the_railway_children
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| + | < | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /><br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <h1> | ||
| + | THE RAILWAY CHILDREN | ||
| + | </h1> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | By E. Nesbit | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /><br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <h4> | ||
| + | To my dear son Paul Bland,< | ||
| + | ignorance confidently shelters. | ||
| + | </h4> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /> <br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <hr /> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /> <br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Contents | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <table summary="" | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The beginning of things. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The old gentleman. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The engine-burglar. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | Prisoners and captives. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | Saviours of the train. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | For valour. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The amateur firemen. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The pride of Perks. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The terrible secret. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The hound in the red jersey. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | What Bobbie brought home. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The hound' | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | <a href="# | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | The End. | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | <tr> | ||
| + | <td> | ||
| + | </td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /> <br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <hr /> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /> <br /> <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter I. The beginning of things. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They were not railway children to begin with. I don't suppose they had | ||
| + | ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to Maskelyne and | ||
| + | Cook' | ||
| + | just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their Father and | ||
| + | Mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with coloured glass in the | ||
| + | front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bath-room with hot | ||
| + | and cold water, electric bells, French windows, and a good deal of white | ||
| + | paint, and 'every modern convenience', | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There were three of them. Roberta was the eldest. Of course, Mothers never | ||
| + | have favourites, but if their Mother HAD had a favourite, it might have | ||
| + | been Roberta. Next came Peter, who wished to be an Engineer when he grew | ||
| + | up; and the youngest was Phyllis, who meant extremely well. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies, and | ||
| + | sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. She was | ||
| + | almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, | ||
| + | and help them to do their home-lessons. Besides this she used to write | ||
| + | stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea, | ||
| + | and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for | ||
| + | other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the | ||
| + | refurnishing of the doll's house, or the time when they were getting over | ||
| + | the mumps. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | These three lucky children always had everything they needed: pretty | ||
| + | clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a Mother | ||
| + | Goose wall-paper. They had a kind and merry nursemaid, and a dog who was | ||
| + | called James, and who was their very own. They also had a Father who was | ||
| + | just perfect& | ||
| + | least, if at any time he was NOT ready, he always had an excellent reason | ||
| + | for it, and explained the reason to the children so interestingly and | ||
| + | funnily that they felt sure he couldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | You will think that they ought to have been very happy. And so they were, | ||
| + | but they did not know HOW happy till the pretty life in the Red Villa was | ||
| + | over and done with, and they had to live a very different life indeed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The dreadful change came quite suddenly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter had a birthday& | ||
| + | engine more perfect than you could ever have dreamed of. The other | ||
| + | presents were full of charm, but the Engine was fuller of charm than any | ||
| + | of the others were. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Its charm lasted in its full perfection for exactly three days. Then, | ||
| + | owing either to Peter' | ||
| + | had been rather pressing, or to some other cause, the Engine suddenly went | ||
| + | off with a bang. James was so frightened that he went out and did not come | ||
| + | back all day. All the Noah's Ark people who were in the tender were broken | ||
| + | to bits, but nothing else was hurt except the poor little engine and the | ||
| + | feelings of Peter. The others said he cried over it& | ||
| + | boys of ten do not cry, however terrible the tragedies may be which darken | ||
| + | their lot. He said that his eyes were red because he had a cold. This | ||
| + | turned out to be true, though Peter did not know it was when he said it, | ||
| + | the next day he had to go to bed and stay there. Mother began to be afraid | ||
| + | that he might be sickening for measles, when suddenly he sat up in bed and | ||
| + | said: | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | want to get up and have something REAL to eat.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | one.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So Mother asked the Cook to make a large pigeon-pie. The pie was made. And | ||
| + | when the pie was made, it was cooked. And when it was cooked, Peter ate | ||
| + | some of it. After that his cold was better. Mother made a piece of poetry | ||
| + | to amuse him while the pie was being made. It began by saying what an | ||
| + | unfortunate but worthy boy Peter was, then it went on: | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | He had an engine that he loved | ||
| + | With all his heart and soul, | ||
| + | And if he had a wish on earth | ||
| + | It was to keep it whole. | ||
| + | One day& | ||
| + | I'm coming to the worst& | ||
| + | Quite suddenly a screw went mad, | ||
| + | And then the boiler burst! | ||
| + | |||
| + | With gloomy face he picked it up | ||
| + | And took it to his Mother, | ||
| + | Though even he could not suppose | ||
| + | That she could make another; | ||
| + | |||
| + | For those who perished on the line | ||
| + | He did not seem to care, | ||
| + | His engine being more to him | ||
| + | Than all the people there. | ||
| + | |||
| + | And now you see the reason why | ||
| + | Our Peter has been ill: | ||
| + | He soothes his soul with pigeon-pie | ||
| + | His gnawing grief to kill. | ||
| + | |||
| + | He wraps himself in blankets warm | ||
| + | And sleeps in bed till late, | ||
| + | Determined thus to overcome | ||
| + | His miserable fate. | ||
| + | |||
| + | And if his eyes are rather red, | ||
| + | His cold must just excuse it: | ||
| + | Offer him pie; you may be sure | ||
| + | He never will refuse it. | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Father had been away in the country for three or four days. All Peter' | ||
| + | hopes for the curing of his afflicted Engine were now fixed on his Father, | ||
| + | for Father was most wonderfully clever with his fingers. He could mend all | ||
| + | sorts of things. He had often acted as veterinary surgeon to the wooden | ||
| + | rocking-horse; | ||
| + | of, and the poor creature was given up for lost, and even the carpenter | ||
| + | said he didn't see his way to do anything. And it was Father who mended | ||
| + | the doll's cradle when no one else could; and with a little glue and some | ||
| + | bits of wood and a pen-knife made all the Noah's Ark beasts as strong on | ||
| + | their pins as ever they were, if not stronger. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter, with heroic unselfishness, | ||
| + | till after Father had had his dinner and his after-dinner cigar. The | ||
| + | unselfishness was Mother' | ||
| + | And needed a good deal of patience, too. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At last Mother said to Father, & | ||
| + | quite comfy, we want to tell you about the great railway accident, and ask | ||
| + | your advice.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So then Peter told the sad tale, and fetched what was left of the Engine. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children held their breaths. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | something besides hope& | ||
| + | new valve. I think we'd better keep it for a rainy day. In other words, | ||
| + | I'll give up Saturday afternoon to it, and you shall all help me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | forget it! How would you like to be an engine-driver, | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | unenthusiastic tones, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | grown up, Daddy? Or even a stoker?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you a fire-woman. I remember when I was a boy& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Just then there was a knock at the front door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | course, but I do wish they built semi-detached villas with moats and | ||
| + | drawbridges.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Ruth& | ||
| + | said that two gentlemen wanted to see the master. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | does break up an evening so, and it's nearly the children' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Father did not seem to be able to get rid of the gentlemen at all | ||
| + | quickly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | didn't want people, we could just pull up the drawbridge and no one else | ||
| + | could get in. I expect Father will have forgotten about when he was a boy | ||
| + | if they stay much longer.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother tried to make the time pass by telling them a new fairy story about | ||
| + | a Princess with green eyes, but it was difficult because they could hear | ||
| + | the voices of Father and the gentlemen in the Library, and Father' | ||
| + | sounded louder and different to the voice he generally used to people who | ||
| + | came about testimonials and holiday funds. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then the Library bell rang, and everyone heaved a breath of relief. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But instead of showing anybody out, Ruth showed herself in, and she looked | ||
| + | queer, the children thought. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | He looks like the dead, mum; I think he's had bad news. You'd best prepare | ||
| + | yourself for the worst, ' | ||
| + | bank busted or& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Mother went into the Library. There was more talking. Then the bell | ||
| + | rang again, and Ruth fetched a cab. The children heard boots go out and | ||
| + | down the steps. The cab drove away, and the front door shut. Then Mother | ||
| + | came in. Her dear face was as white as her lace collar, and her eyes | ||
| + | looked very big and shining. Her mouth looked like just a line of pale red& | ||
| + | lips were thin and not their proper shape at all. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | home,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | darlings, go at once.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They kissed her and went. Roberta lingered to give Mother an extra hug and | ||
| + | to whisper: | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Roberta away. & | ||
| + | NOW.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So Roberta went. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Ruth brushed the girls' hair and helped them to undress. (Mother almost | ||
| + | always did this herself.) When she had turned down the gas and left them | ||
| + | she found Peter, still dressed, waiting on the stairs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Ruth replied. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Late that night Mother came up and kissed all three children as they lay | ||
| + | asleep. But Roberta was the only one whom the kiss woke, and she lay | ||
| + | mousey-still, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | as she heard through the dark the catching of her Mother' | ||
| + | WON'T know it. That's all.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they came down to breakfast the next morning, Mother had already gone | ||
| + | out. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | told me last night we should know soon enough.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | whether Mother was worried or not, I couldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | us,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | horrid to each other. I'm sure some dire calamity is happening. Don't | ||
| + | let's make it worse!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Roberta made an effort, and answered:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thumped his sister between the shoulders and told her to cheer up. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children came home to one o' | ||
| + | And she was not there at tea-time. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was nearly seven before she came in, looking so ill and tired that the | ||
| + | children felt they could not ask her any questions. She sank into an | ||
| + | arm-chair. Phyllis took the long pins out of her hat, while Roberta took | ||
| + | off her gloves, and Peter unfastened her walking-shoes and fetched her | ||
| + | soft velvety slippers for her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When she had had a cup of tea, and Roberta had put eau-de-Cologne on her | ||
| + | poor head that ached, Mother said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bring very bad news, and Father will be away for some time. I am very | ||
| + | worried about it, and I want you all to help me, and not to make things | ||
| + | harder for me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | quarrelling when I'm away& | ||
| + | glances& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | trouble; and not to ask anybody else any questions.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter cringed and shuffled his boots on the carpet. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | about business, and you never do understand business, do you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | was in a Government Office. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | It'll all come right in the end.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | good as gold.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother sighed and kissed them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | they went upstairs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | say ' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Father calls it?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls folded up their clothes with more than usual neatness& | ||
| + | was the only way of being good that they could think of. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | so dull& | ||
| + | happened.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Everything continued to be perfectly horrid for some weeks. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother was nearly always out. Meals were dull and dirty. The between-maid | ||
| + | was sent away, and Aunt Emma came on a visit. Aunt Emma was much older | ||
| + | than Mother. She was going abroad to be a governess. She was very busy | ||
| + | getting her clothes ready, and they were very ugly, dingy clothes, and she | ||
| + | had them always littering about, and the sewing-machine seemed to whir& | ||
| + | and on all day and most of the night. Aunt Emma believed in keeping | ||
| + | children in their proper places. And they more than returned the | ||
| + | compliment. Their idea of Aunt Emma's proper place was anywhere where they | ||
| + | were not. So they saw very little of her. They preferred the company of | ||
| + | the servants, who were more amusing. Cook, if in a good temper, could sing | ||
| + | comic songs, and the housemaid, if she happened not to be offended with | ||
| + | you, could imitate a hen that has laid an egg, a bottle of champagne being | ||
| + | opened, and could mew like two cats fighting. The servants never told the | ||
| + | children what the bad news was that the gentlemen had brought to Father. | ||
| + | But they kept hinting that they could tell a great deal if they chose& | ||
| + | this was not comfortable. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | One day when Peter had made a booby trap over the bath-room door, and it | ||
| + | had acted beautifully as Ruth passed through, that red-haired parlour-maid | ||
| + | caught him and boxed his ears. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you! If you don't mend your ways, you'll go where your precious Father' | ||
| + | gone, so I tell you straight!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Roberta repeated this to her Mother, and next day Ruth was sent away. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then came the time when Mother came home and went to bed and stayed there | ||
| + | two days and the Doctor came, and the children crept wretchedly about the | ||
| + | house and wondered if the world was coming to an end. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother came down one morning to breakfast, very pale and with lines on her | ||
| + | face that used not to be there. And she smiled, as well as she could, and | ||
| + | said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | go and live in the country. Such a ducky dear little white house. I know | ||
| + | you'll love it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A whirling week of packing followed& | ||
| + | when you go to the seaside, but packing chairs and tables, covering their | ||
| + | tops with sacking and their legs with straw. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All sorts of things were packed that you don't pack when you go to the | ||
| + | seaside. Crockery, blankets, candlesticks, | ||
| + | and even fenders and fire-irons. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The house was like a furniture warehouse. I think the children enjoyed it | ||
| + | very much. Mother was very busy, but not too busy now to talk to them, and | ||
| + | read to them, and even to make a bit of poetry for Phyllis to cheer her up | ||
| + | when she fell down with a screwdriver and ran it into her hand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | beautiful cabinet inlaid with red turtleshell and brass. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Poor for a bit, my chickabiddy.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When all the ugly useful things had been packed up and taken away in a van | ||
| + | by men in green-baize aprons, the two girls and Mother and Aunt Emma slept | ||
| + | in the two spare rooms where the furniture was all pretty. All their beds | ||
| + | had gone. A bed was made up for Peter on the drawing-room sofa. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | up. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother laughed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | As she turned away Roberta saw her face. She never forgot it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you are! How I love you! Fancy being brave enough to laugh when you're | ||
| + | feeling like THAT!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Next day boxes were filled, and boxes and more boxes; and then late in the | ||
| + | afternoon a cab came to take them to the station. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Aunt Emma saw them off. They felt that THEY were seeing HER off, and they | ||
| + | were glad of it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | governess!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At first they enjoyed looking out of the window, but when it grew dusk | ||
| + | they grew sleepier and sleepier, and no one knew how long they had been in | ||
| + | the train when they were roused by Mother' | ||
| + | saying:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They woke up, cold and melancholy, and stood shivering on the draughty | ||
| + | platform while the baggage was taken out of the train. Then the engine, | ||
| + | puffing and blowing, set to work again, and dragged the train away. The | ||
| + | children watched the tail-lights of the guard' | ||
| + | darkness. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was the first train the children saw on that railway which was in | ||
| + | time to become so very dear to them. They did not guess then how they | ||
| + | would grow to love the railway, and how soon it would become the centre of | ||
| + | their new life, nor what wonders and changes it would bring to them. They | ||
| + | only shivered and sneezed and hoped the walk to the new house would not be | ||
| + | long. Peter' | ||
| + | before. Roberta' | ||
| + | usual. Phyllis' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The walk was dark and muddy. The children stumbled a little on the rough | ||
| + | road, and once Phyllis absently fell into a puddle, and was picked up damp | ||
| + | and unhappy. There were no gas-lamps on the road, and the road was uphill. | ||
| + | The cart went at a foot's pace, and they followed the gritty crunch of its | ||
| + | wheels. As their eyes got used to the darkness, they could see the mound | ||
| + | of boxes swaying dimly in front of them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A long gate had to be opened for the cart to pass through, and after that | ||
| + | the road seemed to go across fields& | ||
| + | Presently a great dark lumpish thing showed over to the right. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and get supper.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a low wall, and trees inside. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The cart went on along by the garden wall, and round to the back of the | ||
| + | house, and here it clattered into a cobble-stoned yard and stopped at the | ||
| + | back door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was no light in any of the windows. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Everyone hammered at the door, but no one came. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The man who drove the cart said he expected Mrs. Viney had gone home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | do hereabouts.& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He unlocked the door and went in and set his lantern on the table. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | usual. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He struck a match. There was a candle on the table, and he lighted it. By | ||
| + | its thin little glimmer the children saw a large bare kitchen with a stone | ||
| + | floor. There were no curtains, no hearth-rug. The kitchen table from home | ||
| + | stood in the middle of the room. The chairs were in one corner, and the | ||
| + | pots, pans, brooms, and crockery in another. There was no fire, and the | ||
| + | black grate showed cold, dead ashes. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | As the cart man turned to go out after he had brought in the boxes, there | ||
| + | was a rustling, scampering sound that seemed to come from inside the walls | ||
| + | of the house. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | door, and the sudden draught of it blew out the candle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | over. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter II. Peter' | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | table. & | ||
| + | rats at all.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She struck a match and relighted the candle and everyone looked at each | ||
| + | other by its winky, blinky light. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | This is quite an adventure, isn't it? I told Mrs. Viney to get us some | ||
| + | bread and butter, and meat and things, and to have supper ready. I suppose | ||
| + | she's laid it in the dining-room. So let's go and see.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The dining-room opened out of the kitchen. It looked much darker than the | ||
| + | kitchen when they went in with the one candle. Because the kitchen was | ||
| + | whitewashed, | ||
| + | across the ceiling there were heavy black beams. There was a muddled maze | ||
| + | of dusty furniture& | ||
| + | where they had lived all their lives. It seemed a very long time ago, and | ||
| + | a very long way off. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was the table certainly, and there were chairs, but there was no | ||
| + | supper. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | room was the same kind of blundering half-arrangement of furniture, and | ||
| + | fire-irons and crockery, and all sorts of odd things on the floor, but | ||
| + | there was nothing to eat; even in the pantry there were only a rusty | ||
| + | cake-tin and a broken plate with whitening mixed in it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | money and not got us anything to eat at all.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | back on to a soap-dish that cracked responsively. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | that we put in the cellar. Phil, do mind where you're walking to, there' | ||
| + | a dear. Peter, hold the light.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The cellar door opened out of the kitchen. There were five wooden steps | ||
| + | leading down. It wasn't a proper cellar at all, the children thought, | ||
| + | because its ceiling went up as high as the kitchen' | ||
| + | under its ceiling. There was wood in it, and coal. Also the big cases. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter held the candle, all on one side, while Mother tried to open the | ||
| + | great packing-case. It was very securely nailed down. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | there' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And with these she tried to get the case open. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Everyone thinks this when he sees another person stirring a fire, or | ||
| + | opening a box, or untying a knot in a bit of string. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | What are you kicking me for, Bobbie?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Just then the first of the long nails in the packing-case began to come | ||
| + | out with a scrunch. Then a lath was raised and then another, till all four | ||
| + | stood up with the long nails in them shining fiercely like iron teeth in | ||
| + | the candle-light. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | You girls go and light them. You'll find some saucers and things. Just | ||
| + | drop a little candle-grease in the saucer and stick the candle upright in | ||
| + | it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | cheerful. Nobody can be cheerful in the dark except owls and dormice.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So the girls lighted candles. The head of the first match flew off and | ||
| + | stuck to Phyllis' | ||
| + | burn, and she might have had to be a Roman martyr and be burned whole if | ||
| + | she had happened to live in the days when those things were fashionable. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then, when the dining-room was lighted by fourteen candles, Roberta | ||
| + | fetched coal and wood and lighted a fire. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to say. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The fire-light and the candle-light made the dining-room look very | ||
| + | different, for now you could see that the dark walls were of wood, carved | ||
| + | here and there into little wreaths and loops. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls hastily ' | ||
| + | against the wall, and piling all the odds and ends into a corner and | ||
| + | partly hiding them with the big leather arm-chair that Father used to sit | ||
| + | in after dinner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | something like! I'll just get a tablecloth and then& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The tablecloth was in a box with a proper lock that was opened with a key | ||
| + | and not with a shovel, and when the cloth was spread on the table, a real | ||
| + | feast was laid out on it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Everyone was very, very tired, but everyone cheered up at the sight of the | ||
| + | funny and delightful supper. There were biscuits, the Marie and the plain | ||
| + | kind, sardines, preserved ginger, cooking raisins, and candied peel and | ||
| + | marmalade. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Store cupboard,& | ||
| + | among the sardines.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | biscuits. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | have done if she hadn't packed up these things? Here's to Aunt Emma!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And the toast was drunk in ginger wine and water, out of willow-patterned | ||
| + | tea-cups, because the glasses couldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They all felt that they had been a little hard on Aunt Emma. She wasn't a | ||
| + | nice cuddly person like Mother, but after all it was she who had thought | ||
| + | of packing up the odds and ends of things to eat. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was Aunt Emma, too, who had aired all the sheets ready; and the men who | ||
| + | had moved the furniture had put the bedsteads together, so the beds were | ||
| + | soon made. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I'll leave my door open, and then if a mouse comes, you need only scream, | ||
| + | and I'll come and tell it exactly what I think of it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then she went to her own room. Roberta woke to hear the little travelling | ||
| + | clock chime two. It sounded like a church clock ever so far away, she | ||
| + | always thought. And she heard, too, Mother still moving about in her room. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Next morning Roberta woke Phyllis by pulling her hair gently, but quite | ||
| + | enough for her purpose. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | remember? No servants or anything. Let's get up and begin to be useful. | ||
| + | We'll just creep down mouse-quietly, | ||
| + | Mother gets up. I've woke Peter. He'll be dressed as soon as we are.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they dressed quietly and quickly. Of course, there was no water in | ||
| + | their room, so when they got down they washed as much as they thought was | ||
| + | necessary under the spout of the pump in the yard. One pumped and the | ||
| + | other washed. It was splashy but interesting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | weeds are between the stones, and the moss on the roof& | ||
| + | flowers!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The roof of the back kitchen sloped down quite low. It was made of thatch | ||
| + | and it had moss on it, and house-leeks and stonecrop and wallflowers, | ||
| + | even a clump of purple flag-flowers, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They lighted the fire and put the kettle on, and they arranged the | ||
| + | crockery for breakfast; they could not find all the right things, but a | ||
| + | glass ash-tray made an excellent salt-cellar, | ||
| + | seemed as if it would do to put bread on, if they had any. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When there seemed to be nothing more that they could do, they went out | ||
| + | again into the fresh bright morning. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the garden. They went round the house and round the house. The yard | ||
| + | occupied the back, and across it were stables and outbuildings. On the | ||
| + | other three sides the house stood simply in a field, without a yard of | ||
| + | garden to divide it from the short smooth turf. And yet they had certainly | ||
| + | seen the garden wall the night before. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a hilly country. Down below they could see the line of the railway, | ||
| + | and the black yawning mouth of a tunnel. The station was out of sight. | ||
| + | There was a great bridge with tall arches running across one end of the | ||
| + | valley. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | railway. There might be trains passing.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they all sat down on a great flat grey stone that had pushed itself up | ||
| + | out of the grass; it was one of many that lay about on the hillside, and | ||
| + | when Mother came out to look for them at eight o' | ||
| + | deeply asleep in a contented, sun-warmed bunch. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They had made an excellent fire, and had set the kettle on it at about | ||
| + | half-past five. So that by eight the fire had been out for some time, the | ||
| + | water had all boiled away, and the bottom was burned out of the kettle. | ||
| + | Also they had not thought of washing the crockery before they set the | ||
| + | table. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | And it's magic! And I've boiled the water for tea in a saucepan.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The forgotten room opened out of the kitchen. In the agitation and half | ||
| + | darkness the night before its door had been mistaken for a cupboard' | ||
| + | was a little square room, and on its table, all nicely set out, was a | ||
| + | joint of cold roast beef, with bread, butter, cheese, and a pie. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | supper we ought to have had last night. And there was a note from Mrs. | ||
| + | Viney. Her son-in-law has broken his arm, and she had to get home early. | ||
| + | She's coming this morning at ten.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | That was a wonderful breakfast. It is unusual to begin the day with cold | ||
| + | apple pie, but the children all said they would rather have it than meat. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | his plate for more, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The day passed in helping Mother to unpack and arrange things. Six small | ||
| + | legs quite ached with running about while their owners carried clothes and | ||
| + | crockery and all sorts of things to their proper places. It was not till | ||
| + | quite late in the afternoon that Mother said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | fresh as a lark by supper-time.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then they all looked at each other. Each of the three expressive | ||
| + | countenances expressed the same thought. That thought was double, and | ||
| + | consisted, like the bits of information in the Child' | ||
| + | of a question and an answer. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Q. Where shall we go? | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A. To the railway. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So to the railway they went, and as soon as they started for the railway | ||
| + | they saw where the garden had hidden itself. It was right behind the | ||
| + | stables, and it had a high wall all round. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | morning where it was. It'll keep till to-morrow. Let's get to the | ||
| + | railway.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The way to the railway was all down hill over smooth, short turf with here | ||
| + | and there furze bushes and grey and yellow rocks sticking out like candied | ||
| + | peel from the top of a cake. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The way ended in a steep run and a wooden fence& | ||
| + | railway with the shining metals and the telegraph wires and posts and | ||
| + | signals. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They all climbed on to the top of the fence, and then suddenly there was a | ||
| + | rumbling sound that made them look along the line to the right, where the | ||
| + | dark mouth of a tunnel opened itself in the face of a rocky cliff; next | ||
| + | moment a train had rushed out of the tunnel with a shriek and a snort, and | ||
| + | had slid noisily past them. They felt the rush of its passing, and the | ||
| + | pebbles on the line jumped and rattled under it as it went by. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | tearing by. Did you feel it fan us with its hot wings?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | outside,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Peter said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | most ripping sport!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | (I am tired of calling Roberta by her name. I don't see why I should. No | ||
| + | one else did. Everyone else called her Bobbie, and I don't see why I | ||
| + | shouldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a train. It's awfully tall, isn't it?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Father is.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they went. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They walked along the edge of the line, and heard the telegraph wires | ||
| + | humming over their heads. When you are in the train, it seems such a | ||
| + | little way between post and post, and one after another the posts seem to | ||
| + | catch up the wires almost more quickly than you can count them. But when | ||
