the one who almost laughed. The guard and Lady Laura had not been talking about him at all! They had been talking about a piece of land!

  Detective Bates continued. “Very well, sir,” he told the guard. “But yours is not the property in question. We are searching for a missing ring.”

  Arthur could not help himself. He pointed right at Lady Laura’s finger. “A ring that looks like that one!”

  “But we know that’s not it!” Stanley pointed out in a hurry.

  “Are you familiar with the Windsor Ring?” Detective Bates asked the guard and Lady Laura. “It appears that your ring is its twin. And there’s been a . . . misunderstanding.”

  Lady Laura stood up a little straighter. “Oh, I think I understand just perfectly,” she said, scowling. “You thought I was a thief!”

  Now they were attracting quite a crowd. Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop had arrived. So had Lucy, Lady Laura’s niece.

  Lady Laura wrapped a protective arm around the girl. Then her eyes filled with tears.

  “You thought I was a thief,” repeated Lady Laura, “because everyone thinks I am a thief. But I never stole the Windsor Ring. The truth is much worse than that. I lost it!”

  Detective Bates gasped. “How did you lose it, ma’am?”

  “I wore it to a family wedding,” said Lady Laura. “Right here in this very ballroom!”

  She paused to catch her breath.

  “Then I never saw it again! And I could never admit I had lost one of the crown jewels, you understand. So I made up a different story.”

  Stanley couldn’t believe it. In her own way, Lady Laura was undercover, too!

  “A skilled jeweler made me a copy of the Windsor Ring. I made sure that members of the royal family saw me wearing it. I let them think I had taken a crown jewel! My reputation was ruined, and I had to sell some of my land. I have kept my secret, but I have never stopped looking for the real ring. Somehow we must find it before a new king is crowned!”

  As Lady Laura spoke, Lucy broke away from the group. Stanley was surprised her auntie didn’t stop her.

  Maybe Lady Laura was not as mean as she had seemed at first. Maybe her perfect manners had just been covering up her worry about the ring? But even Stanley thought it was rude for Lucy to start playing while Lady Laura was sharing her terrible secret.

  Lucy sat down and drew a picture.

  Detective Bates was still trying to follow the story. “Do you remember taking off the Windsor Ring?” he asked Lady Laura.

  “I was wearing it throughout the wedding,” said Lady Laura. “But when I put my coat on to leave, it was gone.”

  Lucy piped up with a question of her own. “Was it cold that day?” she asked.

  Lady Laura looked blankly at her. “It was January,” she said. “It was probably cold.”

  “Were you wearing a hat?” asked Lucy.

  Lady Laura sighed. “I don’t remember. And why on earth does it matter?”

  “Because you might also have been wearing gloves,” said Lucy. “Like these.” She held up the picture she’d just drawn of some embroidered gloves.

  “Oh yes,” said Lady Laura. “I used to have a pair of gloves like those. Yes, I suppose I could have worn them that night. But . . . how did you know?”

  From the costume box, Lucy took a pair of gloves that matched her picture. “Because the gloves are still here,” she said. “After all that time. Someone must have thought they were for children. I put them on while we were playing before. And I noticed there was something stuck inside one of the fingers!”

  “I might have left my gloves at the wedding,” mused Lady Laura. Her eyes opened wide. “Could I have left the ring behind, inside them?”

  Lucy handed the gloves to Lady Laura. They were a little dusty with age, but she recognized them right away.

  Then Lucy reached into the box one more time. She took out a spectacular ring, shining red, white, and blue.

  “Here’s the thing that was stuck inside,” she said. “Does it belong to you?”

  High Above London

  Lady Laura gasped. She held the ring in her fingers and gazed at it as light bounced all around. This ring flashed even more than the imitation ring that was still on her finger. Its red, white, and blue stones were as clear as water and as radiant as the sun.

  “One of the genuine crown jewels,” said Mrs. Lambchop. “Part of England’s history.” She shook her head in wonder.

  “It will be back where it belongs,” said Mr. Lambchop. “Ready for the next coronation, whenever that is.”

  Stanley took out his flashlight again. He was still thinking like a spy! “We should test it to be sure it’s the real one.”

  “How abo
ut I hold it, just for safekeeping?” said the guard. He held the ring up so the entire group could see Stanley cover it in ultraviolet light. This time there were no clouds in the stones. Stanley could see the beam of light pierce the gems and come out on the other side!

  Detective Bates shook Stanley’s hand. “Well done, Stonley, old chop!”

  Lady Laura smiled for the first time since Stanley had met her at Harrods. Her manners were still very formal, though. “I am quite grateful to you, Stanley,” she said. “Now everyone will know the truth.”

  “You’re welcome,” Stanley said automatically.

  “You’re welcome,” Arthur added. “Now, can I get out of this costume? I don’t love wearing a suit, but anything is better than wearing this apron!”

  No one had thanked Arthur, but Stanley would thank him later. He had thought that being a spy would be a job for only him, but it turned out he needed a whole team—Detective Bates and Lucy and especially his brother—to find the Windsor Ring. It was kind of like his flatness, Stanley thought. Being flat had helped him on his spy mission, but it was not the only tool he needed. It also helped to be famous. It also helped to be quick on his feet!

  Speaking of quick . . .

  Stanley raced back to the plate of desserts he had left behind. And it was still in the same place!

  And then, before the ball was over, he rushed back to the dance floor. No one could dance quite like a flat kid, after all! He flapped and rippled his body in time to the music until the last musicians packed up to go home. The ball at Buckingham Palace would always have a bright place in Stanley’s memory, shining like the Windsor Ring.

  The next morning, soon after the Lambchop family woke up, Mrs. Lambchop noticed something near the door of their hotel room. “What is this?” she asked. She took a thick white envelope off the floor.

  “Can I see?” Arthur asked, grabbing it out of her hand. “Oh, it’s an invitation!”