Читать онлайн «More About Paddington»

Автор Bond Michael

First published in Great Britain

by William Collins Sons and Co. Ltd. in 1959

This edition first published by Collins in 1997

This edition published in 2018

Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF

and William Collins Sons and Co. Ltd. 1959

The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.

Cover illustration adapted and coloured by Mark Burgess from the original by Peggy Fortnum

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Source ISBN: 9780006753438

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2011 ISBN: 9780007372850

Version: 2018-05-23

Contents

The Browns’ house at number thirty-two Windsor Gardens was unusually quiet. It was a warm summer day and all the family with the exception of Paddington, who had mysteriously disappeared shortly after lunch, were sitting on the veranda enjoying the afternoon sun.

Apart from the faint rustle of paper as Mr Brown turned the pages of an enormous book and the click of Mrs Brown’s knitting needles, the only sound came from Mrs Bird, their housekeeper, as she prepared the tea things.

Jonathan and Judy were both much too busy piecing together a huge jigsaw puzzle to utter a word.

It was Mr Brown who first broke the silence. “You know,” he began, taking a long draw at his pipe, “it’s a funny thing, but I’ve been through this encyclopedia a dozen times and there’s no mention of a bear like Paddington. ”