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E-book The Circus of Adventure
By the beginning of this book, Bill and Allie are married and the latter has changed her name from Mannering to Cunningham. They have arranged to take Philip, Jack, Dinah and Lucy-Ann to the countryside for the Easter Holidays, to a place called Little Brockleton, where Philip and Jack plan to watch badgers and owls. At the last minute, Bill asks if he can bring another boy too — the foreign nephew of a friend of his, so he says. The boy, Gustavus (Gussy for short), is eleven with long, curly, blue-black hair, and proves unpopular with the other children as he makes a fuss about things and is rather a cry-baby. We have what is perhaps the most cringe-making sentence of the series when Philip, exasperated with Gussy, remarks: "Why don't foreigners bring up their kids properly?" (!)
The children soon begin to realise that there is some mystery about Gustavus. When Jack enquires about his nationality, Bill replies vaguely: "Oh, he's a bit of a mixture, I think," and Gussy gives orders as if he is a great figure of authority rather than an eleven-year-old boy. It is not long before his true identity is revealed. He is Prince Aloysius of Tauri-Hessia and, because his uncle is King of Tauri-Hessia, Gussy is next in line to the throne. His uncle is a good ruler but a man named Count Paritolen wants to remove him and put the young Aloysius in his place. Then Count Paritolen will really have control. The British Government is keen to prevent this happening, which is why Gussy has been brought to Britain and put in the care of Bill.
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