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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, The finding of the treasure to Richard Arden,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: shouted the mouldiwarp of Arden as it leapt on the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: hour hand of the Pearl and Ivory clock, and then
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the hands went round far too fast for speed to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: be possible. When the clock stopped, which it did quite suddenly,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Edred caught his breath and shouted to my Daddy at
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  Speaker 1: the top of his voice, and the hands began to
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: move again, so quickly that neither of the children had
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: time to see where they had stopped. They just saw
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: that they were in a room, and that the mouldiwarp
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: seemed suddenly to have grown to the size of an
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  Speaker 1: enormous polar bear leaned over the edge of the clock
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  Speaker 1: and caught at something with a paw a foot long.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And then some one called out something that they couldn't hear,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and almost at once the clock stopped, and they saw
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: something climb off the clock, and the was in the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: cave again, and there was cousin Richard, in quite different
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  Speaker 1: clothes from those he had worn at King Henry the Eight's,
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  Speaker 1: maying they were the kind of clothes Edred had worn
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  Speaker 1: in Boney's time. And the cave was just as it
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  Speaker 1: had been then, with kegs and bales and the stream
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  Speaker 1: running through it. You must come with us, said the mouldiwarf,
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  Speaker 1: slowly resuming its ordinary size. Don't you see if these
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: children let their father see them, they'll have to explain
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  Speaker 1: the whole magic. And when once magic's explained, all the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: magic's gone, like the scent out of scent when you
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: leave the cork out of the bottle. But you can
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: see him and help if he wants help without having
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  Speaker 1: to explain anything. All right, said Richard, and muttered something
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: about the head of the house. Only he added, I'd
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: drop my magic here. He stooped to the sand and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: picked up a little stick with silver bells hung round it,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: like the one that Folly carries at a carnival. It's
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: got the arden arms and crest on it, he said, pointing,
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  Speaker 1: and by the light of the pearl and ivory clock,
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  Speaker 1: the children could see the shield and the chequers and
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  Speaker 1: the mouldiwarp about. Now. I'm ready, cousins, I take back
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: everything I said. You see, my father's dead, and if
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I'd only had half your chance, that was what I thought. See,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: so give us your hand. The hands were given, But oh,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida, this is different from all the rest that
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  Speaker 1: was a game, and this sys this is this is real,
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  Speaker 1: my sock lamp, said the Mouldiwarp with unusual kindness. Now,
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  Speaker 1: your cousin Richard will help you. And when you get
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  Speaker 1: your father back, as I make no doubts but what
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  Speaker 1: you will, then your cousin Dick, he'll go back to
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  Speaker 1: his own time and generation and be seen no more.
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  Speaker 1: And your father won't never guess that you was there
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  Speaker 1: so close to him as you will be. I don't
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  Speaker 1: believe we shall, said Elfrida, nodding stubbornly, and for the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: first time in this story she did not believe. Oh well,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: said the Mouldiwarf bitterly. Of course, if you don't believe
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  Speaker 1: you'll find him, you'll not find him. That's plain as
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  Speaker 1: a current loaf. But I believe we shall find him,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: said Edred. And Elfrida's only a girl. It might be
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: only a dream, of course, he added thoughtfully. Don't you
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  Speaker 1: think I don't know that. But if it's a dream,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to stay in it. I'm not going back
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  Speaker 1: to Arden without my father. Do you understand, said the
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  Speaker 1: Mouldiwarf that if I take you into any other time
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  Speaker 1: or place in your own century. It's the full stop.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't any more. It means there's no chance of
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  Speaker 1: our getting into the past again to look for treasure
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  Speaker 1: or anything. Oh chance, said the mouldiwar I mean no
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  Speaker 1: magic clock'll not ever be made for you no more,
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  Speaker 1: That's what I mean. And if you find your father,
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  Speaker 1: you'll not be Lord Arden any more either. I hope
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  Speaker 1: it will not shock you very much when I tell you.
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  Speaker 1: At that thought, a distinct pang shot through Edred's breast.
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  Speaker 1: He really felt it in his flesh and blood breast,
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  Speaker 1: like a sharp knife. It was dreadful of him to
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  Speaker 1: think of such a thing when there was a chance
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  Speaker 1: of his getting his daddy in exchange for just a title.
