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    The Railway Children
    The Railway Children
    The Railway Children
    Ebook296 pages5 hours

    The Railway Children

    By E. Nesbit

    4/5

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    HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.

    ‘…when the Green Dragon tore shrieking out of the mouth of its dark lair, which was the tunnel, all three children stood on the railing and waved their pocket-handkerchiefs without stopping to think whether they were clean handkerchiefs or the reverse.’

    When their father is mysteriously sent away, Roberta, Peter and Phyllis have to leave London with their mother to live in a cottage in the countryside. Finding comfort in the nearby railway station and friendship in Perks the Porter and the Station Master, the children watch every day for the passing London train. Every day they wave at the same old Gentleman on the train, not knowing that he may hold the key to their father’s whereabouts.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins UK
    Release dateMay 31, 2012
    ISBN9780007477487
    Author

    E. Nesbit

    Edith Nesbit was born in 1858 and, like her fictional characters in The Railway Children, her middle-class family was one whose fortunes declined. After surviving a tough and nomadic childhood she met and married her husband, Hubert Bland, in 1880 whilst pregnant with the couple's first child. Financial hardship was to dog Nesbit again when Bland's business failed, forcing her to write to support their burgeoning family. She only later in life focused on writing the children's stories for which she became so well known, including The Story of The Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wouldbegoods (1901), Five Children and It (1902) and The Railway Children (1906). She died in 1924.

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    Reviews for The Railway Children

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      This classic children's novel from 1905 is a delight to read, and gently humourous in many places as our heroes, Peter, Phyllis (Phil for short) and Roberta (Bobbie for short) get up to all kinds of adventures in and around the railway, preventing train crashes, putting out fires, rescuing people from dark and dank tunnels and, slightly incongruously, meeting a Russian dissident. There are some nice illustrations in this edition also. I've never seen any of the TV and film adaptations of this, but I intend to seek them out.
    • 4/5
      A delightful and multi-layered children's adventure, focused on three London children who suddenly have to move to the countryside as their father mysteriously goes away. The pathos of the story lies in the cotrast between the children's enthusiams for theit new surroundings and the slow realization of
    • 4/5
      - Audiobook - This book was horrifying! It's a heartwarming story about three children who don't mind that they suddenly become poor, and who are brave and inventive and save people's lives. But children shouldn't have to save people's lives! They save, among others, a baby who is left alone in a BURNING houseboat, an ENTIRE TRAIN full of people whose track is blocked, a boy who gets lost in a train tunnel and breaks his leg, and a Russian man who has been in a Siberian prison camp for years and now needs to find his family. And if the children hadn't done the right thing, PEOPLE WOULD HAVE DIED! And the whole time their father has "mysteriously disappeared" and they had to move out of their big house into a tiny one and their mother works all the time (writing stories) so that they'll just barely have enough money for food.The book was fine but I didn't find it at all lighthearted, and I wouldn't recommend it to kids.
    • 3/5
      A beautifully written book, though definitely from another time. Three siblings and their mother leave their London home for the countryside because some men come to take their father away. What follows are a series of mini-adventures, mostly concerning the Railway and surrounding areas where the children express themselves through kindness and good deeds.

