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17 - The House of Arden - E Nesbit · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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