Latest / Classic Science Fiction Books / 17 - The House of Arden - E Nesbit

Transcript

17 - The House of Arden - E Nesbit · Classic Science Fiction Books

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, May Blossom and Pearls. The king came slowly
0:06
Speaker 1: on a great black horse, riding between the green trees.
0:10
Speaker 1: He himself wore white and green like the may bushes,
0:14
Speaker 1: and so did the gracious lady, who rode beside him
0:17
Speaker 1: on a white horse, whose long tail almost swept the ground,
0:22
Speaker 1: and whose long mane fluttered in the breeze like a
0:25
Speaker 1: tattered banner. The lady had a fine face, proud and smiling,
0:30
Speaker 1: and as her brave eyes met the king's, even the
0:33
Speaker 1: children could see that, for the time at least, she
0:36
Speaker 1: and the king were all the world to each other.
0:40
Speaker 1: They saw that in the brief moment when in the
0:43
Speaker 1: whirl of the ring dance their eyes were turned the
0:46
Speaker 1: way by which the king came with his queen. I
0:51
Speaker 1: wish I didn't know so much history, gasped Elfrida through
0:56
Speaker 1: the quick music. It's dreadful to know that her hit.
1:01
Speaker 1: She broke off in obedience to an imperative twitch of
1:04
Speaker 1: Richard's hands on hers. Don't he said, I have not
1:10
Speaker 1: to think, and I've heard that histories all lies. Perhaps
1:15
Speaker 1: they'll always be happy like they are now. The only
1:18
Speaker 1: way to enjoy the past is not to think of
1:21
Speaker 1: the future, the past's future, I mean. And I've got
1:25
Speaker 1: something else to say to you, presently, he added, rather sternly.
1:30
Speaker 1: The ring broke up into an elaborate figure. The children
1:34
Speaker 1: found themselves fingering the colored ribbons that hung from the
1:38
Speaker 1: maypool that was the center of their dance, Whining, intertwining,
1:43
Speaker 1: handing on the streamers to other small, competent fingers, in
1:48
Speaker 1: and out, in and out, a most complicated dance. It
1:54
Speaker 1: was pleasant to find that one's feet knew it, though
1:57
Speaker 1: one's brain could not have foreseen any more more than
2:00
Speaker 1: it could have remembered how the figures went. There were
2:04
Speaker 1: two rings round the maypole, the inner ring, where Edred
2:08
Speaker 1: and Elfrida were of noble children in very fine clothes,
2:13
Speaker 1: and the outer ring of village children in close less fine,
2:18
Speaker 1: but quite as pretty. Music from a band of musicians
2:21
Speaker 1: on a raised platform decked with maybels and swinging cowslip
2:26
Speaker 1: polls inspired the dancers. The King and Queen had reined
2:31
Speaker 1: up their horses and watched the play well pleased, And
2:35
Speaker 1: suddenly the dance ended, and the children formed into line
2:39
Speaker 1: were saluting the royal onlookers. A fertiles and footed right
2:45
Speaker 1: feetly said the King in a great jolly voice. Now
2:49
Speaker 1: get your win, my merry men, all, and give us
2:52
Speaker 1: a song for the honor of the may Queen and
2:55
Speaker 1: of my dear lady. Here there was whispering and discussion.
3:00
Speaker 1: Then Richard Arden stepped out in front of the group
3:03
Speaker 1: of green clad noble children with a willing heart, My liech,
3:08
Speaker 1: he said, but first a song of the King's good majesty.
3:13
Speaker 1: And with that all the children began to sing. The
3:16
Speaker 1: hunt is up, the hunt is up, and it's well
3:19
Speaker 1: night day, and Harry, our king, is gone a hunting
3:23
Speaker 1: to bring his deer to bay. It is a rousing tune.
3:27
Speaker 1: And it was only afterwards that Edred and Elfrida were
3:31
Speaker 1: surprised to find that they knew it quite well. But
3:34
Speaker 1: even while they were singing, Elfrida was turning over in
3:38
Speaker 1: her mind the old question. Could anything they did have
3:42
Speaker 1: any effect on the past. It seemed impossible that it
3:46
Speaker 1: should not be so. If one could get a word
3:49
Speaker 1: alone with that happy, stately lady on the white horse,
3:53
Speaker 1: if one could warn her, could help Somehow, The thought
3:58
Speaker 1: of the bear's scaffold and the black block came to
4:01
Speaker 1: Elfrida so strongly that she almost thought she saw them
4:05
Speaker 1: darkling among the swede sun doubled leaves of the greenwood.