      The reason I enjoyed this book so much was, not just for the wonderful old-fashioned language you find in books such as these (calling someone a brick always amuses me), but because it holds a very important message and that is you are not worth how much money you have. The children move from, not an unseemly amount of wealth, but definitely enough to afford a privileged lifestyle to barely being able to afford warming their house, resorting in the children "borrowing" coal in lieu of a game.
      The whole point of life is to better yourself and it's quite difficult to do that when you're born in to money. But the children better themselves despite this, and in so many different ways it's hard to look back on this time and envy them for being able to live in it.
    • 1/5
      Apparently this is a beloved classic. I would describe it as treacly.Sentimental. Much more about the childrens' emotions than about trains.Endless scenes of the children being responsible and noble and brave.Very much of its time and place, with children saying things like "Bother! I believe I've broken my leg."Morally didactic to the point of being patronising.Might be good for children who are very interested in emotions.
    • 3/5
      There were two sisters and one brother,Bobbie,Phyllis and Peter. They were very happy but the awful change came suddenly. Their father was led away by stranger. Presently, they moved to countryside. The children had a daily routine of seeing trains. They got to know the Station Master and the old gentleman. They became good friends,but their mother got ill through overwork. They were at a loss so they wrote a letter to the old gentleman. He gave them a basket full of food. Their mother recovered from ill.One day they found a land slide.Their action prevented an accident. The rail way company conferred on a title “Rail way children” on them.I like this book. This story must be an old story but I really enjoyed it. I think these children are very brave. I could see the importance of brothers and sisters through this story, because they always together and help each other.
    • 4/5
      A very interesting story that's over 100 years old. It is a third person story where the narrator describes the life of three children who come from a wealthy family, until their dad is taken from then and they have to move into a poor town. The children have to stop going to school, and in turn learn all about railroads, and become hero's. The language is fantastic and confusing at time, but you must remember that this tale of bravery takes place and the beginning of the 20th century in Great Britain.
    • 2/5
      Roberta, Peter and Phillis have the perfect life, wonderful parents and all the riches a child could ask for. Then one day, their father gets taken away by two men and put into prison. The children and their mother are forced to move to a small cottage in the country. While their mother writes stories to try and support them, the three children go on many adventures.I felt love of family,and how inportant family is.
    • 5/5
      What a classic! A great read for children and adults, and quite realistic railway action to boot.
    • 4/5
      1993, BBC Audiobooks, Full Cast DramatizationBook Description: from BookDepository.comThis is a BBC Radio full-cast dramatization of E. Nesbit's enchanting and unforgettable classic. Roberta, Peter and Phyllis lead an ordinary suburban life with Mother and Father and trips to the zoo and the pantomime. But when Father is mysteriously taken away one night, everything changes. The children must move to the country, to a little white cottage near the railway line, where eventually they find that there are plenty of adventures to be had and friends to be made – including Perks the Porter and the Station Master himself. But the mystery remains – what has happened to Father, and will he come back? The story of Roberta, Peter and Phyllis and their life in the country has never been out of print since it was first published in 1906. Charming, sentimental and unforgettable, the novel retains all its enchantment and enduring appeal in this BBC Radio full-cast dramatization.My Review: Thoroughly enjoyed Nesbit’s The Railway Children and cannot say enough good about the full cast dramatization: it is superbly done. The simple, charming, ordinary suburban lives of Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis made me appreciate having grown up before our world became its present frantic, high-tech society of progress. Favourite characters are Perks and the Station Master. Most memorable scene is Perks’ birthday, on which the children bring a host of gifts from themselves and from neighbours. Perks is adamant he will not take what he sees as charity, but when the children read to him the messages from his neighbours, he comes to understand that his neighbours are not patronizing him but rather appreciating him as a valued friend and member of his community.
    • 3/5
      This is one of my favorite books of plain fiction. I loved the book and the recording. I think it's a lot like /The Treasure Seekers/, only in my opinion it’s better (though it's a standalone instead of a series). However, /The Treasure Seekers/ does seem to be much more popular.
    • 5/5
      Read this gem years ago. One of the best children's books ever by one of my favorite children's book authors.
    • 4/5
      I love reading children's books, particularly classics like this. The story is well-known: three children live an idyllic life with their cheerful father and loving mother in the early part of the 20th century. One day some men arrive unexpectedly and their father goes away with them. Their mother is very upset, and before long they move to a smaller house near a railway station.

      The book mostly follows the lives of the children, who no longer go to school so are free to roam around the countryside getting to know people and learning a great deal about the railway. Which doesn't sound terribly exciting, but it's a great book - there are some very moving moments, and it's also very well-written with a bit of humour in the author's asides. Despite being written nearly 100 years ago the language doesn't seem too old-fashioned, and would probably be enjoyed by children from about the age of seven or eight upwards reading alone, or younger with a parent reading aloud.
    • 5/5
      it is a great book for all ages.a loveing story about three cildren.how has tots of fun to geather
    • 4/5
      I know I loved this enough as a kid to read it at least ten times, but then I was a big re-reader when I was younger. I have always loved the film too but the book is better.Must re-read this some day.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful children's book, written more than 100 years ago. It is the story of 3 siblings Roberta (Bobbi), Peter & Phyllis who must move to a small cottage in a little town when their father is mysteriously taken away. They meet many of the town's folk; including Perks the railway Porter and the Old Gentleman, a rider on the train. While their mother writes stories to support them, they go off and have many wonderful adventures. What I especially enjoyed about this book is how real these children were; they argue, fight, make up and behave like "regular" siblings. I would recommend this book for children 8 to 12 years old or for families to enjoy together.
    • 4/5
      Roberta (Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis (Phil) lead a happy suburban life, with plenty of toys, treats to eat, nice clothes and servants to tend to the chores. But one evening two men come to the house and take Father away with them when they leave. Mother makes the best of things; selling many of their finer possessions, packing up the necessities and moving them to a cottage in the country, where she earns a meager living writing stories. Three Chimneys is comfortable if less spacious than their original home, and the children find much to do and make new friends among the villagers. They are particularly drawn to the railway station and to watching the trains that run past.

      This is a delightful classic of children’s literature. The children have many adventures, but behave like children throughout. They squabble and let their imaginations run away with them, but try very hard to be good when they notice how unhappy their Mother is. They sometimes misunderstand realities, but that’s to be expected given the times and how hard the adults try to shield them from the realities of some situations.

