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

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Speaker 1: Chapter five, The Highwayman and the they both meant what
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Speaker 1: they said. And yet, of course it is nonsense to
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Speaker 1: promise that you will never do anything again, because of
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Speaker 1: course you must do something, if it's only simple subtraction
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Speaker 1: or eating poached eggs and sausages. You will, of course
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Speaker 1: understand that what they meant was that they would never
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Speaker 1: again do anything to cause missus honey sat a moment's uneasiness.
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Speaker 1: And in order to make this possible, the first thing
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Speaker 1: to do, was, of course, to find out how to
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Speaker 1: set the clock back, slowly munching sausage and feeling, as
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Speaker 1: she always did when she ate slowly, that she was
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Speaker 1: doing something very virtuous and ought to have a prize
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Speaker 1: or medal for it. Elfrida asked her mind to be
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Speaker 1: kind enough to get some poetry ready by the time
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Speaker 1: she had finished breakfast, and sure enough, her mind, in
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Speaker 1: its own secret backyard, as it were, did get something ready.
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Speaker 1: And while this was happening, Elfrida, in what corresponded to
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Speaker 1: her mind's front garden, was wishing that she had been
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Speaker 1: born a poet like the one who did a piece
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Speaker 1: about the favorite goldfish drowned in the top of cats.
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Speaker 1: She said, pensively. Yes, or even Shakespeare said Dred, Only
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Speaker 1: he's so long always. I wonder, said the girl. Where
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Speaker 1: the clock is that we've got to set back? Oh,
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Speaker 1: MOULDIWARPI tell us, said the boy, But Mouldiwarp didn't. When
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Speaker 1: breakfast was over, they went down into the grassy space,
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Speaker 1: round which the ruined walls of the castle rose up
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Speaker 1: so grand and stately, with the wallflowers and toad flags
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Speaker 1: growing out of them, and sat down among the round faced,
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Speaker 1: wife real daisies, and told each other what they had thought,
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Speaker 1: or what they thought they had thought while they were
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Speaker 1: back in those times when people were afraid of bony,
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Speaker 1: and the castle sward was very green, and the daisies
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Speaker 1: were very white, and the sun shone on everything very
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Speaker 1: grand and golden. And as they sat there, it came
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Speaker 1: over Elfrida suddenly how good a place it was, and
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Speaker 1: how lucky they were to be there at home, at Arden,
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Speaker 1: rather than in the house with the pale, smooth brass
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Speaker 1: door knocker that stood in the street with the red pavement,
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Speaker 1: and the lodgers who kept all on ringing their bells,
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Speaker 1: So that she said, quite without knowing she was going
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Speaker 1: to say anything, Arden, Arden, arden, lawn and castle and garden,
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Speaker 1: daisies and grass and wallflowers, gold, mouldiwarp come out of
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Speaker 1: the mold. That's more like poetry, that is, said a
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Speaker 1: mouldiwarp sitting on the green grass between the children, more
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Speaker 1: like in anything I've heard you said, Yet so tis
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Speaker 1: and now then what is it for you? Desfind it not?
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Speaker 1: It seemed in such a good temper that Alfrida asked
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Speaker 1: a question that had long tried to get itself. Asked
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Speaker 1: why was the question? And it was spoken to the
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Speaker 1: white mole. Why do you talk like the country people
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Speaker 1: do such six spun and bread, said the mole. But
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Speaker 1: I know other talk six talks. What they call racy
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Speaker 1: of the soil means smells of the earth. Where I live,
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Speaker 1: I can talk all sorts, though I used to speak
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Speaker 1: French once on a time. Young fitzla signor you must
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Speaker 1: know lots and lots, said Edred. I do, said the mole.
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Speaker 1: How old are you dri asked, in spite of Elfrida's warning, Hush,
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Speaker 1: it's rude, as old as my tongue and a little
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Speaker 1: older remy teeth, said the mole, showing them, Ah, don't
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Speaker 1: be cross, said Elfrida, and such a beautiful day too,
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Speaker 1: And just when we wanted you to show us how
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Speaker 1: to put back the clock. In all that's the deed,
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Speaker 1: that is, said the mole. But you've not quarreled this
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Speaker 1: three days. So you can go where you please and
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Speaker 1: do what you will. Only you're in the way here.
