Latest / Science Fiction Books - Daily / 15 - The House of Arden - E Nesbit
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, Developments, Part two, and then the two children
- 0:07Speaker 1: went down to Old Bee's. There were roses in his
- 0:10Speaker 1: garden now, and white English flags and loupins and tall
- 0:15Speaker 1: foxgloves bordering the little brick path. Old Bee was sitting
- 0:19Speaker 1: on a brown windsor chair, as Edred said, in the sun.
- 0:23Speaker 1: By his front door. Overi's head was a jack door
- 0:26Speaker 1: in a wicker cage. And Elfrida did not approve of
- 0:29Speaker 1: this till she saw the cage door was open, and
- 0:33Speaker 1: that the jack door was sitting in the cage because
- 0:36Speaker 1: he liked it, and not because he must. She had
- 0:40Speaker 1: been in prison in the tower, you remember, and people
- 0:44Speaker 1: who have been in prison never liked to see live
- 0:47Speaker 1: things in cages. There was a tabby and white cat
- 0:52Speaker 1: of squarish shape sitting on the wooden threshold. Why are
- 0:56Speaker 1: cats who live in country cottages almost always stabby and
- 1:01Speaker 1: white and squarish. The feathery tail of a brown spaniel
- 1:06Speaker 1: flogged the flags lazily in the patch of shade made
- 1:09Speaker 1: by the water butt. It was a picture of rural peace,
- 1:13Speaker 1: and Old Beal was asleep in the middle of it.
- 1:17Speaker 1: I am glad to tell you that Lord Arden and
- 1:20Speaker 1: his sister were polite enough to wait till he awoke
- 1:23Speaker 1: of his own accord. Instead of shouting high or rattling
- 1:27Speaker 1: the smooth brown iron latch of the gate, as some
- 1:31Speaker 1: children would have done, they just sat down on the
- 1:35Speaker 1: dry grassy bank opposite his gate and looked at the
- 1:38Speaker 1: blue and white butterflies, and the flowers and the green
- 1:42Speaker 1: potato tops through the green, gray garden palings. And while
- 1:47Speaker 1: they sat there, Elfrida had an idea so sudden and
- 1:51Speaker 1: so good that it made her jump. But she said nothing,
- 1:55Speaker 1: and Edred said, pinch the place hard, and if it
- 1:58Speaker 1: is still there, you'll perhaps, for he thought she had
- 2:02Speaker 1: jumped because she had been bitten by an aunt. When
- 2:06Speaker 1: they finished looking at the butterflies and the red roses
- 2:09Speaker 1: and the green growing things, they looked long and steadily
- 2:13Speaker 1: at Old Beal, and of course he awoke, as people
- 2:17Speaker 1: always do if you look at them long enough and
- 2:20Speaker 1: hard enough. And he got up rather shaking, and put
- 2:24Speaker 1: his hand to his forehead and said, my lord, how
- 2:28Speaker 1: are you, said Elfrida. We haven't found the treasure yet,
- 2:32Speaker 1: but ye will ye? Will, said Old Beal come into
- 2:37Speaker 1: the house now, or will ye come round along to
- 2:40Speaker 1: the arbor and have a drink of milk. We'd as
- 2:44Speaker 1: soon stay here, said Edred. They had come through the
- 2:47Speaker 1: gate now, and Edreth was patting the brown spaniel, while
- 2:51Speaker 1: Elfrida strove the squarish cat. Missus Honey said, said you
- 2:55Speaker 1: knew all the stories, ah, said old Beale, A fine girl,
- 3:02Speaker 1: Missus Hornyset. Her father had Cellinge Farm where the fairies
- 3:07Speaker 1: churned the butter for the bride. So long as there's
- 3:10Speaker 1: no cross words, they don't ever get too much to
- 3:14Speaker 1: do them fairies. He chuckled, sighed, and said, I know
- 3:19Speaker 1: a power of tales, and I know always I do
- 3:24Speaker 1: which it is that people want. What you're after is
- 3:28Speaker 1: the story of the East House, isn't it now? It's
- 3:32Speaker 1: the old man a failing of his wits, or isn't
- 3:35Speaker 1: he We want to know, said Dred companionably, sharing the
- 3:40Speaker 1: flagstone with the feather tail spaniel. The story. But by
- 3:44Speaker 1: that part of the house in the castle is shut
- 3:47Speaker 1: up and all cub wibby and dusty and rusty and musty.
