Tom's Midnight Garden (24 page)

‘I once planned to climb the yard fence, to look at Tricksy,’ said Tom. ‘I wonder if I should have found the mark there.’

‘It may still show.’

So their talk of the garden rambled on, until the grandfather clock struck for noon, and Tom jumped up, for he must go. Lunch would be ready downstairs; and after lunch he was to be driven home.

‘But you’ll come again!’ cried Mrs Bartholomew. ‘And what about that brother of yours, that I saw in Ely—what was his name?’

‘Peter,’ said Tom, and started guiltily to think how he had forgotten Peter, first of all in the horror of losing the garden, and then in the amazement and joy of finding it again in Mrs Bartholomew’s remembrance.

He sat down again and told her about Peter, and especially of how Peter had loved to hear about the garden and of their adventures there. ‘You must certainly bring him to visit me,’ said Mrs Bartholomew, firmly. ‘Will you be sure to tell Peter that I shall be expecting him?’

Tom promised. He found that, after all, he was looking forward eagerly to going home. There would be the warmth of that homecoming; and, when the welcomes were over, he would draw Peter aside into the little back-garden and whisper: ‘Peter, I’ve the secret of the other garden to tell you, and I’ve an invitation for you from Hatty.’

Meanwhile, Tom must really say good-bye to Mrs Bartholomew now, or he would be late for lunch and for going home. Already Aunt Gwen was anxiously looking out for him, on the floor below. From the front door of Mrs Bartholomew’s flat, Tom saw her on the watch; and Mrs Bartholomew saw her too.

‘Good-bye, Mrs Bartholomew,’ said Tom, shaking hands with stiff politeness; ‘and thank you very much for having me.’

‘I shall look forward to our meeting again,’ said Mrs Bartholomew, equally primly.

Tom went slowly down the attic stairs. Then, at the bottom, he hesitated: he turned impulsively and ran up again—two at a time—to where Hatty Bartholomew still stood …

Afterwards, Aunt Gwen tried to describe to her husband that second parting between them. ‘He ran up to her, and they hugged each other as if they had known each other for years and years, instead of only having met for the first time this morning. There was something else, too, Alan, although I know you’ll say it sounds even more absurd … Of course, Mrs Bartholomew’s such a shrunken little old woman, she’s hardly bigger than Tom, anyway: but, you know, he put his arms right round her and he hugged her good-bye as if she were a little girl.’

Photo by Helen Craig

Philippa Pearce spent her childhood in Cambridgeshire. Her father was a flour miller and corn merchant in the village of Great Shelford, and the family lived in the mill house there. She went to school in Cambridge, and studied English and History at Cambridge University. After college she worked in the BBC as a scriptwriter and producer, and then in publishing as an editor. Her earliest ambition was to be a writer, and she has written many books, winning the Carnegie Medal for
Tom’s Midnight Garden
. The village where she grew up, and the Cambridgeshire countryside, provide the background setting for both
Tom’s Midnight Garden
and
Minnow on the Say
. She died in 2006.

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