Latest / Classic Science Fiction Books / 07 - The House of Arden - E Nesbit

Transcript

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

0:00
Chapter five, The Highwayman and the they both meant what they said. And
0:07
yet, of course it is nonsense to promise that you will never do anything
0:10
again, because of course you must do something, if it's only simple subtraction
0:15
or eating poached eggs and sausages. You will, of course understand that what
0:21
they meant was that they would never again do anything to cause missus honey sat
0:24
a moment's uneasiness. And in order to make this possible, the first thing
0:29
to do, was, of course, to find out how to set the
0:31
clock back, slowly munching sausage and feeling, as she always did when she
0:37
ate slowly, that she was doing something very virtuous and ought to have a
0:41
prize or medal for it. Elfrida asked her mind to be kind enough to
0:45
get some poetry ready by the time she had finished breakfast, and sure enough,
0:49
her mind, in its own secret backyard, as it were, did
0:53
get something ready. And while this was happening, Elfrida, in what corresponded
0:57
to her mind's front garden, was wishing that she had been born a poet
1:02
like the one who did a piece about the favorite goldfish drowned in the top
1:06
of cats. She said, pensively. Yes, or even Shakespeare said Dred,
1:11
Only he's so long always. I wonder, said the girl. Where
1:15
the clock is that we've got to set back? Oh, MOULDIWARPI tell us,
1:21
said the boy, But Mouldiwarp didn't. When breakfast was over, they
1:25
went down into the grassy space, round which the ruined walls of the castle
1:29
rose up so grand and stately, with the wallflowers and toad flags growing out
1:33
of them, and sat down among the round faced, wife real daisies,
1:37
and told each other what they had thought, or what they thought they had
1:41
thought while they were back in those times when people were afraid of bony,
1:46
and the castle sward was very green, and the daisies were very white,
1:51
and the sun shone on everything very grand and golden. And as they sat
1:55
there, it came over Elfrida suddenly how good a place it was, and
1:59
how lucky they were to be there at home, at Arden, rather than
2:02
in the house with the pale, smooth brass door knocker that stood in the
2:07
street with the red pavement, and the lodgers who kept all on ringing their
2:10
bells, So that she said, quite without knowing she was going to say
2:15
anything, Arden, Arden, arden, lawn and castle and garden, daisies
2:22
and grass and wallflowers, gold, mouldiwarp come out of the mold. That's
2:28
more like poetry, that is, said a mouldiwarp sitting on the green grass
2:31
between the children, more like in anything I've heard you said, Yet so
2:36
tis and now then what is it for you? Desfind it not? It
2:40
seemed in such a good temper that Alfrida asked a question that had long tried
2:45
to get itself. Asked why was the question? And it was spoken to
2:50
the white mole. Why do you talk like the country people do such six
2:54
spun and bread, said the mole. But I know other talk six talks.
3:00
What they call racy of the soil means smells of the earth. Where
3:04
I live, I can talk all sorts, though I used to speak French
3:07
once on a time. Young fitzla signor you must know lots and lots,
3:13
said Edred. I do, said the mole. How old are you dri
3:19
asked, in spite of Elfrida's warning, Hush, it's rude, as old
3:23
as my tongue and a little older remy teeth, said the mole, showing
3:28
them, Ah, don't be cross, said Elfrida, and such a beautiful
3:32
day too, And just when we wanted you to show us how to put
3:36
back the clock. In all that's the deed, that is, said the
3:40
mole. But you've not quarreled this three days. So you can go where
3:45
you please and do what you will. Only you're in the way here.