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  Speaker 1: It was dreadful. But I'm a truthful writer, and I
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  Speaker 1: must own the truth. In one moment, he felt the
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  Speaker 1: most dreadful things, that it was all nonsense, and perhaps
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  Speaker 1: Daddy wasn't there, and it was no good looking for
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  Speaker 1: him anyway, and he wanted to go on being Lord Arden,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and hadn't they better go home? The thoughts came quite
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  Speaker 1: without his meaning them too, and Edrid pushed them from
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  Speaker 1: him with both hands, so to speak, hating himself because
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: they had come to him, and he will hate himself
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  Speaker 1: for those thoughts, though he did not mean or wish
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  Speaker 1: to have them, as long as he lives, every time
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: he remembers them, that is the worst of thoughts. They
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  Speaker 1: live forever. I don't want to be Lord Arden, was
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  Speaker 1: what he instantly said. I want my father, And what
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: he said was true in spite of those thoughts that
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: he didn't mean to have and can never forget. Shall
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I come along of you, said the mouldiwarp, and every
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  Speaker 1: one said yes, very earnestly. A friendly mouldiwarp is a
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  Speaker 1: very useful thing to have at hand when you're going
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  Speaker 1: you don't know where. Now, you won't make any mistake,
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  Speaker 1: the mole went on. This is the wind up and
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the end all so it is. No more chests, is
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: in atticsies, No more fine clothes is out of them
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  Speaker 1: neither and no more white clocks. All right, said Edred impatiently.
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  Speaker 1: We understand. Now let's go. You wait a bit, said
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the mouldiwarp, aggravatingly. You've got to settle what you'll be
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  Speaker 1: and what way your father better come out. I think
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  Speaker 1: through the chink of the chalk any way you like,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida, and Mouldiwarp. Dear, shan't we ever see you again? Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I don't say that. It said, you'll see me at
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  Speaker 1: dinner every day. At dinner, I'm on all the spoons
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and fogs anyhow, it said, And sneak get more aggravatingly
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  Speaker 1: than ever moldye, cried Edrid. Suddenly, I got it. You
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  Speaker 1: disguise us so that father won't know us, and then
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  Speaker 1: we sha'n't be out of it all. Whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a first rate idea, said Richard, and
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  Speaker 1: me too. Not you, said the mouldiwarp. But it waved
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  Speaker 1: a white paw at Edred and Elfrida, and at once
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  Speaker 1: they found themselves dressed in tight fitting white fur dresses.
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  Speaker 1: Their hands even wore fat white fur gloves with tiger
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  Speaker 1: claws at the ends of the fingers. At the same moment,
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  Speaker 1: the Mouldiwarp grew big again, to the size of a
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  Speaker 1: very small polar bear, while cousin Richard suddenly assumed the
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  Speaker 1: proportions of a giant. Now, said the mouldiwarp, and they
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  Speaker 1: all leapt on the white clock, which started at once.
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  Speaker 1: When it stopped and they stepped off it. It was
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  Speaker 1: on to a carpet of thin moss overhead, through the
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  Speaker 1: branches of enormous trees that shone stars of a wonderful
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  Speaker 1: golden brightness. The air was warm, scented as if with flowers,
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  Speaker 1: and warm to breathe. Yet they did not feel that
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  Speaker 1: their fur coats were a bit too warm for the weather.
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  Speaker 1: The moss was so soft to their feet that Edred
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  Speaker 1: and Elfrida wanted to feel it with their hands as well.
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  Speaker 1: So down they went, on all fours. Then they longed
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  Speaker 1: to lie down and roll on it. They longed so
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  Speaker 1: much that they had to do it. It was a
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  Speaker 1: delicious sensation rolling in the soft moss. Cousin Richard, still
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  Speaker 1: very much too big, stood looking down on them and laughing.
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  Speaker 1: They were too busy rolling to look at each other. This,
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  Speaker 1: he said, is a first class lark. Now for the
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  Speaker 1: cliff in the chalk, Shall I carry you? He added, politely,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: addressing the Molivar, who rather surprisingly consented. Come on, he
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  Speaker 1: said to the children, and as he went they followed him.
