3. Rescue

After an absence of six years, Alice returned to Lorne Lodge to rescue her children from their misery. She immediately whisked the children away to a country farm, where, joined by their cousin Stanley Baldwin, they generally ran wild. Later she took her children to London, settling across from the old Kensington Museum, where Trix and Rudyard happily roamed through the exhibits of natural wonders and art objects. Before returning to India, Mrs. Kipling enrolled Rudyard at a proper school and sent Trix, aged nine, to attend the Notting Hill School for Girls, where she was found to be poorly educated and oddly ignorant of the world, but surprisingly well-read in fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare, many of whose plays she could recite. During this period, Trix was introduced into social life, provided with intellectual stimulation, and enjoyed emotional calm. At fifteen, Trix made the voyage home, befriending on board Maud Marshall, a bookish girl who would become a life-long friend and correspondent. Returning to India, Trix began her new life with a family she hardly knew in a land she had only dreamed of.