The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe

the lions, and then sat on the steps of the National Gallery and shared a pie from a stall and a rather tired-looking chocolate bar Harry had in his pocket. The fountains weren’t playing but even so they were impressed with it all.
    The day was clouding over and it was now very cold. The clouds, grey above them, seemed laden with snow and Lisa looked up at them anxiously. As she did so, she caught sight of the clock on the steeple of St Martin-in-the-Fields and saw the time.
    ‘Harry!’ she cried, grabbing his hand. ‘It’s nearly four o’clock!’
    ‘So?’
    ‘So I have to get back. Before it’s dark. Aunt Naomi will wonder where I am. She might go looking for me at Hilda’s!’
    ‘OK.’ Harry still sounded not in the least worried. ‘Come on then, let’s find a bus.’
    ‘We haven’t time to keep changing buses,’ Lisa told him. ‘We have to pay the bus fare.’
    ‘Waste of money,’ Harry said.
    ‘But, Harry, we can use the money that lady gave us.’
    ‘You can if you like,’ said Harry. He gave her a sixpence from his pocket and flagged down a Shoreditch bus.
    ‘Aren’t you coming with me?’ asked Lisa apprehensively.
    ‘Oh, all right,’ Harry said with a sigh, ‘but I ain’t paying no fare.’
    They scrambled on to the bus and headed up the stairs. When the conductor came, Lisa paid her fare, but Harry, having been through his ‘no money’ routine was put off at the next stop and so it was that Lisa found her way back to Kemble Street alone. It was almost dark and bitterly cold. Flakes of snow, drifting down from the leaden sky, were already laying a cold carpet on the freezing ground. As she approached number sixty-five she saw Uncle Dan coming up the street towards her.
    ‘Lisa!’ he cried. ‘Thank God! Where on earth have you been? Your Aunt Naomi has been frantic with worry.’
    Lisa knew that if she’d been returning from Hilda’s house she’d have been coming from the opposite direction, but she said it anyway. ‘I was at Hilda’s.’
    ‘No, you wasn’t,’ Dan said angrily, ‘cos Naomi went round to bring you home when it started to snow. The Langs ain’t seen you and weren’t expecting to.’ He gripped her wrist. ‘So, where’ve you been then? You been out all day and we been out looking for you.’
    Lisa had never seen Uncle Dan angry and tears sprang to her eyes. She let him pull her indoors and found Naomi and Mary in the kitchen. Both women leaped to their feet and Naomi grabbed Lisa and hugged her close.
    ‘Lisa, where’ve you been? I’ve been so worried.’ Feeling strong arms around her, Lisa’s pent-up tears flooded down her cheeks. She clung to her foster mother and cried; cried for her family, cried because Dan was angry with her, cried because Harry had left her on the bus, cried because Naomi was holding her, cried because she couldn’t stop.
    ‘There, there,’ Naomi soothed as she held the child tightly till the sobs died away, ‘it’s all right. You’re safely home. As long as you’re safe. But, Lisa, you’re freezing cold. Here, come to the fire and get warm.’ Naomi pulled a chair to the fireside and Lisa sank gratefully into it. Mary went to the stove and set some milk to heat. When it was hot she filled a cup and handed it to Lisa.
    ‘There you are, get that down you. You’ll soon warm up.’
    Lisa cradled the cup in her chilly hands and sipped the milk, feeling it course down inside her, warm and comforting. Clearly they were all waiting for some sort of explanation. Lisa didn’t want to tell them about Harry, Harry was her secret and one that she hugged to herself, so she settled for a half-truth.
    ‘After I have the letter from Cousin Nikolaus I need time to be alone. I walk a little and then I take a bus. When I get off I am lost.’
    ‘And you’ve been wandering about all day?’ Dan sounded incredulous.
    ‘I look at places,’ Lisa said. ‘I see Trafalgar Square with Nelson.’
    ‘Gracious, child, you’ve been miles!’