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  Speaker 1: There was something about the moss, or about the fur
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  Speaker 1: coats or the fur gloves, that somehow made it seem
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  Speaker 1: easier and more natural to follow on all fours. And
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  Speaker 1: really their hands were quite as useful to walk on
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  Speaker 1: as their feet. Never had they felt so light, so gay,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Never had walking been such easy work. They followed Richard
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  Speaker 1: through the forest till, quite abruptly, like the wall at
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  Speaker 1: the end of a shrubbery, a great cliff rose in
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  Speaker 1: front of them, ending the forest. There was a cleft
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  Speaker 1: in it. They saw the darkness of it rising about
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  Speaker 1: them as the moon came out from a cloud and
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  Speaker 1: shone full on the cliff's white face. And the face
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  Speaker 1: of the cliff and the shape of the cliff were
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  Speaker 1: very like that little cleft in the chalk that the
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  Speaker 1: mouldiwarp had made when it had pulled up turf on
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  Speaker 1: the Sussex Downs at home. And all the this time,
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  Speaker 1: Edred and Elfrida had never looked at each other. There
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  Speaker 1: had been so many other things to look at. That's
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  Speaker 1: the way, said cousin Richard, pointing up the dark left.
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  Speaker 1: Though it was so dark, Edred and Elfrida could see
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  Speaker 1: quite plainly that there were no steps, only ledges that
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  Speaker 1: a very polite goat might have said were a foothold
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  Speaker 1: you couldn't climb up there, Edred said to the Great Richard.
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  Speaker 1: Yet somehow he never doubted that he and Elfrida could. Now,
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  Speaker 1: said the Mouldiwarf, leaping from Richard's arms to the ground.
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  Speaker 1: I must carry him, And it grew to polar bears
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  Speaker 1: eyes quite calmly before their very eyes. They don't see
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  Speaker 1: it even yet, said Richard to the mole. See what,
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  Speaker 1: Elfrida asked, Why what your disguises? Your cats, my dear cousins,
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  Speaker 1: white cats. Then Edred and Elfrida did look look at
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  Speaker 1: each other, and it was quite true they were. I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you what my plan is, Richard went on. The
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: people of this country have never seen tame cats. They
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  Speaker 1: think a person who can tame animals is a magician.
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  Speaker 1: I found that out when I was here before. So
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  Speaker 1: now I've got three tame animals, all white too. That is,
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  Speaker 1: if you'll play, he added to the mouliwarf. You will play,
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  Speaker 1: won't you? Oh? Yes, I'll play, it said, snarling a little.
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  Speaker 1: And you cats must only mew and power and do
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  Speaker 1: whatever I tell you. You'll see how I work it.
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  Speaker 1: Don't do anything for any one but me and your father.
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  Speaker 1: Is father really here? Asked Elfrida, trembling a little. He's
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  Speaker 1: on the other side of the great cliff, said Richard.
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  Speaker 1: The cliff no man can climb, but you can come.
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  Speaker 1: He got on the moliwarf's back and put his arms
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  Speaker 1: round its polar bear light neck, and it began to climb.
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  Speaker 1: That was a climb. Even the cats, which Edrid and
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  Speaker 1: Elfrida now could not help, seeing that they were, found
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  Speaker 1: it as much as they could do to keep their
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  Speaker 1: footing on those little smooth shelving ledges. If it had
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  Speaker 1: not been that they had cat's eyes and so could
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  Speaker 1: see in the dark, they never could have done it.
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  Speaker 1: And it was such a long, long climb too, it
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  Speaker 1: seemed as though it would last forever. I've heard of
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  Speaker 1: foreign climbs, said Elfrida, but I never thought they would
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  Speaker 1: be like this. I suppose it is foreign South American,
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  Speaker 1: said Richard. You can look for it on the map
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  Speaker 1: when you get home, but you won't find it. Come on.
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  Speaker 1: And then when they had climbed to the top of
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  Speaker 1: the cliff, they had to go down on the other side,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: for the cliff rose like a wall between the forest
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  Speaker 1: and a wide plain. And by the time they reached
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: that plain, the sun was looking down at them over
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  Speaker 1: the cliff. The plain was very large and very wonderful,
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  Speaker 1: and a towering wall of cliff ran all round it.
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  Speaker 1: The plain was all laid out in roads and avenues,
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  Speaker 1: and fields and parks. Towns and palaces were dotted about it.