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Speaker 1: If you want to stop the clock, get up into
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Speaker 1: the gate tower and look out, and we see the
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Speaker 1: great clock face come down at once and sit on
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Speaker 1: the second hand. That'll stop it if anything. Well, looking
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Speaker 1: out through the breezy arch, among the swinging ends of
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Speaker 1: ivy and the rustle and were of pigeon wings, the
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Speaker 1: children saw a very curious sight. The green and white
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Speaker 1: of grass, and daisies began to swim as it were
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Speaker 1: before their eyes. The long within the castle walls was
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Speaker 1: all uneven, because the grass had not been laid there
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Speaker 1: by careful gardeners with sparrow levels and rollers who wanted
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Speaker 1: to make a long, but by nature herself, who wanted
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Speaker 1: just to cover up bits of broken crockery and stone,
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Speaker 1: and old birds nests and all sorts of odd rubbish.
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Speaker 1: And now it began to stretch itself as though it
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Speaker 1: were a life carpet, and to straighten and tighten itself
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Speaker 1: till he lay perfectly flat. And the grass seemed to
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Speaker 1: be getting greener in places, and in other places there
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Speaker 1: were patches of white, thicker and purer than before. Look, look,
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Speaker 1: cried Dred. Look the daisies are walking about. They were
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Speaker 1: the flea and steadily, like well drilled little soldiers. The
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Speaker 1: daisies were forming into twos, into fours, into companies. Looking
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Speaker 1: down from the window of the gate tower, it was
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Speaker 1: like watching thousands of little white beads sort themselves out
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Speaker 1: from among green ones. What are they going to do?
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Speaker 1: Dra asked, but naturally Elfrida was not able to answer.
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Speaker 1: The daisies marched very steadily, like little people who knew
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Speaker 1: their business very well. They massed themselves together in regiments,
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Speaker 1: in armies. On certain parts of the smooth grass. Certain
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Speaker 1: companies of them stopped and stayed. They're making a sort
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Speaker 1: of pattern, said Edred. Look there's a big ring all round,
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Speaker 1: a sort of pattern, I should think, they were, cried Elfrida. Look,
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Speaker 1: Look it's the clock. It was. On the pure green
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Speaker 1: face of the lawn was an enormous circle, marked by
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Speaker 1: a thick line of closely packed white daisies. Within it
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Speaker 1: were the figures that are on the face of a clock,
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Speaker 1: all twelve of them. The hands were of white daisies, too,
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Speaker 1: both the minute hand and the hand that marks the hours,
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Speaker 1: and between the sixth and the center was a smaller circle,
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Speaker 1: also wide enough daisies, round which they could see a
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Speaker 1: second hand move, a white second hand formed of daisies,
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Speaker 1: willing with a precision that would have made the hotiest
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Speaker 1: general in the lanched tears of pure admiration. With one accord,
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Speaker 1: the two children blundered down the dark, dusty cup weebby
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Speaker 1: twist the stairs of the gate tower, and rushed across
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Speaker 1: the lawn in the very center of the clock face,
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Speaker 1: said the Muldiwarp, looking conscious and a little conceited. How
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Speaker 1: did you do it, Elfrida, gasped. The daisies did it?
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Speaker 1: Poor little things. They can't invent at all, but they
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Speaker 1: do carry out other people's ideas quite nicely. All the
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Speaker 1: white things have to obey me, of course, it added, carelessly.
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Speaker 1: And this is the clock. The moudiwarp giggled, My child,
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Speaker 1: what presumption the clock is much too big for you
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Speaker 1: to see evere all at once. The sun's the center
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Speaker 1: of it. This is just a pretending clock. It'll do
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Speaker 1: for what we want, of course, or I wouldn't have
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Speaker 1: had it made for you. Sit down on the second hand.
