The Railway Children E. Nesbit (classic novels for teens .txt) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
Book online «The Railway Children E. Nesbit (classic novels for teens .txt) đ». Author E. Nesbit
Mother fitted the forget-me-not crown on Bobbieâs brown head.
âAnd now look at the table,â she said.
There was a cake on the table covered with white sugar, with âDear Bobbieâ on it in pink sweets, and there were buns and jam; but the nicest thing was that the big table was almost covered with flowersâ âwallflowers were laid all round the tea-trayâ âthere was a ring of forget-me-nots round each plate. The cake had a wreath of white lilac round it, and in the middle was something that looked like a pattern all done with single blooms of lilac or wallflower or laburnum.
âItâs a mapâ âa map of the railway!â cried Peter. âLookâ âthose lilac lines are the metalsâ âand thereâs the station done in brown wallflowers. The laburnum is the train, and there are the signal-boxes, and the road up to hereâ âand those fat red daisies are us three waving to the old gentlemanâ âthatâs him, the pansy in the laburnum train.â
âAnd thereâs âThree Chimneysâ done in the purple primroses,â said Phyllis. âAnd that little tiny rosebud is Mother looking out for us when weâre late for tea. Peter invented it all, and we got all the flowers from the station. We thought youâd like it better.â
âThatâs my present,â said Peter, suddenly dumping down his adored steam-engine on the table in front of her. Its tender had been lined with fresh white paper, and was full of sweets.
âOh, Peter!â cried Bobbie, quite overcome by this munificence, ânot your own dear little engine that youâre so fond of?â
âOh, no,â said Peter, very promptly, ânot the engine. Only the sweets.â
Bobbie couldnât help her face changing a littleâ ânot so much because she was disappointed at not getting the engine, as because she had thought it so very noble of Peter, and now she felt she had been silly to think it. Also she felt she must have seemed greedy to expect the engine as well as the sweets. So her face changed. Peter saw it. He hesitated a minute; then his face changed, too, and he said: âI mean not all the engine. Iâll let you go halves if you like.â
âYouâre a brick,â cried Bobbie; âitâs a splendid present.â She said no more aloud, but to herself she said:â â
âThat was awfully jolly decent of Peter because I know he didnât mean to. Well, the broken half shall be my half of the engine, and Iâll get it mended and give it back to Peter for his birthday.ââ ââYes, Mother dear, I should like to cut the cake,â she added, and tea began.
It was a delightful birthday. After tea Mother played games with themâ âany game they likedâ âand of course their first choice was blindmanâs-buff, in the course of which Bobbieâs forget-me-not wreath twisted itself crookedly over one of her ears and stayed there. Then, when it was near bedtime and time to calm down, Mother had a lovely new story to read to them.
âYou wonât sit up late working, will you, Mother?â Bobbie asked as they said good night.
And Mother said no, she wouldnâtâ âshe would only just write to Father and then go to bed.
But when Bobbie crept down later to bring up her presentsâ âfor she felt she really could not be separated from them all nightâ âMother was not writing, but leaning her head on her arms and her arms on the table. I think it was rather good of Bobbie to slip quietly away, saying over and over, âShe doesnât want me to know sheâs unhappy, and I wonât know; I wonât know.â But it made a sad end to the birthday.
The very next morning Bobbie began to watch her opportunity to get Peterâs engine mended secretly. And the opportunity came the very next afternoon.
Mother went by train to the nearest town to do shopping. When she went there, she always went to the post-office. Perhaps to post her letters to Father, for she never gave them to the children or Mrs. Viney to post, and she never went to the village herself. Peter and Phyllis went with her. Bobbie wanted an excuse not to go, but try as she would she couldnât think of a good one. And just when she felt that all was lost, her frock caught on a big nail by the kitchen door and there was a great crisscross tear all along the front of the skirt. I assure you this was really an accident. So the others pitied her and went without her, for there was no time for her to change, because they were rather late already and had to hurry to the station to catch the train.
When they had gone, Bobbie put on her everyday frock, and went down to the railway. She did not go into the station, but she went along the line to the end of the platform where the engine is when the down train is alongside the platformâ âthe place where there are a water tank and a long, limp, leather hose, like an elephantâs trunk. She hid behind a bush on the other side of the railway. She had the toy engine done up in brown paper, and she waited patiently with it under her arm.
Then when the next train came in and stopped, Bobbie went across the metals of the up-line and stood beside the engine. She had never been so close to an engine before. It looked much larger and harder than she had expected, and it made her feel very small indeed, and, somehow, very softâ âas if she could very, very easily be hurt rather badly.
âI know what silkworms feel like now,â said Bobbie to herself.
The engine-driver and fireman did not see her. They were leaning out on the other side, telling the Porter a tale about a dog and
Comments (0)