3:47
If you want to stop the clock, get up into the gate tower and
3:51
look out, and we see the great clock face come down at once and
3:54
sit on the second hand. That'll stop it if anything. Well, looking
4:00
out through the breezy arch, among the swinging ends of ivy and the rustle
4:03
and were of pigeon wings, the children saw a very curious sight. The
4:09
green and white of grass, and daisies began to swim as it were before
4:13
their eyes. The long within the castle walls was all uneven, because the
4:17
grass had not been laid there by careful gardeners with sparrow levels and rollers who
4:23
wanted to make a long, but by nature herself, who wanted just to
4:27
cover up bits of broken crockery and stone, and old birds nests and all
4:31
sorts of odd rubbish. And now it began to stretch itself as though it
4:36
were a life carpet, and to straighten and tighten itself till he lay perfectly
4:43
flat. And the grass seemed to be getting greener in places, and in
4:47
other places there were patches of white, thicker and purer than before. Look,
4:53
look, cried Dred. Look the daisies are walking about. They were
5:00
the flea and steadily, like well drilled little soldiers. The daisies were forming
5:04
into twos, into fours, into companies. Looking down from the window of
5:09
the gate tower, it was like watching thousands of little white beads sort themselves
5:14
out from among green ones. What are they going to do? Dra asked,
5:18
but naturally Elfrida was not able to answer. The daisies marched very steadily,
5:25
like little people who knew their business very well. They massed themselves together
5:30
in regiments, in armies. On certain parts of the smooth grass. Certain
5:34
companies of them stopped and stayed. They're making a sort of pattern, said
5:41
Edred. Look there's a big ring all round, a sort of pattern,
5:46
I should think, they were, cried Elfrida. Look, Look it's the
5:51
clock. It was. On the pure green face of the lawn was an
5:58
enormous circle, marked by a thick line of closely packed white daisies. Within
6:02
it were the figures that are on the face of a clock, all twelve
6:06
of them. The hands were of white daisies, too, both the minute
6:10
hand and the hand that marks the hours, and between the sixth and the
6:15
center was a smaller circle, also wide enough daisies, round which they could
6:19
see a second hand move, a white second hand formed of daisies, willing
6:24
with a precision that would have made the hotiest general in the lanched tears of
6:28
pure admiration. With one accord, the two children blundered down the dark,
6:33
dusty cup weebby twist the stairs of the gate tower, and rushed across the
6:39
lawn in the very center of the clock face, said the Muldiwarp, looking
6:43
conscious and a little conceited. How did you do it, Elfrida, gasped.
6:49
The daisies did it? Poor little things. They can't invent at all,
6:54
but they do carry out other people's ideas quite nicely. All the white
6:58
things have to obey me, of course, it added, carelessly. And
7:02
this is the clock. The moudiwarp giggled, My child, what presumption the
7:09
clock is much too big for you to see evere all at once. The
7:12
sun's the center of it. This is just a pretending clock. It'll do
7:16
for what we want, of course, or I wouldn't have had it made
7:19
for you. Sit down on the second hand. Oh no, it won't
7:24
hurt the daisies count a hundred. Yes, that's right. They sit down
7:29
on the close white line of daisies and began to count earnestly. And now
7:34
the modiwarf said, when the hunter was counted, it's just the same time
7:40
as it was when you begin. So now you understand, they said they
7:44
did. And I am sure I hope you do. But if we sit
7:48
here, said Elfrida, how can we ever be anywhere else? You can't,
7:55
said the mouldiwarp. So one of you will have to stay and the
7:59
other to go. You go, Alfred said Edred, I'll stay till you
8:03
come back. That's very dear of you, said Elfrida. But I'd rather
8:11
we went together. Can't you manage it, she asked the mole. I
8:16
could, of course, it said. But he's afraid to go without you,
8:22
he said, suddenly he isn't, and he's two years younger than me.
8:28
Anyway, Elfrida said hotly, Well go without him, said the mole.
8:35
You understand perfectly, don't you though? When he has stopped the clock,
8:37
you're going, it's the same as you're not going, and your being
8:41
here it's the same as not being and what I mean it, added hastily,
8:46
returning to Sussex. Talk. You needn't be so terrible put out.
8:50
You won't know you've gone, nor yet he won't believe you've come back.