4:11
Speaker 1: Somebody was pulling at her green skirt, an old woman
4:14
Speaker 1: in a cap that fitted tightly and hid all her hair,
4:18
Speaker 1: an old woman who was saying, go to her, go
4:22
Speaker 1: and pushing her forward. Some One else put a big
4:25
Speaker 1: bunch of wild flowers into her hand, and this person
4:29
Speaker 1: also pushed her forward and forward. She had to go
4:33
Speaker 1: quite alone, the nosegay in her hand, across the open
4:38
Speaker 1: space of greensward, under the eyes of several hundreds of people,
4:43
Speaker 1: all in their best clothes, and all watching her. She
4:47
Speaker 1: went on till she came to the spot where the
4:50
Speaker 1: King and Queen were, And then she paused and dropped
4:54
Speaker 1: two kurtses, one to each of them. Then, quite without
4:58
Speaker 1: meaning to do it, she found herself saying, may day,
5:02
Speaker 1: may day, this is the happy play day. All the
5:06
Speaker 1: woods with flowers are gay. Lords and ladies come and play.
5:12
Speaker 1: Lords and ladies, rich and poor, come to the wild
5:15
Speaker 1: wood's open door. Hins and yeomen, Queen and King, come
5:20
Speaker 1: do honor to the spring and join us in our
5:24
Speaker 1: merry making. And when she had said that, she made
5:28
Speaker 1: two more nice little courtesies, and handed up the flowers
5:32
Speaker 1: to the queen. If we had known your majesty's purpose,
5:36
Speaker 1: said the tall, narrow faced man in a long gown,
5:39
Speaker 1: your Majesty had had another than this rustic welcome. Our purpose,
5:45
Speaker 1: said the King, was to surprise you. The Earl of Arden,
5:49
Speaker 1: you say, is hence his son and daughter are here
5:52
Speaker 1: to do homage to your highness, said the gown man.
5:55
Speaker 1: And then Elfrida saw that Edrid was beside her. Hither alodd,
6:00
Speaker 1: said the King, and reaching down a hand caught Edred's.
6:04
Speaker 1: Your foot on mine, said his majesty so, and he
6:08
Speaker 1: swung Edred up on to the saddle in front of him.
6:11
Speaker 1: Elfrida drew nearer to the white horse as the Queen
6:14
Speaker 1: beckoned her, and the Queen stooped low over her saddle
6:18
Speaker 1: to ask her name. Now was the moment that Elfrida
6:22
Speaker 1: had wished for. Now was the chance, if ever, to.
6:27
Speaker 2: Warn the queen.
6:29
Speaker 1: Elfrida ardens my name, she said, Your Majesty, May I
6:33
Speaker 1: say something? Say on, said the queen, raising fine eyebrows
6:39
Speaker 1: but smiling too. I should like to come quite close
6:42
Speaker 1: and whisper, said Elfrida, stoutly. Thou't a bold lass, said
6:47
Speaker 1: the Queen, but she stooped still lower. I want to
6:50
Speaker 1: warn you, said Elfrida, quickly, whispering. And don't not pay
6:54
Speaker 1: attention because I'm only little girl. I know you may
6:59
Speaker 1: think I don't no, but I do. I want to
7:02
Speaker 1: warn you already once this morning, I have been warned,
7:06
Speaker 1: said the Queen. What croaking voices for may day? Who
7:10
Speaker 1: warned you, your majesty? An old hag who came to
7:13
Speaker 1: my chamber in spite of my maid's said she had
7:17
Speaker 1: a maide charm to keep my looks and my lord's love.
7:20
Speaker 1: What was the charm, Elfrida asked, eagerly for getting to
7:24
Speaker 1: say majesty again. It was quite simple, said the Queen.
