‘Hello, Miss Wilberforce,’ Dinah said, in a cold little voice.
Miss Wilberforce sighed, and looked at Mr and Mrs Hunter. ‘I’m afraid you’re right,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t look as though she feels at home at all. And I was so sure she’d feel happy and relaxed here.’
‘I don’t think it’s her fault,’ Mr Hunter said sternly. ‘I blame the boys.’
Lloyd stared round at them. ‘What do you mean? What are you all talking about?’
‘We’re talking about Dinah.’ Mr Hunter smiled apologetically at her. ‘Mrs Hunter and I like having you here, dear. We’ve grown fond of you. But you don’t seem to get on with the boys. You’ve been at each other’s throats all the time, haven’t you? So we’ve agreed with Miss Wilberforce that it would be better for everyone if you went back to the Children’s Home.’
Dinah felt as though someone had hit her with a large lump of very cold ice. Her face stiffened. ‘Yes, Mr Hunter,’ she said, in a small voice.
‘But you can’t—’ burst out Harvey. He stopped and looked helplessly at Lloyd.
Lloyd sat down deliberately in a chair and looked round at the grown-ups. ‘I think you’re all mad,’ he said loudly. ‘Why ever do you want to send Dinah away? Plum-coloured pumpkins! We want her here. For ever and ever. I think Mum and Dad ought to adopt her properly.’
Mr and Mrs Hunter goggled, their mouths dropping open. ‘You like her?’
‘Well, of course,’ Lloyd said, as if it were a ridiculous question. ‘I think she’s fantastic. Except—’ he grinned across at her ‘—except for being a bit thick, of course.’
Dinah had gone rather pink, and was staring at her feet. She did not speak until Miss Wilberforce said gently, ‘Well, Dinah? How do you feel about it?’
In a choking voice, as though she could hardly speak, Dinah said, ‘Please. Oh please.’
‘That’s all right, then,’ Lloyd said in a satisfied tone. ‘Now please can we have something to eat? We’re all absolutely starving.’
His mother looked at him in bewilderment. ‘But you took a packed tea to school. You can’t be hungry again. Whatever have you been up to?’
Lloyd, Harvey, and Dinah looked at each other and grinned.
‘Oh, nothing much,’ they said. In perfect unison.
Gillian Cross has been writing children’s books for over thirty years. Before that, she took English degrees at Oxford and Sussex Universities, and she has had various jobs including working in a village bakery and being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. She is married with four children and lives in Dorset. Her hobbies include orienteering and playing the piano. She won the Carnegie Medal for Wolf and the Smarties Prize and the Whitbread Children’s Novel Award for The Great Elephant Chase.
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