Читать книгу Five On Kirrin Island Again - Enid blyton - Страница 4

Table of Contents

Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy went straightaway to have buns and ginger-beer at the station tearoom. It was good to be all together again. Timmy went nearly mad with joy at seeing the two boys. He kept trying to get on to their knees.

‘Look here, Timmy, old thing, I love you very much and I’m jolly glad to see you,’ said Dick, ‘but that’s twice you’ve upset my ginger-beer all over me. Has he behaved himself this term, George?’

‘Fairly well,’ said George, considering. ‘Hasn’t he, Anne? I mean—he only got the joint out of the larder once—and he didn’t do so much harm to that cushion he chewed—and if people will leave their goloshes all over the place nobody can blame Timmy for having a good old game with them.’

‘And that was the end of the goloshes, I suppose,’ said Julian, with a grin. ‘On the whole, Timmy, you have a rather poor report. I’m afraid our Uncle Quentin will not award you the usual twenty-five pence we get for good reports.’

At the mention of her father, George scowled. ‘I see George has not lost her pretty scowl,’ said Dick, in a teasing voice. ‘Dear old George! We shouldn’t know her unless she put on that fearsome scowl half a dozen times a day!’

‘Oh, she’s better than she was,’ said Anne hurrying to George’s defence at once. George was not so touchy as she had once been, when she was being teased. All the same, Anne knew that there might be sparks flying over her father taking Kirrin Island these holidays, and she didn’t want George to fly into a temper too soon!

Julian looked at his cousin. ‘I say, old thing, you’re not going to take this business of Kirrin Island too much to heart, are you?’ he said. ‘You’ve just got to realise that your father’s a remarkably clever man, one of the finest scientists we’ve got—and I think that those kind of fellows ought to be allowed as much freedom as they like, for their work. I mean—if Uncle Quentin wants to work on Kirrin Island for some peculiar reason of his own, then you ought to be pleased to say “Go ahead, Father!” ’

George looked a little mutinous after this rather long speech; but she thought a great deal of Julian, and usually went by what he said. He was older than any of them, a tall, good-looking boy, with determined eyes and a strong chin. George scratched Timmy’s head, and spoke in a low voice.

‘All right. I won’t go up in smoke about it, Julian. But I’m frightfully disappointed. I’d planned to go to Kirrin Island ourselves these hols.’

‘Well, we’re all disappointed,’ said Julian. ‘Buck up with your bun, old thing. We’ve got to get across London and catch the train for Kirrin. We shall miss it if we don’t look out.’

Soon they were in the train for Kirrin. Julian was very good at getting porters and taxis. Anne gazed admiringly at her big brother as he found them all corner-seats in a carriage. Julian did know how to tackle things!

‘Do you think I’ve grown, Julian?’ she asked him. ‘I did hope I’d be as tall as George by the end of this term, but she grew too!’

‘Well, I should think you might be a quarter of an inch taller than last term,’ said Julian. ‘You can’t catch us up, Anne—you’ll always be the smallest! But I like you small.’

‘Look at Timmy, putting his head out of the window as usual!’ said Dick. ‘Timmy you’ll get a grit in your eye. Then George will go quite mad with grief and think you’re going blind!’

‘Woof,’ said Timmy, and wagged his tail. That was the nice part about Timmy. He always knew when he was being spoken to, even if his name was not mentioned, and he answered at once.

Aunt Fanny was at the station to meet them in the pony-trap. The children flung themselves on her, for they were very fond of her. She was kind and gentle, and did her best to keep her clever, impatient husband from finding too much fault with the children.

‘How’s Uncle Quentin?’ asked Julian, politely, when they were setting off in the trap.

‘He’s very well,’ said his aunt. ‘And terribly excited. Really, I’ve never known him to be so thrilled as he has been lately. His work has been coming along very successfully.’

‘I suppose you don’t know what his latest experiment is?’ said Dick.

‘Oh no. He never tells me a word,’ said Aunt Fanny. ‘He never tells anyone anything while he is at work, except his colleagues, of course. But I do know it’s very important—and I know, of course, that the last part of the experiment has to be made in a place where there is deep water all around. Don’t ask me why! I don’t know.’

‘Look! There’s Kirrin Island!’ said Anne, suddenly. They had rounded a corner, and had come in sight of the bay. Guarding the entrance to it was the curious little island topped by the old ruined castle. The sun shone down on the blue sea, and the island looked most enchanting.

George looked earnestly at it. She was looking for the building, whatever it was, that her father said he needed for his work. Everyone looked at the island, seeking the same thing.

They saw it easily enough! Rising from the centre of the castle, probably from the castle yard, was a tall thin tower, rather like a lighthouse. At the top was a glass-enclosed room, which glittered in the sun.

‘Oh Mother! I don’t like it! It spoils Kirrin Island,’ said George, in dismay.

‘Darling, it can come down when your father has finished his work,’ said her mother. ‘It’s a very flimsy, temporary thing. It can easily be pulled down. Father promised me he would scrap it as soon as his work was done. He says you can go across and see it, if you like. It’s really rather interesting.’