- 3:52Speaker 1: And whether there's any reason why it shouldn't be all
- 3:55Speaker 1: cleaned up and made nice again if we find the treasure,
- 3:58Speaker 1: so that we got enough money to pay for new
- 4:01Speaker 1: curtains and carpets and things. It's a sad tale, that,
- 4:07Speaker 1: said old Beal, A tale for old folks or middle
- 4:11Speaker 1: aged folks, let's say, not for children. You'd never understand
- 4:16Speaker 1: it if I was to tell it. You likelis not.
- 4:20Speaker 1: We like grown up stories, said Elfrida with dignity. Then
- 4:24Speaker 1: Dred added, we can understand anything that grown ups understand
- 4:29Speaker 1: if it is told us properly. I understand all about
- 4:32Speaker 1: the laws of gravitation and why the sun doesn't go
- 4:35Speaker 1: round the Earth but does the opposite. I understood that directly.
- 4:41Speaker 1: Aunt Edith explained it, and about fixed stars and the
- 4:44Speaker 1: spectroscope and microbes, and the equator not being real, and
- 4:49Speaker 1: and heaps of things. Ah, said Old Beal, admiringly. You'll
- 4:56Speaker 1: be a busting with book learnin' afore you come true
- 5:00Speaker 1: your twenty one I lay, I only hope the half
- 5:04Speaker 1: of it's true, and they are not deceiving of you.
- 5:07Speaker 1: A trusting innocent I never did hold myself with that
- 5:12Speaker 1: about the sun not moving, why you can see it
- 5:15Speaker 1: A doin of it with your own naked eyes any
- 5:19Speaker 1: day of the week. You wouldn't deceive anyone said Elfrida, gently,
- 5:25Speaker 1: do tell us the story, so old Beale began, and
- 5:29Speaker 1: he began like this. It was a long time ago,
- 5:34Speaker 1: before my time even it was, but not so long
- 5:37Speaker 1: afore cause I can recommember my father talking about it.
- 5:43Speaker 1: He was coachman at the castle when it all happened,
- 5:46Speaker 1: so of course he knew everything there was to know,
- 5:51Speaker 1: my mother, having been the housekeeper and gone through it
- 5:54Speaker 1: all with the family. There was a miss Elfrida then,
- 5:58Speaker 1: same as there is now, only she was older. And
- 6:02Speaker 1: what you are, missy, And the gentleman lads from far
- 6:06Speaker 1: and near they come accorting her. For she was a
- 6:09Speaker 1: fine girl, a real beauty, with hair as black as
- 6:14Speaker 1: a coal, and eyes like the sea when it's beating
- 6:18Speaker 1: up for a storm before the white horses comes along.
- 6:23Speaker 1: So I've heard my father say, not that I ever
- 6:26Speaker 1: see her myself. And she kept her pretty head in
- 6:30Speaker 1: the air and wouldn't turn it this way or that
- 6:34Speaker 1: forever one of them all. And the old Lord he
- 6:38Speaker 1: loved her too dear to press her against her wish
- 6:42Speaker 1: and will, and her so young, so she stayed single
- 6:47Speaker 1: and watched the sea. What did she do that? For
- 6:51Speaker 1: Dred asked to see if her sweetheartship wasn't a coming home,
- 6:57Speaker 1: for she'd got a sweetheart right enough she had unbeknown
- 7:01Speaker 1: to all it was her cousin Dick, and never do well,
- 7:06Speaker 1: if ever there was one. And it turned out afterwards
- 7:10Speaker 1: she'd broken the sixpence with him and swore to be
- 7:14Speaker 1: ever true, and he'd gone overseas to find a fortune.
