It had been hot and crowded in their part of London in August. Being on the outside of London where it was easy to hire a boat and go on the river, crowds of people came down every day on bicycles, in buses and in trains, and it was not nice for the people who lived in the neighbourhood, because all the best parts of the river were taken up by visitors. Although there were nice things to do because the boys were having holidays, she missed the rink, and though she tried to practise skating in her head it was not the same thing. Because she missed Lalla, and skating, and because it was hot, she began to look rather daddy-long-leggish again. Olivia worried about her. “You’re a miserable little scrap, my pet. I don’t want you to go backwards, you were looking so much better. I wish you could go away, but the next best thing is for you to be out all day.” Harriet would have liked to have helped in the shop, or in the house, but as she was not allowed to, when she was not out with the boys, she went down to the river and watched the boats go by, and read Lalla’s postcards saying how lovely it was in the Isle of Wight and wished for the term to begin.