      I love how inventive they are in their play (I especially liked the scene where they were trying to enact billboard advertisements), and how they display loyalty, courage and compassion. They are children, however, and are bound to misbehave, but they are appropriately contrite and accept their reprimands with honest promises to try harder in the future.

      I’d read Nesbit’s Five Children and It series when I was in middle school, but never read any of her other works. Thanks to the member who mentioned this work recently, or I would never have thought to revisit her writings. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      A book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. These days the language of the book is a little dated but I can see how, in 1906 when it was first published, it would have become very popular with the targeted audience. A lovely tale of three children learning to deal with what life throws at them, at times overly sentimental but that could just be me, reading a children's book in 2016, that is over 100 years old.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this story. One day the father of 3 children left from their house. From that day they're said to be poor by mother. But they didn't know why they should do so. And they face many difficulties, but they also meet good person and thigs. And does their father come or not..?I enjoyed this story. I felt love of family from this story. Family is very important. And the 3 children have so warm heart. I should learn from them!
    • 5/5
      This book was all about the life of three children: Phyllis, Peter and Roberta (though she likes to be called Bobbie instead). The children's father mysteriously goes away, and none of them know why except Mother. They move house into the countryside and begin to live very poor. There the children make good friends with the people of the railway, and love the railway itself.

      Their father goes for a very long time. When the children wave to an old friend of theirs, which they call 'The Old Gentleman', they are doing it for the purpose of him to send their love to Father.

      With many rescues and great journeys, the children have great fun and a brilliant time. But they are also sad - they miss Father so much, and yet they don't think Mother is happy. "How can we cheer her up?" they ask each other. "If she's not happy, she never will be until Father comes back, will she?" and the simple questions are: WILL Father come back? And if not, WILL the children or Mother be happy again?

      Wonderful book! Terrific! I like the phrases Nesbit uses - "don't let's quarrel, now!" - "Oh, rot!" - "Yes, Mother. Of course we will, ducky-dear." - it's all very funny, since we usually don't speak like that anymore, but it also gives a touch of what Nesbit DID speak like when she was still around.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. I love trains just as much as books. I enjoyed the charthers in the book. It about a family that has to make adjustment on the fly. I quite enjoyable. I love how this is a Classic. I did not know this book was out there to read while I was growing up. The Children name are Bobby, Phil and Paul.

      If you want to know mare about it what happens I would suggest picking it up. Something happens that causes their father to go away.
    • 3/5
      What happened to my review? I remember mostly being disappointed, as much of Nesbit I loved. Iirc, this had too much slang, and was too implausible, for me.
    • 4/5
      Re-read this lovely classic after a long time. Written in a charming manner about a bygone era from Children's POV. It was a pleasure to read in Puffin Classic paperback.
    • 3/5
      Originally published serially in The London Magazine, E. Nesbit's childhood classic The Railway Children was first released as a book in 1906, and follows the story of three siblings - Bobbie (Roberta), Peter and Phyllis - who find their lives mysteriously transformed when their father is taken away one night, and they must move to the country with their mother. Here, at Three Chimneys house, the children befriend the locals, observe the railway - which becomes a central facet of their lives - and attempt to resolve the issue of their father's disappearance. When the three learn that he has been accused of espionage, they are determined to prove his innocence, a project in which they are aided by the Old Gentleman, a regular railroad passenger whom they have befriended...A book I have read many times, mostly recently for a course in children's literature, The Railway Children is an engaging story of three young people and their many adventures. It reflects the late-Victorian fascination with trains and the railroad - which are here the means of freeing an innocent man, and reuniting a family - as well as its creator's social views and interests. It's tempting to see a little of Nesbit in the children's mother, who bravely picks up her pen to earn a living for the family, when her husband is taken away, or to see the emphasis put on helping others in the right way - the importance of giving aid that is not perceived as charity, for instance, to avoid wounding the pride and self-respect of others - as a reflection of the author's views as a Fabian. However interesting any such references may be, this is also a book that has appeal as a story, one in which a happy family is torn apart, before eventually being reunited. The children's adventures in between make for entertaining reading!
    • 4/5
      I listened to a BBC dramtization (or similar) which is far better than the film. I doubt the film could hold the attention of modern kids.
    • 4/5
      Family oriented books are a great way to get kids to open up and talk about their own experiences. In this book there were two sisters and one brother.It tells the tale of woes taht some poverty stircken families face and how this particualr family worked together and overcame their hardships together. This story may be an old story but It really has rellevant issues taht can be discussed in a classroom setting. This is one of those intrigueing stories because when read aloud the kids can visualize exactly what is going on. We could also incorporate this book in a problem solving lesson. ie.. We could talk about the issues that family faced and what other options they could have tried that may or may not have turned out differently.
    • 3/5
      There were moments that made me grin inanely, but in general this was just a nice read. I love The Five Children and It, The Phoenix and the Carpet and The Story of the Amulet, but this doesn't quite reach the same heights. Still, it was a nice, restful, enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      Ah, nostalgia. I've been meaning to reread this for a while, and it's probably a pity I didn't do it in time for my children's literature exam. Still, there it is. I felt like the English Lit student was ticking boxes in my head as I went through: morality lessons, check, didactic narrator, check, discussion of the different roles for men and women, check, happy domestic life, check...