| + | you have to walk, the posts seem few and far between. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the children got to the station at last. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Never before had any of them been at a station, except for the purpose of | ||
| + | catching trains& | ||
| + | grown-ups in attendance, grown-ups who were not themselves interested in | ||
| + | stations, except as places from which they wished to get away. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Never before had they passed close enough to a signal-box to be able to | ||
| + | notice the wires, and to hear the mysterious 'ping, ping,' followed by the | ||
| + | strong, firm clicking of machinery. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The very sleepers on which the rails lay were a delightful path to travel | ||
| + | by& | ||
| + | of foaming torrents hastily organised by Bobbie. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then to arrive at the station, not through the booking office, but in a | ||
| + | freebooting sort of way by the sloping end of the platform. This in itself | ||
| + | was joy. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Joy, too, it was to peep into the porters' | ||
| + | the Railway almanac on the wall, and one porter half asleep behind a | ||
| + | paper. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There were a great many crossing lines at the station; some of them just | ||
| + | ran into a yard and stopped short, as though they were tired of business | ||
| + | and meant to retire for good. Trucks stood on the rails here, and on one | ||
| + | side was a great heap of coal& | ||
| + | your coal cellar, but a sort of solid building of coals with large square | ||
| + | blocks of coal outside used just as though they were bricks, and built up | ||
| + | till the heap looked like the picture of the Cities of the Plain in 'Bible | ||
| + | Stories for Infants.' | ||
| + | coaly wall. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When presently the Porter lounged out of his room at the twice-repeated | ||
| + | tingling thrill of a gong over the station door, Peter said, & | ||
| + | do?& | ||
| + | the coal for. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | anyone nicks it. So don't you go off with none in your pockets, young | ||
| + | gentleman!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This seemed, at the time but a merry jest, and Peter felt at once that the | ||
| + | Porter was a friendly sort with no nonsense about him. But later the words | ||
| + | came back to Peter with a new meaning. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Have you ever gone into a farmhouse kitchen on a baking day, and seen the | ||
| + | great crock of dough set by the fire to rise? If you have, and if you were | ||
| + | at that time still young enough to be interested in everything you saw, | ||
| + | you will remember that you found yourself quite unable to resist the | ||
| + | temptation to poke your finger into the soft round of dough that curved | ||
| + | inside the pan like a giant mushroom. And you will remember that your | ||
| + | finger made a dent in the dough, and that slowly, but quite surely, the | ||
| + | dent disappeared, | ||
| + | touched it. Unless, of course, your hand was extra dirty, in which case, | ||
| + | naturally, there would be a little black mark. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Well, it was just like that with the sorrow the children had felt at | ||
| + | Father' | ||
| + | impression, but the impression did not last long. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They soon got used to being without Father, though they did not forget | ||
| + | him; and they got used to not going to school, and to seeing very little | ||
| + | of Mother, who was now almost all day shut up in her upstairs room | ||
| + | writing, writing, writing. She used to come down at tea-time and read | ||
| + | aloud the stories she had written. They were lovely stories. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The rocks and hills and valleys and trees, the canal, and above all, the | ||
| + | railway, were so new and so perfectly pleasing that the remembrance of the | ||
| + | old life in the villa grew to seem almost like a dream. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother had told them more than once that they were 'quite poor now,' but | ||
| + | this did not seem to be anything but a way of speaking. Grown-up people, | ||
| + | even Mothers, often make remarks that don't seem to mean anything in | ||
| + | particular, just for the sake of saying something, seemingly. There was | ||
| + | always enough to eat, and they wore the same kind of nice clothes they had | ||
| + | always worn. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But in June came three wet days; the rain came down, straight as lances, | ||
| + | and it was very, very cold. Nobody could go out, and everybody shivered. | ||
| + | They all went up to the door of Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Mother said: & | ||
| + | is so dear. If you're cold, go and have a good romp in the attic. That' | ||
| + | warm you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | not answer. He shrugged his shoulders. He was thinking. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Thought, however, could not long keep itself from the suitable furnishing | ||
| + | of a bandit' | ||
| + | was his lieutenant, his band of trusty robbers, and, in due course, the | ||
| + | parent of Phyllis, who was the captured maiden for whom a magnificent | ||
| + | ransom& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They all went down to tea flushed and joyous as any mountain brigands. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But when Phyllis was going to add jam to her bread and butter, Mother | ||
| + | said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of reckless luxury nowadays.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis finished the slice of bread and butter in silence, and followed it | ||
| + | up by bread and jam. Peter mingled thought and weak tea. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | After tea they went back to the attic and he said to his sisters:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | don't want to know about your silly ideas.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | exactly like a miracle; & | ||
| + | told you about it being only noble-heartedness that made me not tell you | ||
| + | my idea. But now I shan't tell you anything at all about it& | ||
| + | there!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And it was, indeed, some time before he could be induced to say anything, | ||
| + | and when he did it wasn't much. He said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | because it MAY be wrong, and I don't want to drag you into it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and I'm going to lead it. All I ask is that if Mother asks where I am, you | ||
| + | won't blab.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | some people might think it wrong& | ||
| + | am, say I'm playing at mines.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of torture.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | help.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to promise. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Between tea and supper there is an interval even in the most greedily | ||
| + | regulated families. At this time Mother was usually writing, and Mrs. | ||
| + | Viney had gone home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Two nights after the dawning of Peter' | ||
| + | mysteriously at the twilight hour. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Roman Chariot was a very old perambulator that had spent years of | ||
| + | retirement in the loft over the coach-house. The children had oiled its | ||
| + | works till it glided noiseless as a pneumatic bicycle, and answered to the | ||
| + | helm as it had probably done in its best days. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | towards the station. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Just above the station many rocks have pushed their heads out through the | ||
| + | turf as though they, like the children, were interested in the railway. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | In a little hollow between three rocks lay a heap of dried brambles and | ||
| + | heather. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter halted, turned over the brushwood with a well-scarred boot, and | ||
| + | said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the chariot. Punctuality and despatch. All orders carefully attended to. | ||
| + | Any shaped lump cut to suit regular customers.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The chariot was packed full of coal. And when it was packed it had to be | ||
| + | unpacked again because it was so heavy that it couldn' | ||
| + | by the three children, not even when Peter harnessed himself to the handle | ||
| + | with his braces, and firmly grasping his waistband in one hand pulled | ||
| + | while the girls pushed behind. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Three journeys had to be made before the coal from Peter' | ||
| + | to the heap of Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Afterwards Peter went out alone, and came back very black and mysterious. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the black diamonds in the chariot.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a week later that Mrs. Viney remarked to Mother how well this last | ||
| + | lot of coal was holding out. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children hugged themselves and each other in complicated wriggles of | ||
| + | silent laughter as they listened on the stairs. They had all forgotten by | ||
| + | now that there had ever been any doubt in Peter' | ||
| + | coal-mining was wrong. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But there came a dreadful night when the Station Master put on a pair of | ||
| + | old sand shoes that he had worn at the seaside in his summer holiday, and | ||
| + | crept out very quietly to the yard where the Sodom and Gomorrah heap of | ||
| + | coal was, with the whitewashed line round it. He crept out there, and he | ||
| + | waited like a cat by a mousehole. On the top of the heap something small | ||
| + | and dark was scrabbling and rattling furtively among the coal. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Station Master concealed himself in the shadow of a brake-van that had | ||
| + | a little tin chimney and was labelled:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | G. N. and S. R. | ||
| + | 34576 | ||
| + | Return at once to | ||
| + | White Heather Sidings | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | and in this concealment he lurked till the small thing on the top of the | ||
| + | heap ceased to scrabble and rattle, came to the edge of the heap, | ||
| + | cautiously let itself down, and lifted something after it. Then the arm of | ||
| + | the Station Master was raised, the hand of the Station Master fell on a | ||
| + | collar, and there was Peter firmly held by the jacket, with an old | ||
| + | carpenter' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Master. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | young rip, and come along to the station.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a regular gang. Any more of you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | truck labelled Staveley Colliery, and bearing on it the legend in white | ||
| + | chalk: ' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | our fault just as much as Peter' | ||
| + | we knew where he got it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | didn't just to humour you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | been caught, and now he learned that his sisters had ' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Station Master loosed Peter' | ||
| + | them by its flickering light. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | nicely dressed, too. Tell me now, what made you do such a thing? Haven' | ||
| + | you ever been to church or learned your catechism or anything, not to know | ||
| + | it's wicked to steal?& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I took it from the outside part of the heap, perhaps it would be. But in | ||
| + | the middle I thought I could fairly count it only mining. It'll take | ||
| + | thousands of years for you to burn up all that coal and get to the middle | ||
| + | parts.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | indignantly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter replied:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | We always had fires when it was cold at our other house, and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you what I'll do. I'll look over it this once. But you remember, young | ||
| + | gentleman, stealing is stealing, and what's mine isn't yours, whether you | ||
| + | call it mining or whether you don't. Run along home.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | brick,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And on this they parted. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | spies and traitors& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the girls were too glad to have Peter between them, safe and free, and | ||
| + | on the way to Three Chimneys and not to the Police Station, to mind much | ||
| + | what he said. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis. & | ||
| + | jolly easy to find out.& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | even now, that mining is a crime.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the girls were quite sure. And they were also quite sure that he was | ||
| + | quite sure, however little he cared to own it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter III. The old gentleman. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | After the adventure of Peter' | ||
| + | to keep away from the station& | ||
| + | away from the railway. They had lived all their lives in a street where | ||
| + | cabs and omnibuses rumbled by at all hours, and the carts of butchers and | ||
| + | bakers and candlestick makers (I never saw a candlestick-maker' | ||
| + | you?) might occur at any moment. Here in the deep silence of the sleeping | ||
| + | country the only things that went by were the trains. They seemed to be | ||
| + | all that was left to link the children to the old life that had once been | ||
| + | theirs. Straight down the hill in front of Three Chimneys the daily | ||
| + | passage of their six feet began to mark a path across the crisp, short | ||
| + | turf. They began to know the hours when certain trains passed, and they | ||
| + | gave names to them. The 9.15 up was called the Green Dragon. The 10.7 down | ||
| + | was the Worm of Wantley. The midnight town express, whose shrieking rush | ||
| + | they sometimes woke from their dreams to hear, was the Fearsome | ||
| + | Fly-by-night. Peter got up once, in chill starshine, and, peeping at it | ||
| + | through his curtains, named it on the spot. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was by the Green Dragon that the old gentleman travelled. He was a very | ||
| + | nice-looking old gentleman, and he looked as if he were nice, too, which | ||
| + | is not at all the same thing. He had a fresh-coloured, | ||
| + | and white hair, and he wore rather odd-shaped collars and a top-hat that | ||
| + | wasn't exactly the same kind as other people' | ||
| + | didn't see all this at first. In fact the first thing they noticed about | ||
| + | the old gentleman was his hand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was one morning as they sat on the fence waiting for the Green Dragon, | ||
| + | which was three and a quarter minutes late by Peter' | ||
| + | he had had given him on his last birthday. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | really real dragon, we could stop it and ask it to take our love to | ||
| + | Father.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | like pet spaniels,& | ||
| + | Father never writes to us.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | says.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | by. If it's a magic dragon, it'll understand and take our loves to Father. | ||
| + | And if it isn't, three waves aren't much. We shall never miss them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So when the Green Dragon tore shrieking out of the mouth of its dark lair, | ||
| + | which was the tunnel, all three children stood on the railing and waved | ||
| + | their pocket-handkerchiefs without stopping to think whether they were | ||
| + | clean handkerchiefs or the reverse. They were, as a matter of fact, very | ||
| + | much the reverse. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And out of a first-class carriage a hand waved back. A quite clean hand. | ||
| + | It held a newspaper. It was the old gentleman' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | After this it became the custom for waves to be exchanged between the | ||
| + | children and the 9.15. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And the children, especially the girls, liked to think that perhaps the | ||
| + | old gentleman knew Father, and would meet him 'in business,' | ||
| + | shady retreat might be, and tell him how his three children stood on a | ||
| + | rail far away in the green country and waved their love to him every | ||
| + | morning, wet or fine. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | For they were now able to go out in all sorts of weather such as they | ||
| + | would never have been allowed to go out in when they lived in their villa | ||
| + | house. This was Aunt Emma's doing, and the children felt more and more | ||
| + | that they had not been quite fair to this unattractive aunt, when they | ||
| + | found how useful were the long gaiters and waterproof coats that they had | ||
| + | laughed at her for buying for them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother, all this time, was very busy with her writing. She used to send | ||
| + | off a good many long blue envelopes with stories in them& | ||
| + | envelopes of different sizes and colours used to come to her. Sometimes | ||
| + | she would sigh when she opened them and say:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | children would be very sorry. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But sometimes she would wave the envelope in the air and say:& | ||
| + | hooray. Here's a sensible Editor. He's taken my story and this is the | ||
| + | proof of it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At first the children thought 'the Proof' meant the letter the sensible | ||
| + | Editor had written, but they presently got to know that the proof was long | ||
| + | slips of paper with the story printed on them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Whenever an Editor was sensible there were buns for tea. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | One day Peter was going down to the village to get buns to celebrate the | ||
| + | sensibleness of the Editor of the Children' | ||
| + | Station Master. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter felt very uncomfortable, | ||
| + | affair of the coal-mine. He did not like to say & | ||
| + | Station Master, as you usually do to anyone you meet on a lonely road, | ||
| + | because he had a hot feeling, which spread even to his ears, that the | ||
| + | Station Master might not care to speak to a person who had stolen coals. | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | looked down, and said Nothing. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was the Station Master who said & | ||
| + | Peter answered, & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | polite.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And he did not like the feeling which thinking this gave him. And then | ||
| + | before he knew what he was going to do he ran after the Station Master, | ||
| + | who stopped when he heard Peter' | ||
| + | coming up with him very breathless and with his ears now quite | ||
| + | magenta-coloured, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | went on, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the precious coals. Let bygones be bygones. And where were you off to in | ||
| + | such a hurry?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pennyworth of halfpennies for tea whenever Mother sells a story or a poem | ||
| + | or anything.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | so clever.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | look in at the Station whenever you feel so inclined. And as to coals, | ||
| + | it's a word that& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | us.& | ||
| + | buns, feeling more comfortable in his mind than he had felt since the hand | ||
| + | of the Station Master had fastened on his collar that night among the | ||
| + | coals. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Next day when they had sent the threefold wave of greeting to Father by | ||
| + | the Green Dragon, and the old gentleman had waved back as usual, Peter | ||
| + | proudly led the way to the station. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he pretended not to hear what Phyllis had said; & | ||
| + | invited us to go down any time we liked.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | undone again.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of a gentleman than you'll ever be, Phil& | ||
| + | head like that.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis did up her bootlace and went on in silence, but her shoulders | ||
| + | shook, and presently a fat tear fell off her nose and splashed on the | ||
| + | metal of the railway line. Bobbie saw it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | her arm round the heaving shoulders. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | him unladylike, not even when he tied my Clorinda to the firewood bundle | ||
| + | and burned her at the stake for a martyr.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter had indeed perpetrated this outrage a year or two before. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | that. Don't you think you'd better both unsay everything since the wave, | ||
| + | and let honour be satisfied?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | for goodness' | ||
| + | with them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | rabbit-hutch door with. But you're very ungrateful. It's quite right what | ||
| + | it says in the poetry book about sharper than a serpent it is to have a | ||
| + | toothless child& | ||
| + | Lowe told me so.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | on?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They reached the station and spent a joyous two hours with the Porter. He | ||
| + | was a worthy man and seemed never tired of answering the questions that | ||
| + | begin with & | ||
| + | seem weary of. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He told them many things that they had not known before& | ||
| + | instance, that the things that hook carriages together are called | ||
| + | couplings, and that the pipes like great serpents that hang over the | ||
| + | couplings are meant to stop the train with. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | 'em apart,& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | again ' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pounds' | ||
| + | train 'ud stop.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | unless you're being murdered. There was an old lady once& | ||
| + | kidded her on it was a refreshment-room bell, and she used it improper, | ||
| + | not being in danger of her life, though hungry, and when the train stopped | ||
| + | and the guard came along expecting to find someone weltering in their last | ||
| + | moments, she says, 'Oh, please, Mister, I'll take a glass of stout and a | ||
| + | bath bun,' she says. And the train was seven minutes behind her time as it | ||
| + | was.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | hurry, whatever it was.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | In such delightful conversation the time went by all too quickly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Station Master came out once or twice from that sacred inner temple | ||
| + | behind the place where the hole is that they sell you tickets through, and | ||
| + | was most jolly with them all. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sister. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He gave them each an orange, and promised to take them up into the | ||
| + | signal-box one of these days, when he wasn't so busy. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Several trains went through the station, and Peter noticed for the first | ||
| + | time that engines have numbers on them, like cabs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | numbers of every single one he seed; in a green note-book with silver | ||
| + | corners it was, owing to his father being very well-to-do in the wholesale | ||
| + | stationery.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter felt that he could take down numbers, too, even if he was not the | ||
| + | son of a wholesale stationer. As he did not happen to have a green leather | ||
| + | note-book with silver corners, the Porter gave him a yellow envelope and | ||
| + | on it he noted:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | 379 | ||
| + | 663 | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | and felt that this was the beginning of what would be a most interesting | ||
| + | collection. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | That night at tea he asked Mother if she had a green leather note-book | ||
| + | with silver corners. She had not; but when she heard what he wanted it for | ||
| + | she gave him a little black one. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | numbers, and when it's full I'll give you another. I'm so glad you like | ||
| + | the railway. Only, please, you mustn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pause, in which glances of despair were exchanged. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Phyllis said, & | ||
| + | you were little?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother was an honest and honourable Mother, so she had to say, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you got hurt?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | | ||
| + | signs, no matter how plain they might be. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother did not answer for a minute. She got up to put more water in the | ||
| + | teapot. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then she was quiet again, and Bobbie kicked Phyllis hard under the table, | ||
| + | because Bobbie understood a little bit the thoughts that were making | ||
| + | Mother so quiet& | ||
| + | girl and was all the world to HER mother. It seems so easy and natural to | ||
| + | run to Mother when one is in trouble. Bobbie understood a little how | ||
| + | people do not leave off running to their mothers when they are in trouble | ||
| + | even when they are grown up, and she thought she knew a little what it | ||
| + | must be to be sad, and have no mother to run to any more. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So she kicked Phyllis, who said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then Mother laughed a little and sighed and said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | come& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the right, we're bound to see them coming.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | have said it. But she remembered about when she was a little girl herself, | ||
| + | and she did say it& | ||
| + | other children in the world could ever understand exactly what it cost her | ||
| + | to do it. Only some few of you, like Bobbie, may understand a very little | ||
| + | bit. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was the very next day that Mother had to stay in bed because her head | ||
| + | ached so. Her hands were burning hot, and she would not eat anything, and | ||
| + | her throat was very sore. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | doctor. There' | ||
| + | sister' | ||
| + | years ago come Christmas, and she's never been the same gell since.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother wouldn' | ||
| + | Peter was sent to the house in the village that had three laburnum trees | ||
| + | by the gate, and on the gate a brass plate with W. W. Forrest, M.D., on | ||
| + | it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | W. W. Forrest, M.D., came at once. He talked to Peter on the way back. He | ||
| + | seemed a most charming and sensible man, interested in railways, and | ||
| + | rabbits, and really important things. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When he had seen Mother, he said it was influenza. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | want to be head-nurse.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | strong beef tea made ready to give her as soon as the fever goes down. She | ||
| + | can have grapes now, and beef essence& | ||
| + | you'd better get in a bottle of brandy. The best brandy. Cheap brandy is | ||
| + | worse than poison.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She asked him to write it all down, and he did. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Bobbie showed Mother the list he had written, Mother laughed. It WAS | ||
| + | a laugh, Bobbie decided, though it was rather odd and feeble. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | can't afford all that rubbish. Tell Mrs. Viney to boil two pounds of | ||
| + | scrag-end of the neck for your dinners to-morrow, and I can have some of | ||
| + | the broth. Yes, I should like some more water now, love. And will you get | ||
| + | a basin and sponge my hands?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Roberta obeyed. When she had done everything she could to make Mother less | ||
| + | uncomfortable, | ||
| + | lips set tight, and her eyes almost as bright as Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She told them what the Doctor had said, and what Mother had said. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | anything, and we've got to do it. I've got the shilling for the mutton.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | support life. People have lived on less on desert islands many a time.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | get as much brandy and soda-water and beef tea as she could buy for a | ||
| + | shilling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | can't get all those other things with our dinner money.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | everybody, just as hard as ever you can.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They did think. And presently they talked. And later, when Bobbie had gone | ||
| + | up to sit with Mother in case she wanted anything, the other two were very | ||
| + | busy with scissors and a white sheet, and a paint brush, and the pot of | ||
| + | Brunswick black that Mrs. Viney used for grates and fenders. They did not | ||
| + | manage to do what they wished, exactly, with the first sheet, so they took | ||
| + | another out of the linen cupboard. It did not occur to them that they were | ||
| + | spoiling good sheets which cost good money. They only knew that they were | ||
| + | making a good& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie' | ||
| + | night she got up to mend the fire, and to give her mother milk and | ||
| + | soda-water. Mother talked to herself a good deal, but it did not seem to | ||
| + | mean anything. And once she woke up suddenly and called out: & | ||
| + | mamma!& | ||
| + | forgotten that it was no use calling, because Granny was dead. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | In the early morning Bobbie heard her name and jumped out of bed and ran | ||
| + | to Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | little duck, how tired you'll be& | ||
| + | trouble.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | two.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Bobbie said, & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When you are used to ten hours of solid sleep, to get up three or four | ||
| + | times in your sleep-time makes you feel as though you had been up all | ||
| + | night. Bobbie felt quite stupid and her eyes were sore and stiff, but she | ||
| + | tidied the room, and arranged everything neatly before the Doctor came. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was at half-past eight. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | stewing in the oven for beef tea.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | mother, and then you eat a good breakfast, and go straight to bed and | ||
| + | sleep till dinner-time. We can't afford to have the head-nurse ill.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He was really quite a nice doctor. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the 9.15 came out of the tunnel that morning the old gentleman in the | ||
| + | first-class carriage put down his newspaper, and got ready to wave his | ||
| + | hand to the three children on the fence. But this morning there were not | ||
| + | three. There was only one. And that was Peter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was not on the railings either, as usual. He was standing in front | ||
| + | of them in an attitude like that of a show-man showing off the animals in | ||
| + | a menagerie, or of the kind clergyman when he points with a wand at the | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | explaining it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was pointing, too. And what he was pointing at was a large white | ||
| + | sheet nailed against the fence. On the sheet there were thick black | ||
| + | letters more than a foot long. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Some of them had run a little, because of Phyllis having put the Brunswick | ||
| + | black on too eagerly, but the words were quite easy to read. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And this what the old gentleman and several other people in the train read | ||
| + | in the large black letters on the white sheet:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | LOOK OUT AT THE STATION. | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A good many people did look out at the station and were disappointed, | ||
| + | they saw nothing unusual. The old gentleman looked out, too, and at first | ||
| + | he too saw nothing more unusual than the gravelled platform and the | ||
| + | sunshine and the wallflowers and forget-me-nots in the station borders. It | ||
| + | was only just as the train was beginning to puff and pull itself together | ||
| + | to start again that he saw Phyllis. She was quite out of breath with | ||
| + | running. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | down and I fell over them twice. Here, take it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She thrust a warm, dampish letter into his hand as the train moved. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He leaned back in his corner and opened the letter. This is what he read:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother is ill and the doctor says to give her the things at the end of the | ||
| + | letter, but she says she can't aford it, and to get mutton for us and she | ||
| + | will have the broth. We do not know anybody here but you, because Father | ||
| + | is away and we do not know the address. Father will pay you, or if he has | ||
| + | lost all his money, or anything, Peter will pay you when he is a man. We | ||
| + | promise it on our honer. I.O.U. for all the things Mother wants. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | what train you come down by? Say it is for Peter that was sorry about the | ||
| + | coals and he will know all right. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then came the list of things the Doctor had ordered. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman read it through once, and his eyebrows went up. He read | ||
| + | it twice and smiled a little. When he had read it thrice, he put it in his | ||
| + | pocket and went on reading The Times. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At about six that evening there was a knock at the back door. The three | ||
| + | children rushed to open it, and there stood the friendly Porter, who had | ||
| + | told them so many interesting things about railways. He dumped down a big | ||
| + | hamper on the kitchen flags. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | added:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | does, but& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thinking about no tuppences. I only wanted to say I was sorry your Mamma | ||
| + | wasn't so well, and to ask how she finds herself this evening& | ||
| + | I've fetched her along a bit of sweetbrier, very sweet to smell it is. | ||
| + | Twopence indeed,& | ||
| + | hat, & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | twopence.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then the children undid the hamper. First there was straw, and then there | ||
| + | were fine shavings, and then came all the things they had asked for, and | ||
| + | plenty of them, and then a good many things they had not asked for; among | ||
| + | others peaches and port wine and two chickens, a cardboard box of big red | ||
| + | roses with long stalks, and a tall thin green bottle of lavender water, | ||
| + | and three smaller fatter bottles of eau-de-Cologne. There was a letter, | ||
| + | too. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | want. Your mother will want to know where they came from. Tell her they | ||
| + | were sent by a friend who heard she was ill. When she is well again you | ||
| + | must tell her all about it, of course. And if she says you ought not to | ||
| + | have asked for the things, tell her that I say you were quite right, and | ||
| + | that I hope she will forgive me for taking the liberty of allowing myself | ||
