24

A HALF SOVEREIGN

Beginning the narrative of ticket no. 45247, property of Bay Leaf House, Forlichingham, London

My name is James Henry. My name is James Henry Hayward. I’m on a train. There’s an old man beside me. A nice, grand old man. He holds my hand. We’re on a train. Going to London.

I can’t see much of anything through the windows, it’s all very dark out there. I don’t know if I should be worried or not. I look at the old man and I think, not. It is light here in the carriage. The old man is good to me. I don’t know if we’re going to see my family, I think I should like to see them. The old man says that he shall do his best to find them. I wonder where they can have got to. I cannot remember them very well. I wonder how I lost them. Or how they lost me. I do feel a bit worried. It worries me that I don’t remember them. I look up at the old man, he smiles down at me. That feels better. It is a kind old face. There is a woman sitting a little further away from us, she keeps to herself, she sits bolt upright. She has a large black bonnet with a veil over it, I cannot see her face properly. I hear her coughing, a horrible dry cough that gets inside my head. I far prefer the old man. I do prefer the old man but I shall be seeing a deal of the strict woman, for she is to be my companion for a while, the old man has told me, I am to live with that dry cough. I cannot say I like her. I have heard the old man calling her by name, Ada Cruickshanks.

James Henry Hayward. My name.

I’m in a new suit and cap. New shoes, new everything. I feel very smart. Quite grown up. I wonder if I am rich. The old man is very rich, I think. He must be. He owns the huge faraway house we’ve just left. He shall look after me. It is a nice story in the end, having a guardian like him. I think he shall adopt me. I hope he shall. Yes, I feel better now, despite the strict woman Ada Cruickshanks, I didn’t earlier, but I can’t remember that so well.