7:29
Speaker 1: It was to keep my looks and my love so
7:31
Speaker 1: long as I never dropped the kerchief. But if I
7:34
Speaker 1: dropped the kerchief, I should lose more than my looks
7:37
Speaker 1: and my love, she said, I should lose my head.
7:40
Speaker 1: The Queen laughed low. Within certain days from the dropping
7:44
Speaker 1: of that kerchief, This head you see here, she laughed again. Don't, oh, don't,
7:50
Speaker 1: said Elfrida. Nineteen days that's the warnin. I do hope
7:55
Speaker 1: it'll do some good. I do like you, dear Queen.
7:59
Speaker 1: You are so strong and splendid. I would like to
8:02
Speaker 1: be like you when I grow up. The Queen's fine
8:05
Speaker 1: face looked troubled. Please Heaven, thou'lt be better than I,
8:10
Speaker 1: she said, stooping lower still from her horse, Elfrida. Standing
8:14
Speaker 1: on tiptoe, she kissed her. Oh, do be careful, said Elfrida,
8:20
Speaker 1: your darling head.
8:22
Speaker 2: And the queen kissed her again.
8:24
Speaker 1: Then a noise rather like bagpipes rose shrill, and suddenly
8:29
Speaker 1: all drew back, making room for the rustic mates and
8:32
Speaker 1: swains to tread the country dance. Other instruments joined in,
8:37
Speaker 1: and suddenly the king cried a merry tune that calls
8:42
Speaker 1: to the feet, Come, my sweeting, shall we tread immeasure
8:46
Speaker 1: with the rest? So down they came from their horses,
8:49
Speaker 1: King and Queen and led the country dance, laughing and
8:53
Speaker 1: gay as any country lad alas Elfrida could have cried.
8:58
Speaker 1: It seemed such a pity that every body should not
9:00
Speaker 1: always be good and happy as everybody looked to day.
9:04
Speaker 1: The king had sprung from his horse with edred in
9:07
Speaker 1: his arms, and now he and his sister drew back
9:10
Speaker 1: towards cousin Richard, how pretty it all is, said Edred.
9:15
Speaker 1: I should like to stay here forever if I were you,
9:19
Speaker 1: said Richard, very disagreeably. Indeed, I would not stay here
9:23
Speaker 1: an hour. Why is it dangerous? Will they cut our
9:27
Speaker 1: heads off? Not that I know of, said cousin Richard,
9:31
Speaker 1: still thoroughly disagreeable. I wasn't thinking about your heads. There
9:36
Speaker 1: are more important things than your heads in the world.
9:39
Speaker 1: I should think, not so very much more, said Elfrida
9:43
Speaker 1: meekly to us. I mean, and what are you so
9:46
Speaker 1: cross about?
9:48
Speaker 2: I should have thought.
9:49
Speaker 1: Richard was beginning when the old woman who told Elfrida
9:53
Speaker 1: to go forward with the nose gare of ceremony, sidled
9:57
Speaker 1: up to them. Into the watch, my ChIL dren, she whispered,
10:01
Speaker 1: quickly into the woods. In a moment, the queen will
10:04
Speaker 1: burst into tears, and the king will have scant kindness
10:08
Speaker 1: for those whose warnings subset his queen to weeping. They
10:12
Speaker 1: backed into the bushes, and the green leaves close behind
10:16
Speaker 1: the floor, quick said the witch. This way They followed
10:20
Speaker 1: her through the wood, under oaks and yew trees, pressing
10:24
Speaker 1: through hazels and chestnuts to a path. Now run, she said,
10:28
Speaker 1: and herself led the way nimbly enough for one of
10:31
Speaker 1: her great age. Their run brought them to a thinning
10:35
Speaker 1: of the wood, then out of it, on to the downs,
10:39
Speaker 1: whence they could see Arden Castle and its moat and
10:42
Speaker 1: the sea. Now the old woman said, mark well, the
10:47
Speaker 1: spot where the moat stream rises. It is there that
10:51
Speaker 1: the smuggler's cave was when Betty Lovell foretold the landing
10:55
Speaker 1: of the French. Why, said drid and Efrida, you the
11:00
Speaker 1: witch again? You're better lovel Oh else.
11:04
Speaker 2: Said the old woman.
