The Peppermint Pig Read Online Free PDF

suppose blood will out.’
    She was over-acting as Lily did sometimes, Poll thought, but Mrs Bugg wasn’t as pretty. In fact she was hideous , with her small, green, pin-point eyesand her small, swaying, snake’s head. And in spite of her kind concern she was glad that Father was going away and meant them to know it. Oh – she was rude ! Poll looked at Aunt Harriet hopefully, expecting her to be rude back, as she could be when roused, but although her aunt’s pulled-down mouth showed her temper there was no sign of it in her voice. ‘Sarah and I are only too glad to have James’s children living so close for a while. It will be a sad day for us when he sends for them to go to America.’
    ‘Do you really think that he will?’
    Aunt Harriet laughed as if this was a ridiculous question, not worth an answer, and said, ‘It’s nice to talk, Marigold, but I mustn’t keep the children hanging about, they’ll get cold. I hope your father is well, and young Noah. I thought he looked poorly last time I saw him, as if he was outgrowing his strength.’
    She didn’t wait after that but swept the children away, walking so fast that they had to run to keep up with her and not slowing down until Theo tugged at her coat sleeve and gasped, ‘Aunt Harry, what did she mean, blood will out ?’
    Aunt Harriet said, ‘Oh, she’s a silly, sour creature, don’t bother your head with her blather.’
    ‘She couldn’t never have been Mother’s friend,’ Poll said. ‘She’s too mean and she’s old .’
    ‘Only a couple of years older than your mother. If she looks more it’s because she’s had a hard time ofit. Husband and two babies dead of consumption, only Noah left now. But you’re right, she and your mother were never friends, really. Especially not after your mother and father were married. Marigold would have liked James herself, that’s the truth of it, but he barely knew she existed. The day of the wedding she went to her bed for a month and refused to get up until her father took a strap to her. After that she quite lost her looks – not that they were all that much to begin with…’
    Theo said, ‘You haven’t answered my question .’
    ‘You’ve had all the answer you’re going to get,’ Aunt Harriet snapped, letting her temper loose suddenly like an angry dog she had been holding back on a lead until now. ‘Children should be seen and not heard, don’t you know that?’
    They said nothing. When Aunt Harriet looked and sounded this way it was best to keep quiet. Or else change the subject. Poll said, in an affected, surprised voice, ‘Look – there’s Lily! Without her coat on!’
    Lily was running towards them, pinafore fluttering, copper curls bouncing. ‘There you are! Where have you been all this time? Mother and Father have come, they’ve been here simply ages.’
    Father’s boat was sailing on Christmas Eve. Only two days away but they would have all tomorrowtogether. He made it seem like a long, lovely holiday. ‘We’ll do a grand tour,’ he said, ‘see all there is to see. Hire a trap from The Angel and do things in style.’
    And as the church clock struck ten, he was there at the door with a smartly painted trap and a shiny black pony. They were all dressed in their best: Mother in her bustled coat trimmed with jet beads at the edges, the boys in Norfolk jackets and knickerbockers, the girls with lace petticoats over their flannels, stiff, new, buttoned boots and creamy wool coats that had little fur collars. Father handed them into the trap, tucked the rug over their knees and said, ‘My three girls look like princesses.’
    It was a fine day with a pale wintry sun and a new, frosty nip in the air. As the trap rattled along a little breeze blew back the sweet, leathery smell of well-polished harness and the dusty, warm, oily smell of the pony. To Poll’s ear, his hooves beat out the tune, Father is going away tomorrow, Father is going away …
    The Town Square was bustling with