During Peter’s birthday party, strangers arrive and take Father away. Mother says he has gone away on business - but when will he return and what will Mother and the children do?
Now living in their new home in the country, without their father, the children befriend Perks at the local railway station and go ‘coalmining’ at the station stores.
Mother tells Bobbie she must keep her secret from the other children. Later, the children discover a fallen tree on the line as the express train is due.