11:05
Speaker 1: Now call on the moliwarp and hasten back to your
11:08
Speaker 1: own time. For the King will raise the country against
11:12
Speaker 1: the child who has made is sweetened to shed tears.
11:15
Speaker 1: And she will tell him she keeps nothing from him.
11:18
Speaker 1: And yet she won't tell him about the kerchief. She will,
11:24
Speaker 1: and when she drops it on that other may day
11:26
Speaker 1: at Greenwich, he will remember. Come call your moliwarp and
11:31
Speaker 1: haste away. But we've only just come, said Edred. And
11:35
Speaker 1: what's Elfrida been up to? Oh bother, said Elfrida. I
11:40
Speaker 1: want to know what Richard meant about our heads not
11:43
Speaker 1: being important. Your heads will be most important if you
11:47
Speaker 1: wait here much longer, said the witch sharply, come, Shall
11:52
Speaker 1: I call the mouldiwarp? Or will you you do? Said Elfrida.
11:57
Speaker 1: I say, Dickie, what did you mean? Do? Tell us
12:00
Speaker 1: there's a deer. Betty Lovell was tearing up the short
12:04
Speaker 1: turf in patches and pulling the lamps of chok from
12:07
Speaker 1: under it. Help me, she cried, or I shan't be
12:10
Speaker 1: in time. So they all helped. Couldn't Dick go with
12:14
Speaker 1: us if we have to go, said Elfrida. Suddenly, no,
12:18
Speaker 1: said Richard, I'm not going to so there. Why Elfrida ghasped,
12:23
Speaker 1: tugging at a great piece of chok, Because I shan't
12:27
Speaker 1: then tell us what you meant before the mouldiwarp comes.
12:31
Speaker 1: You can't, said a little voice, Because it's come now.
12:35
Speaker 1: Everyone sat back on its heels and watched. We're out
12:39
Speaker 1: of the earth. The wild mouldiwarp was squeezing itself between
12:43
Speaker 1: two blocks of chalk into the sunlight. Why I hadn't
12:47
Speaker 1: said any poetry, said Elfrida. I hadn't made the triangle
12:51
Speaker 1: and the arch, said old Betty Lovell. Well if I
12:55
Speaker 1: ever did, I've been here, said the mole, looking round
12:59
Speaker 1: with something astonishingly like a smile. Of triumph all the time.
13:05
Speaker 1: Why shouldn't I go where I do? Please? Now sin again?
13:09
Speaker 1: Why should I alas wait on your bidding, eh, it
13:13
Speaker 1: asked a little pettishly. No reason at all, said Elfrida kindly.
13:18
Speaker 1: And now, dear dear Mouldiwarp, please take us away. A
13:23
Speaker 1: confused sound of shouting, mixed with the barking of dogs
13:26
Speaker 1: hurried her words.
13:27
Speaker 2: A little.
13:28
Speaker 1: The hunt is up, said the old witch nurse. I
13:32
Speaker 1: don't hold with hunting, said the Mouldiwarp hastily, nor yet
13:37
Speaker 1: with dogs. I never could abide dogs. Drat the nasty, noisy,
13:42
Speaker 1: toothy things. Here, come inside inside, where said Dred, Inside
13:48
Speaker 1: my house, said the mole. And then whether they all
13:52
Speaker 1: got smaller, or whether the crack in the choct bigger,
13:55
Speaker 1: they never quite knew, but they found themselves walking that crack.
14:00
Speaker 1: One by one. Only Elfrida got hold of Richard's hand
14:04
Speaker 1: and held it fast, though he wriggled and twisted to
14:07
Speaker 1: get it free. I'm not going back to your own
14:11
Speaker 1: times with you, he said. I'll go my own way.
14:15
Speaker 1: Where to, said Elfrida, To where ever I choose, said
14:21
Speaker 1: Richard savagely, and regained possession of his own hand.
14:24
Speaker 2: It was too late.
14:26
Speaker 1: The chalk had closed over them all. As the chok
14:29
Speaker 1: had closed so thoroughly that not a gleam of daylight.
14:32
Speaker 2: Could be seen.
14:33
Speaker 1: You might have expected the air they had to breathe
14:36
Speaker 1: to be close and stuffy, not a bit of it.