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  Speaker 1: A tall aqueduct on hundreds of pillars brought water from
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  Speaker 1: an arch in the face of the cliff to the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the plain, and from these canals ran out
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  Speaker 1: to the cliff wall that bounded the plain all round,
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  Speaker 1: even and straight, like the spokes of a wheel, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: disappeared under low arches of stone. Back under the cliff,
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  Speaker 1: there were lakes. There were gardens. There were great stone
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  Speaker 1: buildings whose roofs shone like gold, where the rising sun
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  Speaker 1: struck them. In the fields were long horned cattle and strange,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: high shouldered sheep, which Richard said were lam Us. I know,
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  Speaker 1: he explained from seeing them on the postage stamps. They
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  Speaker 1: advanced into the plain and sat down under a spreading tree.
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  Speaker 1: We must just wait till we were found, said Richard.
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  Speaker 1: He had assumed entire command of the expedition, and Edred
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  Speaker 1: and Elfrida, being cats, had to submit. But they did
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: not like it. Presently, shepherds, coming early to attend to
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  Speaker 1: their flocks, found a boy in strange clothes, attended by
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: a great white bear, and two white cats sitting under
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: a tree. The shepherds did not seem afraid of the bear,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: only curious and interested. But when the mouldiwarp had stood
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: up on its hind legs and bowed gravely, and the
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: cats had stood up and lain down, and shaken paws
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  Speaker 1: and turned somersaults at the word of command, one of
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the shepherds wrapped his red woolen cloaks round him, with
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  Speaker 1: an air of determination, and making signs that Richard was
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: to follow, set off with all his might for the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: nearest town. Quite soon they found themselves in the central
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: square of one of the most beautiful towns in the world.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I wish I had time to tell you exactly what
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: it was like, but I have not. I can only
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: say that it was at once clean and ground splendid
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: and comfortable. There was not a dirty corner nor a
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: sad face from one end of the town to the other.
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  Speaker 1: The houses were made of great blocks of stone, inlaid
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: wonderfully with gold and silver. Clear streams or baby canals
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: run by the side of every street, and each street
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: had a double row of trees running all along its
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: wide length. There were open grassy spaces and flower beds
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: set with flowers, some glowing with their natural and lovely colors,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: and some cunningly fashioned of gold and silver and jewels.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: There were fountains and miniature waterfalls. The faces of the
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: people were dark but kind and unwrinkled. There was a
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: market with stalls of pleasant fruits and cakes, and bright
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: colored soft clothes. There was a great hall in the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: middle of the town, with a garden on its flat roof,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and to this hall the shepherd led the party. The
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  Speaker 1: big doors of inlaid wood were set wide, and a crowd,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: all dressed in soft stuffs of beautiful colors, filled the
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: long room. Inside the room was opened to the sky.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: A wrinkled awning drawn close at one side showed that
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the people could have a roof when it suited them.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: There was a raised stone platform at one end, and
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: on this three chairs. The crowd made way for the
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: shepherd and his following, and as they drew near to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the raised platform, the two white cats, who were Edred
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and Elfrida, looked up and saw in the middle and
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  Speaker 1: biggest chair, a splendid, dark faced man in a kind
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: of fringed turban with two long feathers in it, and
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: in the two chairs to right and left of him,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: closed in beautiful embroidered stuffs, with shining collars of jewels
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: about their necks. Father and Uncle Jim. Not a word,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: said cousin Dick, just in time to restrain the voices
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  Speaker 1: of the children who were cats. Their actions he could
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: not restrain. Every one in the hall saw two white
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: cats spring forward and rub themselves against the legs of
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the man who sat in the right hand chair. Compelled
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: to silence as they were by the danger of their position,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Edrid and Elfrida rubbed their white cat bodies against their
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: father's legs in a rapture which I cannot describe, and
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: purred enthusiastically. It was a wonderful relief to be able
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to purr, since they must not speak. The king, who
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: sat on the high seat, stood up, looking down on
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: them with wise, kind eyes, and spoke, seeming to ask
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: a question quite as wonderfully as any train bare and
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: far more gracefully. The white moldiwarp danced before the king
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of that mysterious hidden kingdom. Then Dick whistled, and Edred
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and Elfrida withdrew themselves from their passionate caresses of the
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: only parts of their father that they could get at,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: and stood upon their white, hinded cat feet. The Minuit said,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Edred in a rapid whisper, Dick whistled a tune that