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Speaker 1: Oh no, it won't hurt the daisies count a hundred. Yes,
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Speaker 1: that's right. They sit down on the close white line
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Speaker 1: of daisies and began to count earnestly. And now the
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Speaker 1: modiwarf said, when the hunter was counted, it's just the
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Speaker 1: same time as it was when you begin. So now
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Speaker 1: you understand, they said they did. And I am sure
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Speaker 1: I hope you do. But if we sit here, said Elfrida,
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Speaker 1: how can we ever be anywhere else? You can't, said
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Speaker 1: the mouldiwarp. So one of you will have to stay
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Speaker 1: and the other to go. You go, Alfred said Edred,
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Speaker 1: I'll stay till you come back. That's very dear of you,
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Speaker 1: said Elfrida. But I'd rather we went together. Can't you
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Speaker 1: manage it, she asked the mole. I could, of course,
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Speaker 1: it said. But he's afraid to go without you, he said,
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Speaker 1: suddenly he isn't, and he's two years younger than me. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: Elfrida said hotly, Well go without him, said the mole.
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Speaker 1: You understand perfectly, don't you though? When he has stopped
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Speaker 1: the clock, you're going, it's the same as you're not going,
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Speaker 1: and your being here it's the same as not being
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Speaker 1: and what I mean it, added hastily, returning to Sussex. Talk.
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Speaker 1: You needn't be so terrible put out. You won't know
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Speaker 1: you've gone, nor yet he won't believe you've come back.
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Speaker 1: Be off with it, my gel, Elfrida hesitated. Then, oh, Edrid,
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Speaker 1: she said, I have had such a time, did you
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Speaker 1: seem very long? I know you was horrid of me,
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Speaker 1: but it was so interesting I couldn't come back before nonsense,
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Speaker 1: said Edred. Well go if you like. I don't mind.
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Speaker 1: I've been I tell you, said Elfrida, dragging him off
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Speaker 1: the second hand of the daisy clock, whose soldiers instantly
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Speaker 1: resumed their willing march. So now you see, said the mole.
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Speaker 1: Tell you what next time you want to stop the clock,
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Speaker 1: we'll just wheel the barra on to it. Now you
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Speaker 1: go along and play. You've had enough ardent magic for
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Speaker 1: this her first day, So you have bless your hearts
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Speaker 1: and all. And they went. That was how Drid perceived
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Speaker 1: the adventure of the highwayman and the But I will
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Speaker 1: not anticipate the way the adventure seemed to Elfrida was
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Speaker 1: rather different. After the mole, said my Guel. She hesitated,
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Speaker 1: and then went slowly towards the castle, where the red
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Speaker 1: roof of the house showed between the old, ivy grown
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Speaker 1: gray buttresses. She looked back to see Edred and the
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Speaker 1: body walk close together on the face of the wonderful
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Speaker 1: green and white clock. They were very still. She made
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Speaker 1: her mind up, ran in doors, and up the stairs
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Speaker 1: and straight to the door. She found it at once,
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Speaker 1: shut the door and opened the second chest to the right.
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Speaker 1: You change your clothes, and the times changed too. Change.
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Speaker 1: That is what you've got to do. Carew krew, carew,
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Speaker 1: carew said the pigeons, or the silence, or Elfrida. I wonder,
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Speaker 1: she said, sleeping on a quilted green sattin paticleat with
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Speaker 1: pink rosebuds embroidered on it, whether Shakespeare began being a
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Speaker 1: poet like that, just little odd lies coming into his
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Speaker 1: head without him meaning them too. And her mind, as
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Speaker 1: she put on the pink and white bricaded dress, was
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Speaker 1: busy with such words as our great poet, Miss Elfrida Arden,
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Speaker 1: or Miss Arden, the female Milton of nowadays. She tied
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Speaker 1: a white, soft little cap with pink ribbons under her
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Speaker 1: chin and ran to open the door. She was not
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Speaker 1: a bit afraid. It was like going into a dream.
