The Woman in Black Read Online Free Page A

of the oil lamp he held, made his slow way towards them.
    Eve felt the children shrink away from the figure,gasp as he neared them. Even Jean had become tense.
    His face loomed at them, out of the mist.
    ‘Miss Hogg, I presume?’ he said.
    Jean bridled, stepped forward. Whatever fear she might have experienced at the man’s approach had vanished. ‘Mrs,’ she said firmly, a hint of indignation in her voice.
    The man laughed, gave a small bow of the head. ‘Excuse me. Dr Jim Rhodes. Local education board.’ Up close there was nothing scary about him. In fact he appeared quite avuncular.
    The children, sensing no threat and seeing their headmistress was dealing with things, relaxed slightly.
    Eve felt a hand on her arm. She turned. Harry gestured to the road behind the station, then back to her.
    ‘Nice meeting you, Miss Parkins. I’ll … come and visit when I can.’ His manner was formal but friendly, yet it seemed to Eve that there was more he wanted to say.
    ‘Please,’ said Eve, ‘call me E—’
    Jean gave Eve a stern look. ‘Come on. We’re already late for our bus.’
    Eve followed her down the platform, then turned back. But it was too late. Harry had already gone. Just another brief encounter, she thought.

    The bus was almost as ancient as the train.
    It made its way from the station, headlights off, over the flat landscape. Clouds obscured the moon and stars. The whole of the countryside looked like it was smothered by a huge Army blanket.
    Jim Rhodes drove with Fraser, Flora’s little brother, sitting next to him. Out of all the children, he was the only one who hadn’t been scared when Dr Rhodes limped out of the fog. Curious, but not scared.
    ‘Why do you limp?’ asked Fraser, sniffing and wiping his nose on his sleeve.
    Eve leaned forward, touched the boy on the arm. ‘Fraser …’
    Jim Rhodes smiled. ‘It’s all right.’ He glanced down at the boy, trying not to take his eyes off the darkened road. ‘Got it in the last war. Too close to a shell.’ He returned his attention to the road ahead of him. ‘I was lucky.’
    Eve sat back and looked out of the window. Her eyes had adjusted and she was able to pick out varying shades of black and grey. She realised they were coming into a village. She could make out winding, cobbled streets, stone cottages up ahead. She looked harder. Something was wrong. Something was missing.
    There were no people.
    Eve turned round as Joyce tugged her sleeve. ‘Where is everybody?’
    Joyce’s eyes were wide open, head cocked to one side, quizzical.
Grown-ups have all the answers
, thought Eve.
Grown-ups know everything.
She sighed.
    ‘Maybe …’ Eve looked out of the window once more. ‘Maybe the village was cleared. For the war.’
    Joyce still wasn’t convinced.
    ‘Abandoned years ago,’ said Jim Rhodes. ‘Economy probably took a turn for the worse.’
    ‘Or … or …’ Fraser was jumping up and down in his seat. ‘Or maybe everyone got the plague …’
    The other children perked up at this, began to take an interest in their surroundings, preparing to voice their own theories. Eve knew how this would end and had opened her mouth to stop them when Jean beat her to it.
    ‘That’s enough. No more questions for the rest of the journey.’
    The children fell silent immediately. Crisis averted. Jean’s expression showed that the whole situation was Eve’s fault for encouraging them. Eve ignored her.
    Edward, still clinging to Eve, sensed the atmosphere between them and clung on harder, when there was a loud bang.
    The bus rocked from side to side. The children screamed and hung on to their seats.
    ‘Bugger!’ Jim Rhodes stopped the bus, stood up in his seat and pointed out of the window.
    ‘We’ve lost the tyre,’ he said.
    The bus listed to one side. Eve looked out of the window. In place of a tyre was what looked like a huge dead slug.
    ‘We’re stuck here,’ said Fraser.
    It was hard to tell whether he was thrilled or