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: they had never heard. But the tune was right, and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: now was seen the spectacle of two white cats, slowly
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and solemnly going through the figures of that complicated dance
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: to the music of Dick's clear whistling, turning, bowing, pacing
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: with all the graces that Aunt Edith had taught them
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: when they were Edred and Elfrida and not white cat.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: When the last bow and courtsey ended the dance, the
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: King himself shouted some word that they were sure ment
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: well done. All the people shouted the same word, and
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: only Father and Uncle Jim shouted bravo. Then the King
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: questioned Dick no answer. He laid his finger on his lips.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Then the King spoke to Father, and he in turn
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: tried questions in English and French, and then in other languages,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: And still Dick kept on laying his finger on his lips,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and the white bear shook its head quite sadly, and
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: the white cats purred aloud, with their eyes on their father.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Richard stopped. When your father goes out, follow him, he whispered.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: And so when the king rose from his throne and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: went out, and every one else did the same, the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: white cats, deserting dick, followed close on their father's footsteps.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: When the king saw this, he spoke to the men
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: about him, who were leading Richard in another direction. And
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: presently the cats and the bear that was the Moliwark
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: and Richard found themselves alone with Uncle Jim and the
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: father of Elfrida, on a beautiful tarrace shaded by trees
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and set all along its edge with wonderful trailing flowers
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of red and white and purple that grew out of
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: vases of solid silver. And now there being none of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the brown people ne'er. Richard looked full in the eyes
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of the father of Edred and Elfrida and said, in
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a very low voice, I'm English. I've come to rescue you.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: You're a bold boy, said dri In, Elfrida's father. But
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: rescue s impossible. There is not much time, said Richard again.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: They've only let us come here just to see if
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: you know us. I expect they are listening. You are
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Lord Arden, now the old lord is dead. I can
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: get you out if you do exactly as I say.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: It's worth trying, said Uncle Jim. It's worth trying anyhow,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. Are you free to go where you like? Yes,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: said Lord Arden, not edred, but Edith's father, for Edith
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: was now no longer Lord Arden. You see there's no
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: way out but the one, and that's grded by a
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: hundred men with poisoned arrows. There is another way, said Richard,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the way we came. The white bear can carry you
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: one at a time. Shall we risk it, said Lord
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Arden a little doubtfully, Rather, said Uncle Jim. I think
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: of Edith and the kids. That's what I am thinking of,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: said Lord Arden. While we are alive. There's a chance
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: if we try this and fail, they'll kill us. You
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: won't fail, said Richard. I'll help you to get home.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: But I would like to know how you got into
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: this fix. It's only curiosity, but I wish you'd tell me.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Perhaps I shan't see you again after to day. We
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: stumble on the entrance, the only entrance to the Golden Plain,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: said Lord Arden, prospecting for gold among these mountains. They
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: have kept us prisoners ever since because they are determined
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: not to let the world know of the existence of
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the Plain. There are always rumors of it, but so
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: far no civilized people have found it. Every king, when
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: he comes to the throne, takes an oath that he
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: will die sooner than allow the plain to be infected
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: by the wicked cruelties of modern civilization. I think so, too,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: said Dick. This is an older civilization than that of
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the incas said Lord Arden, and it is the most
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: beautiful life I have ever dreamt of. If they had
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: trusted me, I would never have betrayed them. If I escape,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I will never betray them. If I let in our
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: horrible system of trusts and syndicates and commercialism and crime
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: on this golden life, I should know myself to be
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: as great a criminal as though I had thrown a
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: little child to wild beasts. The White Cats noticed with
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: wonder and respect that their father addressed Richard exactly as
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: though he had been a grown up. We managed to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: send one line to a newspaper to say that we
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: were taken by bandits. Lord Arden went on, it was
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: all that they would allow us to do. But except
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: that we have not been free. We have had everything, food, clothes, kindness, justice, affection.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: We must escape if we can, because of my sister
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and the children. But it is like going out of
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Eden into the black country. That's so, said Uncle Jim.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: And if we are not to see you again, Lordarden
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: went on, tell me why you have come at great risk.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: It must be to help us. I over depth, said
