At the Back of the North Wind

Diamond’s mother has had a baby, and she, the baby, and Diamond return to London. Diamond does not notice the horse is Old Diamond, and the family reunites in the rooms above the stable. Conditions are not as nice as they used to be because they no longer have a view of the river, there is no garden, and one of their neighbors drinks heavily, argues with his wife, and pinches his child. However, Diamond remembers the back of the north wind and forces himself to be cheerful. He helps make his baby brother laugh, lifting his parents’ mood, and insists on seeing the bright side of things. The narrator reflects that Diamond behaves sensibly. 

The narrator speculates that on the nights Diamond sleeps best, he is at the back of the north wind. He often sings songs to the baby that his mother believes he made up, but which Diamond says he hears from the river and the swallows at the back of the north wind. He resolves to help his mother and father as much as he can now that he has recovered from his illness, and so he helps nurse the baby. His parents are depressed, but Diamond focuses on helping them to keep his own sadness at bay. The day after their arrival, Diamond’s father calls him out to the yard, and Diamond sees the old horse for the first time. The Old Diamond of his memory is different from this horse, who is thinner and has a sagging head. Diamond hugs the horse and cries before going up into the cab with his father, who allows him to drive. Diamond’s mother protests, but his father compliments both the boy and the horse.

Diamond offers to return home and help his mother. Mr. Stonecrop, the owner of the stables, observes this scene and that night knocks on their door. He asks to take Diamond for a ride, wanting him to drive the horse and carriage. Diamond’s mother agrees, and Diamond is overjoyed to join Mr. Stonecrop. The two ride away, and Diamond proves himself to be a skilled driver despite his age. They almost collide with another cab driving very quickly but recognize it as Diamond’s father. Diamond joins his father, and they bid Mr. Stonecrop good evening. Back home, Diamond picks up his baby brother and resumes singing to him, trying to remember the song he heard at the back of the north wind. 

Diamond spends time in the mews, and through his goodness and genuineness gradually helps the men there stop using curse words and telling bawdy jokes. He proves himself to be a hard worker gifted with horses and driving. It is with these men that he learns to drive a variety of horses and vehicles, also learning the streets of London as he does so.

One day while with his father in the cab, Diamond sees some boys bullying a young sweeper girl. Diamond rushes to her aid and is punched in the nose so hard it bleeds. His father steps in, sending the boys running away. The girl thanks them and vanishes. After Diamond’s nose is cleaned up, the girl reappears with women who need a ride. Diamond recognizes the women as Mrs. and Miss Coleman, but they do not look at the drivers as they get into the cab. When they arrive at the new Coleman residence, the women recognize Diamond and his father. They invite Diamond to visit and collect the family’s address before Diamond’s father refuses payment. As Diamond and his father drive home, Diamond wonders if the sweeping girl was the same one he helped as a “very little boy” (94), but he suspects that night in London was a dream. That night, he and his mother talk about wealth and poverty, and Diamond struggles to understand if it is a disgrace to be poor. 

One night, Diamond wakes in the middle of the night to hear the drunken cabman next door yelling and his wife and child crying. Diamond exits his home and enters the cabman’s apartment, where the cabman has passed out and his wife and child are crying on the bed. Diamond refuses to turn away from the misery and instead picks up the baby, distracting him and making him smile.

The cabman observes this distantly, drunk and depressed. He eventually becomes aware of Diamond singing to the baby, and the song lulls him to sleep. Diamond walks the baby around the room and stops singing, making the cabman wake up. He listens to Diamond’s words as he explains to the baby that it is the alcohol that makes the cabman behave the way he does. The baby falls asleep and Diamond places him in the cradle. The cabman and Diamond share a long look before Diamond, exhausted, returns to his home. The man and his wife go to bed, and when the cabman awakes the next morning, he realizes what he did the night before. The cabman is so ashamed of himself that he does not drink for the following week, beginning the long road to recovery. 

One day when helping his father, Diamond spots the sweeper girl who has become his friend. He begins to approach her, but a gentleman reaches her first. The girl and the gentleman talk, and the girl confesses that she lives with her grandmother, who is wicked. Diamond confirms the girl’s words, and the girl tells the gentleman that Diamond is called “God’s baby” and is thought to be “not right in the head […] a tile loose” (102). Diamond discusses what he can do (drive a cab, nurse a child, etc.), and the gentleman pays both children a penny, then tells Diamond to visit him when he learns to read; he will give Diamond a book and more money. The gentleman gives Diamond his address on a card and departs. Diamond gives the penny to the girl, thinking that she needs it more, and then returns to his father. His father and he talk about friends, and his father briefly questions Diamond’s definition of “friend.” However, the more they talk, the more Diamond’s father admires his son’s perspective on the world and the openness of his heart. 

After the offer from the gentleman, Diamond’s father starts to teach him how to read, using the book Diamond and his mother found on the beach in Sandwich. Diamond reads the poem about Little Boy Blue, who loses his way in the woods and is led astray by a snake. Other forest creatures help Little Boy Blue return to his home, and he kills the snake that misled him.

Diamond is confused about the meaning of the poem he read, and his mother lets him puzzle it out. Diamond resolves to visit the gentleman, Mr. Raymond, but before he does so he realizes that he has not seen the sweeper girl at her crossing for four days. He goes to where the girl lives, receiving help from police officers to get there. One officer in particular wants to accompany him and follows at a distance when Diamond insists that he does not need help. At the girl’s home, Old Sal is out buying liquor. Diamond finds the little girl, whose name is Nanny, so ill that she can barely move. Diamond exits the cellar and is immediately accosted by women who want to steal his clothes to give to their children. The police officer comes to his aid before they can harm him.

The police officer escorts him out of that part of town, and Diamond goes to Mr. Raymond’s address. There, the manservant, John, does not let Diamond enter and lies to him about Mr. Raymond’s whereabouts. Diamond waits until Mr. Raymond appears and then explains his concerns for Nanny. Mr. Raymond takes Diamond to the children’s hospital, where they arrange for a doctor to go to Nanny and make sure she receives care. Nanny is taken to the fever ward, where the staff begin to nurse her back to health. 

After making sure Nanny is taken care of, Mr. Raymond and Diamond stop by the mews. They then continue back to Mr. Raymond’s house. Diamond asks for his help deciphering the “Little Boy Blue” poem, and Mr. Raymond pays Diamond sixpence for having learned how to read. He also gives Diamond a new book to read and tells him a riddle, inviting Diamond to come back to his home once he has solved it. Privately, both Mr. Raymond and the narrator speculate that Diamond is in some ways a genius, which is why he is misunderstood by others. 

Diamond arrives home and finds that his father is feeling ill. As days go by, his father gets sicker, and Diamond does everything he can to keep the baby busy and quiet. His mother grows distressed because she is running out of money. Diamond reads his mother a poem that compares birds who rise early and feast on worms to those who sleep in and get nothing. Diamond’s mother is distracted and worried about her husband, while Diamond falls asleep thinking about what to do.