- 7:18Speaker 1: And so she watched the sea every day regular, and
- 7:23Speaker 1: every day regular he didn't come. But every day another
- 7:27Speaker 1: young chap used to come a riding, a fine young
- 7:31Speaker 1: gentleman and well to do. But he was the same
- 7:35Speaker 1: kidney as Master Dick, only he'd got a fine fortune,
- 7:40Speaker 1: so his wild oats never got a chance to grow
- 7:43Speaker 1: strong like Dick's. Poor Dick, said Elfrida. Not so fast, missy,
- 7:50Speaker 1: said the old man. Well, her father and mother they said,
- 7:54Speaker 1: have him that's hair, and loves you, dare as the
- 7:58Speaker 1: saying is a ruin he was, and his christent name Arnold.
- 8:04Speaker 1: And she says no, But they keeps on saying yes,
- 8:08Speaker 1: and he keeps on saying do. So they wears her down,
- 8:12Speaker 1: telling her Dick was drowned dead for sure, and I
- 8:16Speaker 1: don't know what all. And at last she says very well,
- 8:21Speaker 1: then I'll marry you if you can stand to marry
- 8:25Speaker 1: a girl that's got all her heart in the sea
- 8:28Speaker 1: alonge of a dead junk chap as she was promised to,
- 8:32Speaker 1: and the wedding was set for Christmas, Miss Elfrida. She
- 8:37Speaker 1: slept in the room in the east house that looks
- 8:39Speaker 1: out towards Ardnnell and the servants in the attics, and
- 8:44Speaker 1: the old people in the other part of the house.
- 8:48Speaker 1: And that night, when all was asleep, I think she
- 8:51Speaker 1: heard a tap tap at her window, and at first
- 8:55Speaker 1: she think it was the ivy, but no, so presently
- 9:01Speaker 1: she'd take heart to go to the window, and there
- 9:04Speaker 1: was a face outside that had climbed up by the ivy,
- 9:08Speaker 1: and it was her own true love that they told
- 9:12Speaker 1: her was drowned. How splendid, said Dred, How dreadful for
- 9:19Speaker 1: mister FreeWin, said Elfrida. That's what she thought, miss, And
- 9:24Speaker 1: she couldn't face it. So she puts on her riding
- 9:29Speaker 1: coat and gets out a window and down the ivy
- 9:32Speaker 1: with him and off to London. And in the morning,
- 9:36Speaker 1: when the bells began to ring for her wedding, and
- 9:39Speaker 1: the bridegroom came there wasn't no bride for him. She
- 9:44Speaker 1: left a letter to say she was very sorry, but
- 9:48Speaker 1: it had to be so. Then they shut up the
- 9:52Speaker 1: east house. So that's the story, said Elfrida, half of it,
- 9:58Speaker 1: Miss said u Bell. And he took out a black
- 10:01Speaker 1: clay pipe and a screw of tobacco, and very slowly
- 10:06Speaker 1: and carefully filled the pipe and lighted it before he
- 10:09Speaker 1: went on. They shut up the east house where she'd
- 10:13Speaker 1: been used to sleep, but it was kept sweep and dusty,
- 10:18Speaker 1: and the old fox was broken hearted for never a
- 10:21Speaker 1: word came from Miss Elfrida. And if I know anything
- 10:26Speaker 1: of the feelings of a parent, they kept on saying
- 10:29Speaker 1: to each other. She might have trusted us, she might
- 10:33Speaker 1: have known we'd never had denied her nothing. And then
- 10:38Speaker 1: one night there was a knock at the door, and
- 10:41Speaker 1: there was miss Elfrida. That was missus Dick, now with
- 10:45Speaker 1: her baby in her arms. Mister Dick was dead sudden
- 10:50Speaker 1: in an accident, and she'd come home to her father
- 10:54Speaker 1: and mother. They couldn't make enough of the poor young
- 10:58Speaker 1: thing and her baby. She had her old rooms and
- 11:02Speaker 1: there she lived, and she was getting a bit happier,
- 11:05Speaker 1: and worshiping of her baby and the old people worshiping it,
- 11:10Speaker 1: and her too. And then one night someone comes up
- 11:15Speaker 1: the ivy, same as Master dicted, and takes away not
- 11:19Speaker 1: her but the baby. How dreadful breathed Elfrida. Did they
- 11:27Speaker 1: get it back? Never, and never a word was ever
- 11:33Speaker 1: found out about who took it, or why or where
- 11:37Speaker 1: they took it to. Only a week or two after
- 11:41Speaker 1: mister Frevin was killed in the hunting field, and as
- 11:45Speaker 1: they picked him up, he said, Elfrida, tell Elfrida, And
- 11:51Speaker 1: he was trying to say what they was to tell her.