8:54
Be off with it, my gel, Elfrida hesitated. Then, oh,
9:01
Edrid, she said, I have had such a time, did you seem
9:05
very long? I know you was horrid of me, but it was so
9:09
interesting I couldn't come back before nonsense, said Edred. Well go if you
9:16
like. I don't mind. I've been I tell you, said Elfrida,
9:20
dragging him off the second hand of the daisy clock, whose soldiers instantly resumed
9:24
their willing march. So now you see, said the mole. Tell you
9:30
what next time you want to stop the clock, we'll just wheel the barra
9:33
on to it. Now you go along and play. You've had enough ardent
9:37
magic for this her first day, So you have bless your hearts and all.
9:43
And they went. That was how Drid perceived the adventure of the highwayman
9:46
and the But I will not anticipate the way the adventure seemed to Elfrida was
9:52
rather different. After the mole, said my Guel. She hesitated, and
9:58
then went slowly towards the castle, where the red roof of the house showed
10:03
between the old, ivy grown gray buttresses. She looked back to see Edred
10:07
and the body walk close together on the face of the wonderful green and white
10:11
clock. They were very still. She made her mind up, ran in
10:16
doors, and up the stairs and straight to the door. She found it
10:20
at once, shut the door and opened the second chest to the right.
10:24
You change your clothes, and the times changed too. Change. That is
10:30
what you've got to do. Carew krew, carew, carew said the pigeons,
10:37
or the silence, or Elfrida. I wonder, she said, sleeping
10:41
on a quilted green sattin paticleat with pink rosebuds embroidered on it, whether Shakespeare
10:48
began being a poet like that, just little odd lies coming into his head
10:54
without him meaning them too. And her mind, as she put on the
10:58
pink and white bricaded dress, was busy with such words as our great poet,
11:03
Miss Elfrida Arden, or Miss Arden, the female Milton of nowadays.
11:11
She tied a white, soft little cap with pink ribbons under her chin and
11:16
ran to open the door. She was not a bit afraid. It was
11:20
like going into a dream. Nothing would be real there. Yet, as
11:24
she ran through the aed door and the lace of her sleeve caught on a
11:28
big, rusty nail and tore with a harsh, hissing noise, she felt
11:31
very sorry in a thing that was only a dream. That lace felt very
11:37
real and was very beautiful. But she had only half the first half of
11:41
a thought to give to the lace. For the door opened not on a
11:45
quiet corridor with the old prince at Arden Castle, but on a quite strange
11:50
paneled room full of a most extraordinary disorder of stuffs, feathers, dresses,
11:56
cloaks, bonny boxes, parcels, rose package its, lace, scarves,
12:01
hats, gloves, and finery of all sorts. There were a good many
12:05
people there, serving maids. She knew they were serving maids. A gentleman
12:11
in knee breeches showing some fine china on the lacquer tray, and in the
12:16
middle a very pretty languishing looking young lady with whom Elfrida at once fell deepling
12:22
in love. All the women wore enormous crinolines or hoofs. What hid in
12:30
the closet all the while, cousin said the young lady. Oh, but
12:33
it's the slyest chit. Come see how the new scarf becomes thy bed?
