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.”“I will help you,” Danny said confidently.“Thank you,” Mr.Garson replied simply.Then Danny was running towards Roberta with Columbus beside him.“We’re going to go so fast, Aunt Roberta,” he said excitedly, “that everybody will think we have magic wings.Just think of it! The fastest train in the world – and I will be on it!”Chapter Seven“You can go into the garden, Danny,” Roberta suggested, “but don’t go near the part of the house where Mr.Garson works.You know he does not like noise.”“Columbus and I never make a sound when Mr.Garson is at home,” Danny replied.This was true, but Roberta had been astonished by the way Danny had attached himself to the awe-inspiring tycoon.She was aware, perhaps because of the way the Minister had treated him, that he was nervous of Mr.Weingart and also of Bert.But Mr.Garson was different.Although Danny was very good and kept out of sight if Mr.Garson was working, he waited for him in the hall when he came back in the evenings and would run to him eagerly asking questions about the engine and how far it had developed since the day before.To Roberta’s astonishment and that of everybody else in the house, Mr.Garson did not seem to mind.He would talk to Danny about the engine, answer his questions and reiterate his promise that he should be one of the first to ride in it when it was finished.He was certainly very kind to the child, but after a week of working for the man who she had learnt was the most exacting in the whole of San Francisco, Roberta knew that he certainly intended to have his money’s worth.“I will pay you what I pay young Weingart,” he said brusquely the first morning after she had arrived, “and, as you get your bed and board for nothing, you are doing well out of the deal!”“I only hope I shall give satisfaction,” Roberta said with mock humility.But the irony with which she spoke was lost on Mr.Garson and he merely replied,“If you don’t, you will go!”She found, however, that there was such an enormous backlog of letters from Africa that it would take her some time to sort them out and also translate those that arrived nearly every day.It was difficult for Mr.Garson to understand that a great deal of the correspondence consisted merely of flowery expressions of politeness that had little to do with the main objective, which was to buy a train.It had taken the Arabs some time to realise that the train involved a great many other pieces of equipment.Roberta found it hard not only to make clear to Mr.Garson what was wanted but also to reply so that the Arabs would understand what was imperative for them to purchase.Actually she found it very interesting, but she thought now as she looked at Danny running into the sunshine that she would so like to be with him.Or rather, if she was truthful, with Danny and Adam, running down the beach to swim in the sea.She thought about Adam constantly, so that she not only found it hard to sleep at night but would often cry despairingly, feeling that she would never see him again.She might think he painted well and undoubtedly there would be a certain number of people, even if they had no money to buy pictures, who would appreciate his talent in France.Yet she was quite certain that in San Francisco the Impressionist style would leave those who wanted to collect pictures unmoved.They would much prefer a painting of flowers or, because they were so near the sea, of the ships with their tall white sails which filled the harbour.“Oh, Adam, Adam!” she had sobbed last night.“I want you and Danny wants you too!”She had not yet looked for a school for Danny, feeling that, since he had been so unsettled, it would be a mistake for him to have to enter yet another new world where he would be a stranger.He seldom spoke about the school at Blue River, but she sensed that it had been very much a part of his life.Now she was sure, because he was still rather small for his age and still suffering from the semi-starvation inflicted on him by the Minister, that it would be best for him to acclimatise himself in San Francisco before she made any more changes.She had no idea how long Mr.Garson would keep her and she had no wish for Danny to start at one school out here in the country and then have to move into the City and begin all over again at another.‘I wish I had somebody to advise me what is best for him,’ she worried and knew that that somebody was Adam.He would understand, he would help her and she thought that what Danny was looking for was a father figure, which, for the moment, he had found in Mr.Garson and his fast train.She had not told him very much about Clint Dulaine, but, when she made much of the courageous way he had died, Danny was not as upset as she feared.However, she was sure it added to his feeling of insecurity and afterwards he clung to her even more closely than he had before.She had received a letter from the Bank Manager telling her that he had sent instructions on her behalf to London and as soon as he received a reply he would contact her again.He had addressed the letter to the Weingart address and Bert had sent it to her by the office messenger who brought Mr.Garson’s mail to the house.She was rather perturbed when she realised that the Bank Manager had naturally addressed her by her title since she had not instructed him to do otherwise.‘It will mean nothing to them,’ Roberta told herself and decided that as long as she was in San Francisco it would be best just to be known as ‘Miss Worth’.Now, as she walked along the passage to Mr.Garson’s study, she was thinking only of Danny and feeling happy that he was looking so much healthier.Although he had nobody to play with except Columbus, he seemed quite content and he was certainly enjoying the very good food that the housekeeper provided for them.They did not eat with Mr.Garson, but in a small room off the dining room where they were alone.It was what Roberta preferred, just as she was thankful she had an office to herself next to Mr.Garson’s study and did not have to share it with anybody else.She was just about to go into it now when one of Mr
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