Sons and Lovers - Daimon Club

too much scared of broaching any man, let alone one in a peaked cap,
to dare to ask. The three children could scarcely go into the
waiting-room for fear of being sent away, and for fear
something should happen whilst they were off the platform.
Still they waited in the dark and cold.
"It's an hour an' a half late," said Arthur pathetically.
"Well," said Annie, "it's Christmas Eve."
They all grew silent. He wasn't coming. They looked
down the darkness of the railway. There was London! It seemed
the utter-most of distance. They thought anything might happen
if one came from London. They were all too troubled to talk.
Cold, and unhappy, and silent, they huddled together on the platform.
At last, after more than two hours, they saw the lights of an
engine peering round, away down the darkness. A porter ran out.
The children drew back with beating hearts. A great train,
bound for Manchester, drew up. Two doors opened, and from one
of them, William. They flew to him. He handed parcels to them