The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (most important books of all time txt) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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Mother stopped first. She dried her eyes and then she said:â
âIâm sorry I was so angry, darlings, because I know you didnât understand.â
âWe didnât mean to be naughty, Mammy,â sobbed Bobbie, and Peter and Phyllis sniffed.
âNow, listen,â said Mother; âitâs quite true that weâre poor, but we have enough to live on. You mustnât go telling everyone about our affairsâitâs not right. And you must never, never, never ask strangers to give you things. Now always remember thatâwonât you?â
They all hugged her and rubbed their damp cheeks against hers and promised that they would.
âAnd Iâll write a letter to your old gentleman, and I shall tell him that I didnât approveâoh, of course I shall thank him, too, for his kindness. Itâs YOU I donât approve of, my darlings, not the old gentleman. He was as kind as ever he could be. And you can give the letter to the Station Master to give himâand we wonât say any more about it.â
Afterwards, when the children were alone, Bobbie said:â
âIsnât Mother splendid? You catch any other grown-up saying they were sorry they had been angry.â
âYes,â said Peter, âshe IS splendid; but itâs rather awful when sheâs angry.â
âSheâs like Avenging and Bright in the song,â said Phyllis. âI should like to look at her if it wasnât so awful. She looks so beautiful when sheâs really downright furious.â
They took the letter down to the Station Master.
âI thought you said you hadnât got any friends except in London,â said he.
âWeâve made him since,â said Peter.
âBut he doesnât live hereabouts?â
âNoâwe just know him on the railway.â
Then the Station Master retired to that sacred inner temple behind the little window where the tickets are sold, and the children went down to the Portersâ room and talked to the Porter. They learned several interesting things from himâamong others that his name was Perks, that he was married and had three children, that the lamps in front of engines are called head-lights and the ones at the back tail-lights.
âAnd that just shows,â whispered Phyllis, âthat trains really ARE dragons in disguise, with proper heads and tails.â
It was on this day that the children first noticed that all engines are not alike.
âAlike?â said the Porter, whose name was Perks, âlor, love you, no, Miss. No more alike nor what you anâ me are. That little âun without a tender as went by just now all on her own, that was a tank, that wasâsheâs off to do some shunting tâother side oâ Maidbridge. Thatâs as it might be you, Miss. Then thereâs goods engines, great, strong things with three wheels each sideâjoined with rods to strengthen âemâas it might be me. Then thereâs main-line engines as it might be this âere young gentleman when he grows up and wins all the races at âis schoolâso he will. The main-line engine sheâs built for speed as well as power. Thatâs one to the 9.15 up.â
âThe Green Dragon,â said Phyllis.
âWe calls her the Snail, Miss, among ourselves,â said the Porter. âSheâs oftener beâindâand nor any train on the line.â
âBut the engineâs green,â said Phyllis.
âYes, Miss,â said Perks, âsoâs a snail some seasons oâ the year.â
The children agreed as they went home to dinner that the Porter was most delightful company.
Next day was Robertaâs birthday. In the afternoon she was politely but firmly requested to get out of the way and keep there till tea-time.
âYou arenât to see what weâre going to do till itâs done; itâs a glorious surprise,â said Phyllis.
And Roberta went out into the garden all alone. She tried to be grateful, but she felt she would much rather have helped in whatever it was than have to spend her birthday afternoon by herself, no matter how glorious the surprise might be.
Now that she was alone, she had time to think, and one of the things she thought of most was what mother had said in one of those feverish nights when her hands were so hot and her eyes so bright.
The words were: âOh, what a doctorâs bill thereâll be for this!â
She walked round and round the garden among the rose-bushes that hadnât any roses yet, only buds, and the lilac bushes and syringas and American currants, and the more she thought of the doctorâs bill, the less she liked the thought of it.
And presently she made up her mind. She went out through the side door of the garden and climbed up the steep field to where the road runs along by the canal. She walked along until she came to the bridge that crosses the canal and leads to the village, and here she waited. It was very pleasant in the sunshine to lean oneâs elbows on the warm stone of the bridge and look down at the blue water of the canal. Bobbie had never seen any other canal, except the Regentâs Canal, and the water of that is not at all a pretty colour. And she had never seen any river at all except the Thames, which also would be all the better if its face was washed.
Perhaps the children would have loved the canal as much as the railway, but for two things. One was that they had found the railway FIRSTâon that first, wonderful morning when the house and the country and the moors and rocks and great hills were all new to them. They had not found the canal till some days later. The other reason was that everyone on the railway had been kind to themâthe Station Master, the Porter, and the old gentleman who waved. And the people on the canal were anything but kind.
