The Town’s Story

Comillas is a small town fifty kilometres from Santander, near the sea. In the town there are quiet streets of old buildings and there is a small square. There are small shops and cafés with tables and chairs in the square, under the trees. A lot of people from Madrid come to Comillas for their holidays, and a lot of people from England stay in the town too. In the evenings in June and July and August people like to walk in the streets of Comillas. They stop in the square and stand and talk together; their children play together.

Chapter Four: Bobbie’s Ride

About two weeks later, the old gentleman saw another white sheet with black letters when he looked out of the train. It said: SHE IS NEARLY WELL. THANK YOU.

       Then it was time for the children to tell Mother what they had done. It was not easy, but they had to do it. And Mother was very angry indeed.

       ‘Now listen, it’s true that we’re poor,’ she told them, ‘but you must not tell everyone. And you must never, never ask strangers to give you things.’

       ‘We didn’t mean to be bad, Mother,’ cried Bobbie.

Chapter Three: The Old Gentleman

The children could not keep away from the railway, and they soon got to know the trains that passed by. There was the 9.15 and the 10.07, and the midnight train that sometimes woke them from their dreams.

       One morning they were sitting on the fence, waiting for the 9.15, when Phyllis said, “It’s going to London, where Father is. Let’s all wave as it goes by. Perhaps it’s a magic train and it can take our love to Father.”

       So when the 9.15 came screaming out of the tunnel, the three children waved…

       …And a hand waved back!

v

“You’ve often wanted something to happen,’ said Mother, lighting the candle again. ‘And now it has. This is an adventure, isn’t it? I told Mrs. Viney to leave our supper ready. I suppose she’s put it in the other room. Let’s go and see.”

       They looked in the other room but found no supper.

       ‘What a horrible woman!’ said Mother. ‘She’s taken the money, but got us nothing to eat at all!’

       ‘Then we can’t have any supper,’ said Phyllis, unhappily.

hapter One: The Beginning of Things

They were not railway children at the beginning. They lived with their father and mother in London. There were three of them. Roberta – she was always called Bobbie, and was the oldest. Next came Peter, who wanted to be an engineer when he grew up. And the youngest was Phyllis, who was always trying to be good.

       Mother was almost always at home, ready to play with the children, or to read to them. And she wrote stories, then read them to the children after tea.