- 11:55Speaker 1: When he died, some folkshold as twas him, stole the
- 12:00Speaker 1: baby to be even, whether for jilting of him or else,
- 12:03Speaker 1: to pretend to find it and get her to marry
- 12:07Speaker 1: him out of gratitude. But no one'll ever know. And
- 12:12Speaker 1: the baby's mother she wore away bit by bit to
- 12:15Speaker 1: a shadow, and then she died. And after that the
- 12:19Speaker 1: East House was shut up for good, and all to
- 12:23Speaker 1: fall into rot and ruin like it's now. Don't you cry, missy?
- 12:29Speaker 1: I knowed you wouldn't like the story, but you would
- 12:33Speaker 1: have it. But don't you cry. It's all long ago,
- 12:38Speaker 1: and she and her baby and her young husband's all
- 12:41Speaker 1: been happy together in heaven this long time. Now, I lay,
- 12:47Speaker 1: I do like the story, said Elfrida Galpi. But it
- 12:52Speaker 1: is sad, isn't it. Thank you for telling it, Edred said,
- 12:57Speaker 1: But I don't think it's any good really, being unhap
- 13:00Speaker 1: happy about things that are so long ago and all
- 13:03Speaker 1: over and done with. I wish we could go back
- 13:06Speaker 1: into the past and find the baby for her. Elfrida whispered,
- 13:12Speaker 1: and Drid whispered back. It's the treasure we've got to find.
- 13:17Speaker 1: Excuse our whispering, mister Beale. Thank you for the story.
- 13:22Speaker 1: Oh and I wanted to ask you who owns the
- 13:25Speaker 1: land now? All the land about here, I mean that
- 13:28Speaker 1: used to belong to us Ardens, That Jackson Chap, said
- 13:33Speaker 1: Old Beale, him that made a fortune in the soap boiling,
- 13:38Speaker 1: the tallow King, they call him. But he's got too
- 13:41Speaker 1: rich for the house he is. Goot, he's bought a
- 13:45Speaker 1: bigger place in Yorkshire that used to belong to the
- 13:48Speaker 1: Duke of Sanderstey, and the arden lands are to be
- 13:51Speaker 1: sold next year, so I'm told, oh, said Edred, clasping
- 13:56Speaker 1: his hands. If we could only find the treasure and
- 14:00Speaker 1: buy back the land. We haven't forgotten what we said
- 14:03Speaker 1: the first time. If we found the treasure, we'd make
- 14:07Speaker 1: all the cottages comfortable, and you thatched everywhere. That's a
- 14:12Speaker 1: good lad, said Old Beale. You make haste and find
- 14:16Speaker 1: the treasure, and if you don't find it, never fret.
- 14:20Speaker 1: There's ways of helping other folks without finding a treasure.
