Noel Streatfeild - Thursday’s Child

First published in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd in 1970

This edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2020

Published in this ebook edition in 2020

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Text copyright © Noel Streatfeild 1970

Cover illustrations copyright © Sarah Gibb 2020

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020

Noel Streatfeild asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008244057

Ebook Edition © Feb 2020 ISBN: 9780008244040

Version: 2020-02-26

Dedicated to an American penfriend, Kathy Retan, with love

Monday’s child is fair of face,

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

Thursday’s child has far to go,

Friday’s child is loving and giving,

Saturday’s child works hard for a living,

And the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

– Anonymous

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd in 1970 This edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2020 Published in this ebook edition in 2020 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk Text copyright © Noel Streatfeild 1970 Cover illustrations copyright © Sarah Gibb 2020 Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020 Noel Streatfeild asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008244057 Ebook Edition © Feb 2020 ISBN: 9780008244040 Version: 2020-02-26

Dedication Dedicated to an American penfriend, Kathy Retan, with love

Epigraph Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living, And the child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. – Anonymous

Chapter One: The Choice

Chapter Two: Packing Up

Chapter Three: The Journey

Chapter Four: The Orphanage

Chapter Five: First Day

Chapter Six: School

Chapter Seven: Lavinia

Chapter Eight: A Letter

Chapter Nine: Plans for Sunday

Chapter Ten: Half a Sunday

Chapter Eleven: The Picnic

Chapter Twelve: A Night Adventure

Chapter Thirteen: By Moonlight

Chapter Fourteen: The Archdeacon’s Brother

Chapter Fifteen: The Invitation

Chapter Sixteen: Questions

Chapter Seventeen: Sunday with Mr Windle

Chapter Eighteen: Trouble

Chapter Nineteen: Escape

Chapter Twenty: Jem

Chapter Twenty-one: Polly Makes a Discovery

Chapter Twenty-two: The Nightdress

Chapter Twenty-three: Ma Smith

Chapter Twenty-four: Wilberforce

Chapter Twenty-five: First Morning

Chapter Twenty-six: In the Drawing Room

Chapter Twenty-seven: Rain

Chapter Twenty-eight: New Plans

Chapter Twenty-nine: Goodbye to Matron

Chapter Thirty: The Tunnel

Chapter Thirty-one: At the Bull

Chapter Thirty-two: At Morning Prayers

Chapter Thirty-three: The Theatre

Chapter Thirty-four: The Whole Truth

Chapter Thirty-five: The Rehearsal

Chapter Thirty-six: The Crusader

Chapter Thirty-seven: Curtain Down

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Books by Noel Streatfeild

About the Publisher

Margaret had been discovering all her life that grown-ups were disappointing conversationalists. So now that she was ten she was quite prepared to carry on a conversation by herself. That January afternoon as she walked – or sometimes, forgetting it was a crime – skipped home beside Hannah, she argued about boots.

‘I know you say and Miss Sylvia and Miss Selina say that boots are economical because they last longer but I don’t think that’s true. All the other girls at school wear shoes and they say they don’t wear out quickly and they ought to know. And what nobody understands is what wearing boots does to me – they humiliate my legs. If I wasn’t me but a different person they would humiliate me all over, but not even boots can do that. I am Margaret Thursday and unhumiliatable.’

Hannah, her mind worrying round like a squirrel in a cage, had not been listening to a word Margaret said. Now she pulled her to a halt in a shop doorway.

‘Let’s have a look at you, dear. You are to have tea with the rector.’

Hannah was a bony woman, made bonier by wearing long stiff all-embracing corsets which creaked. She had worked for Miss Sylvia and Miss Selina Cameron most of her life, having first come to the house when she was thirteen as a between maid. She had sobbed herself sick before she went, much to her mother’s annoyance.

‘Give over, do,’ she had said. ‘What have you to cry about with everything so nice?’

The ‘everything’ had been packed in Hannah’s wicker basket, material provided by Mrs Cameron but sewn by Hannah and her mother. Such riches! Print dresses, black dresses for the afternoon, aprons, caps and, of course, an outfit for church on Sundays.

The Camerons had been kind to her, which was why Hannah had stayed with the family. There had been periods when she had got so far as walking out with one or other of the menservants, but things had happened. First, Mr Cameron had died. Mrs Cameron was the helpless type and she had clung to Hannah, who had by then risen to being parlourmaid, as though to a rock. For some reason, which Hannah had never understood, after Mr Cameron’s death there was less and less money. Slowly, changes had to be made. Not at once but over the years. First the menservants, then the cook and her assistants were given notice, until finally – except for a man once a week for the garden – there was only Hannah.