The people on the canal were, of course, the bargees, who steered the slow barges up and down, or walked beside the old horses that trampled up the mud of the towing-path, and strained at the long tow-ropes.
Peter had once asked one of the bargees the time, and had been told to âget out of that,â in a tone so fierce that he did not stop to say anything about his having just as much right on the towing-path as the man himself. Indeed, he did not even think of saying it till some time later.
Then another day when the children thought they would like to fish in the canal, a boy in a barge threw lumps of coal at them, and one of these hit Phyllis on the back of the neck. She was just stooping down to tie up her bootlaceâand though the coal hardly hurt at all it made her not care very much about going on fishing.
On the bridge, however, Roberta felt quite safe, because she could look down on the canal, and if any boy showed signs of meaning to throw coal, she could duck behind the parapet.
Presently there was a sound of wheels, which was just what she expected.
The wheels were the wheels of the Doctorâs dogcart, and in the cart, of course, was the Doctor.
He pulled up, and called out:â
âHullo, head nurse! Want a lift?â
âI wanted to see you,â said Bobbie.
âYour motherâs not worse, I hope?â said the Doctor.
âNoâbutââ
âWell, skip in, then, and weâll go for a drive.â
Roberta climbed in and the brown horse was made to turn roundâwhich it did not like at all, for it was looking forward to its teaâI mean its oats.
âThis IS jolly,â said Bobbie, as the dogcart flew along the road by the canal.
âWe could throw a stone down any one of your three chimneys,â said the Doctor, as they passed the house.
âYes,â said Bobbie, âbut youâd have to be a jolly good shot.â
âHow do you know Iâm not?â said the Doctor. âNow, then, whatâs the trouble?â
Bobbie fidgeted with the hook of the driving apron.
âCome, out with it,â said the Doctor.
âItâs rather hard, you see,â said Bobbie, âto out with it; because of what Mother said.â
âWhat DID Mother say?â
âShe said I wasnât to go telling everyone that weâre poor. But you arenât everyone, are you?â
âNot at all,â said the Doctor, cheerfully. âWell?â
âWell, I know doctors are very extravagantâI mean expensive, and Mrs. Viney told me that her doctoring only cost her twopence a week because she belonged to a Club.â
âYes?â
âYou see she told me what a good doctor you were, and I asked her how she could afford you, because sheâs much poorer than we are. Iâve been in her house and I know. And then she told me about the Club, and I thought Iâd ask youâandâoh, I donât want Mother to be worried! Canât we be in the Club, too, the same as Mrs. Viney?â
The Doctor was silent. He was rather poor himself, and he had been pleased at getting a new family to attend. So I think his feelings at that minute were rather mixed.
âYou arenât cross with me, are you?â said Bobbie, in a very small voice.
The Doctor roused himself.
âCross? How could I be? Youâre a very sensible little woman. Now look here, donât you worry. Iâll make it all right with your Mother, even if I have to make a special brand-new Club all for her. Look here, this is where the Aqueduct begins.â
âWhatâs an Aqueâwhatâs its name?â asked Bobbie.
âA water bridge,â said the Doctor. âLook.â
The road rose to a bridge over the canal. To the left was a steep rocky cliff with trees and shrubs growing in the cracks of the rock. And the canal here left off running along the top of the hill and started to run on a bridge of its ownâa great bridge with tall arches that went right across the valley.
Bobbie drew a long breath.
âIt IS grand, isnât it?â she said. âItâs like pictures in the History of Rome.â
âRight!â said the Doctor, âthatâs just exactly what it IS like. The Romans were dead nuts on aqueducts. Itâs a splendid piece of engineering.â
âI thought engineering was making engines.â
âAh, there are different sorts of engineeringâmaking road and bridges and tunnels is one kind. And making fortifications is another. Well, we must be turning back. And, remember, you arenât to worry about doctorâs bills or youâll be ill yourself, and then Iâll send you in a bill as long as the aqueduct.â
When Bobbie had parted from the Doctor at the top of the field that ran down from the road to Three Chimneys, she could not feel that she had done wrong. She knew that Mother would perhaps think differently. But Bobbie felt that for once she was the one who was right, and she scrambled down the rocky slope with a really happy feeling.
Phyllis and Peter met her at the back door. They were unnaturally clean and neat, and Phyllis had a red bow in her hair. There was only just time for Bobbie to make herself tidy and tie up her hair with a blue bow before a little bell rang.
âThere!â said Phyllis, âthatâs to show the surprise is ready. Now you wait till the bell rings again and then you may come into the dining-room.â
So Bobbie waited.
âTinkle, tinkle,â said the little bell, and Bobbie
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