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Richard in a low voice, to all who bear the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: name of Arden. His voice sank so low that the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: two cats could only hear the words head of the house.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: And now Richard went on, you see that black chink
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: over there? He pointed to the crevice in the cliff.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Be there, both of you at moonrise, and you shall
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: get away safely to Arden Castle. You must come with us,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: of course, said Ludardan I might be of service to you.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: We have quite a respectable little fortune in a bank
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: at Lima, not in our own names, but we can
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: get it out. If you can get us out. You've
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: brought us luck, I'm certain of it. Won't you go
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: with us and share it? I can't, said Richard. I
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: must go back to my own time, my own place.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, now I'll go. Come on, cats. The cats
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: looked imploringly at their father, but they went and stood
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: by Richard. I suppose we may go, he asked. Every
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: One is perfectly free here, said Lord Arden. The only
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: thing you may not do is to leave the Golden Plain.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: It is very strange. There are hardly any laws. We
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: are all free to do as we like, and no
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: one seems to like to do anything that hurts anyone else.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Only if anyone is caught trying to get into the
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: outer world or to let the outer world in, he
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: is killed without pain, and not as a vengeance, but
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: as necessity. The white cats looked at each other rather ruefully.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: This was not at all the way in which they
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: remembered that Dad is talking to them, But said Lord Arden,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: for the children and my sister, we must risk it.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I trust you completely, and we will be at the
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: crevice when the moon rises. So Richard and his three
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: white animals went out down steps cut in the sollidrop,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and the townspeople crowded round them with fruits and mace,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: cakes for Richard, and milk in golden platters for the cats,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and later, Richard made signs of being sleepy, and they
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: let him go away among the fields, followed by the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: three white creatures, and at the appointed hour they all
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: met under the bass cliff that was the natural wall
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: and guardian of the Golden Plain, and the mouldiwark carried
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Uncle Jim up to the top and then came back
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: for Lord Arden and Richard. But before there was time
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to do more, a shout went up and a thousand
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: torches sprang to life in the city they had left,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and they knew that their flight had been discovered. There's
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: no time. The white bear mouldiwarp, to the utter astonishment
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: of Lord Arden, opened its long mouth and spoke, and
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the white cats also opened their mouth and cried, Oh Daddy,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: how awful. What shall we do? Hold your silly tongue,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: said the mouluwark crossly. He was told not to go gossiping.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Here scratch a way out with them white paws of yours.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: It set the example, stretching at the enormous cliff with
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: those strong, blunt curved front feet of it. And the
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: cat scratched too, with their white padded gloves that had
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: tiger claws to them, and the rock jeeled. There was
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: a white crack wider wider, and the swaying, swirling torches
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: came nearer and nearer across the plain. In with you,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: cried the Mouliwarf. In with you, Jim, said Lord Arden.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I'll not go without Jim. He's half way there already,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: said the Mouliwarf, pushing Lord Arden with its great white shoulder. Come,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I say, come. It pushed them all into the crack
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: of the rock, and the cliff closed firm and fast
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: behind them. An unanswerable no set up in the face
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of their pursuers. This way out, said the mouldiwork, pointing
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: its dusty claw to where a head light showed. Why,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: said Edred, it's the smuggler's cave, and there's the clock
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: next moment there It wasn't, for Richard had leapt on it,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: and he and it had vanished together, the mouldiwark clinging
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to the hour hand. At the last moment, the white cats,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: which were Edred and Elfrida, drew back from the whirl
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: of the hands that was the first step towards the banishment.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: They saw their father and uncle Jim go up the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: steps that led to the rude wooden door whose key
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: was like a church key, The door that led to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the opening among the first that they had never been
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: able to find again. When the vanishing of the clock
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: allowed them to follow and they regained the sunny outer air,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: whether skylark were singing as usual, they were just in
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: time to see two figures going towards the castle, and
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: very near it. They turned and to look at each other. Why,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: said Edred, You're not a cat any more? No more
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: are you? If it comes to that, said Elfrida. Oh, Edrid,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: they're going in at the big gate. Do you really
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: think it's real? Or have we just dreamt it? This time?