| + | a very great pleasure.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The letter was signed G. P. something that the children couldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | exactly look forward to telling Mother the whole truth about it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | shall be so happy we shan't mind a little fuss like that. Oh, just look at | ||
| + | the roses! I must take them up to her.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sweetbrier.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thick hedge of it at her mother' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter IV. The engine-burglar. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | What was left of the second sheet and the Brunswick black came in very | ||
| + | nicely to make a banner bearing the legend | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | SHE IS NEARLY WELL THANK YOU | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | and this was displayed to the Green Dragon about a fortnight after the | ||
| + | arrival of the wonderful hamper. The old gentleman saw it, and waved a | ||
| + | cheerful response from the train. And when this had been done the children | ||
| + | saw that now was the time when they must tell Mother what they had done | ||
| + | when she was ill. And it did not seem nearly so easy as they had thought | ||
| + | it would be. But it had to be done. And it was done. Mother was extremely | ||
| + | angry. She was seldom angry, and now she was angrier than they had ever | ||
| + | known her. This was horrible. But it was much worse when she suddenly | ||
| + | began to cry. Crying is catching, I believe, like measles and | ||
| + | whooping-cough. At any rate, everyone at once found itself taking part in | ||
| + | a crying-party. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother stopped first. She dried her eyes and then she said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | understand.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis sniffed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | enough to live on. You mustn' | ||
| + | not right. And you must never, never, never ask strangers to give you | ||
| + | things. Now always remember that& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They all hugged her and rubbed their damp cheeks against hers and promised | ||
| + | that they would. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I didn't approve& | ||
| + | kindness. It's YOU I don't approve of, my darlings, not the old gentleman. | ||
| + | He was as kind as ever he could be. And you can give the letter to the | ||
| + | Station Master to give him& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Afterwards, when the children were alone, Bobbie said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sorry they had been angry.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | angry.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to look at her if it wasn't so awful. She looks so beautiful when she's | ||
| + | really downright furious.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They took the letter down to the Station Master. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then the Station Master retired to that sacred inner temple behind the | ||
| + | little window where the tickets are sold, and the children went down to | ||
| + | the Porters' | ||
| + | interesting things from him& | ||
| + | that he was married and had three children, that the lamps in front of | ||
| + | engines are called head-lights and the ones at the back tail-lights. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in disguise, with proper heads and tails.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was on this day that the children first noticed that all engines are | ||
| + | not alike. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | No more alike nor what you an' me are. That little 'un without a tender as | ||
| + | went by just now all on her own, that was a tank, that was& | ||
| + | to do some shunting t' | ||
| + | Miss. Then there' | ||
| + | each side& | ||
| + | me. Then there' | ||
| + | gentleman when he grows up and wins all the races at 'is school& | ||
| + | he will. The main-line engine she's built for speed as well as power. | ||
| + | That's one to the 9.15 up.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | oftener be' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children agreed as they went home to dinner that the Porter was most | ||
| + | delightful company. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Next day was Roberta' | ||
| + | firmly requested to get out of the way and keep there till tea-time. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | surprise,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Roberta went out into the garden all alone. She tried to be grateful, | ||
| + | but she felt she would much rather have helped in whatever it was than | ||
| + | have to spend her birthday afternoon by herself, no matter how glorious | ||
| + | the surprise might be. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Now that she was alone, she had time to think, and one of the things she | ||
| + | thought of most was what mother had said in one of those feverish nights | ||
| + | when her hands were so hot and her eyes so bright. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The words were: & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She walked round and round the garden among the rose-bushes that hadn't | ||
| + | any roses yet, only buds, and the lilac bushes and syringas and American | ||
| + | currants, and the more she thought of the doctor' | ||
| + | liked the thought of it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And presently she made up her mind. She went out through the side door of | ||
| + | the garden and climbed up the steep field to where the road runs along by | ||
| + | the canal. She walked along until she came to the bridge that crosses the | ||
| + | canal and leads to the village, and here she waited. It was very pleasant | ||
| + | in the sunshine to lean one's elbows on the warm stone of the bridge and | ||
| + | look down at the blue water of the canal. Bobbie had never seen any other | ||
| + | canal, except the Regent' | ||
| + | pretty colour. And she had never seen any river at all except the Thames, | ||
| + | which also would be all the better if its face was washed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perhaps the children would have loved the canal as much as the railway, | ||
| + | but for two things. One was that they had found the railway FIRST& | ||
| + | that first, wonderful morning when the house and the country and the moors | ||
| + | and rocks and great hills were all new to them. They had not found the | ||
| + | canal till some days later. The other reason was that everyone on the | ||
| + | railway had been kind to them& | ||
| + | the old gentleman who waved. And the people on the canal were anything but | ||
| + | kind. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The people on the canal were, of course, the bargees, who steered the slow | ||
| + | barges up and down, or walked beside the old horses that trampled up the | ||
| + | mud of the towing-path, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter had once asked one of the bargees the time, and had been told to | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | anything about his having just as much right on the towing-path as the man | ||
| + | himself. Indeed, he did not even think of saying it till some time later. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then another day when the children thought they would like to fish in the | ||
| + | canal, a boy in a barge threw lumps of coal at them, and one of these hit | ||
| + | Phyllis on the back of the neck. She was just stooping down to tie up her | ||
| + | bootlace& | ||
| + | very much about going on fishing. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | On the bridge, however, Roberta felt quite safe, because she could look | ||
| + | down on the canal, and if any boy showed signs of meaning to throw coal, | ||
| + | she could duck behind the parapet. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Presently there was a sound of wheels, which was just what she expected. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The wheels were the wheels of the Doctor' | ||
| + | course, was the Doctor. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He pulled up, and called out:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Roberta climbed in and the brown horse was made to turn round& | ||
| + | it did not like at all, for it was looking forward to its tea& | ||
| + | its oats. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | canal. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Doctor, as they passed the house. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | trouble?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie fidgeted with the hook of the driving apron. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother said.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | everyone, are you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mrs. Viney told me that her doctoring only cost her twopence a week | ||
| + | because she belonged to a Club.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | could afford you, because she's much poorer than we are. I've been in her | ||
| + | house and I know. And then she told me about the Club, and I thought I'd | ||
| + | ask you& | ||
| + | in the Club, too, the same as Mrs. Viney?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Doctor was silent. He was rather poor himself, and he had been pleased | ||
| + | at getting a new family to attend. So I think his feelings at that minute | ||
| + | were rather mixed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Doctor roused himself. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | here, don't you worry. I'll make it all right with your Mother, even if I | ||
| + | have to make a special brand-new Club all for her. Look here, this is | ||
| + | where the Aqueduct begins.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The road rose to a bridge over the canal. To the left was a steep rocky | ||
| + | cliff with trees and shrubs growing in the cracks of the rock. And the | ||
| + | canal here left off running along the top of the hill and started to run | ||
| + | on a bridge of its own& | ||
| + | right across the valley. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie drew a long breath. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Rome.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | were dead nuts on aqueducts. It's a splendid piece of engineering.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bridges and tunnels is one kind. And making fortifications is another. | ||
| + | Well, we must be turning back. And, remember, you aren't to worry about | ||
| + | doctor' | ||
| + | as long as the aqueduct.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Bobbie had parted from the Doctor at the top of the field that ran | ||
| + | down from the road to Three Chimneys, she could not feel that she had done | ||
| + | wrong. She knew that Mother would perhaps think differently. But Bobbie | ||
| + | felt that for once she was the one who was right, and she scrambled down | ||
| + | the rocky slope with a really happy feeling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis and Peter met her at the back door. They were unnaturally clean | ||
| + | and neat, and Phyllis had a red bow in her hair. There was only just time | ||
| + | for Bobbie to make herself tidy and tie up her hair with a blue bow before | ||
| + | a little bell rang. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | till the bell rings again and then you may come into the dining-room.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So Bobbie waited. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | dining-room, | ||
| + | herself, as it seemed, in a new world of light and flowers and singing. | ||
| + | Mother and Peter and Phyllis were standing in a row at the end of the | ||
| + | table. The shutters were shut and there were twelve candles on the table, | ||
| + | one for each of Roberta' | ||
| + | pattern of flowers, and at Roberta' | ||
| + | forget-me-nots and several most interesting little packages. And Mother | ||
| + | and Phyllis and Peter were singing& | ||
| + | St. Patrick' | ||
| + | purpose for her birthday. It was a little way of Mother' | ||
| + | had begun on Bobbie' | ||
| + | remembered learning the verses to say to Father 'for a surprise.' | ||
| + | wondered if Mother had remembered, too. The four-year-old verse had been:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | Daddy dear, I'm only four | ||
| + | And I'd rather not be more. | ||
| + | | ||
| + | Two and two and one and three. | ||
| + | What I love is two and two, | ||
| + | | ||
| + | What you love is one and three, | ||
| + | | ||
| + | Give your little girl a kiss | ||
| + | | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The song the others were singing now went like this:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | Our darling Roberta, | ||
| + | No sorrow shall hurt her | ||
| + | If we can prevent it | ||
| + | Her whole life long. | ||
| + | Her birthday' | ||
| + | | ||
| + | And give her our presents | ||
| + | And sing her our song. | ||
| + | May pleasures attend her | ||
| + | And may the Fates send her | ||
| + | The happiest journey | ||
| + | Along her life's way. | ||
| + | With skies bright above her | ||
| + | And dear ones to love her! | ||
| + | Dear Bob! Many happy | ||
| + | Returns of the day! | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they had finished singing they cried, & | ||
| + | and gave them very loudly. Bobbie felt exactly as though she were going to | ||
| + | cry& | ||
| + | pricking in your eyelids? But before she had time to begin they were all | ||
| + | kissing and hugging her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They were very nice presents. There was a green and red needle-book that | ||
| + | Phyllis had made herself in secret moments. There was a darling little | ||
| + | silver brooch of Mother' | ||
| + | and loved for years, but which she had never, never thought would come to | ||
| + | be her very own. There was also a pair of blue glass vases from Mrs. | ||
| + | Viney. Roberta had seen and admired them in the village shop. And there | ||
| + | were three birthday cards with pretty pictures and wishes. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother fitted the forget-me-not crown on Bobbie' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a cake on the table covered with white sugar, with 'Dear Bobbie' | ||
| + | on it in pink sweets, and there were buns and jam; but the nicest thing | ||
| + | was that the big table was almost covered with flowers& | ||
| + | were laid all round the tea-tray& | ||
| + | round each plate. The cake had a wreath of white lilac round it, and in | ||
| + | the middle was something that looked like a pattern all done with single | ||
| + | blooms of lilac or wallflower or laburnum. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | lilac lines are the metals& | ||
| + | wallflowers. The laburnum is the train, and there are the signal-boxes, | ||
| + | and the road up to here& | ||
| + | waving to the old gentleman& | ||
| + | train.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | late for tea. Peter invented it all, and we got all the flowers from the | ||
| + | station. We thought you'd like it better.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | steam-engine on the table in front of her. Its tender had been lined with | ||
| + | fresh white paper, and was full of sweets. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | own dear little engine that you're so fond of?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie couldn' | ||
| + | she was disappointed at not getting the engine, as because she had thought | ||
| + | it so very noble of Peter, and now she felt she had been silly to think | ||
| + | it. Also she felt she must have seemed greedy to expect the engine as well | ||
| + | as the sweets. So her face changed. Peter saw it. He hesitated a minute; | ||
| + | then his face changed, too, and he said: & | ||
| + | let you go halves if you like.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | more aloud, but to herself she said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Well, the broken half shall be my half of the engine, and I'll get it | ||
| + | mended and give it back to Peter for his birthday.& | ||
| + | dear, I should like to cut the cake,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a delightful birthday. After tea Mother played games with them& | ||
| + | game they liked& | ||
| + | blindman' | ||
| + | twisted itself crookedly over one of her ears and stayed there. Then, when | ||
| + | it was near bed-time and time to calm down, Mother had a lovely new story | ||
| + | to read to them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said good night. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Mother said no, she wouldn' | ||
| + | and then go to bed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But when Bobbie crept down later to bring up her presents& | ||
| + | felt she really could not be separated from them all night& | ||
| + | was not writing, but leaning her head on her arms and her arms on the | ||
| + | table. I think it was rather good of Bobbie to slip quietly away, saying | ||
| + | over and over, & | ||
| + | know; I won't know.& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The very next morning Bobbie began to watch her opportunity to get Peter' | ||
| + | engine mended secretly. And the opportunity came the very next afternoon. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother went by train to the nearest town to do shopping. When she went | ||
| + | there, she always went to the Post-office. Perhaps to post her letters to | ||
| + | Father, for she never gave them to the children or Mrs. Viney to post, and | ||
| + | she never went to the village herself. Peter and Phyllis went with her. | ||
| + | Bobbie wanted an excuse not to go, but try as she would she couldn' | ||
| + | of a good one. And just when she felt that all was lost, her frock caught | ||
| + | on a big nail by the kitchen door and there was a great criss-cross tear | ||
| + | all along the front of the skirt. I assure you this was really an | ||
| + | accident. So the others pitied her and went without her, for there was no | ||
| + | time for her to change, because they were rather late already and had to | ||
| + | hurry to the station to catch the train. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they had gone, Bobbie put on her everyday frock, and went down to the | ||
| + | railway. She did not go into the station, but she went along the line to | ||
| + | the end of the platform where the engine is when the down train is | ||
| + | alongside the platform& | ||
| + | long, limp, leather hose, like an elephant' | ||
| + | on the other side of the railway. She had the toy engine done up in brown | ||
| + | paper, and she waited patiently with it under her arm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then when the next train came in and stopped, Bobbie went across the | ||
| + | metals of the up-line and stood beside the engine. She had never been so | ||
| + | close to an engine before. It looked much larger and harder than she had | ||
| + | expected, and it made her feel very small indeed, and, somehow, very soft& | ||
| + | if she could very, very easily be hurt rather badly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The engine-driver and fireman did not see her. They were leaning out on | ||
| + | the other side, telling the Porter a tale about a dog and a leg of mutton. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and no one heard her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | happened to speak at the same moment, and of course Roberta' | ||
| + | voice hadn't a chance. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It seemed to her that the only way would be to climb on to the engine and | ||
| + | pull at their coats. The step was high, but she got her knee on it, and | ||
| + | clambered into the cab; she stumbled and fell on hands and knees on the | ||
| + | base of the great heap of coals that led up to the square opening in the | ||
| + | tender. The engine was not above the weaknesses of its fellows; it was | ||
| + | making a great deal more noise than there was the slightest need for. And | ||
| + | just as Roberta fell on the coals, the engine-driver, | ||
| + | without seeing her, started the engine, and when Bobbie had picked herself | ||
| + | up, the train was moving& | ||
| + | off. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All sorts of dreadful thoughts came to her all together in one horrible | ||
| + | flash. There were such things as express trains that went on, she | ||
| + | supposed, for hundreds of miles without stopping. Suppose this should be | ||
| + | one of them? How would she get home again? She had no money to pay for the | ||
| + | return journey. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | she thought. & | ||
| + | the train was going faster and faster. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was something in her throat that made it impossible for her to | ||
| + | speak. She tried twice. The men had their backs to her. They were doing | ||
| + | something to things that looked like taps. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Suddenly she put out her hand and caught hold of the nearest sleeve. The | ||
| + | man turned with a start, and he and Roberta stood for a minute looking at | ||
| + | each other in silence. Then the silence was broken by them both. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The man said, & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The other man said he was blooming well blest& | ||
| + | though naturally surprised they were not exactly unkind. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the engine-driver said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | seat in the cab and told her to stop crying and tell them what she meant | ||
| + | by it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She did stop, as soon as she could. One thing that helped her was the | ||
| + | thought that Peter would give almost his ears to be in her place& | ||
| + | a real engine& | ||
| + | any engine-driver could be found noble enough to take them for a ride on | ||
| + | an engine& | ||
| + | earnestly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie tried again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | but you didn't hear me& | ||
| + | gently I meant to do it& | ||
| + | am so sorry if I frightened you. Oh, don't be cross& | ||
| + | don' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | every day a little gell tumbles into our coal bunker outer the sky, is it, | ||
| + | Bill? What did you DO it for& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie found that she had not quite stopped crying. The engine-driver | ||
| + | patted her on the back and said: & | ||
| + | all that 'ere, I'll be bound.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | only wanted to ask you if you'd be so kind as to mend this.& | ||
| + | the brown-paper parcel from among the coals and undid the string with hot, | ||
| + | red fingers that trembled. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Her feet and legs felt the scorch of the engine fire, but her shoulders | ||
| + | felt the wild chill rush of the air. The engine lurched and shook and | ||
| + | rattled, and as they shot under a bridge the engine seemed to shout in her | ||
| + | ears. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The fireman shovelled on coals. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie unrolled the brown paper and disclosed the toy engine. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you're an engineer, you know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The engine-driver said he was blowed if he wasn't blest. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the engine-driver took the little engine and looked at it& | ||
| + | the fireman ceased for an instant to shovel coal, and looked, too. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | made you think we'd be bothered tinkering penny toys?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | has anything to do with railways is so kind and good, I didn't think you'd | ||
| + | mind. You don't really& | ||
| + | unkindly wink pass between the two. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | hout-size in engines as this ' | ||
| + | get you back to your sorrowing friends and relations, and all be forgiven | ||
| + | and forgotten?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | her heart beat fiercely against her arm as she clasped her hands, & | ||
| + | lend me the money for a third-class ticket, I'll pay you back& | ||
| + | bright. I'm not a confidence trick like in the newspapers& | ||
| + | I'm not.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | completely. & | ||
| + | you got ne'er a pal as can use a soldering iron? Seems to me that's about | ||
| + | all the little bounder wants doing to it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She pointed to a little brass wheel that he had turned as he spoke. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | IS interesting.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | enthusiasm. & | ||
| + | finger, you can& | ||
| + | call the Power of Science in the newspapers.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He showed her two little dials, like clock faces, and told her how one | ||
| + | showed how much steam was going, and the other showed if the brake was | ||
| + | working properly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | By the time she had seen him shut off steam with a big shining steel | ||
| + | handle, Bobbie knew more about the inside working of an engine than she | ||
| + | had ever thought there was to know, and Jim had promised that his second | ||
| + | cousin' | ||
| + | the reason why. Besides all the knowledge she had gained Bobbie felt that | ||
| + | she and Bill and Jim were now friends for life, and that they had wholly | ||
| + | and forever forgiven her for stumbling uninvited among the sacred coals of | ||
| + | their tender. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At Stacklepoole Junction she parted from them with warm expressions of | ||
| + | mutual regard. They handed her over to the guard of a returning train& | ||
| + | friend of theirs& | ||
| + | their secret fastnesses, and understood how, when you pull the | ||
| + | communication cord in railway carriages, a wheel goes round under the | ||
| + | guard' | ||
| + | his van smelt so fishy, and learned that he had to carry a lot of fish | ||
| + | every day, and that the wetness in the hollows of the corrugated floor had | ||
| + | all drained out of boxes full of plaice and cod and mackerel and soles and | ||
| + | smelts. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie got home in time for tea, and she felt as though her mind would | ||
| + | burst with all that had been put into it since she parted from the others. | ||
| + | How she blessed the nail that had torn her frock! | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of her adventures till the day appointed, when she mysteriously led them | ||
| + | to the station at the hour of the 3.19's transit, and proudly introduced | ||
| + | them to her friends, Bill and Jim. Jim's second cousin' | ||
| + | had not been unworthy of the sacred trust reposed in him. The toy engine | ||
| + | was, literally, as good as new. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | screamed ITS good-bye. & | ||
| + | second cousin' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And as the three children went home up the hill, Peter hugging the engine, | ||
| + | now quite its own self again, Bobbie told, with joyous leaps of the heart, | ||
| + | the story of how she had been an Engine-burglar. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter V. Prisoners and captives. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was one day when Mother had gone to Maidbridge. She had gone alone, but | ||
| + | the children were to go to the station to meet her. And, loving the | ||
| + | station as they did, it was only natural that they should be there a good | ||
| + | hour before there was any chance of Mother' | ||
| + | train were punctual, which was most unlikely. No doubt they would have | ||
| + | been just as early, even if it had been a fine day, and all the delights | ||
| + | of woods and fields and rocks and rivers had been open to them. But it | ||
| + | happened to be a very wet day and, for July, very cold. There was a wild | ||
| + | wind that drove flocks of dark purple clouds across the sky & | ||
| + | dream-elephants,& | ||
| + | way to the station was finished at a run. Then the rain fell faster and | ||
| + | harder, and beat slantwise against the windows of the booking office and | ||
| + | of the chill place that had General Waiting Room on its door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of the foe striking against the battlements!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They decided to wait on the up side, for the down platform looked very wet | ||
| + | indeed, and the rain was driving right into the little bleak shelter where | ||
| + | down-passengers have to wait for their trains. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The hour would be full of incident and of interest, for there would be two | ||
| + | up trains and one down to look at before the one that should bring Mother | ||
| + | back. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | glad I brought Mother' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They went into the desert spot labelled General Waiting Room, and the time | ||
| + | passed pleasantly enough in a game of advertisements. You know the game, | ||
| + | of course? It is something like dumb Crambo. The players take it in turns | ||
| + | to go out, and then come back and look as like some advertisement as they | ||
| + | can, and the others have to guess what advertisement it is meant to be. | ||
| + | Bobbie came in and sat down under Mother' | ||
| + | and everyone knew she was the fox who sits under the umbrella in the | ||
| + | advertisement. Phyllis tried to make a Magic Carpet of Mother' | ||
| + | waterproof, but it would not stand out stiff and raft-like as a Magic | ||
| + | Carpet should, and nobody could guess it. Everyone thought Peter was | ||
| + | carrying things a little too far when he blacked his face all over with | ||
| + | coal-dust and struck a spidery attitude and said he was the blot that | ||
| + | advertises somebody' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was Phyllis' | ||
| + | that advertises What' | ||
| + | when the sharp ting of the signal announced the up train. The children | ||
| + | rushed out to see it pass. On its engine were the particular driver and | ||
| + | fireman who were now numbered among the children' | ||
| + | Courtesies passed between them. Jim asked after the toy engine, and Bobbie | ||
| + | pressed on his acceptance a moist, greasy package of toffee that she had | ||
| + | made herself. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Charmed by this attention, the engine-driver consented to consider her | ||
| + | request that some day he would take Peter for a ride on the engine. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | goes.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And sure enough, off the train went. The children watched the tail-lights | ||
| + | of the train till it disappeared round the curve of the line, and then | ||
| + | turned to go back to the dusty freedom of the General Waiting Room and the | ||
| + | joys of the advertisement game. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They expected to see just one or two people, the end of the procession of | ||
| + | passengers who had given up their tickets and gone away. Instead, the | ||
| + | platform round the door of the station had a dark blot round it, and the | ||
| + | dark blot was a crowd of people. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | happened! Come on!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They ran down the platform. When they got to the crowd, they could, of | ||
| + | course, see nothing but the damp backs and elbows of the people on the | ||
| + | crowd' | ||
| + | something had happened. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | farmerish-looking person. Peter saw his red, clean-shaven face as he | ||
| + | spoke. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | with a black bag. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then the voice of the Station Master was heard, firm and official:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the crowd did not move. And then came a voice that thrilled the | ||
| + | children through and through. For it spoke in a foreign language. And, | ||
| + | what is more, it was a language that they had never heard. They had heard | ||
| + | French spoken and German. Aunt Emma knew German, and used to sing a song | ||
| + | about bedeuten and zeiten and bin and sin. Nor was it Latin. Peter had | ||
| + | been in Latin for four terms. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was some comfort, anyhow, to find that none of the crowd understood the | ||
| + | foreign language any better than the children did. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Boulogne for the day. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | little to see who had spoken, and Peter pressed forward, so that when the | ||
| + | crowd closed up again he was in the front rank. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Then he saw what it was that the crowd had for its centre. It was a man& | ||
| + | man, Peter did not doubt, who had spoken in that strange tongue. A man | ||
| + | with long hair and wild eyes, with shabby clothes of a cut Peter had not | ||
| + | seen before& | ||
| + | as his eyes fell on Peter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | recoiled again, for the man with the wild eyes had left leaning against | ||
| + | the wall, and had sprung forward and caught Peter' | ||
| + | pour forth a flood of words which, though he could not understand a word | ||
| + | of them, Peter knew the sound of. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | strange shabby figure, to throw a glance of triumph at the crowd; & | ||
| + | THAT'S French.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | deal with this case.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A few of the more timid or less inquisitive travellers moved slowly and | ||
| + | reluctantly away. And Phyllis and Bobbie got near to Peter. All three had | ||
| + | been TAUGHT French at school. How deeply they now wished that they had | ||
| + | LEARNED it! Peter shook his head at the stranger, but he also shook his | ||
| + | hands as warmly and looked at him as kindly as he could. A person in the | ||
| + | crowd, after some hesitation, said suddenly, & | ||
| + | blushing deeply, backed out of the press and went away. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | can talk French. She'll be here by the next train from Maidbridge.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Station Master took the arm of the stranger, suddenly but not | ||
| + | unkindly. But the man wrenched his arm away, and cowered back coughing and | ||
| + | trembling and trying to push the Station Master away. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you're going to shut him up. I know he does& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | words if I could only think of them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Sometimes, in moments of great need, we can do wonderful things& | ||
| + | that in ordinary life we could hardly even dream of doing. Bobbie had | ||
| + | never been anywhere near the top of her French class, but she must have | ||
| + | learned something without knowing it, for now, looking at those wild, | ||
| + | hunted eyes, she actually remembered and, what is more, spoke, some French | ||
| + | words. She said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | 'being kind'?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Nobody knew. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | I do not know whether the man understood her words, but he understood the | ||
| + | touch of the hand she thrust into his, and the kindness of the other hand | ||
| + | that stroked his shabby sleeve. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She pulled him gently towards the inmost sanctuary of the Station Master. | ||
| + | The other children followed, and the Station Master shut the door in the | ||
| + | face of the crowd, which stood a little while in the booking office | ||
| + | talking and looking at the fast closed yellow door, and then by ones and | ||
| + | twos went its way, grumbling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Inside the Station Master' | ||
| + | stroked his sleeve. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | where he wants to go. I'm not sure now but what I ought to send for the | ||
| + | police.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | between the others and the stranger, for she had seen that he was crying. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | By a most unusual piece of good fortune she had a handkerchief in her | ||
| + | pocket. By a still more uncommon accident the handkerchief was moderately | ||
| + | clean. Standing in front of the stranger, she got out the handkerchief and | ||
| + | passed it to him so that the others did not see. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | beautifully. You'd just love to hear her.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I don't mind giving him the benefit of the doubt till your Mamma comes. I | ||
| + | SHOULD like to know what nation' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Peter had an idea. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket, and | ||
| + | showed that it was half full of foreign stamps. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie looked and saw that the stranger had dried his eyes with her | ||
| + | handkerchief. So she said: & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They showed him an Italian stamp, and pointed from him to it and back | ||
| + | again, and made signs of question with their eyebrows. He shook his head. | ||
