Читать книгу Dimanche Diller - Henrietta Branford - Страница 9

Four

The journey should have been a dismal one for little Dimanche.

Her new aunt left her alone in her pram in the luggage compartment, with a bottle of cold tea propped beside her pillow, and went off by herself for cakes and ale in the restaurant car.

If it had not been for a kind-hearted guard called Winston, who knows how Dimanche would have managed? Fortunately, Winston was a father and a grandfather, and what he didn’t know about babies wouldn’t fill a thimble. He fetched warm milk, and banana sandwiches, and made Dimanche’s journey pleasant by singing to her.

Valburga Vilemile did not show up until the train pulled into Hilton in the Hollow station. Winston felt extremely angry with her as he helped her down with the pram.

“Look here, Sister,” he said. “You may be a nun but you don’t know a thing about babies. Babies need plenty of attention. They need food and drink all the time. They need conversation. They need looking at, picking up, and singing to. They need cheerful and abundant company by day and by night. Why d’you think their parents look so tired?”

“I suggest, my good man, that you confine your attention to the serving of tea and coffee, the lifting down of prams, and the occasional clipping of tickets,” Valburga replied. “Unless you wish to be reported to your superiors for insolence.”

Winston shook his head and clicked his fingers. He peeped into the pram. “Good luck, little one,” he murmured. “You’re going to need it.”

How right he was.