Читать книгу The Adventure of the Secret Necklace - Enid blyton - Страница 3

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“Ding-Ding-Ding-a-Ding!”

A bell jingled loudly downstairs, and there was a scurry and a yell from upstairs.

“Bob! There’s the breakfast bell! Can you do my dress up at the back for me? Quick!”

Bob went to his twin sister, Mary. “Why do girls have dresses that do up at the back?” he grumbled. “I hate all these hooks and things.”

“There are only two,” said Mary. “Hurry, Bob, we’ll be late!”

Bob hurried, and the hooks went into the eyes neatly. Then both children raced downstairs and into the breakfast-room. Daddy was just about to sit down.

“Ha! It’s you, is it?” he said. “I had a feeling it was an elephant or two crashing down the stairs. You’re just in time.”

The twins kissed their mother and father and sat down to their breakfast. Mary’s sharp eyes caught sight of a letter on her mother’s plate.

“You’ve got a letter,” she said, “and I know who it’s from. It’s from Granny! I always know her big, spidery writing. Open it, Mummy. Perhaps she is coming to stay with us.”

Mummy opened the letter and read it. “No—she’s not coming to stay,” she said. “But she wants you to go! Would you like to?”

“Oh yes!” said both twins together. They had only once been to stay with Granny, when they were very tiny, because she lived rather a long way away—but they remembered her old, old house with its queer corners and windows.

“When can we go?” asked Bob. “As soon as we break up school? I’d like to see Granny again. She’s strict, isn’t she—but she’s kind too. I like her.”

“I love her,” said Mary. “I love her twinkly eyes, and her pretty white hair—and I don’t mind her being strict a bit, so long as I know what she’s strict about. I mean, she tells us what she doesn’t like us to do, so we know. Can we go soon?”

“Granny says as soon as school ends, you may go to her,” said Mummy, reading the letter again. “And one of the reasons she wants you is that she will have another child staying there—and she thinks it would be very nice for him to have your company—somebody to play with.”

“Oh,” said Bob, not quite so pleased. “I thought we would be having Granny to ourselves. Who’s the other boy?”

“Your cousin Ralph—you’ve never seen him,” said Mummy. “Your Granny is his Granny too, because his Daddy is brother to your Daddy, and Granny is their mother.”

The twins worked this out. “Oh yes,” said Mary. “We’ve never seen Ralph. Why haven’t we?”

“Only because your uncle John, his Daddy, has had to travel about all over the place, taking his wife and child with him,” said Daddy, looking up from his paper. “Very bad for the boy—no proper schooling, no proper home. You two will be good for him.”

The twins didn’t feel as if they wanted to be “good for him”. It made them sound like medicine or stewed apples or prunes—things that were always “good for you”.

“How old is Ralph?” asked Bob, hoping he wouldn’t be much older than he was.

“Let me see—you’re seven—and Ralph is almost a year older—he’ll be about eight,” said Mummy. “I’ve no idea what he’s like, because your uncle and aunt have been out of the country for two years now, and they never send any photographs. I expect he will enjoy having two cousins to play with.”

The twins got on with their breakfast. They weren’t quite sure about Ralph—but when they began to think about Granny, and her old house, and the big garden with its fruit trees and flowers, they smiled secretly at one another.

“Lovely!” thought Mary. “It’s fun to go and stay in a new place.”

“Fine!” thought Bob. “I wonder if that little pony is still at Granny’s—we were too little to ride him last time—but this time we could. And I hope Jiminy the dog is still there. I liked old Jiminy.”

There was only one more week of school to go. When the last day came, the twins raced home. “Mummy! Where are you? We’ve got some good news!”

“What is it?” said Mummy, looking up from her mending.

“We’re top of our class—both top together, Bob and I!” shouted Mary. “Isn’t that a surprise?”

“Well, you’ve worked hard,” said Mummy, simply delighted. “I really am proud of you. Dear me, to think I am one of the lucky mothers whose children work hard enough to be top!”

Daddy was pleased too. “I shall give you each ten shillings,” he said. “You can take it to spend when you are away at Granny’s.”

Ten shillings! What a lot of money that seemed! Bob and Mary at once thought of ice-creams by the dozen, bars of chocolate, toffees and books and new crayons.

“Only two days more and we go to Granny’s,” said Bob, putting his money carefully into a little leather purse. “We’re lucky—top of our form—ten shillings each—and a lovely holiday at Granny’s!”

Only two days more—and away they would go!