- 14:25Speaker 1: So there is you come and see Old Beale again,
- 14:29Speaker 1: my lord. And I shouldn't wonder but what i'd have
- 14:32Speaker 1: a white rabbit for you next time you come along
- 14:35Speaker 1: this way. He is an old dear, said Elfrida as
- 14:40Speaker 1: they went home. And I do think the films will
- 14:43Speaker 1: be dry by the time we get back, but perhaps
- 14:45Speaker 1: we'd better not print them till tomorrow morning. There's plenty
- 14:49Speaker 1: of light to day, said Ydred, And Elfrida said, I say, well,
- 14:55Speaker 1: did you notice the kind of clothes we wore in
- 14:57Speaker 1: those pictures where they were stowing away the treasure? Oh,
- 15:02Speaker 1: groaned Edred, recall to sense of his wrongs. If only
- 15:06Speaker 1: missus Honeyset hadn't opened the door just when she did,
- 15:11Speaker 1: we should know exactly where the treasure was. It was
- 15:14Speaker 1: the West Tower they took it too, wasn't it I'm
- 15:18Speaker 1: not sure, said Elfrida. But and if had gone on,
- 15:23Speaker 1: we should have been sure. We should have seen them
- 15:25Speaker 1: come away again. Yes, said Elfrida, and again she remarked,
- 15:31Speaker 1: I say. Edrid again said well, well, suppose we looked
- 15:36Speaker 1: in the chests, we should be sure to find clothes
- 15:40Speaker 1: like those, and then we should be back there, living
- 15:43Speaker 1: in those times, and we could see the treasure put away,
- 15:47Speaker 1: and then we really should know. A one first class
- 15:52Speaker 1: ripping was Edred's enthusiastic rejoinder, Come on, I'll raise you
- 15:57Speaker 1: to the gate. And he did raise, sir, and won
- 16:01Speaker 1: by about thirty white mouldiwarp's legs. There had been no
- 16:05Speaker 1: quarrel now for quite a long time, if you count
- 16:08Speaker 1: as time the days spent in the Gunpowder plot adventure.
- 16:13Speaker 1: So the attic was easily found, and once more the
- 16:16Speaker 1: children stood among the chests, with the dusty roof and
- 16:19Speaker 1: the dusty sunbeams, and the glittering pigeon feet and the
- 16:23Speaker 1: soft pigeon noises overhead. Come on, cried Elfrida joyously, I
- 16:28Speaker 1: shall know the dress directly. I see it. Mine was
- 16:31Speaker 1: blue silk with sloping shoulders, and yours was black velvet
- 16:36Speaker 1: and a Fandyke collar. Together they flung back the lid
- 16:40Speaker 1: of a chest they had not yet opened. It held close,
- 16:44Speaker 1: far richer than any they had seen yet. The doublets
- 16:48Speaker 1: and cloaks and bodices were stiff with gold embroidery and jewels.
- 16:52Speaker 1: But there was no blue silk dress with sloping shoulders,
- 16:56Speaker 1: and no black velvet suit and Vandyke collar. Oh never mind,
- 17:02Speaker 1: said Edred, bundling the splendid close back by double armfuls.
- 17:07Speaker 1: Help me to smooth these down so that the lid
- 17:10Speaker 1: will shut properly, and we'll try the next chest. But
- 17:13Speaker 1: the lid would not shut at all till Elfrida had
- 17:15Speaker 1: taken all the things out and folded them properly, and
- 17:19Speaker 1: then it shut quite easily. Then they went on to
- 17:23Speaker 1: the next chest. I have a magic inside feeling that
- 17:27Speaker 1: they're in this one, said Elfrida gaily, And so they
- 17:31Speaker 1: may have been. The children never knew, for the next
- 17:35Speaker 1: chest was locked, and the utmost efforts of four small
- 17:39Speaker 1: arms failed to move the lid a hair's breadth. Oh bother,
- 17:44Speaker 1: said Edred. We'll try the next, but the next was
- 17:47Speaker 1: locked too, and the next, and the one after that,
- 17:50Speaker 1: and the one beyond, and well, the fact is they
- 17:54Speaker 1: were all locked. The children looked at each other in
- 17:57Speaker 1: something quite like despair. I feel, said the boy, like
- 18:03Speaker 1: a baffled burglar. I feel, said the girl, as if
- 18:07Speaker 1: I was just going to understand something. Oh wait a minute,
- 18:12Speaker 1: it's coming, I think, she added, very slowly. I think
- 18:17Speaker 1: it means if we go anywhere, we've got to go.
- 18:20Speaker 1: Wherever it was, they wore those glorious stiff gold clothes.