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: It was much more dreamish than any of the other
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: things I feel, said Edred, sitting down abruptly, as if
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I'd been a cat all my life and been swung
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: round by my tail every day of my life. I
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: think I'll sit here till I'm quite sure whether I'm
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: a white cat or Edred ardun I know which I am,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida, but she too was not sorry to sit down.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: That's easy. You're not either of them, said Edred, when
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: half an hour later they slowly went down to the castle,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: still doubtful whether anything magic had ever really happened, or
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: whether all the magic things that had seemed to happen
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: had really be only a sort of double or twindering.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: They were met at the door by Aunt Edith, pale
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: as the pearl and ivory of the white clock, and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: with eyes that shone like the jew drops on the
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: wild flowers that Elfrida had given to the Queen. Oh, kitties,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: she cried, Oh, dear darling kiddis, And she went down
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: on her knees so that she should be near their
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: own height and could embrace them on more equal terms.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Something loveliest happened, she said, something so beautiful that you
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: won't be able to believe it. They kissed her heartily,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: partly out of affection and partly to conceal their want
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: of surprise. Darlings, it's the loveliest thing that could possibly happen.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: What do you think Dad is come home? Said Elfrida,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: feeling dreadfully deceit, Yes, said Aunt dd How clever of you.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: My pet and Uncle Jim, they've been kept prisoners in
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: South America, and an English boy with a performing bear
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: helped them to escape. No mention of cats. The children
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: felt hurt, and they had the most dreadful time, months
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and months and months coming across the interior no water,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: and injuns and all sorts of adventures. And Daddy had
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: fever and would insist that the bear was the MOULDI
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: warp our crest, you know, come to life and talking
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: just like you or me, and that there were white
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: cats that had your voices and called him daddy. But
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he's all right now, only very weak. That's why I'm
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: telling you all this. You must be very quiet and gentle.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Oh my DearS, it's too good to be true, too
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: to be true. Now was it the father of Edred
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: and Elfrida who had brain fever and fancied things? Or
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: did they blameless of fever and not too guilty of brains?
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Imagine it all. Uncle Jim can tell you exactly how
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: it all happened. There is no magic in his story. Father,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, Lord Arden does not talk of what he
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: dreamt when he had brain fever. And Edred and Elfrida
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: do not talk of what happened when they hadn't at
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: least they do, but only to me. It is all
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: very wonderful and mysterious, as all life is apt to
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: be if you go a little below the crust and
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: are not content to just read newspapers and go by
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: the tube railway and buy your clothes ready, mate, and
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: think nothing can be true unless it is uninteresting. I
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: found the most wonderful photographs of pictures of art Carden Castle,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: said Aunt Edith. Later on. We can restore the castle
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: perfectly from them. I do wish I knew where the
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: original pictures were. I'm afraid we can't restore the castle,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: said Lord Arden, laughing. Our little fortune's enough to keep
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: us going quite comfortably, but it won't reveal Norman masonry.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I do wish we could have found the buried treasure,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: said Edred. We've got treasure enough, said Aunt Edith, looking
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: at Uncle Jim. As for what Elfrida thinks, well, I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: wish you could have seen her face when she went
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: into the parlor that evening, after Aunt Edith had knelt
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: down to meet them on equal terms and tell them
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: of the treasure of love and joy that had come
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: home to Arden. There was Lord Arden, looking exactly like
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: the Lord Arden she had known in the Gunpowder Plot days,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: and also exactly like the daddy she had known all
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: her life. Sitting at ease in the big chair, just
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: underneath the secret panel behind which Sir Edward Talbot had
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: hidden when he was pretending to be the Chevalier Saint George.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: His dear face was just the same, and the smile
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: on it was her own smile, the merry, tender, twinkling
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: smile that was for her and for no one else
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: in the world. It was just a moment that she
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: stood at the door, But it was one of these
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: moments that are as short as a watch tick and
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: as long as a year. She stood there and asked herself,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: have I dreamt it all? Isn't there really any mouldiwarp
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: or any treasure? And then a great wave of love
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: and longing court at her, and she knew that mouldiwarp
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: or no mouldiwarp, the treasure was hers. And in one
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: flash she was across the room and in her father's arms,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: sobbing and laughing and saying again and again, Oh my daddy,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Oh my daddy, My daddy. The end