      Still, it's also fun to disregard that and read about the three kids getting into trouble and helping their mother, etc, etc. I used to like Roberta/Bobbie the best, but she's really quite goody-goody most of the time.

      It's funny reading it now and seeing the narrator talking down to me/the child reader. I can't think how I didn't find that annoying when I was younger, because I generally didn't like being told what to do by books, but I took both this and some of the lessons in Little Women (which in a way is very like this only for older girls) completely to heart. I don't think that was a terribly bad thing.

      I love the ending. It's so unlikely, everything going right and all the people and friends they've made feeding into a happy ending, but still, everyone's a sucker for a happy ending sometimes.
    • 4/5
      Again E. Nesbit shows herself expert at showing-not-telling, and at writing for anyone and everyone. With the story told from the point of view of the children, and aimed at children, all anyone under a certain height level is going to understand is that the father of the family goes away one night and does not come back, and the mother tells the three that he is away on business – and everything changes. Mother is upset or sad all the time, even when pretending otherwise. The children are made to understand that they are now poor – for a while. And almost overnight they pick up and leave their home – taking all the furniture the children deem "ugly" and Mother deems "useful", but few of their pretty things – and move out to a cottage in the country and Mother begins writing most of the day and far into the night. And Father does not come back. I can't think how this story could be told more poignantly than as it is, obliquely through the children's eyes. Peter and Roberta (Bobbie) and Phyllis are, of course, bright children, and good ones, well brought up and attentive and conscientious – but they are wrapped in the happy oblivion of what seems to have been an upper middle class upbringing, wanting for no essential and few non-essentials, a world in which it is utterly and in all other ways inconceivable that anyone could ever dream their father did anything wrong. As it happens, of course, they are correct, but even had their father been in truth Jack the Ripper they would have been difficult to convince. They are essentially self-involved, viewing the world only as it affects them; for Peter and Phyllis it is enough that their mother tells them their father is away on business and they mustn't worry. They are upset when she is upset, but otherwise they are content and involved in their own lives. Bobbie is more attentive, more outwardly focused, and seems to step away from her childhood with this book. Mother is, in this story, utterly brilliant – and I don't think that's just because the point of view is thoroughly sympathetic. She does a tremendous job of protecting her children – whisking them away from their old environment before they can hear a whisper of what has really happened to their father. And of course the children are brilliant too. Roberta especially is rather magnificent. I love the narrator's frank statement that she hopes the reader does not mind her paying particular attention to Bobbie, but she has become rather a favorite. And I also love the equally frank assessment of her tendency to a) interfere or b) help lame dogs over stiles or c) help others, depending on who you ask – she can't help herself from making every effort to do something, and feels things very deeply, and this does not always make for easy relations with others. The realism of E. Nesbit's writing is a bit dinged by the heroic role of the children during the summer of the story. Not to spoil things, but the events the three of them become involved in might, individually, be acceptable; all together it's a little bit ridiculous. But for the original target audience it would be so much fun. For me, a good bit older than the target? Also fun – and I admit to choking up at the climax. Oh, and Karen Savage, the narrator of the Librivox recording? Absolutely terrific.
    • 5/5
      I very much liked this story of three children who must move with their mother from the comfort of their well-to-do London home to a small cottage in the country and "play at being poor" while their father is mysteriously away. A bit saccharine, maybe, but a well-written and comfy read nonetheless, with nicely-drawn and sometimes hilarious characters.

    Book preview

    The Railway Children - E. Nesbit

    THE RAILWAY

    CHILDREN

    E. Nesbit

    DEDICATION

    To my dear Son

    PAUL BLAND

    behind whose knowledge of railways

    my ignorance confidently shelters

    CONTENTS

    Cover

    Title Page

    Dedication

    Chapter 1 The Beginning of Things

    Chapter 2 Peter’s Coal-Mine

    Chapter 3 The Old Gentleman

    Chapter 4 The Engine-Burglar

    Chapter 5 Prisoners and Captives

    Chapter 6 Saviours of the Train

    Chapter 7 For Valour

    Chapter 8 The Amateur Fireman

    Chapter 9 The Pride of Perks

    Chapter 10 The Terrible Secret

    Chapter 11 The Hound in the Red Jersey

    Chapter 12 What Bobbie Brought Home

    Chapter 13 The Hound’s Grandfather

    Chapter 14 The End

    Classic Literature: Words and Phrases Adapted from the Collins English Dictionary

