The Boy at the Top of the Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page A

from what we’ve been told. And after all she’d been through in her life too. It seems terribly cruel that someone with so much to live for should be taken away from you just when you need her the most. And I dare say she loved you very much. Don’t you agree, Simone? Don’t you think that Mme Fischer must have loved Pierrot very much?’
    Simone looked up from a ledger into which she was writing details of Pierrot’s height and physical condition. ‘I imagine that most mothers love their sons,’ she said. ‘It’s hardly worth commenting upon.’
    ‘And your father,’ continued Adèle. ‘He passed away a few years ago too, isn’t that right?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Pierrot.
    ‘And you have no other family?’
    ‘No. Well, my father had a sister, I think, but I’ve never met her. She never came to visit. She probably doesn’t even know that I’m alive or that my parents are dead. I don’t have her address.’
    ‘Oh, what a shame!’
    ‘How long will I have to stay here?’ Pierrot asked, his attention drawn to the many pictures and drawings on display. On the desk he noticed a photograph of a man and woman seated on two chairs with a large gap between them, such serious expressions on their faces that he wondered whether they had been captured in the middle of an argument; he knew by looking at them that they were the sisters’ parents. Another photograph, placed on the opposite corner of the desk, revealed two little girls holding hands with a slightly younger boy who was standing between them. On the wall was a third photograph, a portrait of a young man with a pencil moustache wearing a French army uniform. The picture was taken in profile, so from where it hung, the young man was staring out of the window into the gardens beyond with a rather wistful expression on his face.
    ‘Many of our orphans are placed with good families within a month or two of their arrival,’ said Adèle, sitting down on the couch and indicating that Pierrot should take a seat next to her. ‘There are so many wonderful men and women who would like to start a family but have not been blessed with children of their own; others simply want to bring an extra brother or sister into their home out of kindness and charity. You must never underestimate how kind people can be, Pierrot.’
    ‘Or how cruel,’ muttered Simone from behind her desk, and Pierrot glanced across at her in surprise but she didn’t look up.
    ‘We’ve had some children who were with us for only a few days or weeks,’ continued Adèle, ignoring her sister’s remark. ‘And some who were here a little longer, of course. But once, a little boy of your age was brought to us in the morning and he was gone again by lunch time. We barely had a chance to get to know him at all, did we, Simone?’
    ‘No,’ said Simone.
    ‘What was his name?’
    ‘I can’t remember.’
    ‘Well, it doesn’t matter,’ said Adèle. ‘The point is that you can’t predict when someone will find a family. Something like that might happen to you, Pierrot.’
    ‘It’s almost five o’clock,’ he replied. ‘The day’s almost over.’
    ‘I only meant—’
    ‘And how many never get adopted?’ he asked.
    ‘Hmm? What’s that?’
    ‘How many children never get adopted?’ he repeated. ‘How many live here until they’re grown up?’
    ‘Ah,’ said Adèle, her smile fading a little. ‘Well, it’s difficult to put a number on that, of course. It happens occasionally, of course it does, but I very much doubt that it will happen with you. Why, any family would be delighted to have you! But let’s not worry about that for now. However long or short your stay may be, we’ll try to make it as enjoyable as possible. For now the important thing is that you get settled in, meet your new friends and start to feel at home. You may have heard some bad stories about things that go on in orphanages, Pierrot, because there are an awful lot of people who tell terrible stories – and