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Speaker 1: Nothing would be real there. Yet, as she ran through
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Speaker 1: the aed door and the lace of her sleeve caught
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Speaker 1: on a big, rusty nail and tore with a harsh,
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Speaker 1: hissing noise, she felt very sorry in a thing that
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Speaker 1: was only a dream. That lace felt very real and
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Speaker 1: was very beautiful. But she had only half the first
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Speaker 1: half of a thought to give to the lace. For
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Speaker 1: the door opened not on a quiet corridor with the
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Speaker 1: old prince at Arden Castle, but on a quite strange
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Speaker 1: paneled room full of a most extraordinary disorder of stuffs, feathers, dresses, cloaks,
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Speaker 1: bonny boxes, parcels, rose package its, lace, scarves, hats, gloves,
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Speaker 1: and finery of all sorts. There were a good many
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Speaker 1: people there, serving maids. She knew they were serving maids.
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Speaker 1: A gentleman in knee breeches showing some fine china on
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Speaker 1: the lacquer tray, and in the middle a very pretty
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Speaker 1: languishing looking young lady with whom Elfrida at once fell
12:21
Speaker 1: deepling in love. All the women wore enormous crinolines or hoofs.
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Speaker 1: What hid in the closet all the while, cousin said
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Speaker 1: the young lady. Oh, but it's the slyest chit. Come
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Speaker 1: see how the new scarf becomes thy bed? Is enough?
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Speaker 1: Vastly modish, yes, said Elfrida, not knowing in the least
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Speaker 1: what you say. Everything gave a sort of tremble and
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Speaker 1: twist light glass bits in a kaleidoscope gift just before
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Speaker 1: they saddle into a pattern. Then, as with the bits
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Speaker 1: of glass, everything was saddled, and Elfrida is, instead of
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Speaker 1: feeling that she was looking at a picture, felt that
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Speaker 1: she was alive with live people. Some extraordinary accident had
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Speaker 1: fixed in Elfrida's mind the fact that Queen Anne began
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Speaker 1: to rain in seventeen o two. I don't know how
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Speaker 1: it was. These accidents do sometimes occur, and she knew
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Speaker 1: that in Queen Anne's day, ladies war hoops. Also, since
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Speaker 1: they had gone back a hundred years to Bonnie's time,
13:26
Speaker 1: perhaps the second venture had taken her back two hundred years.
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Speaker 1: If so please, she said, very quickly, is this seventeen
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Speaker 1: o seven, and is Queen Anne dead? Heaven forbid, said
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Speaker 1: everyone in the room, and Bed ated loud, child, don't
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Speaker 1: delay us with your prattle. The coach will be here
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Speaker 1: at ten, and we must lie a tongue bridge tonight.
13:53
Speaker 1: So Elfrida all lies and years squeezed into a corner
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Speaker 1: between a band box and a roll of thick pink
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Speaker 1: flowers oak and looked and listened. Bet she gathered was
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Speaker 1: her cousin, and Ardent too. She and Bet and the maids,
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Speaker 1: and an escort of She couldn't quite make out how
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Speaker 1: many men were to go down to Arden together. The
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Speaker 1: many men were because of the Ardent jewels that had
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Speaker 1: been reset in the newest mode, and the color of
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Speaker 1: pearls and other presents Uncle Arden had given to Bed.
