Heartwarming and emotional story of one girl's courage in WW2 Fenella Miller (best books for 8th graders txt) 📖

Jack hobbled past and went upstairs and then Ellie and the other erstwhile burglar came in. He was relieved to see she was holding the cartridges in one hand so the gun was no longer loaded.

‘As soon as Jack’s found the envelope you can go.’

‘Don’t worry, Miss Simpson, once we’ve got what we came for we’ll leave you in peace,’ the man replied.

She glared and pointed to the front door. ‘Wait out there. I don’t want you in this house a moment longer. Take your nasty friend with you.’

Harkness was standing at the foot of the stairs. He took one look at her face and the shotgun and did as she asked without comment.

Once they were out she closed the door in their faces. ‘Jack, do you want me to come and find it for you?’

‘No, I’ve got it. I’m just putting on a shirt and some shoes. I’ll be down in a minute,’ he yelled back.

‘Ellie, why don’t you give me the gun and the cartridges? I’ll collect all the weapons and lock them up in the cupboard again.’

‘There’s no need, thank you, I’m quite capable of doing that myself. If you want to make yourself useful, Greg, why don’t you help my dad in the kitchen?’

He snapped his heels together and saluted smartly. ‘Yes, ma’am, on my way.’

As he hoped she smiled at his nonsense. She really was a remarkable girl. His family would be horrified when they found out he intended to marry her at the earliest opportunity. About time a member of the Dunlop family decided to marry someone not already vaguely related.

Keeping it in the family had another meaning amongst his set. Most of his peers were related to him in some way – since time immemorial the upper crust married their own class. Jack returned with the envelope. He’d removed the grime from his face. The dark circles under his eyes were not from the soot but from fatigue. The sooner he was back in bed the better.

Greg stepped forward and removed the envelope from his hand. ‘Why don’t you go and sit down? I’ll give this to them and make sure they actually leave this time.’

‘Fair enough – after all, they are mates of yours. Tell them to sod off. They won’t get off so lightly if they show their faces here again.’

Ellie was about to argue, but Jack shook his head and she nodded. ‘Greg’s right, we don’t need to be involved anymore. I’ll go and help in the kitchen if you promise to take it easy.’

The torch was still in Greg’s pocket, but he didn’t need it. Harkness and his friend were waiting a sensible distance from the house. He had no intention of crossing the gravel in his bare feet.

‘I’ve got it.’ He waved the envelope in the air and they both hurried towards him. As he handed it over Harkness spoke to him.

‘Sir Reginald will find out what happened here. Don’t be surprised if the Simpsons get a visit from him.’

‘I don’t see why he’d want to come here now when he’s ignored the family for the past twenty-five years. However, I’ll tell Ellie and her father to be prepared, just in case.’

He waited on the doorstep until he heard the sound of their car and saw the headlights flashing as they drove away into the night.

Thirteen

When Ellie explained to her dad exactly what she’d done he was impressed rather than angry. ‘Clever girl, you weren’t to know what was going on. Never mind about this mess, Mrs B will take care of it when she gets here later.’

Amazingly the old range worked fine once they’d fished out the spent bangers from the chimney. The mugs were a bit smeared, but the tea was hot and the cake had suffered no ill effects as it had been in its tin.

‘I’m not happy we had to hand over the list, Dad, it seems a bit like betraying our country.’

‘Family comes first, love, and your brothers would be caught up in it if the authorities got hold of the information.’

‘I don’t see how. Why should they connect us to Sir Reginald Humphrey? Mum doesn’t even live here anymore. We can pretend we know nothing about it.’

Greg spoke from the door. ‘They’ve gone. Harkness warned me your grandfather might put in an appearance when he hears about what happened. Even more likely, I’d say, now that Mrs Simpson has gone to live with him.’

She handed him his tea and a slice of cake on a reasonably clean plate. ‘I hope he doesn’t. In fact, I’m going to write to him before I go to sleep and tell him what happened. Once he knows that we have no wish to be associated with a traitor that should do the trick.’

‘Take Jack’s tea and cake, love, I’ll be along in a minute.’

Greg had already gone ahead of her. The crockery rattled on the tray and for a horrible moment she thought she might drop the lot. She leaned against the wall for a second or two hoping the trembling would stop.

Then the tray was taken from her hands. ‘You look shattered, Ellie, almost as bad as Jack. I’ll take this through for you.’

With some difficulty she straightened and made her way to the sitting room. Jack looked as if he was asleep in the chair but his eyes opened when they came in. He managed a lopsided smile.

‘Just what the doctor ordered. I’m going to down these and then hit the sack. What time is the first booking today?’

‘I have to be at the airfield by eight o’clock.’ She glanced at the mantelpiece and was shocked to see she only had six hours. ‘Golly! I didn’t realise it was so late – or should I say early? Dad will have to be up to milk the cows in a couple of hours.’

She gulped down her tea but ignored the cake. ‘I’m going up – I’ll see you