| + | Then they showed him a Norwegian stamp& | ||
| + | again he signed No. Then they showed him a Spanish one, and at that he | ||
| + | took the envelope from Peter' | ||
| + | hand that trembled. The hand that he reached out at last, with a gesture | ||
| + | as of one answering a question, contained a RUSSIAN stamp. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Kipling, you know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The train from Maidbridge was signalled. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | at a strange dog of doubtful temper. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She smiled at him, and he smiled back, a queer crooked smile. And then he | ||
| + | coughed again. And the heavy rattling swish of the incoming train swept | ||
| + | past, and the Station Master and Peter and Phyllis went out to meet it. | ||
| + | Bobbie was still holding the stranger' | ||
| + | Mother. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Russian rose and bowed very ceremoniously. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Mother spoke in French, and he replied, haltingly at first, but | ||
| + | presently in longer and longer sentences. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children, watching his face and Mother' | ||
| + | things that made her angry and pitying, and sorry and indignant all at | ||
| + | once. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | his curiosity any longer. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ticket. And I'm afraid he's very ill. If you don't mind, I'll take him | ||
| + | home with me now. He's really quite worn out. I'll run down and tell you | ||
| + | all about him to-morrow.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Station Master, doubtfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Why, he's a great man in his own country, writes books& | ||
| + | books& | ||
| + | to-morrow.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She spoke again in French to the Russian, and everyone could see the | ||
| + | surprise and pleasure and gratitude in his eyes. He got up and politely | ||
| + | bowed to the Station Master, and offered his arm most ceremoniously to | ||
| + | Mother. She took it, but anybody could have seen that she was helping him | ||
| + | along, and not he her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But it was Bobbie who went for the Doctor. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | shirt sleeves, weeding his pansy-bed, & | ||
| + | Russian, and I'm sure he'll have to belong to your Club. I'm certain he | ||
| + | hasn't got any money. We found him at the station.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | telling Mother the sad, sweet story of his life in French; and she said | ||
| + | would you be kind enough to come directly if you were at home. He has a | ||
| + | dreadful cough, and he's been crying.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Doctor smiled. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | never saw a man cry before. You don't know what it's like.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Dr. Forrest wished then that he hadn't smiled. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Bobbie and the Doctor got to Three Chimneys, the Russian was sitting | ||
| + | in the arm-chair that had been Father' | ||
| + | of a bright wood fire, and sipping the tea Mother had made him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | cough' | ||
| + | straight to bed, though& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother. She did, and presently the Doctor helped the stranger to bed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a big black trunk in Mother' | ||
| + | ever seen unlocked. Now, when she had lighted the fire, she unlocked it | ||
| + | and took some clothes out& | ||
| + | the newly lighted fire. Bobbie, coming in with more wood for the fire, saw | ||
| + | the mark on the night-shirt, | ||
| + | things she could see were men's clothes. And the name marked on the shirt | ||
| + | was Father' | ||
| + | night-shirt was one of Father' | ||
| + | made, just before Peter' | ||
| + | Bobbie slipped from the room. As she went she heard the key turned in the | ||
| + | lock of the trunk. Her heart was beating horribly. WHY hadn't Father taken | ||
| + | his clothes? When Mother came out of the room, Bobbie flung tightly | ||
| + | clasping arms round her waist, and whispered:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | clinging to that resolution of hers, not to see anything that Mother | ||
| + | didn't mean her to see. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother gave her a hurried hug. & | ||
| + | from him last,& | ||
| + | such horrible things, darling!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Later on, when the Russian stranger had been made comfortable for the | ||
| + | night, Mother came into the girls' room. She was to sleep there in | ||
| + | Phyllis' | ||
| + | amusing adventure for Phyllis. Directly Mother came in, two white figures | ||
| + | started up, and two eager voices called:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A white shape hopped into the room. It was Peter, dragging his quilt | ||
| + | behind him like the tail of a white peacock. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sleep, and I just nearly went to sleep and I bit too hard, and it hurts | ||
| + | ever so. DO tell us. Make a nice long story of it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie knew by her voice that Mother had been crying, but the others | ||
| + | didn't know. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | round Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he's written beautiful books. In Russia at the time of the Czar one dared | ||
| + | not say anything about the rich people doing wrong, or about the things | ||
| + | that ought to be done to make poor people better and happier. If one did | ||
| + | one was sent to prison.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wrong.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | so in England. But in Russia it was different. And he wrote a beautiful | ||
| + | book about poor people and how to help them. I've read it. There' | ||
| + | in it but goodness and kindness. And they sent him to prison for it. He | ||
| + | was three years in a horrible dungeon, with hardly any light, and all damp | ||
| + | and dreadful. In prison all alone for three years.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | something out of a history book& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | him out and sent him to Siberia, a convict chained to other convicts& | ||
| + | men who'd done all sorts of crimes& | ||
| + | walked, and walked, and walked, for days and weeks, till he thought they'd | ||
| + | never stop walking. And overseers went behind them with whips& | ||
| + | whips& | ||
| + | and some fell down, and when they couldn' | ||
| + | them, and then left them to die. Oh, it's all too terrible! And at last he | ||
| + | got to the mines, and he was condemned to stay there for life& | ||
| + | life, just for writing a good, noble, splendid book.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | volunteer as soldiers. And he volunteered. But he deserted at the first | ||
| + | chance he got and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Especially when it's war.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he did, he owed more to his wife and children. He didn't know what had | ||
| + | become of them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | TOO, then, all the time he was in prison?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | was in prison. For anything he knew they might have been sent to prison, | ||
| + | too. They did those things in Russia. But while he was in the mines some | ||
| + | friends managed to get a message to him that his wife and children had | ||
| + | escaped and come to England. So when he deserted he came here to look for | ||
| + | them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | at our station, and then he found he'd lost his ticket and his purse.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the ticket and things.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | again.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Even Phyllis now perceived that mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother didn't answer for a minute. Then she just said, & | ||
| + | seemed to be thinking. The children were quiet. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Presently she said, & | ||
| + | ask God to show His pity upon all prisoners and captives.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | captives. Is that right, Mother?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | captives.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter VI. Saviours of the train. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Russian gentleman was better the next day, and the day after that | ||
| + | better still, and on the third day he was well enough to come into the | ||
| + | garden. A basket chair was put for him and he sat there, dressed in | ||
| + | clothes of Father' | ||
| + | up the ends of the sleeves and the trousers, the clothes did well enough. | ||
| + | His was a kind face now that it was no longer tired and frightened, and he | ||
| + | smiled at the children whenever he saw them. They wished very much that he | ||
| + | could speak English. Mother wrote several letters to people she thought | ||
| + | might know whereabouts in England a Russian gentleman' | ||
| + | might possibly be; not to the people she used to know before she came to | ||
| + | live at Three Chimneys& | ||
| + | strange people& | ||
| + | Secretaries of Societies. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And she did not do much of her story-writing, | ||
| + | sat in the sun near the Russian, and talked to him every now and then. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children wanted very much to show how kindly they felt to this man who | ||
| + | had been sent to prison and to Siberia just for writing a beautiful book | ||
| + | about poor people. They could smile at him, of course; they could and they | ||
| + | did. But if you smile too constantly, the smile is apt to get fixed like | ||
| + | the smile of the hyaena. And then it no longer looks friendly, but simply | ||
| + | silly. So they tried other ways, and brought him flowers till the place | ||
| + | where he sat was surrounded by little fading bunches of clover and roses | ||
| + | and Canterbury bells. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then Phyllis had an idea. She beckoned mysteriously to the others and | ||
| + | drew them into the back yard, and there, in a concealed spot, between the | ||
| + | pump and the water-butt, she said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | own garden?& | ||
| + | think they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother had been down as she had promised to tell the Station Master the | ||
| + | story of the Russian Prisoner. But even the charms of the railway had been | ||
| + | unable to tear the children away from the neighbourhood of the interesting | ||
| + | stranger. So they had not been to the station for three days. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They went now. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And, to their surprise and distress, were very coldly received by Perks. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the Porters' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was an uncomfortable silence. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the form of words. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Perks; & | ||
| + | what I say.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The secret-chamber of each heart was rapidly examined during the pause | ||
| + | that followed. Three heads were shaken. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | me. And I wish you all a very good afternoon.& | ||
| + | between him and them and went on reading. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it is, do tell us.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | No answer. The paper was refolded and Perks began on another column. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | crimes aren't punished without being told what it's for& | ||
| + | were in Russia.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Gills all about OUR Russian.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of me to step into 'is room and take a chair and listen to what 'er | ||
| + | Ladyship 'as to say?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | shuts me up like a rat-trap. ' | ||
| + | think one o' you would ' | ||
| + | enough when you want to get anything out of old Perks& | ||
| + | flushed purple as she thought of the strawberries& | ||
| + | locomotives or signals or the likes,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The three spoke all at once. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks said it was all very well, and still held up the paper. Then Phyllis | ||
| + | suddenly snatched it away, and threw her arms round his neck. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | if you like, but we didn't really know that you didn't know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Perks at last consented to accept their apologies. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then they got him to come out and sit in the sun on the green Railway | ||
| + | Bank, where the grass was quite hot to touch, and there, sometimes | ||
| + | speaking one at a time, and sometimes all together, they told the Porter | ||
| + | the story of the Russian Prisoner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | was. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | were curious about who the Russian was.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I see 'is reasons. 'E wouldn' | ||
| + | like that 'ere. It ain't human nature. A man's got to stand up for his own | ||
| + | side whatever they does. That's what it means by Party Politics. I should | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | foreigners. My own belief is they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and Conservatives. The great thing is to take your side and then stick to | ||
| + | it, whatever happens.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A signal sounded. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | then we'll go up along to my place, and see if there' | ||
| + | strawberries ripe what I told you about.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | won't mind if I give them to the poor Russian, will you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks narrowed his eyes and then raised his eyebrows. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was an awkward moment for Phyllis. To say & | ||
| + | greedy, and unkind to Perks. But she knew if she said & | ||
| + | be pleased with herself afterwards. So& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the story,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in front of the advancing train. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls hated to see him do this, but Peter liked it. It was so | ||
| + | exciting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Russian gentleman was so delighted with the strawberries that the | ||
| + | three racked their brains to find some other surprise for him. But all the | ||
| + | racking did not bring out any idea more novel than wild cherries. And this | ||
| + | idea occurred to them next morning. They had seen the blossom on the trees | ||
| + | in the spring, and they knew where to look for wild cherries now that | ||
| + | cherry time was here. The trees grew all up and along the rocky face of | ||
| + | the cliff out of which the mouth of the tunnel opened. There were all | ||
| + | sorts of trees there, birches and beeches and baby oaks and hazels, and | ||
| + | among them the cherry blossom had shone like snow and silver. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The mouth of the tunnel was some way from Three Chimneys, so Mother let | ||
| + | them take their lunch with them in a basket. And the basket would do to | ||
| + | bring the cherries back in if they found any. She also lent them her | ||
| + | silver watch so that they should not be late for tea. Peter' | ||
| + | had taken it into its head not to go since the day when Peter dropped it | ||
| + | into the water-butt. And they started. When they got to the top of the | ||
| + | cutting, they leaned over the fence and looked down to where the railway | ||
| + | lines lay at the bottom of what, as Phyllis said, was exactly like a | ||
| + | mountain gorge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | foot of man had never been there, wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The sides of the cutting were of grey stone, very roughly hewn. Indeed, | ||
| + | the top part of the cutting had been a little natural glen that had been | ||
| + | cut deeper to bring it down to the level of the tunnel' | ||
| + | rocks, grass and flowers grew, and seeds dropped by birds in the crannies | ||
| + | of the stone had taken root and grown into bushes and trees that overhung | ||
| + | the cutting. Near the tunnel was a flight of steps leading down to the | ||
| + | line& | ||
| + | steep and narrow way, more like a ladder than a stair. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | easy to get at from the side of the steps. You remember it was there we | ||
| + | picked the cherry blossoms that we put on the rabbit' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they went along the fence towards the little swing gate that is at the | ||
| + | top of these steps. And they were almost at the gate when Bobbie said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to be heard through the sound of the wind in tree branches, and the hum | ||
| + | and whir of the telegraph wires. It was a sort of rustling, whispering | ||
| + | sound. As they listened it stopped, and then it began again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And this time it did not stop, but it grew louder and more rustling and | ||
| + | rumbling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The tree he pointed at was one of those that have rough grey leaves and | ||
| + | white flowers. The berries, when they come, are bright scarlet, but if you | ||
| + | pick them, they disappoint you by turning black before you get them home. | ||
| + | And, as Peter pointed, the tree was moving& | ||
| + | ought to move when the wind blows through them, but all in one piece, as | ||
| + | though it were a live creature and were walking down the side of the | ||
| + | cutting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the woods in Macbeth.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | enchanted.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It really did seem a little like magic. For all the trees for about twenty | ||
| + | yards of the opposite bank seemed to be slowly walking down towards the | ||
| + | railway line, the tree with the grey leaves bringing up the rear like some | ||
| + | old shepherd driving a flock of green sheep. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | don't like it. Let's go home.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie and Peter clung fast to the rail and watched breathlessly. And | ||
| + | Phyllis made no movement towards going home by herself. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The trees moved on and on. Some stones and loose earth fell down and | ||
| + | rattled on the railway metals far below. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | any voice to say it with. And, indeed, just as he spoke, the great rock, | ||
| + | on the top of which the walking trees were, leaned slowly forward. The | ||
| + | trees, ceasing to walk, stood still and shivered. Leaning with the rock, | ||
| + | they seemed to hesitate a moment, and then rock and trees and grass and | ||
| + | bushes, with a rushing sound, slipped right away from the face of the | ||
| + | cutting and fell on the line with a blundering crash that could have been | ||
| + | heard half a mile off. A cloud of dust rose up. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | come in?& | ||
| + | down.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said again, still more slowly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then he stood upright. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | or there' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Peter cried, & | ||
| + | prompt and businesslike, | ||
| + | seen it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | telegraph post and do something to the wires?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | And we couldn' | ||
| + | had anything red, we could get down on the line and wave it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | could see the mound just as well as us,& | ||
| + | it's much bigger than us.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | corner and wave to the train.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Anyway, let's get down.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They got down the steep stairs. Bobbie was pale and shivering. Peter' | ||
| + | face looked thinner than usual. Phyllis was red-faced and damp with | ||
| + | anxiety. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wish we hadn't put on our& | ||
| + | quite a different tone& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie turned at the bottom of the stairs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They did, and with the petticoats rolled up under their arms, ran along | ||
| + | the railway, skirting the newly fallen mound of stones and rock and earth, | ||
| + | and bent, crushed, twisted trees. They ran at their best pace. Peter led, | ||
| + | but the girls were not far behind. They reached the corner that hid the | ||
| + | mound from the straight line of railway that ran half a mile without curve | ||
| + | or corner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | see, Phil, if we can't stop the train, there' | ||
| + | with people KILLED. Oh, horrible! Here, Peter, you'll never tear it | ||
| + | through the band!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She took the red flannel petticoat from him and tore it off an inch from | ||
| + | the band. Then she tore the other in the same way. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | three pieces. & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The knives given to boys are, for some odd reason, seldom of the kind of | ||
| + | steel that keeps sharp. The young saplings had to be broken off. Two came | ||
| + | up by the roots. The leaves were stripped from them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Peter. And the holes were cut. The knife was sharp enough to cut | ||
| + | flannel with. Two of the flags were set up in heaps of loose stones | ||
| + | between the sleepers of the down line. Then Phyllis and Roberta took each | ||
| + | a flag, and stood ready to wave it as soon as the train came in sight. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to wave something red.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | interrupted& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perhaps Peter had not rightly calculated the number of minutes it would | ||
| + | take the 11.29 to get from the station to the place where they were, or | ||
| + | perhaps the train was late. Anyway, it seemed a very long time that they | ||
| + | waited. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis grew impatient. & | ||
| + | by,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter relaxed the heroic attitude he had chosen to show off his two flags. | ||
| + | And Bobbie began to feel sick with suspense. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It seemed to her that they had been standing there for hours and hours, | ||
| + | holding those silly little red flannel flags that no one would ever | ||
| + | notice. The train wouldn' | ||
| + | round the corner and go crashing into that awful mound. And everyone would | ||
| + | be killed. Her hands grew very cold and trembled so that she could hardly | ||
| + | hold the flag. And then came the distant rumble and hum of the metals, and | ||
| + | a puff of white steam showed far away along the stretch of line. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | furze bush step back, but go on waving! Don't stand ON the line, Bobbie!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The train came rattling along very, very fast. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The two little flags on the line swayed as the nearing train shook and | ||
| + | loosened the heaps of loose stones that held them up. One of them slowly | ||
| + | leaned over and fell on the line. Bobbie jumped forward and caught it up, | ||
| + | and waved it; her hands did not tremble now. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It seemed that the train came on as fast as ever. It was very near now. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | arm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie cried, & | ||
| + | the line. The front of the engine looked black and enormous. Its voice was | ||
| + | loud and harsh. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis didn' | ||
| + | her voice with a mountain of sound. But afterwards she used to wonder | ||
| + | whether the engine itself had not heard her. It seemed almost as though it | ||
| + | had& | ||
| + | yards from the place where Bobbie' | ||
| + | the great black engine stop dead, but somehow she could not stop waving | ||
| + | the flags. And when the driver and the fireman had got off the engine and | ||
| + | Peter and Phyllis had gone to meet them and pour out their excited tale of | ||
| + | the awful mound just round the corner, Bobbie still waved the flags but | ||
| + | more and more feebly and jerkily. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the others turned towards her she was lying across the line with her | ||
| + | hands flung forward and still gripping the sticks of the little red | ||
| + | flannel flags. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The engine-driver picked her up, carried her to the train, and laid her on | ||
| + | the cushions of a first-class carriage. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I'll just 'ave a look at this 'ere mound of yours, and then we'll run you | ||
| + | back to the station and get her seen to.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was horrible to see Bobbie lying so white and quiet, with her lips | ||
| + | blue, and parted. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They sat by Bobbie on the blue cushions, and the train ran back. Before it | ||
| + | reached their station Bobbie had sighed and opened her eyes, and rolled | ||
| + | herself over and begun to cry. This cheered the others wonderfully. They | ||
| + | had seen her cry before, but they had never seen her faint, nor anyone | ||
| + | else, for the matter of that. They had not known what to do when she was | ||
| + | fainting, but now she was only crying they could thump her on the back and | ||
| + | tell her not to, just as they always did. And presently, when she stopped | ||
| + | crying, they were able to laugh at her for being such a coward as to | ||
| + | faint. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the station was reached, the three were the heroes of an agitated | ||
| + | meeting on the platform. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The praises they got for their & | ||
| + | their & | ||
| + | enjoyed herself thoroughly. She had never been a real heroine before, and | ||
| + | the feeling was delicious. Peter' | ||
| + | himself. Only Bobbie wished they all wouldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Master. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie wished she might never hear of it again. She pulled at Peter' | ||
| + | jacket. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they went. And as they went Station Master and Porter and guards and | ||
| + | driver and fireman and passengers sent up a cheer. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | waving it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie said nothing. She was thinking of the horrible mound, and the | ||
| + | trustful train rushing towards it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The others thought her rather heartless. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter VII. For valour. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | I hope you don't mind my telling you a good deal about Roberta. The fact | ||
| + | is I am growing very fond of her. The more I observe her the more I love | ||
| + | her. And I notice all sorts of things about her that I like. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | For instance, she was quite oddly anxious to make other people happy. And | ||
| + | she could keep a secret, a tolerably rare accomplishment. Also she had the | ||
| + | power of silent sympathy. That sounds rather dull, I know, but it's not so | ||
| + | dull as it sounds. It just means that a person is able to know that you | ||
| + | are unhappy, and to love you extra on that account, without bothering you | ||
| + | by telling you all the time how sorry she is for you. That was what Bobbie | ||
| + | was like. She knew that Mother was unhappy& | ||
| + | told her the reason. So she just loved Mother more and never said a single | ||
| + | word that could let Mother know how earnestly her little girl wondered | ||
| + | what Mother was unhappy about. This needs practice. It is not so easy as | ||
| + | you might think. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Whatever happened& | ||
| + | happened& | ||
| + | these thoughts at the back of her mind. & | ||
| + | know. She doesn' | ||
| + | unhappy. Why? I don't know. She doesn' | ||
| + | repeating like a tune that you don't know the stopping part of. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Russian gentleman still took up a good deal of everybody' | ||
| + | All the editors and secretaries of Societies and Members of Parliament had | ||
| + | answered Mother' | ||
| + | could tell where the wife and children of Mr. Szezcpansky would be likely | ||
| + | to be. (Did I tell you that the Russian' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie had another quality which you will hear differently described by | ||
| + | different people. Some of them call it interfering in other people' | ||
| + | business& | ||
| + | call it & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She racked her brains to think of some way of helping the Russian | ||
| + | gentleman to find his wife and children. He had learned a few words of | ||
| + | English now. He could say & | ||
| + | and & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The way he smiled when he & | ||
| + | sweet for anything.& | ||
| + | would help her to some way of helping him. But it did not. Yet his being | ||
| + | there cheered her because she saw that it made Mother happier. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | 'hurt nice,' or she wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | For many and many a night after the day when she and Peter and Phyllis had | ||
| + | saved the train from wreck by waving their little red flannel flags, | ||
| + | Bobbie used to wake screaming and shivering, seeing again that horrible | ||
| + | mound, and the poor, dear trustful engine rushing on towards it& | ||
| + | thinking that it was doing its swift duty, and that everything was clear | ||
| + | and safe. And then a warm thrill of pleasure used to run through her at | ||
| + | the remembrance of how she and Peter and Phyllis and the red flannel | ||
| + | petticoats had really saved everybody. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | One morning a letter came. It was addressed to Peter and Bobbie and | ||
| + | Phyllis. They opened it with enthusiastic curiosity, for they did not | ||
| + | often get letters. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The letter said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to you, in commemoration of your prompt and courageous action in warning | ||
| + | the train on the & | ||
| + | speaking, have been a terrible accident. The presentation will take place | ||
| + | at the & | ||
| + | and place will be convenient to you. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | |||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There never had been a prouder moment in the lives of the three children. | ||
| + | They rushed to Mother with the letter, and she also felt proud and said | ||
| + | so, and this made the children happier than ever. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | rather not take it,'& | ||
| + | once,& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Washing is rather fun. I wonder whether you've ever done it? This | ||
| + | particular washing took place in the back kitchen, which had a stone floor | ||
| + | and a very big stone sink under its window. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | out-of-doors washerwomen like Mother saw in France.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pockets, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | there' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | about as Bobbie carefully carried the heavy kettle from the kitchen fire. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | boiled soap in the hot water and make it all frothy-lathery& | ||
| + | you shake the muslin and squeeze it, ever so gently, and all the dirt | ||
| + | comes out. It's only clumsy things like tablecloths and sheets that have | ||
| + | to be rubbed.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The lilac and the Gloire de Dijon roses outside the window swayed in the | ||
| + | soft breeze. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | grown up. & | ||
| + | WEAR the Indian muslin dresses!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | professional manner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | then rinse them. I'll hold them while you and Peter empty the bath and get | ||
| + | clean water.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | duly washed the pegs and wiped the line, hung up the dresses to dry. | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | elephant& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | engine-driver and fireman and passengers.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | towel that hung on a roller at the back of the scullery door, & | ||
| + | us being rewarded for saving a train?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | us that you don't like it, too. Because I know you do.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | satisfied with just having done it, and not ask for anything more?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | soldiers don't ASK for it; but they' | ||
| + | Perhaps it'll be medals. Then, when I'm very old indeed, I shall show them | ||
| + | to my grandchildren and say, 'We only did our duty,' and they' | ||
| + | awfully proud of me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | grandchildren.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | be an awful bother having her round all the time. I'd like to marry a lady | ||
| + | who had trances, and only woke up once or twice a year.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Yes. That wouldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | be awake all the time, so that I can hear him say how nice I am.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | then you'd do all the work and he'd love you most frightfully, | ||
| + | blue wood smoke curling up among the trees from the domestic hearth as he | ||
| + | came home from work every night. I say& | ||
| + | letter and say that the time and place WILL be convenient to us. There' | ||
| + | the soap, Peter. WE'RE both as clean as clean. That pink box of writing | ||
| + | paper you had on your birthday, Phil.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It took some time to arrange what should be said. Mother had gone back to | ||
| + | her writing, and several sheets of pink paper with scalloped gilt edges | ||
| + | and green four-leaved shamrocks in the corner were spoiled before the | ||
| + | three had decided what to say. Then each made a copy and signed it with | ||
| + | its own name. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The threefold letter ran:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | be rewarded but only to save the train, but we are glad you think so and | ||
| + | thank you very much. The time and place you say will be quite convenient | ||
| + | to us. Thank you very much. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then came the name, and after it:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | dresses off the line. & | ||
| + | don't know how we shall wait till it's time to know what presentation | ||
| + | they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When at last& | ||
| + | the three children went down to the station at the proper time. And | ||
| + | everything that happened was so odd that it seemed like a dream. The | ||
| + | Station Master came out to meet them& | ||
| + | noticed at once& | ||
| + | had played the advertisement game. It looked quite different now. A carpet | ||
| + | had been put down& | ||
| + | and on the window ledges& | ||
| + | laurel are at Christmas, over the framed advertisement of Cook's Tours and | ||
| + | the Beauties of Devon and the Paris Lyons Railway. There were quite a | ||
| + | number of people there besides the Porter& | ||
| + | smart dresses, and quite a crowd of gentlemen in high hats and frock coats& | ||
| + | everybody who belonged to the station. They recognized several people who | ||
| + | had been in the train on the red-flannel-petticoat day. Best of all their | ||
| + | own old gentleman was there, and his coat and hat and collar seemed more | ||
| + | than ever different from anyone else' | ||
| + | everybody sat down on chairs, and a gentleman in spectacles& | ||
| + | found out afterwards that he was the District Superintendent& | ||
| + | quite a long speech& | ||
| + | speech down. First, because you would think it dull; and secondly, because | ||
| + | it made all the children blush so, and get so hot about the ears that I am | ||
