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

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