‘Ooooh—I’d love to go and see it,’ said Anne, at once. ‘It looks so queer. Is Uncle Quentin all alone on Kirrin Island, Aunt Fanny?’

‘Yes, I don’t like him to be alone,’ said her aunt. ‘For one thing I am sure he doesn’t get his meals properly, and for another, I’m always afraid some harm might come to him when he’s experimenting—and if he’s alone, how would I know if anything happened to him?’

‘Well, Aunt Fanny, you could always arrange for him to signal to you each morning and night, couldn’t you?’ said Julian, sensibly. ‘He could use that tower easily. He could flash a signal to you in the morning, using a mirror, you know—heliographing that he was all right—and at night he could signal with a lamp. Easy!’

‘Yes. I did suggest that sort of thing,’ said his aunt. ‘I said I’d go over with you all tomorrow, to see him and perhaps, Julian dear, you could arrange something of the sort with your uncle? He seems to listen to you now.’

‘Gracious! Do you mean to say Father wants us to invade his secret lair, and actually to see his strange tower?’ asked George, surprised. ‘Well—I don’t think I want to go. After all, it’s my island—and it’s horrid to see someone else taking possession of it.’

‘Oh, George, don’t begin all that again,’ said Anne, with a sigh. ‘You and your island! Can’t you even lend it to your own father! Aunt Fanny, you should have seen George when your letter came. She looked so fierce that I was quite scared!’

Everyone laughed except George and Aunt Fanny. She looked distressed. George was always so difficult! She found fault with her father, and got up against him time after time—but dear me, how very, very like him she was, with her scowls, her sudden temper, and her fierceness! If only George was as sweet-tempered and as easy-going as these three cousins of hers!

George looked at her mother’s troubled face, and felt ashamed of herself. She put her hand on her knee. ‘It’s all right Mother! I won’t make a fuss. I’ll try and keep my feelings to myself, really I will. I know Father’s work is important. I’ll go with you to the island tomorrow.’

Julian gave George a gentle clap on the back. ‘Good old George! She’s actually learned, not only to give in, but to give in gracefully! George, you’re more like a boy than ever when you act like that.’

George glowed. She liked Julian to say she was like a boy. She didn’t want to be petty and catty and bear malice as so many girls did. But Anne looked a little indignant.

‘It isn’t only boys that can learn to give in decently, and things like that,’ she said. ‘Heaps of girls do. Well, I jolly well hope I do myself!’

‘My goodness, here’s another fire-brand!’ said Aunt Fanny, smiling. ‘Stop arguing now, all of you—here’s Kirrin Cottage. Doesn’t it look sweet with all the primroses in the garden, and the wallflowers coming out, and the daffodils peeping everywhere?’

It certainly did. The four children and Timmy tore in at the front gate, delighted to be back. They clattered into the house, and, to their great delight, found Joanna, the old cook there. She had come back to help for the holidays. She beamed at the children, and fondled Timmy when he leapt round her barking.

‘Well, there now! Haven’t you all grown again? How big you are, Master Julian—taller than I am, I declare. And little Miss Anne, why, she’s getting quite big.’

That pleased Anne, of course. Julian went back to the front door to help his aunt with the small bags in the trap. The trunks were coming later. Julian and Dick took everything upstairs.

Anne joined them, eager to see her old bedroom again. Oh, how good it was to be in Kirrin Cottage once more! She looked out of the windows. One looked on to the moor at the back. The other looked sideways on to the sea. Lovely! Lovely! She began to sing a little song as she undid her bag.

‘You know,’ she said to Dick, when he brought George’s bag in, ‘you know, Dick, I’m really quite pleased that Uncle Quentin has gone to Kirrin Island, even if it means we won’t be able to go there much! I feel much freer in the house when he’s away. He’s a very clever man and he can be awfully nice—but I always feel a bit afraid of him.’

Dick laughed. ‘I’m not afraid of him—but he’s a bit of a wet blanket in a house, I must say, when we’re here for the holidays. Funny to think of him on Kirrin Island all alone.’

A voice came up the stairs. ‘Come down to tea, children, because there are hot scones for you, just out of the oven.’

‘Coming, Aunt Fanny!’ called Dick. ‘Hurry, Anne. I’m awfully hungry. Julian, did you hear Aunt Fanny calling?’

George came up the stairs to fetch Anne. She was pleased to be home, and as for Timmy, he was engaged in going round every single corner of the house, sniffing vigorously.

‘He always does that!’ said George. ‘As if he thought that there might be a chair or a table that didn’t smell quite the same as it always did. Come on, Tim. Tea-time! Mother, as Father isn’t here, can Timmy sit beside me on the floor? He’s awfully well-behaved now.’

‘Very well,’ said her mother, and tea began. What a tea! It looked as if it was a spread for a party of twenty. Good old Joanna! She must have baked all day. Well, there wouldn’t be much left when the Five had finished!