14:23
Speaker 1: And the highwaymen, who she learned were growing so bold
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Speaker 1: that they would attack a coach in Saint Paul's churchyard
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Speaker 1: in broad daylight. That it seemed, had undertaken commissions for
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Speaker 1: all her girlfriends near Arden, and had put off most
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Speaker 1: of them till the last moment. She had carefully spent
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Speaker 1: her own pin money during her stay in town, and
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Speaker 1: was now hastily spending theirs. The room was crowded with
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Speaker 1: tradesmen and women actually pushing each other to get near
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Speaker 1: the lady who had money to spend. One woman with
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Speaker 1: the basket of china was offering it in exchange for
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Speaker 1: old clothes or shoes, just as all women do now
15:00
Speaker 1: at back doors, and Cousin Bat's mate had a very
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Speaker 1: good bargain. She considered in a china teapot and two
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Speaker 1: dishes in exchange for worn blue, loose green dress and
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Speaker 1: a hooked paticoat of violet quilted satin. Then there was
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Speaker 1: a hasty meal of cakes and hot chocolate, and Alfrida
15:20
Speaker 1: being wrapped up in long skirted coat and scarfs almost
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Speaker 1: beyond bearing. It was announced that the coach was at
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Speaker 1: the door. It was a very tight fit when at
15:29
Speaker 1: last they were all packed into the carriage. But though
15:32
Speaker 1: the carriage was large, there was a great deal to
15:34
Speaker 1: fill it up. But with Cousin Bat and her great hoofs,
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Speaker 1: and the maids, and the band boxes and packages of
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Speaker 1: different sizes and shapes, and a hory little pet dog
15:43
Speaker 1: that yapped and yached and tried to bite everyone from
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Speaker 1: the footmen to Elfrida, the streets were narrow and very
15:50
Speaker 1: dirty and smelled very nasty in the hot June sun.
15:54
Speaker 1: And it was very hot and stuffy inside the carriage,
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Speaker 1: and more bumpy than you would think possible, more bumpty
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Speaker 1: even than a wagon going across a fur old cornfield.
16:06
Speaker 1: Elfrida felt rather headachy, as you do when you go
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Speaker 1: out in the small boat and everyone says it's not
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Speaker 1: at all rough. By the time the carriage got to
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Speaker 1: loose him, Elfrida's bones were quite sore, and she felt
16:18
Speaker 1: as though she had been beaten. There were no springs
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Speaker 1: to the carriage, and it reminded her of a bathing
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Speaker 1: machine more than anything else, you know, the way bombs
16:27
Speaker 1: on the shiny part of the shore when they are
16:29
Speaker 1: drawing you up at the beach, and you tumbled about
16:32
Speaker 1: and can't go on dressing, and all your things slid
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Speaker 1: off the seats. The maids were crossed and looked it.
16:39
Speaker 1: Cousin bed had danced till nine midnight, and being up
16:43
Speaker 1: with the lark, so she said, and having said it,
16:46
Speaker 1: went to sleep in the corner of the carriage, looking
16:48
Speaker 1: crosser than the maids, Elfrida began to feel that empty,
16:54
Speaker 1: uninterested sensation which makes you wish you hadn't come. The
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Speaker 1: carriage plunged and ran saddled on through the green country,
17:02
Speaker 1: the wheels bounding in and out of the most dreadful rats.
17:06
Speaker 1: More than once the will got into arrest so deep
17:08
Speaker 1: that it took all the men to heave it out again.
17:11
Speaker 1: Cousin bed woke up to say that it was vastly annoying,
17:14
Speaker 1: and instantly went to sleep again. Elfrida, being the smallest
17:19
Speaker 1: person in the carriage except amour the dog, was constantly
17:22
Speaker 1: being thrown into somebody's lap, to the annoyance of both parties.
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Speaker 1: It was very much the most uncomfortable ride she had
17:30
Speaker 1: ever had. She thought of the smooth, swift rush of
17:33
Speaker 1: the train. Even the carrier's cart was luxury compared to this.
17:38
Speaker 1: The roads aren't like roads at all, she told herself.
17:41
Speaker 1: They are like plowed fields with celery trenches in them.
17:45
Speaker 1: She had a friend, a market gardener, so she knew
17:49
Speaker 1: long before the carriage drew up in front of the
17:51
Speaker 1: bull at Tonbridge. Elfrida felt that if she only had
17:55
Speaker 1: a piece of poetry ready, she would say it, and
17:58
Speaker 1: asked the Moldiwarf to take her back to her own times,
18:01
Speaker 1: where at any rate, carriages had springs, and roads were roads,
18:05
Speaker 1: and when the carriage did stop, she was so stiff
18:08
Speaker 1: she could hardly stand. Come along in, said a stout,
18:14
Speaker 1: pleasant faced lady in a frilled cap. Come in, my puppet.