14:40
Speaker 1: Coming into the Mouldiwarf's house out of the maid sunshine
14:44
Speaker 1: was like coming out of a human house into the
14:47
Speaker 1: freshness of a May night. But it was darker than
14:51
Speaker 1: any night that ever was. Elfrida got hold of Edred's hand,
14:56
Speaker 1: and then of Richard's. She always tried to remember what
15:00
Speaker 1: she was told, and the Mouldiwarf had said, always hold
15:04
Speaker 1: hands when there's magic about. Richard let his hand be taken.
15:09
Speaker 1: But he said, quite sternly. You understand I meant what
15:13
Speaker 1: I say. I won't go back to their times with them.
15:17
Speaker 1: You were much nicer in James the First's time, said Elfrida.
15:22
Speaker 1: Then a sound like thunder shook the earth overhead, an
15:26
Speaker 1: almost deafening noise that made them thrill and holy shather
15:30
Speaker 1: very tight. It's only the King's horses and the King's
15:34
Speaker 1: men hunting after you.
15:35
Speaker 2: Said the Mouldiwarf cheerfully.
15:38
Speaker 1: Now I go and make a white clock for you
15:40
Speaker 1: to go home on. You set where you be and
15:43
Speaker 1: don't touch nothing till I be come back again. Left
15:46
Speaker 1: alone in the fresh, deep darkness, Elfrida persisted in her questions,
15:51
Speaker 1: why don't you want to come with us to our times?
15:55
Speaker 1: I hate your times. They're ugly, they're cruel, said Richard.
16:00
Speaker 1: They don't cut your head off for nothing anyhow in
16:04
Speaker 1: our times, said Edred. And shut you up in the tower.
16:08
Speaker 1: They do worse things, Richard said. I know. They made
16:13
Speaker 1: people work fourteen hours a day for nine shillings a week,
16:17
Speaker 1: so that they never have enough to eat or wear,
16:20
Speaker 1: and no time to sleep or to be happy. In
16:23
Speaker 1: They won't give people food or clothes or let them
16:26
Speaker 1: work to get them, and then they put the people
16:29
Speaker 1: in prison if they take enough to keep them alive.
16:32
Speaker 1: They let people get horrid diseases till their jaws drop off.
16:37
Speaker 1: So as to have a particular kind of China. Women
16:41
Speaker 1: have to go out to work instead of looking after
16:43
Speaker 1: their babies, and the little girl that's left in charge
16:47
Speaker 1: drops the baby and it's crippled for life. Oh, I know,
16:52
Speaker 1: I won't go back with you. You might keep me
16:56
Speaker 1: there forever, he shuddered. I wouldn't and I can't help
17:01
Speaker 1: about people working and not enough money in that.
17:04
Speaker 2: Said Edred.
17:05
Speaker 1: If I were Lord Arden, said Richard through the darkness,
17:09
Speaker 1: I'd make a wow.
17:11
Speaker 2: And I'd keep it too, never to.
17:13
Speaker 1: Have a day's holiday or do a single thing I
17:17
Speaker 1: like till all those things were stopped. But in your
17:21
Speaker 1: time nobody cares. It's not true, said Elfrida. We do
17:27
Speaker 1: care when we know all about it, only we can't
17:31
Speaker 1: do anything. I am Lord Arden, said Edred. And when
17:36
Speaker 1: I grow up, I'll do what you say. I shall
17:39
Speaker 1: be in the House of Lords, I think, And of
17:43
Speaker 1: course the House of Lords would have to pay attention
17:45
Speaker 1: to me when I said things. I'll remember everything you
17:49
Speaker 1: say and tell them about it. You're not grown up yet,
17:53
Speaker 1: said Richard. And your father's Lord Arden, not you. Father's dead,
17:58
Speaker 1: you know, said Elfrida in a hushed voice. How do
18:01
Speaker 1: you know, asked Richard. There was a letter. Do you
18:05
Speaker 1: think I'd trust a letter? Richard asked indignantly if I
18:10
Speaker 1: hadn't seen my daddy lying dead, do you think I'd
18:13
Speaker 1: believe it? Not till I'd gone back and seen how
18:16
Speaker 1: he died and where and had vengeance on the man
18:20
Speaker 1: who'd killed him, But he wasn't killed. How do you
18:24
Speaker 1: know you've been hunting for the beastly treasure and never
18:28
Speaker 1: even try to go back to the time when he
18:30
Speaker 1: was alive, such a little time ago and find out
18:33
Speaker 1: what really did.