    About the Author

    History of Collins

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    CHAPTER 1

    The Beginning of Things

    They were not railway children to begin with. I don’t suppose they had ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to Maskelyne and Cook’s, the Pantomime, Zoological Gardens, and Madame Tussaud’s. They were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their Father and Mother in an ordinary redbrick-fronted villa, with coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bathroom with hot and cold water, electric bells, french windows, and a good deal of white paint, and ‘every modern convenience’, as the house-agents say.

    There were three of them. Roberta was the eldest. Of course, Mothers never have favourites, but if their Mother had had a favourite, it might have been Roberta. Next came Peter, who wished to be an Engineer when he grew up; and the youngest was Phyllis, who meant extremely well.

    Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. She was almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their home-lessons. Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the refurnishing of the doll’s house, or the time when they were getting over the mumps.

    These three lucky children always had everything they needed: pretty clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a Mother Goose wallpaper. They had a kind and merry nursemaid, and a dog who was called James, and who was their very own. They also had a Father who was just perfect – never cross, never unjust, and always ready for a game – at least, if at any time he was not ready, he always had an excellent reason for it, and explained the reason to the children so interestingly and funnily that they felt sure he couldn’t help himself.

    You will think that they ought to have been very happy. And so they were, but they did not know how happy till the pretty life in Edgecombe Villa was over and done with, and they had to live a very different life indeed.

    The dreadful change came quite suddenly.

    Peter had a birthday – his tenth. Among his other presents was a model engine more perfect than you could ever have dreamed of. The other presents were full of charm, but the Engine was fuller of charm than any of the others were.

    Its charm lasted in its full perfection for exactly three days. Then, owing either to Peter’s inexperience or Phyllis’s good intentions, which had been rather pressing, or to some other cause, the Engine suddenly went off with a bang. James was so frightened that he went out and did not come back all day. All the Noah’s Ark people who were in the tender were broken to bits, but nothing else was hurt except the poor little engine and the feelings of Peter. The others said he cried over it – but of course boys of ten do not cry, however terrible the tragedies may be which darken their lot. He said that his eyes were red because he had a cold. This turned out to be true, though Peter did not know it was when he said it, the next day he had to go to bed and stay there. Mother began to be afraid that he might be sickening for measles, when suddenly he sat up in bed and said:

    ‘I hate gruel – I hate barley water – I hate bread and milk. I want to get up and have something real to eat.’

    ‘What would you like?’ Mother asked.

    ‘A pigeon-pie,’ said Peter, eagerly, ‘a large pigeon-pie. A very large one.’

    So Mother asked the Cook to make a large pigeon-pie. The pie was made. And when the pie was made, it was cooked. And when it was cooked, Peter ate some of it. After that his cold was better. Mother made a piece of poetry to amuse him while the pie was being made. It began by saying what an unfortunate but worthy boy Peter was, then it went on:

    He had an engine that he loved

    With all his heart and soul,

    And if he had a wish on earth

    It was to keep it whole.

    One day – my friends, prepare your minds;

    I’m coming to the worst –

    Quite suddenly a screw went mad,

    And then the boiler burst!

    With gloomy face he picked it up

    And took it to his Mother,

    Though even he could not suppose

    That she could make another;

    For those who perished on the line

    He did not seem to care,

    His engine being more to him

    Than all the people there.

    And now you see the reason why

    Our Peter has been ill:

    He soothes his soul with pigeon-pie

    His gnawing grief to kill.

    He wraps himself in blankets warm

    And sleeps in bed till late,

    Determined thus to overcome

    His miserable fate.

    And if his eyes are rather red,

    His cold must just excuse it:

    Offer him pie; you may be sure

    He never will refuse it.

    Father had been away in the country for three or four days. All Peter’s hopes for the curing of his afflicted Engine were now fixed on his Father, for Father was most wonderfully clever with his fingers. He could mend all sorts of things. He had often acted as veterinary surgeon to the wooden rocking-horse; once he had saved its life when all human aid was despaired of, and the poor creature was given up for lost, and even the carpenter said he didn’t see his way to do anything. And it was Father who mended the doll’s cradle when no one else could; and with a little glue and some bits of wood and a pen-knife made all the Noah’s Ark beasts as strong on their pins as ever they were, if not stronger.

    Peter, with heroic unselfishness, did not say anything about his Engine till after Father had had his dinner and his after-dinner cigar. The unselfishness was Mother’s idea – but it was Peter who carried it out. And needed a good deal of patience, too.