18:19
Speaker 1: There's a fine supper, though it's me, says it. And
18:22
Speaker 1: the bed that you won't beat in cant for soft
18:24
Speaker 1: and clean. You may lay to that. There was a
18:27
Speaker 1: great bustle of shouting ostlers and stablemen. The horses were
18:32
Speaker 1: taken out before the travelers were free of the carriage.
18:35
Speaker 1: Supper was laid in the big, low upper room, with
18:38
Speaker 1: shining furniture and windows at both ends. One sat looking
18:42
Speaker 1: on the road where the sign of the Bull creaked
18:44
Speaker 1: and swung, and the other looking on the very neat
18:47
Speaker 1: green garden with clipped box hedges and new offers. Getting
18:52
Speaker 1: all the luggage into the house seemed likely to be
18:55
Speaker 1: a long business. Elfrida saw that she would not be missed,
18:59
Speaker 1: and she slipped down the twisty cornery backstairs and threw
19:02
Speaker 1: the back kitchen into the green garden. It was pleasant
19:06
Speaker 1: to stretch one's legs and not to be cramped and
19:09
Speaker 1: buffeted and shaken, But she walked down the grass path
19:13
Speaker 1: rather demurely, for she was very stiff, indeed, And it
19:18
Speaker 1: was there in the new arbor that she came suddenly
19:22
Speaker 1: on the grandest and handsomest gentleman that she had ever seen.
19:27
Speaker 1: He wore a white wig, very full at the sides
19:29
Speaker 1: and covered with powder, and a full skirted coat of
19:33
Speaker 1: dark blue silk, and under it a long waistcoat with
19:37
Speaker 1: the loveliest roses and forget me notts tied in bunches
19:40
Speaker 1: with gold ribbons embroidered on silk. He had laced ruffles
19:45
Speaker 1: and the jeweled brooch, and the jolliest blue eyes in
19:49
Speaker 1: the world. He looked at Elfrida very kindly with his
19:53
Speaker 1: jolly eyes. A lady of quality. I'll be bound, he said,
19:58
Speaker 1: and traveling with her. Sweet I'm miss Arden of Arden,
20:03
Speaker 1: said Elfrida. Your servant, madam, said, he springing to his
20:09
Speaker 1: feet and waving his head in a very flourishing sort
20:12
Speaker 1: of vow. Elfrida's little curtsey was not at all the
20:16
Speaker 1: right kind of courtesy, but he had to do. And
20:19
Speaker 1: what can I do to please Miss Arden of Arden?
20:22
Speaker 1: He asked? Would she like to ride on my black mare? Oh? No,
20:28
Speaker 1: thank you, said Elfrida so earnestly that he laughed as
20:32
Speaker 1: he said, Sure, I should not have thought fear lived
20:36
Speaker 1: with those eyes. I am not afraid, said Elfrida contemptuously.
20:41
Speaker 1: Only I've been riding a horrible carriage all day, and
20:45
Speaker 1: I feel as though I never wanted to write out
20:47
Speaker 1: anything any more. He laughed again. Well, well, he said,
20:53
Speaker 1: come and sit by me and tell me all the
20:55
Speaker 1: town news. Elfrida smiled to think what new she could
20:59
Speaker 1: tell him, and then frowned in the effort to think
21:02
Speaker 1: of any news that wouldn't seem nonsense. She told him
21:05
Speaker 1: all that she knew of cousin bed and the journey.
