Read Online William Again by Richmal Crompton - Free Book Online Page A

with a perfunctory grimace at his sister.
    ‘But wouldn’t you like to help to hand things round, darling?’ asked Mrs Brown.
    ‘No, thanks, but I’ll eat up all they’ve left for you afterwards.’
    ‘How kind!’ said Ethel.
    William, goaded at last to verbal retaliation, turned on her.
    ‘If you say much more to me,’ he said darkly, ‘I’ll – I’ll – I’ll not help you at any of your parties.’
    He then echoed her derisive laughter in a piercing tenor.
    ‘William, darling,’ sighed Mrs Brown, ‘do go and wash your face.’
    William crammed a handful of crusts into his mouth, put the cushion from the armchair on to the top of the cat, and went out into the hall. Here he burst suddenly into a flood of raucous sound
–
    Oh, who will o’er the downs with me?
    Oh, who will with me ri – i – i – i – ide?
    Mr Brown opened the library door.
    ‘Will – you – stop – that – confounded – noise?’ he demanded emphatically.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ said William amicably. ‘I forgot you din’t like musick.’
    After lunch William sallied forth once more into the world. He was feeling slightly bored. Ginger and Douglas and Henry, his three sworn allies, were all away on their
holidays. William did not consider holidays unmixed blessings. Anyway, he considered that there ought to be a law that everyone should go on their holidays at the same time. He walked again down
the village street. He did not sing this time. Instead he threw stones at the telegraph poles. He stood at one telegraph pole and tried to hit the one across the road. Every pole that was hit was
to William a magnificent tiger, falling lifeless, shot by William through the heart. The parrot, catching sight of him again, gave an excited scream. This put William off his aim. He screamed back
at the parrot, missed the telegraph pole and hit a King Charles spaniel in a garden. He then dropped the rest of his stones and fled from the indignant owner of the dog. She pursued him down the
street. ‘You cruel boy – I’ll tell your father – a poor dumb animal—’ She gave up the chase at the end of the road, and William went on his way whistling, his hands in his
pockets. At a bend in the road he stood suddenly silent. A group of children were walking along in front of him. They had evidently just come out of the station. At their head walked a tall, thin
man. The children – boys and girls – were about William’s age. They were clean and tidy, but badly dressed, and with pale cockney faces. William hurried along the road. A little girl turned
round.
    ‘ ’Ullo,’ she said with a friendly grin, ‘did yer nearly git left be’ind? Wot’s yer nime?’
    William liked the almost incredible frizziness of her over-crimped hair. He liked the dirty feather in her hat and the violent blue of her dress. He liked her white stockings and yellow boots.
He thought her altogether and entirely charming. He liked the way she talked. He found her whole personality intriguing. His grim freckled features relaxed into an ingratiating smile.
    ‘William,’ he replied. ‘Wot’s yours?’
    ‘Heglantine,’ she said. ‘Noice nime, ain’t it? Me sister’s called ’Oratia. Loverly, comin’ on the trine, weren’t it?’
    It was evident that she took him for one of her party William grasped at the opportunity of continuing the acquaintance. ‘Um,’ he said non-committally.
    ‘Din’t see yer on the trine. Such a crawd, weren’t there? Some from St Luke’s an’ some from St Mary’s. Oi dunno ’aft of ’em, an’ don’t
think much o’ some of ’em by their looks. Oi were jus’ lookin’ aht fer someone ter pal up wif.’
    William’s heart swelled with delight at this implied superiority. A boy in front turned round. He was pale and undersized and wore a loud check cap that would have fitted a grown man.
    ‘ ’Ullo, Freckles!’ he said to William.
    William glared at him fiercely.
    ‘You jus’ mind wot you say to me,’ he