    At last Mother said to Father, ‘Now, dear, if you’re quite rested, and quite comfy, we want to tell you about the great railway accident, and ask your advice.’

    ‘All right,’ said Father, ‘fire away!’

    So then Peter told the sad tale, and fetched what was left of the Engine.

    ‘Hum,’ said Father, when he had looked the Engine over very carefully.

    The children held their breaths.

    ‘Is there no hope?’ said Peter, in a low, unsteady voice.

    ‘Hope? Rather! Tons of it,’ said Father, cheerfully; ‘but it’ll want something besides hope – a bit of brazing, say, or some solder, and a new valve. I think we’d better keep it for a rainy day. In other words, I’ll give up Saturday afternoon to it, and you shall all help me.’

    ‘Can girls help to mend engines?’ Peter asked doubtfully.

    ‘Of course they can. Girls are just as clever as boys, and don’t you forget it! How would you like to be an engine-driver, Phil?’

    ‘My face would be always dirty, wouldn’t it?’ said Phyllis, in unemotional tones, ‘and I expect I should break something.’

    ‘I should just love it,’ said Roberta – ‘do you think I could when I’m grown up, Daddy? Or even a stoker?’

    ‘You mean a fireman,’ said Daddy, pulling and twisting at the engine. ‘Well, if you still wish it, when you’re grown up, we’ll see about making you a fire-woman. I remember when I was a boy –’

    Just then there was a knock at the front door.

    ‘Who on earth!’ said Father. ‘An Englishman’s house is his castle, of course, but I do wish they built semi-detached villas with moats and drawbridges.’

    Ruth – she was the parlour-maid and had red hair – came in and said that two gentlemen wanted to see the master.

    ‘I’ve shown them into the Library, Sir,’ said she.

    ‘I expect it’s the subscription to the Vicar’s testimonial,’ said Mother, ‘or else it’s the choir holiday fund. Get rid of them quickly, dear. It does break up an evening so, and it’s nearly the children’s bed-time.’

    But Father did not seem to be able to get rid of the gentlemen at all quickly.

    ‘I wish we had got a moat and drawbridge,’ said Roberta; ‘then, when we didn’t want people, we could just pull up the drawbridge and no one else could get in. I expect Father will have forgotten about when he was a boy if they stay much longer.’

    Mother tried to make the time pass by telling them a new fairy story about a Princess with green eyes, but it was difficult because they could hear the voices of Father and the gentlemen in the Library, and Father’s voice sounded louder and different from the voice he generally used to people who came about testimonials and holiday funds.

    Then the Library bell rang, and everyone heaved a breath of relief.

    ‘They’re going now,’ said Phyllis; ‘he’s rung to have them shown out.’

    But instead of showing anybody out, Ruth showed herself in, and she looked queer, the children thought.

    ‘Please’m,’ she said, ‘the Master wants you to just step into the Library. He looks like the dead, mum; I think he’s had bad news. You’d best prepare yourself for the worst, ’m – p’raps it’s a death in the family or a bank busted or –’

    ‘That’ll do, Ruth,’ said Mother gently; ‘you can go.’

    Then Mother went into the Library. There was more talking. Then the bell rang again, and Ruth fetched a cab. The children heard boots go out and down the steps. The cab drove away, and the front door shut. Then Mother came in. Her dear face was as white as her lace collar, and her eyes looked very big and shining. Her mouth looked like just a line of pale red – her lips were thin and not their proper shape at all.

    ‘It’s bed-time,’ she said. ‘Ruth will put you to bed.’

    ‘But you promised we should sit up late tonight because Father’s come home,’ said Phyllis.

    ‘Father’s been called away – on business,’ said Mother. ‘Come, darlings, go at once.’

    They kissed her and went. Roberta lingered to give Mother an extra hug and to whisper:

    ‘It wasn’t bad news, Mammy, was it? Is anyone dead – or –’

    ‘Nobody’s dead – no,’ said Mother, and she almost seemed to push Roberta away. ‘I can’t tell you anything tonight, my pet. Go, dear, go now.’

    So Roberta went.

    Ruth brushed the girls’ hair and helped them to undress. (Mother almost always did this herself.) When she had turned down the gas and left them she found Peter, still dressed, waiting on the stairs.

    ‘I say, Ruth, what’s up?’ he asked.

    ‘Don’t ask me no questions and I won’t tell you no lies,’ the red-headed Ruth replied. ‘You’ll know soon enough.’

    Late that night Mother came up and kissed all three children as they lay asleep. But Roberta was the only one whom the kiss woke, and she lay mousey-still, and said nothing.

    ‘If Mother doesn’t want us to know she’s been crying,’ she said to herself as she heard through the dark the catching of her Mother’s breath, ‘we won’t know it. That’s all.’