| + | quite anxious to get away from this part of the subject; and thirdly, | ||
| + | because the gentleman took so many words to say what he had to say that I | ||
| + | really haven' | ||
| + | about the children' | ||
| + | sat down, and everyone who was there clapped and said, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then the old gentleman got up and said things, too. It was very like a | ||
| + | prize-giving. And then he called the children one by one, by their names, | ||
| + | and gave each of them a beautiful gold watch and chain. And inside the | ||
| + | watches were engraved after the name of the watch' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | recognition of the courageous and prompt action which averted an accident | ||
| + | on & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The watches were the most beautiful you can possibly imagine, and each one | ||
| + | had a blue leather case to live in when it was at home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Each of the children had already said & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pause, and he heard his heart beating in his throat. & | ||
| + | Gentlemen,& | ||
| + | shall treasure the watches all our lives& | ||
| + | it because what we did wasn't anything, really. At least, I mean it was | ||
| + | awfully exciting, and what I mean to say& | ||
| + | much.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The people clapped Peter more than they had done the District | ||
| + | Superintendent, | ||
| + | politeness would let them, they got away, and tore up the hill to Three | ||
| + | Chimneys with their watches in their hands. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a wonderful day& | ||
| + | anybody and to most of us not at all. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So when she had thought a little more she wrote a letter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | something. If you could get out of the train and go by the next, it would | ||
| + | do. I do not want you to give me anything. Mother says we ought not to. | ||
| + | And besides, we do not want any THINGS. Only to talk to you about a | ||
| + | Prisoner and Captive. Your loving little friend, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She got the Station Master to give the letter to the old gentleman, and | ||
| + | next day she asked Peter and Phyllis to come down to the station with her | ||
| + | at the time when the train that brought the old gentleman from town would | ||
| + | be passing through. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She explained her idea to them& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They had all washed their hands and faces, and brushed their hair, and | ||
| + | were looking as tidy as they knew how. But Phyllis, always unlucky, had | ||
| + | upset a jug of lemonade down the front of her dress. There was no time to | ||
| + | change& | ||
| + | was soon powdered with grey, which stuck to the sticky lemonade stains and | ||
| + | made her look, as Peter said, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was decided that she should keep behind the others as much as possible. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | weak in the eyes.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was no sign of weakness, however, in the eyes, or in any other part | ||
| + | of the old gentleman, as he stepped from the train and looked up and down | ||
| + | the platform. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The three children, now that it came to the point, suddenly felt that rush | ||
| + | of deep shyness which makes your ears red and hot, your hands warm and | ||
| + | wet, and the tip of your nose pink and shiny. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | under my sash, too.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | my mouth.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | come on& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | meet the old gentleman. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | great pleasure.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He took her arm and drew her into the waiting room where she and the | ||
| + | others had played the advertisement game the day they found the Russian. | ||
| + | Phyllis and Peter followed. & | ||
| + | Bobbie' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | had written the beautiful book about poor people, and had been sent to | ||
| + | prison and to Siberia for just that. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | children for him,& | ||
| + | most horribly clever, or you wouldn' | ||
| + | if YOU knew how& | ||
| + | in the world. We'd go without the watches, even, if you could sell them | ||
| + | and find his wife with the money.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And the others said so, too, though not with so much enthusiasm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the big gilt buttons on it, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | really look at all like that except when you say it. Have you a bit of | ||
| + | pencil and the back of an envelope?& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman got out a gold pencil-case and a beautiful, | ||
| + | sweet-smelling, | ||
| + | page. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She wrote down & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman took out a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles and fitted | ||
| + | them on his nose. When he had read the name, he looked quite different. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | translated into every European language. A fine book& | ||
| + | And so your mother took him in& | ||
| + | I'll tell you what, youngsters& | ||
| + | woman.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to be polite. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | flourish. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | want you to; and if it's nice, I'd rather you didn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman laughed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | me about this& | ||
| + | found out something very soon. I know a great many Russians in London, and | ||
| + | every Russian knows HIS name. Now tell me all about yourselves.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He turned to the others, but there was only one other, and that was Peter. | ||
| + | Phyllis had disappeared. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | naturally, Peter was stricken dumb. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sit on the table, and I'll sit on the bench and ask questions.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He did, and out came their names and ages& | ||
| + | business& | ||
| + | more. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The questions were beginning to turn on a herring and a half for three | ||
| + | halfpence, and a pound of lead and a pound of feathers, when the door of | ||
| + | the waiting room was kicked open by a boot; as the boot entered everyone | ||
| + | could see that its lace was coming undone& | ||
| + | slowly and carefully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | In one hand she carried a large tin can, and in the other a thick slice of | ||
| + | bread and butter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | butter out to the old gentleman, who took them and said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it was very nice of him to give it me at all& | ||
| + | plates,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the bread and butter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then it was time for the next train, and he got into it with many | ||
| + | good-byes and kind last words. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | tail-lights of the train disappeared round the corner, & | ||
| + | that we've lighted a candle to-day& | ||
| + | was being burned& | ||
| + | long.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And so there were. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It wasn't ten days after the interview in the waiting room that the three | ||
| + | children were sitting on the top of the biggest rock in the field below | ||
| + | their house watching the 5.15 steam away from the station along the bottom | ||
| + | of the valley. They saw, too, the few people who had got out at the | ||
| + | station straggling up the road towards the village& | ||
| + | person leave the road and open the gate that led across the fields to | ||
| + | Three Chimneys and to nowhere else. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they did. And when they got near enough to see who the person was, they | ||
| + | saw it was their old gentleman himself, his brass buttons winking in the | ||
| + | afternoon sunshine, and his white waistcoat looking whiter than ever | ||
| + | against the green of the field. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then the three started to run& | ||
| + | had breath left to say:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I couldn' | ||
| + | him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But as he looked at Bobbie' | ||
| + | temptation. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | me the way.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie ran. But when she had breathlessly panted out the news to the | ||
| + | Russian and Mother sitting in the quiet garden& | ||
| + | had lighted up so beautifully, | ||
| + | words to the Exile& | ||
| + | For the Russian sprang up with a cry that made Bobbie' | ||
| + | then tremble& | ||
| + | Then he took Mother' | ||
| + | then he sank down in his chair and covered his face with his hands and | ||
| + | sobbed. Bobbie crept away. She did not want to see the others just then. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But she was as gay as anybody when the endless French talking was over, | ||
| + | when Peter had torn down to the village for buns and cakes, and the girls | ||
| + | had got tea ready and taken it out into the garden. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman was most merry and delightful. He seemed to be able to | ||
| + | talk in French and English almost at the same moment, and Mother did | ||
| + | nearly as well. It was a delightful time. Mother seemed as if she could | ||
| + | not make enough fuss about the old gentleman, and she said yes at once | ||
| + | when he asked if he might present some & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The word was new to the children& | ||
| + | sweets, for the three large pink and green boxes, tied with green ribbon, | ||
| + | which he took out of his bag, held unheard-of layers of beautiful | ||
| + | chocolates. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Russian' | ||
| + | station. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Mother turned to the old gentleman and said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to me to see you. But we live very quietly. I am so sorry that I can't ask | ||
| + | you to come and see us again.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children thought this very hard. When they HAD made a friend& | ||
| + | such a friend& | ||
| + | again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | What the old gentleman thought they couldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | your house.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said the old gentleman, with another of his bows. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And as they turned to go up the hill, Bobbie saw her Mother' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the family when Father' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother took an arm of each. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Russian embracing his long-lost wife. The baby must have grown a lot since | ||
| + | he saw it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | still more gaily. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | on their arms. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie said, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And she started the race, though she hated doing it. YOU know why Bobbie | ||
| + | did that. Mother only thought that Bobbie was tired of walking slowly. | ||
| + | Even Mothers, who love you better than anyone else ever will, don't always | ||
| + | understand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter VIII. The amateur firemen. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Porter; & | ||
| + | it WAS a buttercup.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it was more like a buttercup almost than even a real one& | ||
| + | thought it would come to be mine, my very own& | ||
| + | it to me for my birthday.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | as though a birthday were a thing only granted to a favoured few. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | taking tea with Mr. Perks in the Porters' | ||
| + | railway almanacs. They had brought their own cups and some jam turnovers. | ||
| + | Mr. Perks made tea in a beer can, as usual, and everyone felt very happy | ||
| + | and confidential. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | into Peter' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thoughtfully, | ||
| + | seventy.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | really want to know, it was thirty-two years ago, come the fifteenth of | ||
| + | this month.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was this talk that set the children thinking, and, presently, talking. | ||
| + | Perks was, on the whole, the dearest friend they had made. Not so grand as | ||
| + | the Station Master, but more approachable& | ||
| + | gentleman, but more confidential. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | WE do something?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | new gut line from the postman this morning. He gave it me for a bunch of | ||
| + | roses that I gave him for his sweetheart. She's ill.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie, indignantly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | pockets. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ill we got the roses ready and waited by the gate. It was when you were | ||
| + | making the brekker-toast. And when he'd said 'Thank you' for the roses so | ||
| + | many times& | ||
| + | and gave it to Peter. It wasn't exchange. It was the grateful heart.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So then they all went up to the Canal bridge. The idea was to fish from | ||
| + | the bridge, but the line was not quite long enough. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Everything' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was. The sun was setting in red splendour over the grey and purple | ||
| + | hills, and the canal lay smooth and shiny in the shadow& | ||
| + | broke its surface. It was like a grey satin ribbon between the dusky green | ||
| + | silk of the meadows that were on each side of its banks. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | things are much better when I've something to do. Let's get down on to the | ||
| + | towpath and fish from there.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis and Bobbie remembered how the boys on the canal-boats had thrown | ||
| + | coal at them, and they said so. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | were, I'd fight them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | the boys when coal had last been thrown. Instead they said, & | ||
| + | then,& | ||
| + | line was carefully baited, and for half an hour they fished patiently and | ||
| + | in vain. Not a single nibble came to nourish hope in their hearts. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All eyes were intent on the sluggish waters that earnestly pretended they | ||
| + | had never harboured a single minnow when a loud rough shout made them | ||
| + | start. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | An old white horse coming along the towing-path was within half a dozen | ||
| + | yards of them. They sprang to their feet and hastily climbed up the bank. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But, alas, the barge, after the manner of barges, stopped under the | ||
| + | bridge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The barge did not anchor, because an anchor is not part of a canal-boat' | ||
| + | furniture, but she was moored with ropes fore and aft& | ||
| + | were made fast to the palings and to crowbars driven into the ground. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | fighting boys, and, besides, he felt safe halfway up the bank. & | ||
| + | much right here as anyone else.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | came across his deck and began to climb down the side of his barge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | unison. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls climbed to the top of the bank and stood ready to bolt for home | ||
| + | as soon as they saw their brother out of danger. The way home lay all down | ||
| + | hill. They knew that they all ran well. The Bargee did not look as if HE | ||
| + | did. He was red-faced, heavy, and beefy. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But as soon as his foot was on the towing-path the children saw that they | ||
| + | had misjudged him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He made one spring up the bank and caught Peter by the leg, dragged him | ||
| + | down& | ||
| + | said sternly:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | preserved? You ain't no right catching fish ' | ||
| + | of your precious cheek.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was always proud afterwards when he remembered that, with the | ||
| + | Bargee' | ||
| + | countenance close to his own, the Bargee' | ||
| + | the courage to speak the truth. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | twist& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter could not say that it was. Bobbie and Phyllis had been holding on to | ||
| + | the railings above and skipping with anxiety. Now suddenly Bobbie slipped | ||
| + | through the railings and rushed down the bank towards Peter, so | ||
| + | impetuously that Phyllis, following more temperately, | ||
| + | her sister' | ||
| + | have done if the Bargee hadn't let go of Peter' | ||
| + | in his jerseyed arm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | purpose. Please don't be cross with Peter. Of course, if it's your canal, | ||
| + | we're sorry and we won't any more. But we didn't know it was yours.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | your pardon& | ||
| + | directly if we had, honour bright I would.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She held out her hands and Phyllis turned out her little empty pocket to | ||
| + | show that really they hadn't any fish concealed about them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it again, that's all.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children hurried up the bank. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | green plaid shawl came out from the cabin door with a baby in her arms and | ||
| + | threw a coat to him. He put it on, climbed the bank, and slouched along | ||
| + | across the bridge towards the village. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sleep,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When he was out of sight the children slowly returned. Peter insisted on | ||
| + | this. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | But the bridge is everybody' | ||
| + | property. I'm not going to be bounced off the bridge by him or anyone | ||
| + | else, so I tell you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls followed him as gallant soldiers might follow the leader of a | ||
| + | forlorn hope. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The sound of the man's footsteps died away along the quiet road. The peace | ||
| + | of the evening was not broken by the notes of the sedge-warblers or by the | ||
| + | voice of the woman in the barge, singing her baby to sleep. It was a sad | ||
| + | song she sang. Something about Bill Bailey and how she wanted him to come | ||
| + | home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children stood leaning their arms on the parapet of the bridge; they | ||
| + | were glad to be quiet for a few minutes because all three hearts were | ||
| + | beating much more quickly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter, thickly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | now we might go home, don't you think?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Nothing more was said till the woman got off the barge, climbed the bank, | ||
| + | and came across the bridge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She hesitated, looking at the three backs of the children, then she said, | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter stayed as he was, but the girls looked round. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | worse' | ||
| + | them put 'is back up calling out about who ate the puppy-pie under Marlow | ||
| + | bridge.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | don't know the why nor the wherefore of it, them words is p'ison to a | ||
| + | barge-master. Don't you take no notice. 'E won't be back for two hours | ||
| + | good. You might catch a power o' fish afore that. The light' | ||
| + | all,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | twelve. Reg' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | brightened as she spoke. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Besides, Spot's there. So long!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The woman went away. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they got down on the towing-path again and Peter fished. He did not | ||
| + | catch anything. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was almost quite dark, the girls were getting tired, and as Bobbie | ||
| + | said, it was past bedtime, when suddenly Phyllis cried, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And she pointed to the canal boat. Smoke was coming from the chimney of | ||
| + | the cabin, had indeed been curling softly into the soft evening air all | ||
| + | the time& | ||
| + | from the cabin door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | In an instant all three made for the barge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Her mooring ropes were slack, and the little breeze, hardly strong enough | ||
| + | to be felt, had yet been strong enough to drift her stern against the | ||
| + | bank. Bobbie was first& | ||
| + | and fell. He went into the canal up to his neck, and his feet could not | ||
| + | feel the bottom, but his arm was on the edge of the barge. Phyllis caught | ||
| + | at his hair. It hurt, but it helped him to get out. Next minute he had | ||
| + | leaped on to the barge, Phyllis following. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He caught up with Bobbie at the cabin door, and flung her aside very | ||
| + | roughly indeed; if they had been playing, such roughness would have made | ||
| + | Bobbie weep with tears of rage and pain. Now, though he flung her on to | ||
| + | the edge of the hold, so that her knee and her elbow were grazed and | ||
| + | bruised, she only cried:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | enough. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter had already gone down two of the cabin steps into the cloud of thick | ||
| + | smoke. He stopped, remembered all he had ever heard of fires, pulled his | ||
| + | soaked handkerchief out of his breast pocket and tied it over his mouth. | ||
| + | As he pulled it out he said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And this, though he thought it was a lie, was rather good of Peter. It was | ||
| + | meant to keep Bobbie from rushing after him into danger. Of course it | ||
| + | didn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The cabin glowed red. A paraffin lamp was burning calmly in an orange | ||
| + | mist. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | more roughly than before, and went on. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Now what would have happened if the baby hadn't cried I don't know& | ||
| + | just at that moment it DID cry. Peter felt his way through the dark smoke, | ||
| + | found something small and soft and warm and alive, picked it up and backed | ||
| + | out, nearly tumbling over Bobbie who was close behind. A dog snapped at | ||
| + | his leg& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | staggering on to the deck. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie caught at the place where the bark came from, and her hands met on | ||
| + | the fat back of a smooth-haired dog. It turned and fastened its teeth on | ||
| + | her hand, but very gently, as much as to say:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I know you mean well, so I won't REALLY bite.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie dropped the dog. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter; you're so wet you'll give it cold.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was only too glad to hand over the strange little bundle that | ||
| + | squirmed and whimpered in his arms. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | tell them. Phil and I will stay here with the precious. Hush, then, a | ||
| + | dear, a duck, a darling! Go NOW, Peter! Run!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | lead. I'll walk.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the dear.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The baby was carefully handed. Phyllis sat down on the bank and tried to | ||
| + | hush the baby. Peter wrung the water from his sleeves and knickerbocker | ||
| + | legs as well as he could, and it was Bobbie who ran like the wind across | ||
| + | the bridge and up the long white quiet twilight road towards the 'Rose and | ||
| + | Crown.' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There is a nice old-fashioned room at the 'Rose and Crown; where Bargees | ||
| + | and their wives sit of an evening drinking their supper beer, and toasting | ||
| + | their supper cheese at a glowing basketful of coals that sticks out into | ||
| + | the room under a great hooded chimney and is warmer and prettier and more | ||
| + | comforting than any other fireplace < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a pleasant party of barge people round the fire. You might not | ||
| + | have thought it pleasant, but they did; for they were all friends or | ||
| + | acquaintances, | ||
| + | sort of talk. This is the real secret of pleasant society. The Bargee | ||
| + | Bill, whom the children had found so disagreeable, | ||
| + | excellent company by his mates. He was telling a tale of his own wrongs& | ||
| + | a thrilling subject. It was his barge he was speaking about. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | see? So I gets a lotter green paint and I paints her stem to stern, and I | ||
| + | tell yer she looked A1. Then 'E comes along and 'e says, 'Wot yer paint | ||
| + | 'er all one colour for?' 'e says. And I says, says I, 'Cause I thought | ||
| + | she'd look fust-rate,' | ||
| + | yer? Then ye can just pay for the bloomin' | ||
| + | 'ad to, too.& | ||
| + | on it came Bobbie. She burst open the swing door& | ||
| + | breathlessly:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a stupefied silence. Pots of beer were held in mid-air, | ||
| + | paralysed on their way to thirsty mouths. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | cabin' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The woman started to her feet, and put a big red hand to her waist, on the | ||
| + | left side, where your heart seems to be when you are frightened or | ||
| + | miserable. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | too.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then she sank on the ale-house bench and tried to get that breath of | ||
| + | relief after running which people call the ' | ||
| + | though she would never breathe again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bill the Bargee rose slowly and heavily. But his wife was a hundred yards | ||
| + | up the road before he had quite understood what was the matter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis, shivering by the canal side, had hardly heard the quick | ||
| + | approaching feet before the woman had flung herself on the railing, rolled | ||
| + | down the bank, and snatched the baby from her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bill came up later talking in a language with which the children were | ||
| + | wholly unfamiliar. He leaped on to the barge and dipped up pails of water. | ||
| + | Peter helped him and they put out the fire. Phyllis, the bargewoman, and | ||
| + | the baby& | ||
| + | on the bank. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | woman again and again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But it wasn't she. It was Bill the Bargeman, who had knocked his pipe out | ||
| + | and the red ash had fallen on the hearth-rug and smouldered there and at | ||
| + | last broken into flame. Though a stern man he was just. He did not blame | ||
| + | his wife for what was his own fault, as many bargemen, and other men, too, | ||
| + | would have done. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother was half wild with anxiety when at last the three children turned | ||
| + | up at Three Chimneys, all very wet by now, for Peter seemed to have come | ||
| + | off on the others. But when she had disentangled the truth of what had | ||
| + | happened from their mixed and incoherent narrative, she owned that they | ||
| + | had done quite right, and could not possibly have done otherwise. Nor did | ||
| + | she put any obstacles in the way of their accepting the cordial invitation | ||
| + | with which the bargeman had parted from them. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | entire trip to Farley and back, so I will, and not a penny to pay. | ||
| + | Nineteen locks!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They did not know what locks were; but they were at the bridge at seven, | ||
| + | with bread and cheese and half a soda cake, and quite a quarter of a leg | ||
| + | of mutton in a basket. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a glorious day. The old white horse strained at the ropes, the | ||
| + | barge glided smoothly and steadily through the still water. The sky was | ||
| + | blue overhead. Mr. Bill was as nice as anyone could possibly be. No one | ||
| + | would have thought that he could be the same man who had held Peter by the | ||
| + | ear. As for Mrs. Bill, she had always been nice, as Bobbie said, and so | ||
| + | had the baby, and even Spot, who might have bitten them quite badly if he | ||
| + | had liked. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | happy, very tired, and very dirty, & | ||
| + | locks& | ||
| + | then, when you feel you're never going to stop going down, two great black | ||
| + | gates open slowly, slowly& | ||
| + | just like you were before.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to go on the river at Marlow before we were married.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ages and ages& | ||
| + | play with.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | they say we may fish whenever we like. And Bill is going to show us the | ||
| + | way next time he's in these parts. He says we don't know really.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the bargees up and down the canal that we were the real, right sort, and | ||
| + | they were to treat us like good pals, as we were.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | when we went fishing by the canal, so they'd know it was US, and we were | ||
| + | the real, right sort, and be nice to us!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and then the canal!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | can only get them to see you don't want to be UN-friends.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bedtime.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | what we'd do for Perks' | ||
| + | about it!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I think that's about good enough for one evening.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Peter, loyally. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | enough for one evening. Oh, my darlings, thank God YOU'RE all safe!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter IX. The pride of Perks. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was breakfast-time. Mother' | ||
| + | milk and ladled out the porridge. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the Mussels, so there' | ||
| + | as they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter, Phyllis, and Bobbie exchanged glances with each other, six glances | ||
| + | in all. Then Bobbie said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | on the fifteenth? That's next Thursday.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | says he doesn' | ||
| + | to keep& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | jolly decent to us, you know, Mother,& | ||
| + | next bun-day we'd ask you if we could.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | without when the bun-day came.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | name on the buns with pink sugar, wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was all very well as far as it went. But even fourteen halfpenny buns | ||
| + | with A. P. on them in pink sugar do not of themselves make a very grand | ||
| + | celebration. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | earnest council was being held on the subject in the hay-loft where the | ||
| + | broken chaff-cutting machine was, and the row of holes to drop hay through | ||
| + | into the hay-racks over the mangers of the stables below. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you've got of your own. We can use flowers for trimmings to the birthday. | ||
| + | But there must be something to trim besides buns.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it's thought of something.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they were all quiet and so very still that a brown rat thought that | ||
| + | there was no one in the loft and came out very boldly. When Bobbie | ||
| + | sneezed, the rat was quite shocked and hurried away, for he saw that a | ||
| + | hay-loft where such things could happen was no place for a respectable | ||
| + | middle-aged rat that liked a quiet life. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the loose hay. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | village who'd like to help to make him a birthday. Let's go round and ask | ||
| + | everybody.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | doubtfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | gentleman too. You see if I don' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter, & | ||
| + | now and begin.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they went. The old lady at the Post-office said she didn't see why | ||
| + | Perks should have a birthday any more than anyone else. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | his is.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of it. Go along with you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they went. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And some people were kind, and some were crusty. And some would give and | ||
| + | some would not. It is rather difficult work asking for things, even for | ||
| + | other people, as you have no doubt found if you have ever tried it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the children got home and counted up what had been given and what had | ||
| + | been promised, they felt that for the first day it was not so bad. Peter | ||
| + | wrote down the lists of the things in the little pocket-book where he kept | ||
| + | the numbers of his engines. These were the lists:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | | ||
| + | A tobacco pipe from the sweet shop. | ||
| + | Half a pound of tea from the grocer' | ||
| + | A woollen scarf slightly faded from the draper' | ||
| + | other side of the grocer' | ||
| + | A stuffed squirrel from the Doctor. | ||
| + | |||
| + | | ||
| + | A piece of meat from the butcher. | ||
| + | Six fresh eggs from the woman who lived in the old turnpike cottage. | ||
| + | A piece of honeycomb and six bootlaces from the cobbler, and an | ||
| + | iron shovel from the blacksmith' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Very early next morning Bobbie got up and woke Phyllis. This had been | ||
| + | agreed on between them. They had not told Peter because they thought he | ||
| + | would think it silly. But they told him afterwards, when it had turned out | ||
| + | all right. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They cut a big bunch of roses, and put it in a basket with the needle-book | ||
| + | that Phyllis had made for Bobbie on her birthday, and a very pretty blue | ||
| + | necktie of Phyllis' | ||
| + | our best love, because it is her birthday,' | ||
| + | basket, and they took it to the Post-office, | ||
| + | counter and ran away before the old woman at the Post-office had time to | ||
| + | get into her shop. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they got home Peter had grown confidential over helping Mother to get | ||
| + | the breakfast and had told her their plans. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | only hope he won't be offended and think it's CHARITY. Poor people are | ||
| + | very proud, you know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | quite sure you can give them to him without his being offended. I should | ||
| + | like to do some little thing for him because he's been so kind to you. I | ||
| + | can't do much because we're poor ourselves. What are you writing, Bobbie?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The morning of the fifteenth was spent very happily in getting the buns | ||
| + | and watching Mother make A. P. on them with pink sugar. You know how it's | ||
| + | done, of course? You beat up whites of eggs and mix powdered sugar with | ||
| + | them, and put in a few drops of cochineal. And then you make a cone of | ||
| + | clean, white paper with a little hole at the pointed end, and put the pink | ||