12:39
Is enough? Vastly modish, yes, said Elfrida, not knowing in the
12:45
least what you say. Everything gave a sort of tremble and twist light glass
12:50
bits in a kaleidoscope gift just before they saddle into a pattern. Then,
12:54
as with the bits of glass, everything was saddled, and Elfrida is,
13:00
instead of feeling that she was looking at a picture, felt that she was
13:03
alive with live people. Some extraordinary accident had fixed in Elfrida's mind the fact
13:11
that Queen Anne began to rain in seventeen o two. I don't know how
13:16
it was. These accidents do sometimes occur, and she knew that in Queen
13:20
Anne's day, ladies war hoops. Also, since they had gone back a
13:24
hundred years to Bonnie's time, perhaps the second venture had taken her back two
13:28
hundred years. If so please, she said, very quickly, is this
13:35
seventeen o seven, and is Queen Anne dead? Heaven forbid, said everyone
13:41
in the room, and Bed ated loud, child, don't delay us with
13:46
your prattle. The coach will be here at ten, and we must lie
13:50
a tongue bridge tonight. So Elfrida all lies and years squeezed into a corner
13:56
between a band box and a roll of thick pink flowers oak and looked and
14:01
listened. Bet she gathered was her cousin, and Ardent too. She and
14:05
Bet and the maids, and an escort of She couldn't quite make out how
14:09
many men were to go down to Arden together. The many men were because
14:13
of the Ardent jewels that had been reset in the newest mode, and the
14:18
color of pearls and other presents Uncle Arden had given to Bed. And the
14:22
highwaymen, who she learned were growing so bold that they would attack a coach
14:28
in Saint Paul's churchyard in broad daylight. That it seemed, had undertaken commissions
14:33
for all her girlfriends near Arden, and had put off most of them till
14:37
the last moment. She had carefully spent her own pin money during her stay
14:43
in town, and was now hastily spending theirs. The room was crowded with
14:48
tradesmen and women actually pushing each other to get near the lady who had money
14:52
to spend. One woman with the basket of china was offering it in exchange
14:56
for old clothes or shoes, just as all women do now at back doors,
15:01
and Cousin Bat's mate had a very good bargain. She considered in a
15:05
china teapot and two dishes in exchange for worn blue, loose green dress and
15:11
a hooked paticoat of violet quilted satin. Then there was a hasty meal of
15:16
cakes and hot chocolate, and Alfrida being wrapped up in long skirted coat and
15:22
scarfs almost beyond bearing. It was announced that the coach was at the door.
15:26
It was a very tight fit when at last they were all packed into
15:30
the carriage. But though the carriage was large, there was a great deal
15:33
to fill it up. But with Cousin Bat and her great hoofs, and
15:37
the maids, and the band boxes and packages of different sizes and shapes,
15:41
and a hory little pet dog that yapped and yached and tried to bite everyone
15:46
from the footmen to Elfrida, the streets were narrow and very dirty and smelled
15:50
very nasty in the hot June sun. And it was very hot and stuffy
15:56
inside the carriage, and more bumpy than you would think possible, more bumpty
16:02
even than a wagon going across a fur old cornfield. Elfrida felt rather headachy,
16:07
as you do when you go out in the small boat and everyone says
16:11
it's not at all rough. By the time the carriage got to loose him,
16:15
Elfrida's bones were quite sore, and she felt as though she had been
16:18
beaten. There were no springs to the carriage, and it reminded her of
16:22
a bathing machine more than anything else, you know, the way bombs on
16:26
the shiny part of the shore when they are drawing you up at the beach,
16:30
and you tumbled about and can't go on dressing, and all your things
16:34
slid off the seats. The maids were crossed and looked it. Cousin bed
16:40
had danced till nine midnight, and being up with the lark, so she
16:44
said, and having said it, went to sleep in the corner of the
16:47
carriage, looking crosser than the maids, Elfrida began to feel that empty,
16:53
uninterested sensation which makes you wish you hadn't come. The carriage plunged and ran
17:00
saddled on through the green country, the wheels bounding in and out of the
17:03
most dreadful rats. More than once the will got into arrest so deep that
17:07
it took all the men to heave it out again. Cousin bed woke up
17:11
to say that it was vastly annoying, and instantly went to sleep again.
17:17
Elfrida, being the smallest person in the carriage except amour the dog, was
17:22
constantly being thrown into somebody's lap, to the annoyance of both parties. It
17:26
was very much the most uncomfortable ride she had ever had. She thought of
17:32
the smooth, swift rush of the train. Even the carrier's cart was luxury
17:36
compared to this. The roads aren't like roads at all, she told herself.
