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The girls ran giggling for the house, leaving Victoria alone. She had seen Emily wink and knew they had done it on purpose to get away from her. If there was one thing worse than having to play with her dreadful cousins, it was those same cousins refusing to let her play. Victoria looked away towards the lake, the rain pelting the surface.

She was about to trudge back to her mother, when she noticed a thin girl a little younger than herself who had likewise been left behind. She was dressed even more drably and unfashionably than Victoria.

Victoria smiled. In those few short seconds, rain had already soaked the girl's clothes and was running down her face, dripping from her nose and chin. The girl smiled back and shook the water from her hair. Victoria would never normally have even considered talking to such a creature, but on this occasion she thought she might be useful.

'We ought to get out of the rain,.' said Victoria.

'Rain?' said the girl, as if she had not noticed before.

Victoria laughed.

'Yes, rain,.' she said. 'You're soaked.' Victoria realised she too was getting drenched as the downpour increased in intensity. She ran into the house and stood in the hallway. The girl followed, leaving drips and puddled footprints.

'What's your name?' said Victoria, wiping her face with her hands.

'Margaret,.' said the girl.

'I'm Victoria. I suppose we're cousins,.' said Victoria. 'Everybody here seems to be my cousin.'

'Yes,.' said the girl.

'You're nothing to do with Emily, are you?' asked Victoria, peering at her. Margaret shook her head.

'Good,.' said Victoria. 'I hate her. She is such a . . . such a . . .' Victoria could not find a word sufficient for her feelings. 'I hate her.' Margaret smiled and nodded. 'Let's be a team and play hide-and-seek,. ' said Victoria suddenly. Emily and her sister could be heard counting in the distance. They were already up to seventy-four.

'I'd like that,.' said Margaret.

'Come on,.' said Victoria, making for the stairs. 'Let's hide upstairs. There's bound to be somewhere up there.'

The two girls ran upstairs. Victoria had never been in this house before, but she had been in many like it. They all seemed horribly familiar in their scale and décor - all so much bigger and grander than her own house.

The first two places Victoria tried to hide were both taken and she was shoved and hissed away. She stood in the corridor, looking right and left, not knowing where to go next, when Margaret suggested they go to the door at the end.

When Victoria opened the door, she realised that it must be the master bedroom and wondered if they ought not to go somewhere else. But they could hear Emily and Elizabeth on the stairs, shouting, 'Coming, ready or not!' and Margaret had found the perfect hiding place: a huge blanket chest by the window.

Victoria lifted the lid and smiled when she saw it was empty. Margaret climbed in, and Victoria climbed in after her, closing the lid behind them as Emily came clumping down the corridor and found two of the cousins who had hidden behind the curtains near the landing.

The chest was huge. There was ample room for the two girls to sit, though they did have to bow forward a little awkwardly. Victoria's neck was already beginning to ache, but she was buoyed by the thought that she might get one up on the awful Emily.

'They'll never find us here,.' whispered Victoria.

'No,.' said Margaret and giggled.

'Shhh,.' said Victoria, but then she giggled herself. 'Emily talks such rot,.' she said eventually. 'I bet she's never been here before in her life. She always has to pretend she knows something about every- thing. Did you see the look on her face when the lightning flashed?' She giggled again. 'I wish he really was wandering about the house - that murderer who was supposed to live here . . .'

'Don't say that,.' said Margaret.

'Oh come now, silly,.' said Victoria. 'Emily was just trying to frighten everyone.'

Victoria found that if she craned