| + | egg-sugar in at the big end. It runs slowly out at the pointed end, and | ||
| + | you write the letters with it just as though it were a great fat pen full | ||
| + | of pink sugar-ink. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The buns looked beautiful with A. P. on every one, and, when they were put | ||
| + | in a cool oven to set the sugar, the children went up to the village to | ||
| + | collect the honey and the shovel and the other promised things. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old lady at the Post-office was standing on her doorstep. The children | ||
| + | said & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they stopped. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | made the needle-book, | ||
| + | as she spoke. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | out the basket. It was full of fat, red gooseberries. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | lady's fat waist. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and the pretty flowers and all,& | ||
| + | shoulder. & | ||
| + | pram round the back in the wood-lodge. It was got for my Emmie' | ||
| + | that didn't live but six months, and she never had but that one. I'd like | ||
| + | Mrs. Perks to have it. It 'ud be a help to her with that great boy of | ||
| + | hers. Will you take it along?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Mrs. Ransome had got out the perambulator and taken off the careful | ||
| + | papers that covered it, and dusted it all over, she said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | if I'd thought of it. Only I didn't quite know if she'd accept of it from | ||
| + | me. You tell her it was my Emmie' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | again!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | some peppermint cushions for the little ones, and then you run along | ||
| + | before I give you the roof off my head and the clothes off my back.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All the things that had been collected for Perks were packed into the | ||
| + | perambulator, | ||
| + | it down to the little yellow house where Perks lived. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The house was very tidy. On the window ledge was a jug of wild-flowers, | ||
| + | big daisies, and red sorrel, and feathery, flowery grasses. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a sound of splashing from the wash-house, and a partly washed | ||
| + | boy put his head round the door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | stairs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children waited. Next moment the stairs creaked and Mrs. Perks came | ||
| + | down, buttoning her bodice. Her hair was brushed very smooth and tight, | ||
| + | and her face shone with soap and water. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | had a extry clean-up to-day, along o' Perks happening to name its being | ||
| + | his birthday. I don't know what put it into his head to think of such a | ||
| + | thing. We keeps the children' | ||
| + | too old for such like, as a general rule.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | for him outside in the perambulator.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | As the presents were being unpacked, Mrs. Perks gasped. When they were all | ||
| + | unpacked, she surprised and horrified the children by sitting suddenly | ||
| + | down on a wooden chair and bursting into tears. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a little impatiently: | ||
| + | you don't like it?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mrs. Perks only sobbed. The Perks children, now as shiny-faced as anyone | ||
| + | could wish, stood at the wash-house door, and scowled at the intruders. | ||
| + | There was a silence, an awkward silence. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Perks on the back. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She stopped crying as suddenly as she had begun. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it's a birthday such as Perks never 'ad, not even when 'e was a boy and | ||
| + | stayed with his uncle, who was a corn chandler in his own account. He | ||
| + | failed afterwards. Like it? Oh& | ||
| + | sorts of things that I won't write down, because I am sure that Peter and | ||
| + | Bobbie and Phyllis would not like me to. Their ears got hotter and hotter, | ||
| + | and their faces redder and redder, at the kind things Mrs. Perks said. | ||
| + | They felt they had done nothing to deserve all this praise. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At last Peter said: & | ||
| + | on saying things like that, we must go home. And we did want to stay and | ||
| + | see if Mr. Perks is pleased, too. But we can't stand this.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Perks hastily laid the table for tea, and the buns and the honey and the | ||
| + | gooseberries were displayed on plates, and the roses were put in two glass | ||
| + | jam jars, and the tea-table looked, as Mrs. Perks said, & | ||
| + | Prince.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | 'uns getting the wild-flowers and all& | ||
| + | be anything more for him except the ounce of his pet particular that I got | ||
| + | o' Saturday and been saving up for 'im ever since. Bless us! 'e IS early!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks had indeed unlatched the latch of the little front gate. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | about it. But give him the tobacco first, because you got it for him. And | ||
| + | when you've told him, we'll all come in and shout, 'Many happy returns!'& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was a very nice plan, but it did not quite come off. To begin with, | ||
| + | there was only just time for Peter and Bobbie and Phyllis to rush into the | ||
| + | wash-house, pushing the young and open-mouthed Perks children in front of | ||
| + | them. There was not time to shut the door, so that, without at all meaning | ||
| + | it, they had to listen to what went on in the kitchen. The wash-house was | ||
| + | a tight fit for the Perks children and the Three Chimneys children, as | ||
| + | well as all the wash-house' | ||
| + | the copper. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | set-out!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | your extry particular. I got it o' Saturday along o' your happening to | ||
| + | remember it was your birthday to-day.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | did you get the sweetstuff, and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children did not hear what Mrs. Perks replied, because just then | ||
| + | Bobbie gave a start, put her hand in her pocket, and all her body grew | ||
| + | stiff with horror. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the labels on any of the things! He won't know what's from who. He'll | ||
| + | think it's all US, and that we're trying to be grand or charitable or | ||
| + | something horrid.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then they heard the voice of Mr. Perks, loud and rather angry. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | children from the Three Chimneys.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | We've got on all right all these years and no favours asked. I'm not going | ||
| + | to begin these sort of charity goings-on at my time of life, so don't you | ||
| + | think it, Nell.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | goodness' | ||
| + | every word you speaks.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | spoke my mind to them afore now, and I'll do it again,& | ||
| + | took two strides to the wash-house door, and flung it wide open& | ||
| + | wide, that is, as it would go, with the tightly packed children behind it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ever complained to you of being short, as you comes this charity lay over | ||
| + | me?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | kind to anyone else as long as I live. No, I won't, not never.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She burst into tears. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | find more words than Peter had done for explaining in. & | ||
| + | love it. We always have things on our birthdays.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | gave us things at home, and us to them when it was their birthdays. And | ||
| + | when it was mine, and Mother gave me the brooch like a buttercup, Mrs. | ||
| + | Viney gave me two lovely glass pots, and nobody thought she was coming the | ||
| + | charity lay over us.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | much. It's there being all this heaps and heaps of things I can't stand. | ||
| + | No& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the labels on. They' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks sat down heavily in the elbow-chair and looked at them with what | ||
| + | Bobbie afterwards described as withering glances of gloomy despair. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Well, now you've disgraced us as deep as you can in the neighbourhood, | ||
| + | can just take the whole bag of tricks back w'ere it come from. Very much | ||
| + | obliged, I'm sure. I don't doubt but what you meant it kind, but I'd | ||
| + | rather not be acquainted with you any longer if it's all the same to you.& | ||
| + | He deliberately turned the chair round so that his back was turned to the | ||
| + | children. The legs of the chair grated on the brick floor, and that was | ||
| + | the only sound that broke the silence. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then suddenly Bobbie spoke. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | needn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | labels we wrote to put on the things.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in my own walk of life. Do you think I've kept respectable and outer debt | ||
| + | on what I gets, and her having to take in washing, to be give away for a | ||
| + | laughing-stock to all the neighbours?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | once before, about us not telling you the secret about the Russian. Do let | ||
| + | Bobbie tell you about the labels!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | her tightly stuffed pocket, & | ||
| + | when they gave us the things, with the people' | ||
| + | we ought to be careful& | ||
| + | you'll see.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie could not read the labels just at once. She had to swallow once | ||
| + | or twice before she could begin. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mrs. Perks had been crying steadily ever since her husband had opened the | ||
| + | wash-house door. Now she caught her breath, choked, and said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | doesn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to sort them. & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of Phyllis' | ||
| + | wouldn' | ||
| + | little thing for him, because he's so kind to you. I can't do much because | ||
| + | we're poor ourselves.'& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie paused. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | little frocks, and what not, Nell.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie, & | ||
| + | children would like the sweets. And the perambulator was got for my | ||
| + | Emmie' | ||
| + | that one. I'd like Mrs. Perks to have it. It would be a help with her fine | ||
| + | boy. I'd have given it before if I'd been sure she'd accept of it from | ||
| + | me.' She told me to tell you,& | ||
| + | little one's pram.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | So don't you ask me& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said& | ||
| + | pleasure to make a little trifle for a man as is so much respected,' | ||
| + | then he said he wished he could shoe your children and his own children, | ||
| + | like they do the horses, because, well, he knew what shoe leather was.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | respected a man that paid his way& | ||
| + | the old turnpike woman said many was the time you'd lent her a hand with | ||
| + | her garden when you were a lad& | ||
| + | roost& | ||
| + | said they liked you, and it was a very good idea of ours; and nobody said | ||
| + | anything about charity or anything horrid like that. And the old gentleman | ||
| + | gave Peter a gold pound for you, and said you were a man who knew your | ||
| + | work. And I thought you'd LOVE to know how fond people are of you, and I | ||
| + | never was so unhappy in my life. Good-bye. I hope you'll forgive us some | ||
| + | day& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She could say no more, and she turned to go. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I've said contrary to what you'd wish. Nell, set on the kettle.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | suddenly wheeling the chair round and showing a very odd-looking | ||
| + | screwed-up face, & | ||
| + | with the presents& | ||
| + | respect of our neighbours. That's worth having, eh, Nell?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ridiculous fuss about nothing, Bert, if you ask me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | one wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Later on Peter proposed Mr. Perks' | ||
| + | toast, also honoured in tea, and the toast was, & | ||
| + | friendship be ever green,& | ||
| + | expected from him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to bed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | that's the aggravatingest old thing that ever was. I was ashamed of you& | ||
| + | tell you& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | understood it wasn't charity. But charity' | ||
| + | won't neither.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All sorts of people were made happy by that birthday party. Mr. Perks and | ||
| + | Mrs. Perks and the little Perkses by all the nice things and by the kind | ||
| + | thoughts of their neighbours; the Three Chimneys children by the success, | ||
| + | undoubted though unexpectedly delayed, of their plan; and Mrs. Ransome | ||
| + | every time she saw the fat Perks baby in the perambulator. Mrs. Perks made | ||
| + | quite a round of visits to thank people for their kind birthday presents, | ||
| + | and after each visit felt that she had a better friend than she had | ||
| + | thought. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you means; that's what I say. Now if it had been charity& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bert, however much you was to want it, I lay. That was just friendliness, | ||
| + | that was.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the clergyman called on Mrs. Perks, she told him all about it. & | ||
| + | WAS friendliness, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | loving-kindness.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So you see it was all right in the end. But if one does that sort of | ||
| + | thing, one has to be careful to do it in the right way. For, as Mr. Perks | ||
| + | said, when he had time to think it over, it's not so much what you do, as | ||
| + | what you mean. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter X. The terrible secret. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they first went to live at Three Chimneys, the children had talked a | ||
| + | great deal about their Father, and had asked a great many questions about | ||
| + | him, and what he was doing and where he was and when he would come home. | ||
| + | Mother always answered their questions as well as she could. But as the | ||
| + | time went on they grew to speak less of him. Bobbie had felt almost from | ||
| + | the first that for some strange miserable reason these questions hurt | ||
| + | Mother and made her sad. And little by little the others came to have this | ||
| + | feeling, too, though they could not have put it into words. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | One day, when Mother was working so hard that she could not leave off even | ||
| + | for ten minutes, Bobbie carried up her tea to the big bare room that they | ||
| + | called Mother' | ||
| + | chair and a rug. But always big pots of flowers on the window-sills and on | ||
| + | the mantelpiece. The children saw to that. And from the three long | ||
| + | uncurtained windows the beautiful stretch of meadow and moorland, the far | ||
| + | violet of the hills, and the unchanging changefulness of cloud and sky. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother laid down her pen among the pages that were scattered all over the | ||
| + | table, pages covered with her writing, which was almost as plain as print, | ||
| + | and much prettier. She ran her hands into her hair, as if she were going | ||
| + | to pull it out by handfuls. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and Phil are FORGETTING Father?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie stood first on one leg and then on the other. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie did not find it easy to say why. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | looked out. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | head against Bobbie' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie fidgeted. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | being here, it made you worse when I talked about him. So I stopped doing | ||
| + | it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | THAT to them. But I expect they felt the same about it as me.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you. Besides parting from Father, he and I have had a great sorrow& | ||
| + | terrible& | ||
| + | hurt to hear you all talking of him as if everything were just the same. | ||
| + | But it would be much more terrible if you were to forget him. That would | ||
| + | be worse than anything.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | would never ask you any questions, and I never have, have I? But& | ||
| + | trouble& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | good you've all been, not quarrelling nearly as much as you used to& | ||
| + | all the little kind things you do for me& | ||
| + | my shoes, and tearing up to make my bed before I get time to do it | ||
| + | myself?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie HAD sometimes wondered whether Mother noticed these things. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | That evening in the hour before bed-time instead of reading to the | ||
| + | children Mother told them stories of the games she and Father used to have | ||
| + | when they were children and lived near each other in the country& | ||
| + | of the adventures of Father with Mother' | ||
| + | together. Very funny stories they were, and the children laughed as they | ||
| + | listened. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother lighted the bedroom candles. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | boy, and so adventurous. Always in mischief, and yet friends with | ||
| + | everybody in spite of it. And your Uncle Reggie' | ||
| + | Father' | ||
| + | talking about the things they used to do. Don't you think so?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | has taken him, any more than I forget him. Oh, no, he remembers. He's only | ||
| + | away for a little time. We shall see him some day.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | darlings.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | than usual, and whispered in her ear, & | ||
| + | do& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Bobbie came to think it all over, she tried not to wonder what the | ||
| + | great trouble was. But she could not always help it. Father was not dead& | ||
| + | poor Uncle Edward& | ||
| + | would have been with him. Being poor wasn't the trouble. Bobbie knew it | ||
| + | was something nearer the heart than money could be. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | AM glad Mother noticed about us not quarrelling so much. We'll keep that | ||
| + | up.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And alas, that very afternoon she and Peter had what Peter called a | ||
| + | first-class shindy. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They had not been a week at Three Chimneys before they had asked Mother to | ||
| + | let them have a piece of garden each for their very own, and she had | ||
| + | agreed, and the south border under the peach trees had been divided into | ||
| + | three pieces and they were allowed to plant whatever they liked there. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis had planted mignonette and nasturtium and Virginia Stock in hers. | ||
| + | The seeds came up, and though they looked just like weeds, Phyllis | ||
| + | believed that they would bear flowers some day. The Virginia Stock | ||
| + | justified her faith quite soon, and her garden was gay with a band of | ||
| + | bright little flowers, pink and white and red and mauve. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | comfortably; | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter sowed vegetable seeds in his& | ||
| + | The seed was given to him by the farmer who lived in the nice | ||
| + | black-and-white, | ||
| + | turkeys and guinea fowls, and was a most amiable man. But Peter' | ||
| + | vegetables never had much of a chance, because he liked to use the earth | ||
| + | of his garden for digging canals, and making forts and earthworks for his | ||
| + | toy soldiers. And the seeds of vegetables rarely come to much in a soil | ||
| + | that is constantly disturbed for the purposes of war and irrigation. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie planted rose-bushes in her garden, but all the little new leaves of | ||
| + | the rose-bushes shrivelled and withered, perhaps because she moved them | ||
| + | from the other part of the garden in May, which is not at all the right | ||
| + | time of year for moving roses. But she would not own that they were dead, | ||
| + | and hoped on against hope, until the day when Perks came up to see the | ||
| + | garden, and told her quite plainly that all her roses were as dead as | ||
| + | doornails. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | 'em, and I'll give you some nice fresh roots outer my garden; pansies, and | ||
| + | stocks, and sweet willies, and forget-me-nots. I'll bring 'em along | ||
| + | to-morrow if you get the ground ready.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So next day she set to work, and that happened to be the day when Mother | ||
| + | had praised her and the others about not quarrelling. She moved the | ||
| + | rose-bushes and carried them to the other end of the garden, where the | ||
| + | rubbish heap was that they meant to make a bonfire of when Guy Fawkes' | ||
| + | came. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Meanwhile Peter had decided to flatten out all his forts and earthworks, | ||
| + | with a view to making a model of the railway-tunnel, | ||
| + | canal, aqueduct, bridges, and all. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So when Bobbie came back from her last thorny journey with the dead | ||
| + | rose-bushes, | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | heated argument. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | its handle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phil?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis said she didn't want to be mixed up in their rows. And instantly, | ||
| + | of course, she was. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter. This was always recognised as indicating the high-water mark of | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie made the reply she always made to it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it she looked up, and saw the three long windows of Mother' | ||
| + | flashing in the red rays of the sun. The sight brought back those words of | ||
| + | praise:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in a door, or had felt the hideous sharp beginnings of toothache. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie wanted to say: & | ||
| + | though she tried hard, she couldn' | ||
| + | and insulting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | suddenly let go her hold on the handle. Peter had been holding on to it | ||
| + | too firmly and pullingly, and now that the pull the other way was suddenly | ||
| + | stopped, he staggered and fell over backward, the teeth of the rake | ||
| + | between his feet. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter lay still for half a moment& | ||
| + | little. Then he frightened her a little more, for he sat up& | ||
| + | once& | ||
| + | faintly but steadily. It sounded exactly like a pig being killed a quarter | ||
| + | of a mile off. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother put her head out of the window, and it wasn't half a minute after | ||
| + | that she was in the garden kneeling by the side of Peter, who never for an | ||
| + | instant ceased to squeal. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and she let go and he went over.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter used up what breath he had left in a last squeal and stopped. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | trembling with fury; & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | up. Then he turned quite white. Mother put her arm round him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | head on your lap.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Mother undid Peter' | ||
| + | dripped from his foot on to the ground. It was red blood. And when the | ||
| + | stocking came off there were three red wounds in Peter' | ||
| + | where the teeth of the rake had bitten him, and his foot was covered with | ||
| + | red smears. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | most of the water out of the basin in her haste, and had to fetch more in | ||
| + | a jug. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter did not open his eyes again till Mother had tied her handkerchief | ||
| + | round his foot, and she and Bobbie had carried him in and laid him on the | ||
| + | brown wooden settle in the dining-room. By this time Phyllis was halfway | ||
| + | to the Doctor' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother sat by Peter and bathed his foot and talked to him, and Bobbie went | ||
| + | out and got tea ready, and put on the kettle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | be a helpless cripple for life, or have to walk with crutches, or wear a | ||
| + | boot with a sole like a log of wood!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She stood by the back door reflecting on these gloomy possibilities, | ||
| + | eyes fixed on the water-butt. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | before her with a wooden trug basket full of green-leaved things and soft, | ||
| + | loose earth. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | great gaping wounds, like soldiers get. And it was partly my fault.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | second cousin had a hay-fork run into him, right into his inside, and he | ||
| + | was right as ever in a few weeks, all except his being a bit weak in the | ||
| + | head afterwards, and they did say that it was along of his getting a touch | ||
| + | of the sun in the hay-field, and not the fork at all. I remember him well. | ||
| + | A kind-' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie tried to let herself be cheered by this heartening reminiscence. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | this minute, I dare say. You show me where your garden is, and I'll pop | ||
| + | the bits of stuff in for you. And I'll hang about, if I may make so free, | ||
| + | to see the Doctor as he comes out and hear what he says. You cheer up, | ||
| + | Missie. I lay a pound he ain't hurt, not to speak of.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But he was. The Doctor came and looked at the foot and bandaged it | ||
| + | beautifully, | ||
| + | least a week. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he?& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in a fortnight. Don't you worry, little Mother Goose.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was when Mother had gone to the gate with the Doctor to take his last | ||
| + | instructions and Phyllis was filling the kettle for tea, that Peter and | ||
| + | Bobbie found themselves alone. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to quarrel. I wanted to say so, but somehow I couldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Not likely. And besides, us rowing hadn't anything to do with it. I might | ||
| + | have caught my foot in the hoe, or taken off my fingers in the | ||
| + | chaff-cutting machine or blown my nose off with fireworks. It would have | ||
| + | been hurt just the same whether we'd been rowing or not.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you're hurt and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | careful, you'll turn into a beastly little Sunday-school prig, so I tell | ||
| + | you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | trying to be good.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | (The Gentle Reader may perhaps have suffered from this difficulty.) | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | glad it was ME. There! If it had been you, you'd have been lying on the | ||
| + | sofa looking like a suffering angel and being the light of the anxious | ||
| + | household and all that. And I couldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Already?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | think it's rows every time we don't agree!& | ||
| + | again, Bobbie broke out:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | coward, even when you were in such a wax. The only thing is& | ||
| + | you be a prig, that's all. You keep your eyes open and if you feel | ||
| + | priggishness coming on just stop in time. See?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the fathoms of the past. Shake hands on it. I say, Bobbie, old chap, I am | ||
| + | tired.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He was tired for many days after that, and the settle seemed hard and | ||
| + | uncomfortable in spite of all the pillows and bolsters and soft folded | ||
| + | rugs. It was terrible not to be able to go out. They moved the settle to | ||
| + | the window, and from there Peter could see the smoke of the trains winding | ||
| + | along the valley. But he could not see the trains. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At first Bobbie found it quite hard to be as nice to him as she wanted to | ||
| + | be, for fear he should think her priggish. But that soon wore off, and | ||
| + | both she and Phyllis were, as he observed, jolly good sorts. Mother sat | ||
| + | with him when his sisters were out. And the words, & | ||
| + | made Peter determined not to make any fuss about the pain in his foot, | ||
| + | though it was rather bad, especially at night. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Praise helps people very much, sometimes. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There were visitors, too. Mrs. Perks came up to ask how he was, and so did | ||
| + | the Station Master, and several of the village people. But the time went | ||
| + | slowly, slowly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | books fifty times over.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Peter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | are tired of them,& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So the girls went their two ways. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie found Perks busy cleaning lamps. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ask if you'd got any Magazines you could lend him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | oily lump of cotton waste, & | ||
| + | to think of something as 'ud amuse him only this morning, and I couldn' | ||
| + | think of anything better than a guinea-pig. And a young chap I know's | ||
| + | going to fetch that over for him this tea-time.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Magazines as well.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | boy& | ||
| + | illustrated papers left.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He turned to the pile of papers in the corner and took up a heap six | ||
| + | inches thick. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He pulled an old newspaper from the pile and spread it on the table, and | ||
| + | made a neat parcel of it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | about with his paint-box, or coloured chalks or what not, why, let him. < | ||
| + | don't want ' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | were heavy, and when she had to wait at the level-crossing while a train | ||
| + | went by, she rested the parcel on the top of the gate. And idly she looked | ||
| + | at the printing on the paper that the parcel was wrapped in. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Suddenly she clutched the parcel tighter and bent her head over it. It | ||
| + | seemed like some horrible dream. She read on& | ||
| + | column was torn off& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She never remembered how she got home. But she went on tiptoe to her room | ||
| + | and locked the door. Then she undid the parcel and read that printed | ||
| + | column again, sitting on the edge of her bed, her hands and feet icy cold | ||
| + | and her face burning. When she had read all there was, she drew a long, | ||
| + | uneven breath. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | What she had read was headed, 'End of the Trial. Verdict. Sentence.' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The name of the man who had been tried was the name of her Father. The | ||
| + | verdict was ' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | don't believe it. You never did it! Never, never, never!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a hammering on the door. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter a guinea-pig. Come along down.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Bobbie had to. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter XI. The hound in the red jersey. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie knew the secret now. A sheet of old newspaper wrapped round a | ||
| + | parcel& | ||
| + | her. And she had to go down to tea and pretend that there was nothing the | ||
| + | matter. The pretence was bravely made, but it wasn't very successful. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | For when she came in, everyone looked up from tea and saw her pink-lidded | ||
| + | eyes and her pale face with red tear-blotches on it. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | matter?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | from her swollen eyes this brief, imploring message& | ||
| + | others!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Tea was not a cheerful meal. Peter was so distressed by the obvious fact | ||
| + | that something horrid had happened to Bobbie that he limited his speech to | ||
| + | repeating, & | ||
| + | intervals. Phyllis stroked her sister' | ||
| + | sympathy, and knocked her cup over as she did it. Fetching a cloth and | ||
| + | wiping up the spilt milk helped Bobbie a little. But she thought that tea | ||
| + | would never end. Yet at last it did end, as all things do at last, and | ||
| + | when Mother took out the tray, Bobbie followed her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | over it. Mother never rows for accidents. Listen! Yes, they' | ||
| + | upstairs. She's taking Mother up to show her& | ||
| + | storks on it, I expect it is.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie, in the kitchen, had caught hold of Mother' | ||
| + | the tea-things. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie only said, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When she had got Mother alone in her room she locked the door and then | ||
| + | stood quite still, and quite without words. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All through tea she had been thinking of what to say; she had decided that | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | no longer,& | ||
| + | that awful sheet of newspaper were alone in the room together, she found | ||
| + | that she could say nothing. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Suddenly she went to Mother and put her arms round her and began to cry | ||
| + | again. And still she could find no words, only, & | ||
| + | Mammy,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother held her very close and waited. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Suddenly Bobbie broke away from her and went to her bed. From under her | ||
| + | mattress she pulled out the paper she had hidden there, and held it out, | ||
| + | pointing to her Father' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | it was, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in prison, but he's done nothing wrong. He's good and noble and | ||
| + | honourable, and he belongs to us. We have to think of that, and be proud | ||
| + | of him, and wait.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Again Bobbie clung to her Mother, and again only one word came to her, but | ||
| + | now that word was & | ||
| + | and again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | must help each other to be brave.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | all about it? I want to understand.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So then, sitting cuddled up close to her Mother, Bobbie heard & | ||
| + | it.& | ||
| + | remembered last night when the Engine was being mended, had come to arrest | ||
| + | him, charging him with selling State secrets to the Russians& | ||
| + | being, in fact, a spy and a traitor. She heard about the trial, and about | ||
| + | the evidence& | ||
| + | that convinced the jury that Father was guilty. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | could ANY one do such a thing!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Those letters& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | who was really guilty.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thoughtfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | have done a thing like that if he had.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thought he was going to be found out. Why don't you tell the lawyers, or | ||
