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

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