Page 30 of The Secret Christmas Library
We were disappointed to hear . . .
Unfortunately, we are unable . . .
Once again your housemaster . . .
Jamie got up and came over to examine the letters.
‘He doesn’t seem very happy,’ Mirren said. ‘They just seem to be a long collection of responses to complaints from your grandfather . . . well, I don’t suppose you’d like it if you were sent away from home at eight years old . . . ’
‘You wouldn’t,’ said two emphatic voices. The boys looked at each other, surprised.
‘You?’ said Theo.
‘Croffley,’ said Jamie. ‘Literally the same place these letters went to. Banged up at eight for a ten-stretch.’
Theo nodded. ‘Dunner Hall.’
‘Isn’t that for softies?’
Theo grimaced. ‘Apparently, yes.’
‘I am beginning to think,’ said Mirren, ‘that growing up posh is not quite as much fun as I imagined it might be.’
Theo bent down and took a look.
‘Oh, my God. I can kind of understand keeping a kid’s drawings – although probably not if you send them away, bloody hell. But this . . . ’ He pulled out a sheaf of ancient, flaking-away tracing paper.
Mirren looked at it. The old pages were such thin leaves, they looked ready to crumble into dust.
‘Trace its line,’ she breathed.
Across the top, in a smudged child’s hand, was written ANANMILS OF THE ARTIC, and the tracings were of creatures – polar bears, Arctic foxes, and, yes, geese . . .
‘No penguins, though,’ said Mirren.
‘Wait – there actually aren’t any penguins in the Arctic!’ said Theo suddenly. ‘I forgot. How embarrassing.’
‘Oh! So hedidmeanpick up your pen!’
‘Or he wasn’t a very good student.’
They leafed through the box, but it didn’t seem to have anything in it other than the letters and pictures.
Theo blinked. ‘Hang on,’ he said, and got up and jumped down the stairs and across the room. He waved a hand. ‘Over here,’ he said. ‘I’m sure I saw . . . somewhere around here...’
Just as he said it, the lights flickered, and they looked up.
‘They do that,’ said Jamie. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
‘Um, okay,’ said Theo. ‘Have you got a torch – you know, just in case?’
‘No,’ said Jamie. ‘I can find my way round this place blindfolded. And have done, often.’
‘Well, that’s okay for you,’ said Mirren. ‘I can’t remember where my bedroom is when we’re in broad daylight.’
The lights flickered again.
‘It’s fine,’ said Jamie, and went towards the window, frowning. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘That’s earlier than was forecast. Oh, well.’