    When they came down to breakfast the next morning, Mother had already gone out.

    ‘To London,’ Ruth said, and left them to their breakfast.

    ‘There’s something awful the matter,’ said Peter, breaking his egg. ‘Ruth told me last night we should know soon enough.’

    ‘Did you ask her?’ said Roberta, with scorn.

    ‘Yes, I did!’ said Peter, angrily. ‘If you could go to bed without caring whether Mother was worried or not, I couldn’t. So there.’

    ‘I don’t think we ought to ask the servants things Mother doesn’t tell us,’ said Roberta.

    ‘That’s right, Miss Goody-Goody,’ said Peter, ‘preach away.’

    ‘I’m not goody,’ said Phyllis, ‘but I think Bobbie’s right this time.’

    ‘Of course. She always is. In her own opinion,’ said Peter.

    ‘Oh, don’t!’ cried Roberta, putting down her egg-spoon; ‘don’t let’s be horrid to each other. I’m sure some dire calamity is happening. Don’t let’s make it worse!’

    ‘Who began, I should like to know?’ said Peter.

    Roberta made an effort, and answered:

    ‘I did, I suppose, but –’

    ‘Well, then,’ said Peter, triumphantly. But before he went to school he thumped his sister between the shoulders and told her to cheer up.

    The children came home to one o’clock dinner, but Mother was not there. And she was not there at tea-time.

    It was nearly seven before she came in, looking so ill and tired that the children felt they could not ask her any questions. She sank into an armchair. Phyllis took the long pins out of her hat, while Roberta took off her gloves, and Peter unfastened her walking-shoes and fetched her soft velvety slippers for her.

    When she had had a cup of tea, and Roberta had put eau-de-Cologne on her poor head that ached, Mother said:

    ‘Now, my darlings, I want to tell you something. Those men last night did bring very bad news, and Father will be away for some time. I am very worried about it, and I want you all to help me, and not to make things harder for me.’

    ‘As if we would!’ said Roberta, holding Mother’s hand against her face.

    ‘You can help me very much,’ said Mother, ‘by being good and happy and not quarrelling when I’m away’ – Roberta and Peter exchanged guilty glances – ‘for I shall have to be away a good deal.’

    ‘We won’t quarrel. Indeed we won’t,’ said everybody. And meant it, too.

    ‘Then,’ Mother went on, ‘I want you not to ask me any questions about this trouble; and not to ask anybody else any questions.’

    Peter cringed and shuffled his boots on the carpet.

    ‘You’ll promise this, too, won’t you?’ said Mother.

    ‘I did ask Ruth,’ said Peter, suddenly. ‘I’m very sorry, but I did.’

    ‘And what did she say?’

    ‘She said I should know soon enough.’

    ‘It isn’t necessary for you to know anything about it,’ said Mother; ‘it’s about business, and you never do understand business, do you?’

    ‘No,’ said Roberta; ‘is it something to do with Government?’ For Father was in a Government Office.

    ‘Yes,’ said Mother. ‘Now it’s bed-time, my darlings. And don’t you worry. It’ll all come right in the end.’

    ‘Then don’t you worry either, Mother,’ said Phyllis, ‘and we’ll all be as good as gold.’

    Mother sighed and kissed them.

    ‘We’ll begin being good the first thing tomorrow morning,’ said Peter, as they went upstairs.

    ‘Why not now?’ said Roberta.

    ‘There’s nothing to be good about now, silly,’ said Peter.

    ‘We might begin to try to feel good,’ said Phyllis, ‘and not call names.’

    ‘Who’s calling names?’ said Peter. ‘Bobbie knows right enough that when I say silly, it’s just the same as if I said Bobbie.’

    ‘Well,’ said Roberta.

    ‘No, I don’t mean what you mean. I mean it’s just a – what is it Father calls it? – a germ of endearment! Good night.’

    The girls folded up their clothes with more than usual neatness – which was the only way of being good that they could think of.

    ‘I say,’ said Phyllis, smoothing out her pinafore, ‘you used to say it was so dull – nothing happening, like in books. Now something has happened.’

    ‘I never wanted things to happen to make Mother unhappy,’ said Roberta. ‘Everything’s perfectly horrid.’

    Everything continued to be perfectly horrid for some weeks.

    Mother was nearly always out. Meals were dull and dirty. The between-maid was sent away, and Aunt Emma came on a visit. Aunt Emma was much older than Mother. She was going abroad to be a governess. She was very busy getting her clothes ready, and they were very ugly, dingy clothes, and she had them always littering about, and the sewing-machine seemed to whirl – on and on all day and most of the night. Aunt Emma believed in keeping children in their proper places. And they more than returned the compliment. Their idea of Aunt Emma’s proper place was anywhere where they were not. So they saw very little of her. They preferred the company of the servants, who were more amusing. Cook, if in a good temper, could sing comic songs, and the housemaid, if she happened not to be offended with you, could imitate a hen that has laid an egg, a bottle of champagne being opened, and could mew like two cats fighting. The servants never told the children what the bad news was that the gentlemen had brought to Father. But they kept hinting that they could tell a great deal if they chose – and this was not comfortable.