17:41
They are like plowed fields with celery trenches in them. She had a
17:45
friend, a market gardener, so she knew long before the carriage drew up
17:51
in front of the bull at Tonbridge. Elfrida felt that if she only had
17:55
a piece of poetry ready, she would say it, and asked the Mouldiwarf
17:59
to take her back to her own times, where at any rate, carriages
18:03
had springs, and roads were roads, and when the carriage did stop,
18:07
she was so stiff she could hardly stand. Come along in, said a
18:14
stout, pleasant faced lady in a frilled cap. Come in, my puppet.
18:18
There's a fine supper, though it's me, says it. And the
18:22
bed that you won't beat in cant for soft and clean. You may lay
18:26
to that. There was a great bustle of shouting ostlers and stablemen. The
18:30
horses were taken out before the travelers were free of the carriage. Supper was
18:36
laid in the big, low upper room, with shining furniture and windows at
18:40
both ends. One sat looking on the road where the sign of the Bull
18:44
creaked and swung, and the other looking on the very neat green garden with
18:48
clipped box hedges and new offers. Getting all the luggage into the house seemed
18:53
likely to be a long business. Elfrida saw that she would not be missed,
18:59
and she slipped down the twisty cornery backstairs and threw the back kitchen into
19:03
the green garden. It was pleasant to stretch one's legs and not to be
19:07
cramped and buffeted and shaken, But she walked down the grass path rather demurely,
19:14
for she was very stiff, indeed, And it was there in the
19:19
new arbor that she came suddenly on the grandest and handsomest gentleman that she had
19:25
ever seen. He wore a white wig, very full at the sides and
19:30
covered with powder, and a full skirted coat of dark blue silk, and
19:34
under it a long waistcoat with the loveliest roses and forget me notts tied in
19:40
bunches with gold ribbons embroidered on silk. He had laced ruffles and the jeweled
19:45
brooch, and the jolliest blue eyes in the world. He looked at Elfrida
19:52
very kindly with his jolly eyes. A lady of quality. I'll be bound,
19:56
he said, and traveling with her. Sweet I'm miss Arden of Arden,
20:03
said Elfrida. Your servant, madam, said, he springing to his
20:08
feet and waving his head in a very flourishing sort of vow. Elfrida's little
20:14
curtsey was not at all the right kind of courtesy, but he had to
20:18
do. And what can I do to please Miss Arden of Arden? He
20:22
asked? Would she like to ride on my black mare? Oh? No,
20:27
thank you, said Elfrida so earnestly that he laughed as he said,
20:33
Sure, I should not have thought fear lived with those eyes. I am
20:37
not afraid, said Elfrida contemptuously. Only I've been riding a horrible carriage all
20:44
day, and I feel as though I never wanted to write out anything any
20:48
more. He laughed again. Well, well, he said, come and
20:52
sit by me and tell me all the town news. Elfrida smiled to think
20:57
what new she could tell him, and then frowned in the effort to think
21:02
of any news that wouldn't seem nonsense. She told him all that she knew
21:06
of cousin bed and the journey. He was quite politely interested. She told
21:11
of cousin Beth's purchases, the color of pearls, and the gold pullmander studied
21:15
with corals, the little go watch, and the family jewels that had been
21:21
reset. And you have all to night to rest in from the cruel coach,
21:26
he said, Yes, said Elfrida, we don't go on again till
21:30
after breakfast tomorrow. It's very dull and oh so slow. Don't you think
21:37
you'd like to have a carriage drawn by a fiery iron horse that went sixteen
21:41
miles an hour. You have an ingenious wit, said the beautiful gentleman,
21:48
such as I should admire in my wife when you marry me, when you
21:52
shall be grown a great girl, No, said Elfrida. You'd be too
21:57
old. Even if you were to be able to double life till I was
22:02
grown up, you'd be much too old. How old do you suppose I
22:07
shall be when you're seventeen? I should have to do sums, said Elfrida,
22:11
who was rather good at these exercises. She broke a twig from a
22:15
currant bush and scratched in the dust. I don't know, she said,
22:21
raising a flushed face, and trampling out her some with little shoes that had
22:25
red heels. But I think you'll be two hundred and thirty. On that,
22:32
he left more than ever, and vowed she was the lady for him.