| + | someone, that it must have been that person? There wasn't anyone that | ||
| + | would have hurt Father on purpose, was there?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | when he& | ||
| + | your Father because Daddy was so clever and everyone thought such a lot of | ||
| + | him. And Daddy never quite trusted that man.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | suppose I've not tried everything? No, my dearest, there' | ||
| + | done. All we can do, you and I and Daddy, is to be brave, and patient, and& | ||
| + | she spoke very softly& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | as well as the nicest!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bear it and be brave. And, darling, try not to think of it. Try to be | ||
| + | cheerful, and to amuse yourself and the others. It's much easier for me if | ||
| + | you can be a little bit happy and enjoy things. Wash your poor little | ||
| + | round face, and let's go out into the garden for a bit.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The other two were very gentle and kind to Bobbie. And they did not ask | ||
| + | her what was the matter. This was Peter' | ||
| + | Phyllis, who would have asked a hundred questions if she had been left to | ||
| + | herself. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A week later Bobbie managed to get away alone. And once more she wrote a | ||
| + | letter. And once more it was to the old gentleman. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | true. Father never did it. Mother says someone put the papers in Father' | ||
| + | desk, and she says the man under him that got Father' | ||
| + | was jealous of Father, and Father suspected him a long time. But nobody | ||
| + | listens to a word she says, but you are so good and clever, and you found | ||
| + | out about the Russian gentleman' | ||
| + | did the treason because he wasn't Father upon my honour; he is an | ||
| + | Englishman and uncapable to do such things, and then they would let Father | ||
| + | out of prison. It is dreadful, and Mother is getting so thin. She told us | ||
| + | once to pray for all prisoners and captives. I see now. Oh, do help me& | ||
| + | is only just Mother and me know, and we can't do anything. Peter and Phil | ||
| + | don't know. I'll pray for you twice every day as long as I live if you'll | ||
| + | only try& | ||
| + | would feel. Oh, do, do, DO help me. With love | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | |||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | P.S. Mother would send her kind regards if she knew I am writing& | ||
| + | it is no use telling her I am, in case you can't do anything. But I know | ||
| + | you will. Bobbie with best love.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She cut the account of her Father' | ||
| + | Mother' | ||
| + | letter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then she took it down to the station, going out the back way and round by | ||
| + | the road, so that the others should not see her and offer to come with | ||
| + | her, and she gave the letter to the Station Master to give to the old | ||
| + | gentleman next morning. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he and Phyllis were. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She set her foot on the lock of the yard door. Peter reached down a hand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and Peter were very muddy. A lump of wet clay lay between them on the | ||
| + | wall, they had each a slip of slate in a very dirty hand, and behind | ||
| + | Peter, out of the reach of accidents, were several strange rounded objects | ||
| + | rather like very fat sausages, hollow, but closed up at one end. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | oven and hang them up with string under the eaves of the coach-house.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | hair we can get, and in the spring we'll line them, and then how pleased | ||
| + | the swallows will be!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter with an air of virtue. & | ||
| + | making nests for poor little swallows before this.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | be nothing left for anybody else to think about.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | across Peter to grasp a nest. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | strong little fingers had crushed the nest. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | we've put our initial names on the ones we've done, so that the swallows | ||
| + | will know who they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | them in the ivy for the sparrows, and they'd have been sopping LONG before | ||
| + | egg-laying time. It was me said clay and swallows.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of stick to mark your initial name on it. But how can you? Your letter and | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sounds. The swallows wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | letters round their necks? How would they know where to go if they | ||
| + | couldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | neck.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | under their wings and not round their necks, but it comes to the same | ||
| + | thing, and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | We might go along the cutting. You can see a long way from there.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The paperchase was found to be a more amusing subject of conversation than | ||
| + | the reading powers of swallows. Bobbie had hoped it might be. And next | ||
| + | morning Mother let them take their lunch and go out for the day to see the | ||
| + | paperchase. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | we miss the paperchase.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Of course it had taken some time to get the line clear from the rocks and | ||
| + | earth and trees that had fallen on it when the great landslip happened. | ||
| + | That was the occasion, you will remember, when the three children saved | ||
| + | the train from being wrecked by waving six little red-flannel-petticoat | ||
| + | flags. It is always interesting to watch people working, especially when | ||
| + | they work with such interesting things as spades and picks and shovels and | ||
| + | planks and barrows, when they have cindery red fires in iron pots with | ||
| + | round holes in them, and red lamps hanging near the works at night. Of | ||
| + | course the children were never out at night; but once, at dusk, when Peter | ||
| + | had got out of his bedroom skylight on to the roof, he had seen the red | ||
| + | lamp shining far away at the edge of the cutting. The children had often | ||
| + | been down to watch the work, and this day the interest of picks and | ||
| + | spades, and barrows being wheeled along planks, completely put the | ||
| + | paperchase out of their heads, so that they quite jumped when a voice just | ||
| + | behind them panted, & | ||
| + | big-boned, loose-limbed boy, with dark hair lying flat on a very damp | ||
| + | forehead. The bag of torn paper under his arm was fastened across one | ||
| + | shoulder by a strap. The children stood back. The hare ran along the line, | ||
| + | and the workmen leaned on their picks to watch him. He ran on steadily and | ||
| + | disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | say. Ain't you never been young yourself, Mr. Bates?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | foreman, doubtfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | another. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | see the 'art needn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And now, following the track of the hare by the little white blots of | ||
| + | scattered paper, came the hounds. There were thirty of them, and they all | ||
| + | came down the steep, ladder-like steps by ones and twos and threes and | ||
| + | sixes and sevens. Bobbie and Phyllis and Peter counted them as they | ||
| + | passed. The foremost ones hesitated a moment at the foot of the ladder, | ||
| + | then their eyes caught the gleam of scattered whiteness along the line and | ||
| + | they turned towards the tunnel, and, by ones and twos and threes and sixes | ||
| + | and sevens, disappeared in the dark mouth of it. The last one, in a red | ||
| + | jersey, seemed to be extinguished by the darkness like a candle that is | ||
| + | blown out. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | running in the dark. The tunnel takes two or three turns.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Peter; & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The counsel seemed good, and they went. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They climbed the steep steps from which they had picked the wild cherry | ||
| + | blossom for the grave of the little wild rabbit, and reaching the top of | ||
| + | the cutting, set their faces towards the hill through which the tunnel was | ||
| + | cut. It was stiff work. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | let's stop.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis consented to stick to it& | ||
| + | turf was smooth and the slope easy, climbing over stones, helping | ||
| + | themselves up rocks by the branches of trees, creeping through narrow | ||
| + | openings between tree trunks and rocks, and so on and on, up and up, till | ||
| + | at last they stood on the very top of the hill where they had so often | ||
| + | wished to be. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of the hill was a smooth, turfed table-land, dotted with mossy rocks and | ||
| + | little mountain-ash trees. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The girls also threw themselves down flat. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When they were rested enough to sit up and look round them, Bobbie cried:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the seaside, all sea and sand and bare hills. It's like the ' | ||
| + | counties' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | across the valley like a giant centipede, and then the towns sticking | ||
| + | their church spires up out of the trees like pens out of an inkstand. < | ||
| + | think it's more like | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Of twelve fair cities shine.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Let's get on. It's all down hill now.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a level with the top of the tunnel' | ||
| + | hundred yards out of their reckoning and had to creep along the face of | ||
| + | the hill& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | brick parapet above the tunnel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and we shall see the trains come out of the tunnel like dragons out of | ||
| + | lairs. We've never seen that from the top side before.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was really a most exciting place to be in. The top of the tunnel seemed | ||
| + | ever so much farther from the line than they had expected, and it was like | ||
| + | being on a bridge, but a bridge overgrown with bushes and creepers and | ||
| + | grass and wild-flowers. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and she hardly knew whether she was pleased or disappointed when Peter, | ||
| + | leaning over the parapet, suddenly cried:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They all leaned over the sun-warmed brick wall in time to see the hare, | ||
| + | going very slowly, come out from the shadow of the tunnel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Very soon came the hounds& | ||
| + | sevens& | ||
| + | three who lagged far behind came out long after the others. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | jersey to come yet. Let's see the last of them come out.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But though they waited and waited and waited, the boy in the red jersey | ||
| + | did not appear. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | being so hungry. You must have missed seeing the red-jerseyed one when he | ||
| + | came out with the others& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie and Peter agreed that he had not come out with the others. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | see him coming along from the inside. I expect he felt spun-chuck, and | ||
| + | rested in one of the manholes. You stay up here and watch, Bob, and when I | ||
| + | signal from below, you come down. We might miss seeing him on the way | ||
| + | down, with all these trees.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So the others climbed down and Bobbie waited till they signalled to her | ||
| + | from the line below. And then she, too, scrambled down the roundabout | ||
| + | slippery path among roots and moss till she stepped out between two | ||
| + | dogwood trees and joined the others on the line. And still there was no | ||
| + | sign of the hound with the red jersey. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you don't, and then you'll be sorry.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Peter, not quite unkindly. & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | more than one, though. There' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | as Phyllis. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | had an accident& | ||
| + | lying with his head on the metals, an unresisting prey to any passing | ||
| + | express& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of her sandwich; & | ||
| + | comes, stand flat against the tunnel wall and hold your petticoats close | ||
| + | to you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Of course you know what going into a tunnel is like? The engine gives a | ||
| + | scream and then suddenly the noise of the running, rattling train changes | ||
| + | and grows different and much louder. Grown-up people pull up the windows | ||
| + | and hold them by the strap. The railway carriage suddenly grows like night& | ||
| + | lamps, of course, unless you are in a slow local train, in which case | ||
| + | lamps are not always provided. Then by and by the darkness outside the | ||
| + | carriage window is touched by puffs of cloudy whiteness, then you see a | ||
| + | blue light on the walls of the tunnel, then the sound of the moving train | ||
| + | changes once more, and you are out in the good open air again, and | ||
| + | grown-ups let the straps go. The windows, all dim with the yellow breath | ||
| + | of the tunnel, rattle down into their places, and you see once more the | ||
| + | dip and catch of the telegraph wires beside the line, and the straight-cut | ||
| + | hawthorn hedges with the tiny baby trees growing up out of them every | ||
| + | thirty yards. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | All this, of course, is what a tunnel means when you are in a train. But | ||
| + | everything is quite different when you walk into a tunnel on your own | ||
| + | feet, and tread on shifting, sliding stones and gravel on a path that | ||
| + | curves downwards from the shining metals to the wall. Then you see slimy, | ||
| + | oozy trickles of water running down the inside of the tunnel, and you | ||
| + | notice that the bricks are not red or brown, as they are at the tunnel' | ||
| + | mouth, but dull, sticky, sickly green. Your voice, when you speak, is | ||
| + | quite changed from what it was out in the sunshine, and it is a long time | ||
| + | before the tunnel is quite dark. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was not yet quite dark in the tunnel when Phyllis caught at Bobbie' | ||
| + | skirt, ripping out half a yard of gathers, but no one noticed this at the | ||
| + | time. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | minute. I WON'T go on in the dark. I don't care what you say, I WON' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wires beside it, a buzzing, humming sound that grew louder and louder as | ||
| + | they listened. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | which Bobbie held her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The roar of the advancing train was now louder than the noise you hear | ||
| + | when your head is under water in the bath and both taps are running, and | ||
| + | you are kicking with your heels against the bath's tin sides. But Peter | ||
| + | had shouted for all he was worth, and Bobbie heard him. She dragged | ||
| + | Phyllis along to the manhole. Phyllis, of course, stumbled over the wires | ||
| + | and grazed both her legs. But they dragged her in, and all three stood in | ||
| + | the dark, damp, arched recess while the train roared louder and louder. It | ||
| + | seemed as if it would deafen them. And, in the distance, they could see | ||
| + | its eyes of fire growing bigger and brighter every instant. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | here, in the dark,& | ||
| + | train was shouting, too, and its voice was bigger than hers. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And now, with a rush and a roar and a rattle and a long dazzling flash of | ||
| + | lighted carriage windows, a smell of smoke, and blast of hot air, the | ||
| + | train hurtled by, clanging and jangling and echoing in the vaulted roof of | ||
| + | the tunnel. Phyllis and Bobbie clung to each other. Even Peter caught hold | ||
| + | of Bobbie' | ||
| + | afterwards. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And now, slowly and gradually, the tail-lights grew smaller and smaller, | ||
| + | and so did the noise, till with one last WHIZ the train got itself out of | ||
| + | the tunnel, and silence settled again on its damp walls and dripping roof. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was lighting the candle end with a hand that trembled. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in his natural voice. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | that settled the question. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So the three went on into the deeper darkness of the tunnel. Peter led, | ||
| + | holding his candle end high to light the way. The grease ran down his | ||
| + | fingers, and some of it right up his sleeve. He found a long streak from | ||
| + | wrist to elbow when he went to bed that night. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was not more than a hundred and fifty yards from the spot where they | ||
| + | had stood while the train went by that Peter stood still, shouted & | ||
| + | and then went on much quicker than before. When the others caught him up, | ||
| + | he stopped. And he stopped within a yard of what they had come into the | ||
| + | tunnel to look for. Phyllis saw a gleam of red, and shut her eyes tight. | ||
| + | There, by the curved, pebbly down line, was the red-jerseyed hound. His | ||
| + | back was against the wall, his arms hung limply by his sides, and his eyes | ||
| + | were shut. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | eyelids more tightly together. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | jersey. He's only fainted. What on earth are we to do?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | milk's just as wet. There' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a shuttlecock in my pocket. So there!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And now Peter rubbed the hands of the red-jerseyed one. Bobbie burned the | ||
| + | feathers of the shuttlecock one by one under his nose, Phyllis splashed | ||
| + | warmish milk on his forehead, and all three kept on saying as fast and as | ||
| + | earnestly as they could:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter XII. What Bobbie brought home. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | words over and over again to the unconscious hound in a red jersey, who | ||
| + | sat with closed eyes and pale face against the side of the tunnel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | faint& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they wetted his ears, and some of the milk ran down his neck under the | ||
| + | red jersey. It was very dark in the tunnel. The candle end Peter had | ||
| + | carried, and which now burned on a flat stone, gave hardly any light at | ||
| + | all. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the arm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And then the boy in the red jersey sighed, and opened his eyes, and shut | ||
| + | them again and said in a very small voice, & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | cry. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | into the boy's mouth. The boy struggled, and some of the milk was upset | ||
| + | before he could get his mouth free to say:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you stop bleating this minute.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So he drank. And the three stood by without speaking to him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | milk begins to run like fire through his veins.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He was. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | move, but the movement ended in a groan. & | ||
| + | leg,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | one of those beastly wires tripped me up, and when I tried to get up again | ||
| + | I couldn' | ||
| + | did YOU get here?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you all come out. And the others did& | ||
| + | we are a rescue party,& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | walk if we helped you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He did try. But he could only stand on one foot; the other dragged in a | ||
| + | very nasty way. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | go, quick& | ||
| + | each other by the dim light of the little candle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | nearest house.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the manhole.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They did it. It was perhaps as well for the sufferer that he had fainted | ||
| + | again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | candle, and, oh& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | try to get his boot off before he wakes up again.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Leave him here all alone because it's dark? Nonsense. Hurry up, that's | ||
| + | all.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So they hurried up. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie watched their dark figures and the little light of the little | ||
| + | candle with an odd feeling of having come to the end of everything. She | ||
| + | knew now, she thought, what nuns who were bricked up alive in convent | ||
| + | walls felt like. Suddenly she gave herself a little shake. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | anyone else called her a little girl, even if the adjective that went | ||
| + | first was not & | ||
| + | when she was very angry with herself that she allowed Roberta to use that | ||
| + | expression to Bobbie. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She fixed the little candle end on a broken brick near the red-jerseyed | ||
| + | boy's feet. Then she opened Peter' | ||
| + | halfpenny was generally needed to get it open at all. This time Bobbie | ||
| + | somehow got it open with her thumbnail. She broke the nail, and it hurt | ||
| + | horribly. Then she cut the boy's bootlace, and got the boot off. She tried | ||
| + | to pull off his stocking, but his leg was dreadfully swollen, and it did | ||
| + | not seem to be the proper shape. So she cut the stocking down, very slowly | ||
| + | and carefully. It was a brown, knitted stocking, and she wondered who had | ||
| + | knitted it, and whether it was the boy's mother, and whether she was | ||
| + | feeling anxious about him, and how she would feel when he was brought home | ||
| + | with his leg broken. When Bobbie had got the stocking off and saw the poor | ||
| + | leg, she felt as though the tunnel was growing darker, and the ground felt | ||
| + | unsteady, and nothing seemed quite real. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She remembered the day when she and Phyllis had torn up their red flannel | ||
| + | petticoats to make danger signals to stop the train and prevent an | ||
| + | accident. Her flannel petticoat to-day was white, but it would be quite as | ||
| + | soft as a red one. She took it off. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | invented them ought to have a statue directed to him.& | ||
| + | aloud, because it seemed that any voice, even her own, would be a comfort | ||
| + | in that darkness. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | feebly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | hurt too much. Now!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She had folded the petticoat, and lifting his leg laid it on the cushion | ||
| + | of folded flannel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wetted her handkerchief with milk and spread it over the poor leg. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | nice, really.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | get someone to carry you out.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | course you are without wishing.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a red-jerseyed arm and Bobbie squeezed his hand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | would shake your poor leg, and that would hurt. Have you got a hanky?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | She took it and wetted it with milk and put it on his forehead. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | but scent, or vinegar and water. I say, I must put the candle out now, | ||
| + | because there mayn't be enough of the other one to get you out by.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie blew. Out went the candle. You have no idea how black-velvety the | ||
| + | darkness was. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the dark?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | because he was like most boys of his age and hated all material tokens of | ||
| + | affection, such as kissing and holding of hands. He called all such things | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The darkness was more bearable to Bobbie now that her hand was held in the | ||
| + | large rough hand of the red-jerseyed sufferer; and he, holding her little | ||
| + | smooth hot paw, was surprised to find that he did not mind it so much as | ||
| + | he expected. She tried to talk, to amuse him, and & | ||
| + | sufferings, but it is very difficult to go on talking in the dark, and | ||
| + | presently they found themselves in a silence, only broken now and then by | ||
| + | a& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | or an& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And it was very cold. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter and Phyllis tramped down the long way of the tunnel towards | ||
| + | daylight, the candle-grease dripping over Peter' | ||
| + | accidents unless you count Phyllis' | ||
| + | tearing a long, jagged slit in it, and tripping over her bootlace when it | ||
| + | came undone, or going down on her hands and knees, all four of which were | ||
| + | grazed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | very very long. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you only keep all on.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Which is quite true, if you come to think of it, and a useful thing to | ||
| + | remember in seasons of trouble& | ||
| + | impositions, | ||
| + | no one would ever love you again, and you could never& | ||
| + | anybody. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | just like a pin-hole in a bit of black paper, doesn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The pin-hole got larger& | ||
| + | tunnel. The children could see the gravel way that lay in front of them; | ||
| + | the air grew warmer and sweeter. Another twenty steps and they were out in | ||
| + | the good glad sunshine with the green trees on both sides. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis drew a long breath. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | if there are twenty hundred thousand millions hounds inside with red | ||
| + | jerseys and their legs broken.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie and I aren't skunks. Now where' | ||
| + | can't see anything here for the trees.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | speak to signalmen on duty. It's wrong.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | tunnel,& | ||
| + | So Peter ran, too. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was very hot in the sunshine, and both children were hot and breathless | ||
| + | by the time they stopped, and bending their heads back to look up at the | ||
| + | open windows of the signal-box, shouted & | ||
| + | state allowed. But no one answered. The signal-box stood quiet as an empty | ||
| + | nursery, and the handrail of its steps was hot to the hands of the | ||
| + | children as they climbed softly up. They peeped in at the open door. The | ||
| + | signalman was sitting on a chair tilted back against the wall. His head | ||
| + | leaned sideways, and his mouth was open. He was fast asleep. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he knew that if a signalman sleeps on duty, he risks losing his situation, | ||
| + | let alone all the other dreadful risks to trains which expect him to tell | ||
| + | them when it is safe for them to go their ways. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The signalman never moved. Then Peter sprang to him and shook him. And | ||
| + | slowly, yawning and stretching, the man awoke. But the moment he WAS awake | ||
| + | he leapt to his feet, put his hands to his head & | ||
| + | Phyllis said afterwards, and shouted:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | round-faced clock on the wall of the signal-box. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The man looked at the clock, sprang to the levers, and wrenched them this | ||
| + | way and that. An electric bell tingled& | ||
| + | and the man threw himself into a chair. He was very pale, and the sweat | ||
| + | stood on his forehead & | ||
| + | remarked later. He was trembling, too; the children could see his big | ||
| + | hairy hands shake from side to side, & | ||
| + | use the subsequent words of Peter. He drew long breaths. Then suddenly he | ||
| + | cried, & | ||
| + | God!& | ||
| + | hid it in those large hairy hands of his. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | patted him on one big, broad shoulder, while Peter conscientiously thumped | ||
| + | the other. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the signalman seemed quite broken down, and the children had to pat | ||
| + | him and thump him for quite a long time before he found his handkerchief& | ||
| + | red one with mauve and white horseshoes on it& | ||
| + | and spoke. During this patting and thumping interval a train thundered by. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | when he had stopped crying; & | ||
| + | seemed to get cross. & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | doing wrong, and so it turned out right. You aren't sorry we came.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | went on. & | ||
| + | to be known& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you oughtn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | know'd well enough just how it 'ud be. But I couldn' | ||
| + | couldn' | ||
| + | minutes' | ||
| + | the Doctor says& | ||
| + | do for him. That's where it is. The gell must 'ave her sleep. Dangerous? | ||
| + | Yes, I believe you. Now go and split on me if you like.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | whole of the signalman' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | will. There' | ||
| + | broken.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wrong except coming and waking you up, and that was right, as it happens.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then Peter told how the boy came to be in the tunnel. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | box.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Phyllis. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | up through the trees,& | ||
| + | noticed. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But the man said, & | ||
| + | brought out some money& | ||
| + | sixpences and half-a-crown. He picked out two shillings and held them out. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | taken place to-day.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a short, unpleasant pause. Then:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter took a step forward and knocked the man's hand up, so that the | ||
| + | shillings leapt out of it and rolled on the floor. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | marched out of the signal-box with flaming cheeks. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Phyllis hesitated. Then she took the hand, still held out stupidly, that | ||
| + | the shillings had been in. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | proper senses, or you'd never have done that. I know want of sleep sends | ||
| + | people mad. Mother told me. I hope your little boy will soon be better, | ||
| + | and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | friends,& | ||
| + | a quarrel in which she was not to blame. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The signalman stooped and kissed her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to Mother. I didn't mean to put you about& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So Phil left the hot signal-box and followed Peter across the fields to | ||
| + | the farm. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When the farm men, led by Peter and Phyllis and carrying a hurdle covered | ||
| + | with horse-cloths, | ||
| + | asleep and so was Jim. Worn out with the pain, the Doctor said afterwards. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | lifted on to the hurdle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | there, somehow.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the road. I'm sure Mother would say we ought to.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | we ought.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wouldn' | ||
| + | Missus first, and they call me the Master, too.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | down there. Now, lads, lift him quiet and steady. One, two, three!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Thus it happened that Mother, writing away for dear life at a story about | ||
| + | a Duchess, a designing villain, a secret passage, and a missing will, | ||
| + | dropped her pen as her work-room door burst open, and turned to see Bobbie | ||
| + | hatless and red with running. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | in the tunnel, and he's broken his leg and they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | really CAN'T have a lame dog here.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and choking. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother, you will be nice to him? I told him I was sure you'd want us to | ||
| + | bring him home. You always want to help everybody.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother smiled, but she sighed, too. It is nice that your children should | ||
| + | believe you willing to open house and heart to any and every one who needs | ||
| + | help. But it is rather embarrassing sometimes, too, when they act on their | ||
| + | belief. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | When Jim was carried in, dreadfully white and with set lips whose red had | ||
| + | faded to a horrid bluey violet colour, Mother said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bed before the Doctor comes!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And Jim, looking at her kind eyes, felt a little, warm, comforting flush | ||
| + | of new courage. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | won't think I'm a coward if I faint again, will you? I really and truly | ||
| + | don't do it on purpose. And I do hate to give you all this trouble.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | dear& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And she kissed him just as if he had been Peter. & | ||
| + | we, Bobbie?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | had been to bring home the wounded hound in the red jersey. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter XIII. The hound' | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother did not get back to her writing all that day, for the red-jerseyed | ||
| + | hound whom the children had brought to Three Chimneys had to be put to | ||
| + | bed. And then the Doctor came, and hurt him most horribly. Mother was with | ||
| + | him all through it, and that made it a little better than it would have | ||
| + | been, but & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The children sat in the parlour downstairs and heard the sound of the | ||
| + | Doctor' | ||
| + | once or twice there was a groan. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Oh, poor Jim!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | weren' | ||
| + | things. I should most awfully like to see a leg set. I believe the bones | ||
| + | crunch like anything.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | were talking of coming home, if you can't even stand hearing me say about | ||
| + | bones crunching? You'd have to HEAR them crunch on the field of battle& | ||
| + | be steeped in gore up to the elbows as likely as not, and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you're making me feel.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | so did Phil& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | for you if I were to talk to you every day for half an hour about broken | ||
| + | bones and people' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | A chair was moved above. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | horrid. Perhaps it was because he had been so very nice and kind all the | ||
| + | earlier part of the day, and now he had to have a change. This is called | ||
| + | reaction. One notices it now and then in oneself. Sometimes when one has | ||
