Slowly and carefully Tommy wrote, his tongue curling round the corner of his mouth the while. The one dotted line was not long enough, so he finished on the line below. His name looked very beautiful when it was written there, and Miss Lavinia blotted it carefully before replacing the little crimson book on its own pile on the shining table.
When her visitors had left Miss Lavinia sat alone in the best parlour, looking out across the river with tired, unseeing eyes.
Tommy and Mrs. Tregennis walked slowly home. Tommy was very silent, for his thoughts were fully occupied with Miss Lavinia’s crimson Birthday Book in which he had written his name so lovely.
At first he was perplexed and wondered why Miss Lavinia had wanted to have his name written there, but after a little thought it became quite plain to him. Every year, when the twenty-ninth of August came round, Miss Lavinia would remember him, Tommy. Every year, on the evening of that day, she would enter the best parlour, and, after closing the door behind her, she would walk across to the window and raise the dark green blind a little way. When the blind was drawn a broad shaft of light would cross the room and hundreds of little bits of dust would come in with the light and dance gaily all together in the golden beam.
Then Miss Lavinia would push to one side the piles of books, and, kneeling, facing the stuffed birds and the gay wax flowers, she would rest her elbows on the brightly polished table and pray for him, Tommy, that he might be a good boy and grow up to be a brave, true man.
Tommy had no doubt at all that this was just exactly what Miss Lavinia would do. He could see it all quite clearly as he walked slowly home with Mammy.
On Monday morning, at a quarter to nine, an unaccustomed sound broke over Draeth. It was the ringing of the big bell in the tower of the new Council Schools.
Against her better judgement, Miss Lavinia was drawn by the sound to the window of the best parlour. Here she saw the boys and girls who had once been hers trooping, laughing, and heedless of her pain, to the big new school.
Tommy and Ruthie were the last to pass beneath Miss Lavinia’s window.