22:37
Your ciphering would double my income ten times over, he said. He
22:41
was very kind, indeed would have her taste his wine, which she didn't
22:45
like, and the little cakes on the red and blue plate, which she
22:49
did. And what's your name? She asked? My name? Said he
22:56
is a secret. Can you keep a secret, yes, said Elfrida,
23:03
so can I said he and then a flouncing, angry may came suddenly sweeping
23:08
down between the box hedges and dragged Elfrida away before she could curtsey properly and
23:14
say thank you for being so kind. Farewell, said the beautiful gentleman.
23:19
Thou not, but we shall meet again, and next time tis I shall
23:23
carry thee off and shut thee in a tower for two hundred years till thou
23:27
art seventeen and hast learned to cipher. Elfrida was slept by the maid,
23:33
which nearly choked her with fury, and sat down to supper in the big
23:37
upstairs room. The maid indignantly told where she had found Elfrida talking with the
23:44
strange gentleman, and when cousin Betty had heard aught about it, Elfrida told
23:48
her tale. And he was a great dear, she said, a a
23:56
very beautiful gentleman. I wish you'd been there, Cousin Betty, you'd have
24:00
liked him too. Then cousin bed also slept her, and Elfrida wished more
24:04
than ever that she had some poetry ready for the multi war. The next
24:08
day's journey was as bumpty as the first, and Elfrida got very tired of
24:14
the whole business. Oh, I wish something would happen, she said.
24:19
It was a very much longer day too, and the dust had fallen.
24:23
While still they were on the road, the sun had set red behind black
24:27
trees, and brown twilight was thickening all about. When at the cross roads,
24:34
a man with a cloak and mask on a big black horse suddenly leaped
24:38
from a hatch, stooped from his saddle, opened the carriage door, caught
24:44
Elfrida with one hand by the gathers of her full traveling coat. He must
24:48
have been frightfully strong, and so much the gathers, set her very neatly
24:52
and quite comfortably on the saddle before him, and said, hand up your
24:57
valuables, please, or I shoe the horses and keep your bokers low free.
25:03
If you aim at me, you show the child. And if you
25:07
shoot my horse, the child and I fall together. But even as he
25:11
spoke through his black mask, he wheeled the horse so that his body was
25:15
a shield between her and the pistols of the serving men. What do you
25:19
want, cousin, Bath's voice was quite squeaky. We have no valuables.
25:25
We're plain country people traveling home to our farm. I want the color of
25:30
pearls, said he, And the pomander, and a little girl watch,
25:33
and the jewels that have been reset. Then Elfrida knew who he was.
25:40
Oh, she cried, you are mean, trade, trade, said he.
25:47
But he held her quite gently and kindly. Now, my fair madam.
25:52
The men were hesitating, fingering their pistols. The horses, frightened by
25:56
the sudden check, were dancing and prancing all the cross the road. The
26:00
maid servants were shouting that it was true he had the child, and better
26:06
lose a few jewels than all their lives. And Cousin Bed was sobbing and
26:10
wailing inside the dark coach well. The jewels were handed out, That was
26:15
how it ended, handed out, slowly and grudgingly. And the hand that
26:19
reached for them through the dusk was very white, Cousin Bed said. Afterwards,
26:26
Elfrida, held by the highwayman's arm, kept very still. Suddenly he
26:30
stooped and whispered in her ear. Are you afraid that I shall do you
26:34
any harm? No, whispered Elfrida, And to this day she does not
26:41
know why she was not afraid. Then said he, oh, the brave
26:47
little lady. And on that suddenly sets first to his horse, leapt the
26:52
low hatch, and reined up sharply. Go on home, my brave fellows,
26:56
he shouted, and keep your mouth shut on this night's work. I
27:00
shall be at Arden before you. The child shrieked. The maids, oh,
27:06
the child, and even cousin bed interrupted her hysterics, now quite drown
27:11
and overwhelming, to say the child, Shall I order supper for you at
27:18
Arden? He shouted back mockily, and rode on across country, with Elfrida
27:22
breathlessly, frightened and consciously brave, leaning back against his shoulder. It is
27:27
a very wonderful feeling riding on a great, strong, dark horse through a
27:32
deepening night in a strange country. How fast by an arm you can trust,
27:37
and with the muscles of the horses gray shoulder rippling against your legs.