21:08
Speaker 1: He was quite politely interested. She told of cousin Beth's purchases,
21:13
Speaker 1: the color of pearls, and the gold pullmander studied with corals,
21:18
Speaker 1: the little go watch, and the family jewels that had
21:20
Speaker 1: been reset. And you have all to night to rest
21:24
Speaker 1: in from the cruel coach, he said, Yes, said Elfrida,
21:29
Speaker 1: we don't go on again till after breakfast tomorrow. It's
21:33
Speaker 1: very dull and oh so slow. Don't you think you'd
21:38
Speaker 1: like to have a carriage drawn by a fiery iron
21:41
Speaker 1: horse that went sixteen miles an hour. You have an
21:45
Speaker 1: ingenious wit, said the beautiful gentleman, such as I should
21:49
Speaker 1: admire in my wife when you marry me, when you
21:52
Speaker 1: shall be grown a great girl, No, said Elfrida. You'd
21:58
Speaker 1: be too old. Even if you were to be able
22:00
Speaker 1: to double life till I was grown up, you'd be
22:03
Speaker 1: much too old. How old do you suppose I shall
22:07
Speaker 1: be when you're seventeen? I should have to do sums,
22:10
Speaker 1: said Elfrida, who was rather good at these exercises. She
22:15
Speaker 1: broke a twig from a currant bush and scratched in
22:17
Speaker 1: the dust. I don't know, she said, raising a flushed face,
22:22
Speaker 1: and trampling out her some with little shoes that had
22:25
Speaker 1: red heels. But I think you'll be two hundred and thirty.
22:31
Speaker 1: On that, he left more than ever, and vowed she
22:35
Speaker 1: was the lady for him. Your ciphering would double my
22:38
Speaker 1: income ten times over, he said. He was very kind,
22:43
Speaker 1: indeed would have her taste his wine, which she didn't like,
22:47
Speaker 1: and the little cakes on the red and blue plate,
22:49
Speaker 1: which she did. And what's your name? She asked? My name?
22:56
Speaker 1: Said he is a secret. Can you keep a secret, yes,
23:01
Speaker 1: said Elfrida, so can I said he and then a flouncing,
23:07
Speaker 1: angry may came suddenly sweeping down between the box hedges
23:11
Speaker 1: and dragged Elfrida away before she could curtsey properly and
23:14
Speaker 1: say thank you for being so kind. Farewell, said the
23:18
Speaker 1: beautiful gentleman. Thou not, but we shall meet again, and
23:23
Speaker 1: next time tis I shall carry thee off and shut
23:26
Speaker 1: thee in a tower for two hundred years till thou
23:28
Speaker 1: art seventeen and hast learned to cipher. Elfrida was slept
23:33
Speaker 1: by the maid, which nearly choked her with fury, and
23:37
Speaker 1: sat down to supper in the big upstairs room. The
23:40
Speaker 1: maid indignantly told where she had found Elfrida talking with
23:44
Speaker 1: the strange gentleman, and when cousin Betty had heard aught
23:47
Speaker 1: about it, Elfrida told her tale. And he was a
23:52
Speaker 1: great dear, she said, a a very beautiful gentleman. I
23:57
Speaker 1: wish you'd been there, Cousin Betty, you'd have liked him too.
24:01
Speaker 1: Then cousin bed also slept her, and Elfrida wished more
24:05
Speaker 1: than ever that she had some poetry ready for the
24:07
Speaker 1: multi war. The next day's journey was as bumpty as
24:11
Speaker 1: the first, and Elfrida got very tired of the whole business. Oh,
24:17
Speaker 1: I wish something would happen, she said. It was a
24:21
Speaker 1: very much longer day too, and the dust had fallen.
24:24
Speaker 1: While still they were on the road, the sun had
24:27
Speaker 1: set red behind black trees, and brown twilight was thickening
24:31
Speaker 1: all about. When at the cross roads, a man with
24:35
Speaker 1: a cloak and mask on a big black horse suddenly
24:38
Speaker 1: leaped from a hatch, stooped from his saddle, opened the
24:42
Speaker 1: carriage door, caught Elfrida with one hand by the gathers
24:46
Speaker 1: of her full traveling coat. He must have been frightfully strong,
24:50
Speaker 1: and so much the gathers, set her very neatly and
24:54
Speaker 1: quite comfortably on the saddle before him, and said, hand
24:58
Speaker 1: up your valuables, please, or I shoe the horses and
25:02
Speaker 1: keep your bokers low free. If you aim at me,
25:05
Speaker 1: you show the child. And if you shoot my horse,
25:08
Speaker 1: the child and I fall together. But even as he
25:11
Speaker 1: spoke through his black mask, he wheeled the horse so
25:14
Speaker 1: that his body was a shield between her and the
25:17
Speaker 1: pistols of the serving men. What do you want, cousin,
25:21
Speaker 1: Bath's voice was quite squeaky. We have no valuables. We're
25:25
Speaker 1: plain country people traveling home to our farm. I want
25:29
Speaker 1: the color of pearls, said he, And the pomander, and
25:33
Speaker 1: a little girl watch, and the jewels that have been reset.
