Far to Go

Noel Streatfeild

Contents ( 55)

First published in Great Britain by William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd in 1976

This edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2020

Published in this ebook edition in 2020

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

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Source ISBN: 9780007349616

Ebook Edition © Feb 2020 ISBN: 9780008244071

Version: 2020-02-26

To Sophie,
who liked Thursday’s Child

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

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter One: Far to Go

Chapter Two: The Postcard

Chapter Three: The Red Dress

Chapter Four: The Interview

Chapter Five: About the Play

Chapter Six: Katie

Chapter Seven: The Calendar

Chapter Eight: Miss Grey has a Plan

Chapter Nine: Her Ladyship Hears the Story

Chapter Ten: Lessons

Chapter Eleven: Rehearsals

Chapter Twelve: Licences

Chapter Thirteen: A Letter

Chapter Fourteen: Christmas

Chapter Fifteen: Precautions

Chapter Sixteen: A Scare

Chapter Seventeen: Margaret’s Gone!

Chapter Eighteen: The Search Begins

Chapter Nineteen: A Telegram for Liza

Chapter Twenty: The Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-one: The Search Goes On

Chapter Twenty-two: Hope

Chapter Twenty-three: Queen Eliza

Chapter Twenty-four: A Whistle in the Dark

Chapter Twenty-five: The End

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Books by Noel Streatfeild

About the Publisher

Chapter One

FAR TO GO

Every day when she arrived at the theatre Margaret would feel a sort of blown-up feeling inside because she was so happy. To other people there might not seem much about the theatre to make her happy, for it was only a tent. It had started life – many years before – with a little family circus who had grandly called it ‘The Big Top’. That circus had done well so the owner had bought a bigger tent and had advertised for a buyer for his old one. The advertisement had been seen by Mr Fortescue, actor-manager of the Fortescue Comedy Company, who acted in what was called a fit-up theatre, that is to say, they put up a stage and curtains and acted in any building which could be rented where they could find an audience. It was the proudest moment in Mr Fortescue’s life when in 1895 he had bought the big tent and had had ‘Fortescue Comedy Company’ painted on it.