- 18:24Speaker 1: That's what the chest's open for. That's what the others
- 18:28Speaker 1: are looked for. See. Then let's put them on and go,
- 18:33Speaker 1: said Dred. I don't think I want any more Tower
- 18:37Speaker 1: of London's, said Elfrida, doubtfully. I don't mind what it is,
- 18:42Speaker 1: said Drid. I've found out one thing. We always come
- 18:46Speaker 1: safe out of it, whatever it is. And besides, he added,
- 18:51Speaker 1: remembering many talks with his good friend Sir Walter Rawleiy
- 18:55Speaker 1: an English gentleman must be afraid of nothing save God
- 18:59Speaker 1: and his conscience. Us all right, said Elfrida, laying hands
- 19:04Speaker 1: on the chest lid that hid the golden splendor. You
- 19:08Speaker 1: might help, she said, but Edred couldn't. He laid hands
- 19:12Speaker 1: on the chest, of course, and he pulled and Elfrida puddled,
- 19:16Speaker 1: But the chest lid was as fast now as any
- 19:19Speaker 1: of the others done in the eye, said Edred. It
- 19:25Speaker 1: was a very vulgar expression. And I can't think where
- 19:28Speaker 1: he picked it up. He that will not when he may,
- 19:33Speaker 1: he shall not when he would, ah, said Elfrida. And
- 19:37Speaker 1: I do know where she learned that. It was from
- 19:41Speaker 1: an old song Missus Honict used to sing when she
- 19:44Speaker 1: blackleaded the stoves. I suppose we must shuck it for
- 19:49Speaker 1: to day, said Edred, when he had quite hurt his
- 19:52Speaker 1: fingers by trying all the chests once more, and had
- 19:56Speaker 1: found that every single one was shut tight as wax.
- 20:00Speaker 1: Come on, we'll print the photographs. But the films were
- 20:04Speaker 1: not dry enough. They never are when you just expect
- 20:07Speaker 1: them to be. So they locked the steel room door
- 20:10Speaker 1: on the outside and hung the key on a nail
- 20:13Speaker 1: high up in the kitchen chimney. Missus Honyseet was not
- 20:17Speaker 1: in the kitchen at that moment, but she came hurrying
- 20:20Speaker 1: in the next Here you are, my lambs, she said cheerily,
- 20:26Speaker 1: and just in time for the surprise. Oh, I'd forgotten
- 20:31Speaker 1: the surprise. That makes two of it, doesn't it, said Elfrida,
- 20:36Speaker 1: do tell us what it is. We need a nice
- 20:39Speaker 1: surprise to make up for everything. If you only knew, ah,
- 20:44Speaker 1: said missus honyhet do you mean because of me opening
- 20:47Speaker 1: that there door? Well there is two surprises. One's roast
- 20:53Speaker 1: chicken for supper, she added impressively. Then I know the other,
- 20:58Speaker 1: said Edred. Aunt eid it's coming, and she was indeed
- 21:03Speaker 1: at that very moment. As they looked through the window,
- 21:06Speaker 1: they saw her blue dress coming over the hill and
- 21:09Speaker 1: joyously tore out to meet her. It was after the
- 21:14Speaker 1: roast chicken, when it was nearly dark and almost bedtime
- 21:19Speaker 1: that Aunt Edith said, suddenly, children, there's something I wanted
- 21:24Speaker 1: to tell you. I've hesitated about it a good deal,
- 21:28Speaker 1: but I think we oughtn't to have any secrets from
- 21:31Speaker 1: each other. Edred and Elfrida exchanged guilty glances. Not real secrets,
- 21:37Speaker 1: of course, said Edred hastily. But you don't mind our
- 21:41Speaker 1: having magic secrets, do you? Of course not, said Aunt Edith, smiling,
- 21:47Speaker 1: And what I'm going to tell you is rather like magic,
- 21:51Speaker 1: if it is true. I don't know yet whether it's
- 21:54Speaker 1: true or not. Here Aunt Edith put an arm round
- 21:58Speaker 1: each of the children, as they sat on the broad
- 22:01Speaker 1: window seat and swallowed something in her throat and sniffed.
- 22:05Speaker 1: Oh it's not bad news, is it, Elfrida cried, Oh,
- 22:10Speaker 1: darling Aunty, don't be miserable, and don't say that they
- 22:14Speaker 1: found out that Arden isn't ours, or that Edret isn't
- 22:18Speaker 1: really Lord Arden or something. Would you mind so very much,
- 22:23Speaker 1: said aunt Edy gently, if you warn't Lord Arden edred
- 22:28Speaker 1: because end of section fifteen