    One day when Peter had made a booby trap over the bathroom door, and it had acted beautifully as Ruth passed through, that red-haired parlour-maid caught him and boxed his ears.

    ‘You’ll come to a bad end,’ she said furiously, ‘you nasty little limb, you! If you don’t mend your ways, you’ll go where your precious Father’s gone, so I tell you straight!’

    Roberta repeated this to her Mother, and next day Ruth was sent away.

    Then came the time when Mother came home and went to bed and stayed there two days and the Doctor came, and the children crept wretchedly about the house and wondered if the world was coming to an end.

    Mother came down one morning to breakfast, very pale and with lines on her face that used not to be there. And she smiled, as well as she could, and said:

    ‘Now, my pets, everything is settled. We’re going to leave this house, and go and live in the country. Such a ducky dear little white house. I know you’ll love it.’

    A whirling week of packing followed – not just packing clothes, like when you go to the seaside, but packing chairs and tables, covering their tops with sacking and their legs with straw.

    All sorts of things were packed that you don’t pack when you go to the seaside. Crockery, blankets, candlesticks, carpets, bedsteads, saucepans, and even fenders and fire-irons.

    The house was like a furniture warehouse. I think the children enjoyed it very much. Mother was very busy, but not too busy now to talk to them, and read to them, and even to make a bit of poetry for Phyllis to cheer her up when she fell down with a screwdriver and ran it into her hand.

    ‘Aren’t you going to pack this, Mother?’ Roberta asked, pointing to the beautiful cabinet inlaid with red turtleshell and brass.

    ‘We can’t take everything,’ said Mother.

    ‘But we seem to be taking all the ugly things,’ said Roberta.

    ‘We’re taking the useful ones,’ said Mother; ‘we’ve got to play at being Poor for a bit, my chickabiddy.’

    When all the ugly useful things had been packed up and taken away in a van by men in green-baize aprons, the two girls and Mother and Aunt Emma slept in the two spare rooms where the furniture was all pretty. All their beds had gone. A bed was made up for Peter on the drawing-room sofa.

    ‘I say, this is larks,’ he said, wriggling joyously, as Mother tucked him up. ‘I do like moving! I wish we moved once a month.’

    Mother laughed.

    ‘I don’t!’ she said. ‘Good night, Peterkin.’

    As she turned away Roberta saw her face. She never forgot it.

    ‘Oh, Mother,’ she whispered all to herself as she got into bed, ‘how brave you are! How I love you! Fancy being brave enough to laugh when you’re feeling like that!’

    Next day boxes were filled, and boxes and more boxes; and then late in the afternoon a cab came to take them to the station.

    Aunt Emma saw them off. They felt that they were seeing her off, and they were glad of it.

    ‘But, oh, those poor little foreign children that she’s going to governess!’ whispered Phyllis. ‘I wouldn’t be them for anything!’

    At first they enjoyed looking out of the window, but when it grew dusk they grew sleepier and sleepier, and no one knew how long they had been in the train when they were roused by Mother’s shaking them gently and saying:

    ‘Wake up, dears. We’re there.’

    They woke up, cold and melancholy, and stood shivering on the draughty platform while the baggage was taken out of the train. Then the engine, puffing and blowing, set to work again, and dragged the train away. The children watched the tail-lights of the guard’s van disappear into the darkness.

    This was the first train the children saw on that railway which was in time to become so very dear to them. They did not guess then how they would grow to love the railway, and how soon it would become the centre of their new life nor what wonders and changes it would bring to them. They only shivered and sneezed and hoped the walk to the new house would not be long. Peter’s nose was colder than he ever remembered it to have been before. Roberta’s hat was crooked, and the elastic seemed tighter than usual. Phyllis’s shoe-laces had come undone.

    ‘Come,’ said Mother, ‘we’ve got to walk. There aren’t any cabs here.’

    The walk was dark and muddy. The children stumbled a little on the rough road, and once Phyllis absently fell into a puddle, and was picked up damp and unhappy. There were no gas-lamps on the road, and the road was uphill. The cart went at a slow pace, and they followed the gritty crunch of its wheels. As their eyes got used to the darkness, they could see the mound of boxes swaying dimly in front of them.

    A long gate had to be opened for the cart to pass through, and after that the road seemed to go across fields – and now it went downhill. Presently a great dark lumpish thing showed over to the right.

    ‘There’s the house,’

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