The Girl on the Beach Read Online Free PDF Page A

Chalfont declined to see her again and would not allow her to say goodbye to the children. She picked up her bag and left by the mews gate. Ted Austen was lounging against the garage door smoking a cigarette. She turned and hurried away in the opposite direction, half afraid he would follow her. But then she told herself not to be so silly; he had to drive Sir Bertram to the factory, as he did every weekday morning, returning to take Lady Chalfont to the shops or to her various social engagements, and he would not dare absent himself. But she was aware of his triumphant grin.
    She took a train to Berkhamsted and the Foundling Hospital, the only other home she had ever known.
     
    Harry stood by the bandstand for two hours the following Sunday before giving up and going home. He did not think for a minute that Julie would stand him up on purpose, so something must have prevented her from coming. He did the same thing the following week and by then he was becoming very worried. She had become important to him; he missed her infectious laugh, her serious moments, her naivety mixed with a kind of age-old wisdom which made her uniquely Julie. At work, he tried to find out if anything catastrophic had happened at the Chalfont residence which might have prevented her from meeting him, but no one knew anything and Sir Bertram arrived at the factory each morning as he always did and seemed his usual smiling self.
    The third Sunday it was raining and he toured their indoor haunts but there was no sign of her. On subsequent Sundays, he took to standing at the end of her street in thehope of catching a glimpse of her, and when that proved futile, he wandered down the mews and peeped in the back gate. It was here, one Sunday, he saw Ted Austen who took a malicious delight in telling him Julie had been dismissed.
    ‘What for? Where’s she gone?’
    ‘What for? On account of you. As for where she’s gone, how should I know? Good riddance say I. She was a tease.’
    ‘She is not a tease. What you mean is you couldn’t have your way with her. I know who to blame for this …’ He was clenching his fists down his sides and holding himself rigid to prevent himself lashing out. It was more important to find out where Julie had gone. ‘Where is she?’
    ‘How should I know? Didn’t she come running to you? Now, there’s a surprise. No doubt she’s found a new protector.’
    Harry raised his fist, changed his mind and strode away. He had to find Julie. But how? She could be anywhere in the whole of London, might even have gone further afield. It seemed hopeless. Why hadn’t she come straight to him? She must have known he would look after her.
    He went home and sought out his father who was reading the Sunday paper in the sitting room. They lived in a large semi-detached house in Islington. It was close enough to get to the factory easily, but far enough from it and the rest of the docklands to be considered above it in the social hierarchy.
    Harry flung himself down in the chair opposite his father. ‘Pa, how do you go about finding someone who’s disappeared?’
    Donald set aside the newspaper to answer his son. ‘It depends. Who’s disappeared?’
    ‘A girl I know.’
    His father grinned. ‘I thought there was something different about you. Putting all that stuff on your hair and dressing up of a Sunday afternoon. Who is she?’
    ‘Julie Monday. You remember when we went to Southend, I said I’d met this girl who was lost?’
    ‘No, when was that?’
    ‘The year I went to grammar school. She was down there with a crowd from the Foundling Hospital and I took her back to her charabanc.’
    ‘I seem to remember something about it. What about her?’
    ‘I met her again last year. She was working in Sir Bertram’s household. I heard her screaming for help and found this fellow molesting her in the garden, so I waded in and saw him off with his tail between his legs. We’ve been seeing each other off and on ever since. Now