27:41
As they hanged helplessly down, Elfrida ceased to think of mouldiwarfs, or tried
27:47
to be a poet. And quite soon they were at the top of Arden
27:52
Hill, and the lights of the castle gleamed and blinked below them. Now,
27:57
sweetheart, said the highwayman, I shall set you down inside of the
28:02
door and wait till the door opens. You can tell them all that has
28:06
chanced, save this that I tell you. Now you will see me again.
28:11
They will not know me, but you will keep a still tongue till
28:15
tomorrow. And I swear Miss Arden shall have all her jewels again, and
28:19
you shall have a gold lock. You to put your true loves here in
28:22
when you're seventeen and I'm two hundred and thirty, and leave the parlor window
28:27
open, and when I tap come to it is a bargain. Then you're
28:33
not really a highwayman. What should you say, he asked if I told
28:37
you that I was the third James, the rightful King of England, come
28:41
to claim my own, Oh, said Elfrida, And he set her down,
28:48
and she walked to the door of the castle and thumbed down it with
28:51
her fists. Her tale had been told to the servants, and again to
28:56
Cousin Bed and the maids, and the chorus of laymen and astonish shaman.
29:00
We was settling down to a desire to have something to eat. Anyhow,
29:03
the servants had gone to the kitchen to hurry the supper. Cousin Bed and
29:07
Elfrida were alone in the parlor, where Elfrida had dutifully set the window ajar.
29:14
The laurel that was trained all up the side of the house stirred in
29:17
the breeze and tapped the window. Elfrida crossed to the window seat. No,
29:22
it was only the laurel. But next moment a hand tapped, a
29:27
hand with the rings on it, and a white square showed in the window.
29:30
A letter for miss Betty Arden, said a whispering voice. Elfrida carried
29:38
the letter to where her cousin sat and laid it on her flowered silked lap
29:45
for me, child, Where did you get it? Read it, said
29:48
Elfrida. It's from a gentleman lord, said cousin bed, what a day
29:56
a highwayman and the jewels lost, and now a love letter. She opened
30:00
it, read it, read it again, and let her hand flutter around
30:04
with it in a helpless sort of way towards Elfrida, who very brisk and
30:10
businesslike, took it and read it. It was clearly and beautifully written the
30:17
chevalier Saint George, he said, visiting his kingdom in secret on pressing affairs
30:22
of state, asking housing and hiding beneath the roof of the loyal gardens Now,
30:30
don't scream, said Elfrida. Sharply. Who's the chevalier Saint George?
30:34
Our king, said Betty in a whisper our, King over the water,
30:41
King James the third. Oh, why isn't my uncle at home? They'll
30:45
kill the king if they find him. What shall I do? What shall
30:49
I do do? Said Elfrida. Why don't be so silly, that's what
30:55
you've got to do. Why it's a glorious chance. Think how every one
31:00
will say how brave you were? Is he bonnie, Prince Charlie? Will
31:04
he be king some day? No? Not Charles James uncle wants him to
31:11
be king. Then let's help him, said Elfrida. And perhaps it'll be
31:15
your doing that he is king. Her history had never got beyond Edward fourth,
31:22
on account of having to go back to ten sixty six on account of
31:26
new girls. And she had only heard of Prince Charles in ballads and story
31:30
books. And when he's king, he'll make you dowager duchess of somewhere and
31:34
give you his portraits set in diamonds. Now, don't scream. He's outside.
31:38
I'll call him in. Where can we hide him? And of Section seven