18:34
Speaker 2: Happen to him.
18:36
Speaker 1: I didn't know we could, said Elfrida, choking, And even
18:40
Speaker 1: if we could, it wouldn't be right, would it. Aunt
18:44
Speaker 1: Edith said he was in heaven. We couldn't go there.
18:47
Speaker 1: You know, it isn't like history, It's all different. Well, then,
18:52
Speaker 1: said Richard, I shall have to tell you. You know,
18:56
Speaker 1: I'd rather took a fancy to you two kids that
18:58
Speaker 1: gunpowder plot time, And after you'd gone back to your
19:02
Speaker 1: own times, asked Betty Lovell who you were, and she
19:05
Speaker 1: said you were Lord Arden. So the next time I
19:08
Speaker 1: wanted to get away from from where I was, I
19:11
Speaker 1: gave orders to be taken to Lord Arden. And it
19:14
Speaker 1: come along, do dear, said the sudden voice of the mouldiwarp.
19:19
Speaker 1: The clock's already a soft light was pressing against their eyes,
19:23
Speaker 1: growing growing. They saw now that they were in a
19:27
Speaker 1: great chalk cave, the Smuggler's cave. Edred had hardly a doubt,
19:32
Speaker 1: And in the middle of its floor of smooth sand
19:36
Speaker 1: was a great clock face, figures and hands, and all
19:40
Speaker 1: made of softly gleaming pearls set in ivory. Light seemed
19:45
Speaker 1: to flow from this and to be reflected back on
19:48
Speaker 1: it by the white chalk walls. It was the most
19:52
Speaker 1: beautiful piece of jeweler's work that the children, or I
19:56
Speaker 1: imagine any one else, had ever seen. Sit on the
20:00
Speaker 1: minute hand, said the mouldiwarp, and home you go. But
20:05
Speaker 1: I can't go, said Edred grimly, till I've heard what
20:08
Speaker 1: Richard was saying. He'll be caught then by the king
20:11
Speaker 1: and his soldiers.
20:12
Speaker 2: Said the witch.
20:14
Speaker 1: I must risk that, said.
20:15
Speaker 2: Edred quite quietly.
20:17
Speaker 1: I will not go near the white clock till Richard
20:20
Speaker 1: has told me what he means. I'll give him one minute,
20:23
Speaker 1: said the mouliwarp crossly, Not no more than that. I'm
20:27
Speaker 1: sick to death of it. So I am. Oh, don't
20:32
Speaker 1: be cross, said Elfrida. I paint, said the mouliwarf, not
20:37
Speaker 1: under my fur. It's this chopping change. I will and
20:41
Speaker 1: I won't, as makes me so worritable. Tell me what
20:45
Speaker 1: did you mean about my father?
20:48
Speaker 2: Edred said again.
20:49
Speaker 1: I tried to find you. I asked for Lord Arden.
20:52
Speaker 1: What I found wasn't you. It was your father and
20:56
Speaker 1: the time was your time. July nineteen eight. What cried
21:01
Speaker 1: Dred and Elfrida together. Your father. He's alive, don't you understand?
21:06
Speaker 1: And you've been bothering about finding treasure instead of finding him.
21:10
Speaker 1: Daddy alive. Elfrida clung to her brother. Oh it's not
21:16
Speaker 1: right mixing him up with magic and things.
21:19
Speaker 2: Oh you're cruel.
21:20
Speaker 1: I hate you, I know well enough. I shall never
21:23
Speaker 1: see my daddy again. You will if you aren't little
21:28
Speaker 1: cowards as well as little duffers, said Richard scornfully. You
21:32
Speaker 1: go and find him, that's what you've got to do.