| + | been extra good for a longer time than usual, one is suddenly attacked by | ||
| + | a violent fit of not being good at all. & | ||
| + | Peter; & | ||
| + | interfere with their doctorish designs, and then someone holds his head, | ||
| + | and someone holds his leg& | ||
| + | bones fit in& | ||
| + | play at bone-setting!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie said suddenly: & | ||
| + | Phil can be the nurse. You can be the broken boner; we can get at your | ||
| + | legs more easily, because you don't wear petticoats.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | suffering ready.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The ropes that had tied up the boxes that had come from home were all in a | ||
| + | wooden packing-case in the cellar. When Peter brought in a trailing tangle | ||
| + | of them, and two boards for splints, Phyllis was excitedly giggling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | grievously. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | settle. & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie worked on in silence, winding more and more rope round him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | groaned again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he asked cheerfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | looking down at him where he lay all wound round and round with cord. | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | never, never to talk to us about blood and wounds unless we say you may. | ||
| + | Come, Phil!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and Mother will come.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I'm not a beast, Peter. But you wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Stalky!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie and Phil, retiring in silent dignity, were met at the door by the | ||
| + | Doctor. He came in rubbing his hands and looking pleased with himself. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | go on all right, I've no doubt. Plucky young chap, too& | ||
| + | all this?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | His eye had fallen on Peter who lay mousy-still in his bonds on the | ||
| + | settle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | little. Somehow he had not thought that Bobbie would be playing while in | ||
| + | the room above someone was having a broken bone set. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bones. Peter' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Doctor frowned. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | very heartless game. Haven' | ||
| + | picture what's been going on upstairs? That poor chap, with the drops of | ||
| + | sweat on his forehead, and biting his lips so as not to cry out, and every | ||
| + | touch on his leg agony and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | on being noble and screening me, because I jolly well won't have it. It | ||
| + | was only that I kept on talking about blood and wounds. I wanted to train | ||
| + | them for Red Cross Nurses. And I wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | knew Bobbie wouldn' | ||
| + | ' | ||
| + | got it out of Stalky. And I think it's a beastly shame.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He managed to writhe over and hide his face against the wooden back of the | ||
| + | settle. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | answering Peter' | ||
| + | And hearing about blood and wounds does really make me feel most awfully | ||
| + | funny. It was only a joke our tying him up. Let me untie you, Pete.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | of a joke& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to say, & | ||
| + | to worry her just now, do you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Peter, in very surly tones, as Bobbie and Phyllis began to untie the | ||
| + | knots. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | fumbled with the big knot under the settle; & | ||
| + | you made me feel.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | shook off the loose cords, and stood up. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the surgery. There are some things that your Mother will want at once, and | ||
| + | I've given my man a day off to go and see the circus; will you come, | ||
| + | Peter?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter went without a word or a look to his sisters. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The two walked in silence up to the gate that led from the Three Chimneys | ||
| + | field to the road. Then Peter said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the ether bottle. I had to give him ether, you know& | ||
| + | intense.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter was silent. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter told. And then Dr. Forrest told him stories of brave rescues; he was | ||
| + | a most interesting man to talk to, as Peter had often remarked. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then in the surgery Peter had a better chance than he had ever had of | ||
| + | examining the Doctor' | ||
| + | measuring glasses. When all the things were ready that Peter was to take | ||
| + | back, the Doctor said suddenly:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | something to you.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | he had escaped one. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | for a paper-weight. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | are much harder and hardier than they are& | ||
| + | | ||
| + | things that hurt THEM don't hurt US. You know you mustn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | softer and weaker than we are; they have to be, you know,& | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | why all the animals are so good to the mother animals. They never fight | ||
| + | them, you know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you let them, but they won't hurt a doe.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | immensely gentle with the female beasts. And we've got to be, too.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | shouldn' | ||
| + | very careful, not only of his fists, but of his words. They' | ||
| + | brave, you know,& | ||
| + | with that poor chap. It's an odd thing& | ||
| + | hurt a woman is the better she can screw herself up to do what HAS to be | ||
| + | done. I've seen some brave women& | ||
| + | abruptly. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | without being told. And you see what I mean, don't you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Everyone ought to be taught these scientific facts. So long!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They shook hands heartily. When Peter came home, his sisters looked at him | ||
| + | doubtfully. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | has been talking scientific to me. No, it's no use my telling you what he | ||
| + | said; you wouldn' | ||
| + | soft, weak, frightened things like rabbits, so us men have just got to put | ||
| + | up with them. He said you were female beasts. Shall I take this up to | ||
| + | Mother, or will you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the nastiest, rudest& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | up with you whatever you say because you're a poor, weak, frightened, soft& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | whispered as Peter picked up the basket and stalked out with it, & | ||
| + | sorry, really, only he won't say so? Let's say we're sorry.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | beasts, and soft and frightened& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | said Bobbie; & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And when Peter came back, still with his chin in the air, Bobbie said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was hard to bear. But& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | sides.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Pete, you might lay the cloth.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | they were washing up the cups after tea, & | ||
| + | were female beasts, did he?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | too.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | * * * * * * | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | where Mother sat at her table with two candles in front of her. Their | ||
| + | flames looked orange and violet against the clear grey blue of the sky | ||
| + | where already a few stars were twinkling. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | words and then laid down her pen and began to fold up what she had | ||
| + | written. & | ||
| + | know.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | him, Mother? Couldn' | ||
| + | he's well? It would be such a surprise for them.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | not saying anything against THEM. But I should like it if I had another | ||
| + | chap to talk to sometimes.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Next year perhaps I can send you to school& | ||
| + | you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | stay after his leg was well, we could have awful larks.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | know, dear, we're not rich. I can't afford to get him everything he'll | ||
| + | want. And he must have a nurse.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | writing as well. That's the worst of it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | both, but I must write as well. They' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | suggested. & | ||
| + | money. Grandfathers in books always are.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to roll much.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | book, and you were writing it? Then you could make all sorts of jolly | ||
| + | things happen, and make Jim's legs get well at once and be all right | ||
| + | to-morrow, and Father come home soon and& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | thought. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother was enveloping and addressing the second letter. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | but now he's away there' | ||
| + | why I want Jim to stay so frightfully much. Wouldn' | ||
| + | writing that book with us all in it, Mother, and make Daddy come home | ||
| + | soon?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter' | ||
| + | for a minute. Then she said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | writing? If I were writing the book, I might make mistakes. But God knows | ||
| + | how to make the story end just right& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I'm so sad that I can't believe anything. But even when I can't believe | ||
| + | it, I know it's true& | ||
| + | Peter. Now take the letters to the post, and don't let's be sad any more. | ||
| + | Courage, courage! That's the finest of all the virtues! I dare say Jim | ||
| + | will be here for two or three weeks yet.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | For what was left of the evening Peter was so angelic that Bobbie feared | ||
| + | he was going to be ill. She was quite relieved in the morning to find him | ||
| + | plaiting Phyllis' | ||
| + | manner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was soon after breakfast that a knock came at the door. The children | ||
| + | were hard at work cleaning the brass candlesticks in honour of Jim's | ||
| + | visit. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | not fit to be seen.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But it wasn't the Doctor. They knew that by the voice and by the sound of | ||
| + | the boots that went upstairs. They did not recognise the sound of the | ||
| + | boots, but everyone was certain that they had heard the voice before. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was a longish interval. The boots and the voice did not come down | ||
| + | again. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | highwaymen and left for dead, and this is the man he's telegraphed for to | ||
| + | take his place. Mrs. Viney said he had a local tenant to do his work when | ||
| + | he went for a holiday, didn't you, Mrs. Viney?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | despaired of. And this is his man come to break the news to Mother.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | into Jim's bedroom. Why should she? Listen& | ||
| + | they' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He did. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | remarks; & | ||
| + | Mother can't have secrets to talk with Dr. Forrest' | ||
| + | you said it was him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They opened the kitchen door, and Mother leaned over the stair railing. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | then you can see him. He wants to see you!& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | some hot water, Mrs. Viney. I'm as black as your hat.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The three were indeed dirty, for the stuff you clean brass candlesticks | ||
| + | with is very far from cleaning to the cleaner. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They were still busy with soap and flannel when they heard the boots and | ||
| + | the voice come down the stairs and go into the dining-room. And when they | ||
| + | were clean, though still damp& | ||
| + | dry your hands properly, and they were very impatient to see the | ||
| + | grandfather& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Mother was sitting in the window-seat, | ||
| + | that Father always used to sit in at the other house sat& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | THEIR OWN OLD GENTLEMAN! | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | was, as he explained afterwards, too surprised even to remember that there | ||
| + | was such a thing as politeness& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | manners and said, & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | old gentleman' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Mother?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | are rather like books, sometimes.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | tons of old gentlemen there are in the world& | ||
| + | almost anyone.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | are you?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | consented to let him stay here. I thought of sending a nurse, but your | ||
| + | Mother is good enough to say that she will nurse him herself.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman looked very kindly at Mother. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | my dears, has consented to give up writing for a little while and to | ||
| + | become a Matron of my Hospital.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Chimneys and the Railway and everything?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | so. Your Mother will be Matron, and there' | ||
| + | housemaid and a cook& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Bobbie; & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to interfere. But one never knows. Very wonderful and beautiful things do | ||
| + | happen, don't they? And we live most of our lives in the hope of them. I | ||
| + | may come again to see the boy?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | possible for me to nurse him. Dear boy!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | twice and heard him.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman rose. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | woman in a million.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bless her! Ay, and she shall be blessed. Dear me, where' | ||
| + | Bobbie come with me to the gate?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | At the gate he stopped and said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | needed. When I read about your Father' | ||
| + | had my doubts. And ever since I've known who you were, I've been trying to | ||
| + | find out things. I haven' | ||
| + | have hopes.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | could when I wrote. It isn't a false hope, is it?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | you. And I think you deserve to be told that there IS a hope.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | did.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | If it was a false hope, it was none the less a very radiant one that lay | ||
| + | warm at Bobbie' | ||
| + | little face as a Japanese lantern is lighted by the candle within. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <a name=" | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <div style=" | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <h2> | ||
| + | Chapter XIV. The End. | ||
| + | </h2> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Life at the Three Chimneys was never quite the same again after the old | ||
| + | gentleman came to see his grandson. Although they now knew his name, the | ||
| + | children never spoke of him by it& | ||
| + | themselves. To them he was always the old gentleman, and I think he had | ||
| + | better be the old gentleman to us, too. It wouldn' | ||
| + | real to you, would it, if I were to tell you that his name was Snooks or | ||
| + | Jenkins (which it wasn' | ||
| + | one secret. It's the only one; I have told you everything else, except | ||
| + | what I am going to tell you in this chapter, which is the last. At least, | ||
| + | of course, I haven' | ||
| + | would never come to an end, and that would be a pity, wouldn' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Well, as I was saying, life at Three Chimneys was never quite the same | ||
| + | again. The cook and the housemaid were very nice (I don't mind telling you | ||
| + | their names& | ||
| + | did not seem to want Mrs. Viney, and that she was an old muddler. So Mrs. | ||
| + | Viney came only two days a week to do washing and ironing. Then Clara and | ||
| + | Ethelwyn said they could do the work all right if they weren' | ||
| + | with, and that meant that the children no longer got the tea and cleared | ||
| + | it away and washed up the tea-things and dusted the rooms. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This would have left quite a blank in their lives, although they had often | ||
| + | pretended to themselves and to each other that they hated housework. But | ||
| + | now that Mother had no writing and no housework to do, she had time for | ||
| + | lessons. And lessons the children had to do. However nice the person who | ||
| + | is teaching you may be, lessons are lessons all the world over, and at | ||
| + | their best are worse fun than peeling potatoes or lighting a fire. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | On the other hand, if Mother now had time for lessons, she also had time | ||
| + | for play, and to make up little rhymes for the children as she used to do. | ||
| + | She had not had much time for rhymes since she came to Three Chimneys. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | There was one very odd thing about these lessons. Whatever the children | ||
| + | were doing, they always wanted to be doing something else. When Peter was | ||
| + | doing his Latin, he thought it would be nice to be learning History like | ||
| + | Bobbie. Bobbie would have preferred Arithmetic, which was what Phyllis | ||
| + | happened to be doing, and Phyllis of course thought Latin much the most | ||
| + | interesting kind of lesson. And so on. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So, one day, when they sat down to lessons, each of them found a little | ||
| + | rhyme at its place. I put the rhymes in to show you that their Mother | ||
| + | really did understand a little how children feel about things, and also | ||
| + | the kind of words they use, which is the case with very few grown-up | ||
| + | people. I suppose most grown-ups have very bad memories, and have | ||
| + | forgotten how they felt when they were little. Of course, the verses are | ||
| + | supposed to be spoken by the children. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | PETER | ||
| + | |||
| + | I once thought Caesar easy pap& | ||
| + | How very soft I must have been! | ||
| + | When they start Caesar with a chap | ||
| + | He little know what that will mean. | ||
| + | Oh, verbs are silly stupid things. | ||
| + | | ||
| + | |||
| + | | ||
| + | |||
| + | The worst of all my lesson things | ||
| + | Is learning who succeeded who | ||
| + | In all the rows of queens and kings, | ||
| + | With dates to everything they do: | ||
| + | With dates enough to make you sick;& | ||
| + | I wish it was Arithmetic! | ||
| + | |||
| + | | ||
| + | |||
| + | Such pounds and pounds of apples fill | ||
| + | My slate& | ||
| + | You scratch the figures out until | ||
| + | You cry upon the dividend. | ||
| + | | ||
| + | If I did Latin like a boy! | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This kind of thing, of course, made lessons much jollier. It is something | ||
| + | to know that the person who is teaching you sees that it is not all plain | ||
| + | sailing for you, and does not think that it is just your stupidness that | ||
| + | makes you not know your lessons till you've learned them! | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Then as Jim's leg got better it was very pleasant to go up and sit with | ||
| + | him and hear tales about his school life and the other boys. There was one | ||
| + | boy, named Parr, of whom Jim seemed to have formed the lowest possible | ||
| + | opinion, and another boy named Wigsby Minor, for whose views Jim had a | ||
| + | great respect. Also there were three brothers named Paley, and the | ||
| + | youngest was called Paley Terts, and was much given to fighting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Peter drank in all this with deep joy, and Mother seemed to have listened | ||
| + | with some interest, for one day she gave Jim a sheet of paper on which she | ||
| + | had written a rhyme about Parr, bringing in Paley and Wigsby by name in a | ||
| + | most wonderful way, as well as all the reasons Jim had for not liking | ||
| + | Parr, and Wigsby' | ||
| + | He had never had a rhyme written expressly for him before. He read it till | ||
| + | he knew it by heart and then he sent it to Wigsby, who liked it almost as | ||
| + | much as Jim did. Perhaps you may like it, too. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | THE NEW BOY | ||
| + | |||
| + | His name is Parr: he says that he | ||
| + | Is given bread and milk for tea. | ||
| + | He says his father killed a bear. | ||
| + | He says his mother cuts his hair. | ||
| + | |||
| + | He wears goloshes when it's wet. | ||
| + | | ||
| + | He has no proper sense of shame; | ||
| + | He told the chaps his Christian name. | ||
| + | |||
| + | He cannot wicket-keep at all, | ||
| + | | ||
| + | He reads indoors for hours and hours. | ||
| + | He knows the names of beastly flowers. | ||
| + | |||
| + | He says his French just like Mossoo& | ||
| + | A beastly stuck-up thing to do& | ||
| + | He won't keep < | ||
| + | And says he came to school to learn! | ||
| + | |||
| + | He won't play football, says it hurts; | ||
| + | He wouldn' | ||
| + | He couldn' | ||
| + | And when we laughed at him he cried! | ||
| + | |||
| + | Now Wigsby Minor says that Parr | ||
| + | Is only like all new boys are. | ||
| + | I know when < | ||
| + | I wasn't such a jolly fool! | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Jim could never understand how Mother could have been clever enough to do | ||
| + | it. To the others it seemed nice, but natural. You see they had always | ||
| + | been used to having a mother who could write verses just like the way | ||
| + | people talk, even to the shocking expression at the end of the rhyme, | ||
| + | which was Jim's very own. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Jim taught Peter to play chess and draughts and dominoes, and altogether | ||
| + | it was a nice quiet time. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Only Jim's leg got better and better, and a general feeling began to | ||
| + | spring up among Bobbie, Peter, and Phyllis that something ought to be done | ||
| + | to amuse him; not just games, but something really handsome. But it was | ||
| + | extraordinarily difficult to think of anything. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | their heads felt quite heavy and swollen; & | ||
| + | to amuse him, we just can't, and there' | ||
| + | will just happen of its own accord that he'll like.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Phyllis, rather as though, usually, everything that happened in the world | ||
| + | was her doing. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | wonderful.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And something wonderful did happen exactly four days after she had said | ||
| + | this. I wish I could say it was three days after, because in fairy tales | ||
| + | it is always three days after that things happen. But this is not a fairy | ||
| + | story, and besides, it really was four and not three, and I am nothing if | ||
| + | not strictly truthful. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They seemed to be hardly Railway children at all in those days, and as the | ||
| + | days went on each had an uneasy feeling about this which Phyllis expressed | ||
| + | one day. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | to see it now.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | else to play with.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | signalman' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | itself.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | Tuesday, & | ||
| + | Father by it.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Somehow the change of everything that was made by having servants in the | ||
| + | house and Mother not doing any writing, made the time seem extremely long | ||
| + | since that strange morning at the beginning of things, when they had got | ||
| + | up so early and burnt the bottom out of the kettle and had apple pie for | ||
| + | breakfast and first seen the Railway. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | It was September now, and the turf on the slope to the Railway was dry and | ||
| + | crisp. Little long grass spikes stood up like bits of gold wire, frail | ||
| + | blue harebells trembled on their tough, slender stalks, Gipsy roses opened | ||
| + | wide and flat their lilac-coloured discs, and the golden stars of St. | ||
| + | John's Wort shone at the edges of the pool that lay halfway to the | ||
| + | Railway. Bobbie gathered a generous handful of the flowers and thought how | ||
| + | pretty they would look lying on the green-and-pink blanket of silk-waste | ||
| + | that now covered Jim's poor broken leg. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | bootlace has come undone AGAIN!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | up the church aisle, and your man that you're going to get married to will | ||
| + | tumble over it and smash his nose in on the ornamented pavement; and then | ||
| + | you'll say you won't marry him, and you'll have to be an old maid.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | smashed in than not marry anybody.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | went on Bobbie. & | ||
| + | Wouldn' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | down. We must run!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | They ran. And once more they waved their handkerchiefs, | ||
| + | minding whether the handkerchiefs were clean or not, to the 9.15. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The old gentleman waved from his first-class carriage window. Quite | ||
| + | violently he waved. And there was nothing odd in that, for he always had | ||
| + | waved. But what was really remarkable was that from every window | ||
| + | handkerchiefs fluttered, newspapers signalled, hands waved wildly. The | ||
| + | train swept by with a rustle and roar, the little pebbles jumped and | ||
| + | danced under it as it passed, and the children were left looking at each | ||
| + | other. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | answer. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | people at his station to look out for us and wave. He knew we should like | ||
| + | it!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Now, curiously enough, this was just what had happened. The old gentleman, | ||
| + | who was very well known and respected at his particular station, had got | ||
| + | there early that morning, and he had waited at the door where the young | ||
| + | man stands holding the interesting machine that clips the tickets, and he | ||
| + | had said something to every single passenger who passed through that door. | ||
| + | And after nodding to what the old gentleman had said& | ||
| + | expressed every shade of surprise, interest, doubt, cheerful pleasure, and | ||
| + | grumpy agreement& | ||
| + | one certain part of his newspaper. And when the passengers got into the | ||
| + | train, they had told the other passengers who were already there what the | ||
| + | old gentleman had said, and then the other passengers had also looked at | ||
| + | their newspapers and seemed very astonished and, mostly, pleased. Then, | ||
| + | when the train passed the fence where the three children were, newspapers | ||
| + | and hands and handkerchiefs were waved madly, till all that side of the | ||
| + | train was fluttery with white like the pictures of the King's Coronation | ||
| + | in the biograph at Maskelyne and Cook' | ||
| + | as though the train itself was alive, and was at last responding to the | ||
| + | love that they had given it so freely and so long. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But Bobbie said, & | ||
| + | significating than usual?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | with his newspaper.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | I feel just exactly as if something was going to happen.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | going to come down.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | This was but too true. The suspender had given way in the agitation of the | ||
| + | waves to the 9.15. Bobbie' | ||
| + | injured, and they all went home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Lessons were more than usually difficult to Bobbie that day. Indeed, she | ||
| + | disgraced herself so deeply over a quite simple sum about the division of | ||
| + | 48 pounds of meat and 36 pounds of bread among 144 hungry children that | ||
| + | Mother looked at her anxiously. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | It isn't that I'm lazy. Mother, will you let me off lessons to-day? I feel | ||
| + | as if I wanted to be quite alone by myself.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie dropped her slate. It cracked just across the little green mark | ||
| + | that is so useful for drawing patterns round, and it was never the same | ||
| + | slate again. Without waiting to pick it up she bolted. Mother caught her | ||
| + | in the hall feeling blindly among the waterproofs and umbrellas for her | ||
| + | garden hat. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | by myself and see if my head really IS all silly and my inside all | ||
| + | squirmy-twisty.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | forehead. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | But she could not stay in the garden. The hollyhocks and the asters and | ||
| + | the late roses all seemed to be waiting for something to happen. It was | ||
| + | one of those still, shiny autumn days, when everything does seem to be | ||
| + | waiting. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie could not wait. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | the signalman' | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | So she went down. On the way she passed the old lady from the Post-office, | ||
| + | who gave her a kiss and a hug, but, rather to Bobbie' | ||
| + | except:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The draper' | ||
| + | little more than contemptuous, | ||
| + | remarkable words:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The blacksmith, coming along with an open newspaper in his hand, was even | ||
| + | more strange in his manner. He grinned broadly, though, as a rule, he was | ||
| + | a man not given to smiles, and waved the newspaper long before he came up | ||
| + | to her. And as he passed her, he said, in answer to her & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | do!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | people are in dreams.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The Station Master wrung her hand warmly. In fact he worked it up and down | ||
| + | like a pump-handle. But he gave her no reason for this unusually | ||
| + | enthusiastic greeting. He only said:& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | and went away very quickly into that inner Temple of his into which even | ||
| + | Bobbie dared not follow him. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks was not to be seen, and Bobbie shared the solitude of the platform | ||
| + | with the Station Cat. This tortoiseshell lady, usually of a retiring | ||
| + | disposition, | ||
| + | Bobbie with arched back, waving tail, and reverberating purrs. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | is to-day& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Perks did not appear until the 11.54 was signalled, and then he, like | ||
| + | everybody else that morning, had a newspaper in his hand. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | smart work! Well, God bless you, my dear! I see it in the paper, and I | ||
| + | don't think I was ever so glad of anything in all my born days!& | ||
| + | at Bobbie a moment, then said, & | ||
| + | know, on a day like this ' | ||
| + | cheek and then on the other. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | a liberty? On a day like this, you know& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | love you quite as much as if you were an uncle of ours& | ||
| + | a day like WHAT?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | into the station and the Station Master was looking at all the places | ||
| + | where Perks was not and ought to have been. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Bobbie was left standing alone, the Station Cat watching her from under | ||
| + | the bench with friendly golden eyes. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Of course you know already exactly what was going to happen. Bobbie was | ||
| + | not so clever. She had the vague, confused, expectant feeling that comes | ||
| + | to one's heart in dreams. What her heart expected I can't tell& | ||
| + | the very thing that you and I know was going to happen& | ||
| + | expected nothing; it was almost blank, and felt nothing but tiredness and | ||
| + | stupidness and an empty feeling, like your body has when you have been a | ||
| + | long walk and it is very far indeed past your proper dinner-time. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Only three people got out of the 11.54. The first was a countryman with | ||
| + | two baskety boxes full of live chickens who stuck their russet heads out | ||
| + | anxiously through the wicker bars; the second was Miss Peckitt, the | ||
| + | grocer' | ||
| + | the third& | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | everyone in the train, and people put their heads out of the windows to | ||
| + | see a tall pale man with lips set in a thin close line, and a little girl | ||
| + | clinging to him with arms and legs, while his arms went tightly round her. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <pre xml: | ||
| + | | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | went up the road, & | ||
| + | Daddy, my Daddy!& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | isn't it?& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | The clasp of a hand she had not forgotten assured her that it was. & | ||
| + | must go in by yourself, Bobbie, and tell Mother quite quietly that it's | ||
| + | all right. They' | ||
| + | wasn't your Daddy.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | gentleman.& | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | found out. And she told me what you'd been to her. My own little girl!& | ||
| + | They stopped a minute then. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | And now I see them crossing the field. Bobbie goes into the house, trying | ||
| + | to keep her eyes from speaking before her lips have found the right words | ||
| + | to & | ||
| + | parting are over and done, and that Father has come home. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | I see Father walking in the garden, waiting& | ||
| + | at the flowers, and each flower is a miracle to eyes that all these months | ||
| + | of Spring and Summer have seen only flagstones and gravel and a little | ||
| + | grudging grass. But his eyes keep turning towards the house. And presently | ||
| + | he leaves the garden and goes to stand outside the nearest door. It is the | ||
| + | back door, and across the yard the swallows are circling. They are getting | ||
| + | ready to fly away from cold winds and keen frost to the land where it is | ||
| + | always summer. They are the same swallows that the children built the | ||
| + | little clay nests for. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | Now the house door opens. Bobbie' | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | & | ||
| + | </ | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | He goes in and the door is shut. I think we will not open the door or | ||
| + | follow him. I think that just now we are not wanted there. I think it will | ||
| + | be best for us to go quickly and quietly away. At the end of the field, | ||
| + | among the thin gold spikes of grass and the harebells and Gipsy roses and | ||
| + | St. John's Wort, we may just take one last look, over our shoulders, at | ||
| + | the white house where neither we nor anyone else is wanted now. | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | <p> | ||
| + | <br /><br /><br /><br /> | ||
| + | </p> | ||
| + | |||
| + | </ | ||
the_railway_children.txt · Last modified: 2020/10/04 01:35 by briancarnell