We went to see Uncle Jacob today…

We went to see Uncle Jacob today. Mummy said “be kind dear, he isn’t normal but he is family”. “But he wears a suit in the garden”. Mummy shrugged and smiled wanly. “But is he ill ?” my brother George said. And Mummy said that in a way he is. He’s rather lost in time apparently and doesn’t get out much.

“What does Uncle Jacob do ?” I asked but Mummy wasn’t sure and said something about “embalmment” which we had to look up in the dictionary. Anyway we were brave and went to his scary castle. He was sleeping in a long velvet lined box and only when the sun went down did he wake up. Mummy gave him a mug of cocoa.

I asked Mummy if Uncle Jacob was a “black sheep” but she didn’t know. He didn’t seem very happy and couldn’t stop saying “Cardinal Manning was right”. He seems very religious, but not in a nice way. I’m going to warn all the other girls at school to take care.