21:35
Speaker 1: So long and with that, before the mouldiwarp or the
21:38
Speaker 1: nurse could interfere, he had leaped on to the long
21:42
Speaker 1: pearl and ivory minute hand of the clock and said home,
21:46
Speaker 1: just as duchesses and other people do to their coachman
21:50
Speaker 1: or footmen. And before anything could be done, the hands
21:53
Speaker 1: of the clock began to go round, slowly at first,
21:56
Speaker 1: then faster and faster, till at last they went so
22:00
Speaker 1: fast that they became quite invisible. The ivory and pearl
22:05
Speaker 1: figures of the clock could still be seen on the
22:07
Speaker 1: sand of the cave. Edred and Elfrida, still clinging together,
22:12
Speaker 1: turned appealing eyes to the Mouldiwarf. They expected it to
22:16
Speaker 1: a very angry indeed, instead of which it seemed to
22:19
Speaker 1: be smiling. Did you ever see a white mole smile?
22:23
Speaker 2: No?
22:24
Speaker 1: But then perhaps you have never seen a white mole,
22:27
Speaker 1: and you cannot see a smile without seeing the smiler, except,
22:31
Speaker 1: of course, in the case of Cheshi CAATs. Is a
22:34
Speaker 1: bold boy, A brave boy, said the witch, Ah, said
22:38
Speaker 1: the Mouldiwarf. He be summat like an arden. Here beam
22:43
Speaker 1: Edrid detached himself from Elfrida and stiffened with the resol
22:47
Speaker 1: to show the mouldiwarp that he too was not so
22:50
Speaker 1: unlike an arden, as it had too hastily supposed. Can't
22:55
Speaker 1: we get home, Elfrida asked timidly. Can't you make us
22:59
Speaker 1: another white or something? Waste not? Want not?
23:02
Speaker 2: Said the mole.
23:04
Speaker 1: Always wear out your old clocks, afore you buy some
23:07
Speaker 1: new ones. Soon he gets off the hand, the clock
23:11
Speaker 1: will stop. Then you can get on it and go
23:13
Speaker 1: safe home. But suppose the king finds us, said Elfrida.
23:18
Speaker 1: He shan't, said Betty Lovell. You open the chalky door,
23:22
Speaker 1: mold in my love, and I'll keep the king quiet
23:25
Speaker 1: till the young people's gone home.
23:28
Speaker 2: They'll tuck you for a witch, said.
23:30
Speaker 1: The Mouldiwarf, and he did not seem to mind the
23:33
Speaker 1: familiar way in which Betty spoke to it. Well, it's
23:36
Speaker 1: a warm day, said Betty. By the time they get
23:40
Speaker 1: me to the pond, you'll be safe away, and the
23:42
Speaker 1: watter'll be nice and cool. Oh no, said Edred and
23:47
Speaker 1: Elfrida together you'll be drowned. And Edred added I couldn't
23:51
Speaker 1: allow that unless your silly little hearts, said the Mouldiwarf.
23:56
Speaker 1: She won't drown, She'll just get home by the back door,
24:01
Speaker 1: that's all. There's a door at the bottom of every pond,
24:04
Speaker 1: if you can only find it. So Betty Lovell went
24:07
Speaker 1: out through the chalk to meet the anger of the
24:10
Speaker 1: king with two kisses on her cheeks. And suddenly there
24:15
Speaker 1: was the pearl and ivory clock again, all complete, meant
24:19
Speaker 1: hand and our hand and second hand. Drid and Elfrida
24:23
Speaker 1: sat down on the minute hand, and before the mouldiwarp
24:26
Speaker 1: could open its long, narrow mouth to say a word,
24:31
Speaker 1: Drid called out in a firm voice, take us to
24:34
Speaker 1: where Daddy is, for he had learnt from Richard that
24:38
Speaker 1: white clocks can be ordered about. And the minute hand
24:41
Speaker 1: of Pearl and Ivory began to move faster and faster
24:45
Speaker 1: and faster, till if there had been any one to
24:49
Speaker 1: look at it, it would have been invisible. But there
24:53
Speaker 1: wasn't any one to look at it, for the mouldiwarp
24:56
Speaker 1: had leapt on to the our hand at the last moment,
25:00
Speaker 1: and was hanging on there by all its claws. End
25:05
Speaker 1: of Section seventeen