25:37
Speaker 1: Then Elfrida knew who he was. Oh, she cried, you
25:43
Speaker 1: are mean, trade, trade, said he. But he held her
25:48
Speaker 1: quite gently and kindly. Now, my fair madam. The men
25:53
Speaker 1: were hesitating, fingering their pistols. The horses, frightened by the
25:57
Speaker 1: sudden check, were dancing and prancing all the cross the road.
26:01
Speaker 1: The maid servants were shouting that it was true he
26:04
Speaker 1: had the child, and better lose a few jewels than
26:07
Speaker 1: all their lives. And Cousin Bed was sobbing and wailing
26:10
Speaker 1: inside the dark coach well. The jewels were handed out,
26:15
Speaker 1: That was how it ended, handed out, slowly and grudgingly.
26:20
Speaker 1: And the hand that reached for them through the dusk
26:22
Speaker 1: was very white, Cousin Bed said. Afterwards, Elfrida, held by
26:27
Speaker 1: the highwayman's arm, kept very still. Suddenly he stooped and
26:31
Speaker 1: whispered in her ear. Are you afraid that I shall
26:35
Speaker 1: do you any harm? No, whispered Elfrida, And to this
26:40
Speaker 1: day she does not know why she was not afraid.
26:43
Speaker 1: Then said he, oh, the brave little lady. And on
26:49
Speaker 1: that suddenly sets first to his horse, leapt the low hatch,
26:52
Speaker 1: and reined up sharply. Go on home, my brave fellows,
26:56
Speaker 1: he shouted, and keep your mouth shut on this night's work.
27:00
Speaker 1: I shall be at Arden before you. The child shrieked.
27:04
Speaker 1: The maids, oh, the child, and even cousin bed interrupted
27:10
Speaker 1: her hysterics, now quite drown and overwhelming, to say the child,
27:16
Speaker 1: Shall I order supper for you at Arden? He shouted
27:19
Speaker 1: back mockily, and rode on across country, with Elfrida breathlessly,
27:23
Speaker 1: frightened and consciously brave, leaning back against his shoulder. It
27:28
Speaker 1: is a very wonderful feeling riding on a great, strong,
27:31
Speaker 1: dark horse through a deepening night in a strange country.
27:35
Speaker 1: How fast by an arm you can trust, and with
27:38
Speaker 1: the muscles of the horses gray shoulder rippling against your legs.
27:41
Speaker 1: As they hanged helplessly down, Elfrida ceased to think of mouldiwarfs,
27:47
Speaker 1: or tried to be a poet. And quite soon they
27:51
Speaker 1: were at the top of Arden Hill, and the lights
27:54
Speaker 1: of the castle gleamed and blinked below them. Now, sweetheart,
27:59
Speaker 1: said the highwayman, I shall set you down inside of
28:02
Speaker 1: the door and wait till the door opens. You can
28:05
Speaker 1: tell them all that has chanced, save this that I
28:08
Speaker 1: tell you. Now you will see me again. They will
28:11
Speaker 1: not know me, but you will keep a still tongue
28:15
Speaker 1: till tomorrow. And I swear Miss Arden shall have all
28:18
Speaker 1: her jewels again, and you shall have a gold lock.
28:21
Speaker 1: You to put your true loves here in when you're
28:23
Speaker 1: seventeen and I'm two hundred and thirty, and leave the
28:27
Speaker 1: parlor window open, and when I tap come to it
28:30
Speaker 1: is a bargain. Then you're not really a highwayman. What
28:36
Speaker 1: should you say, he asked if I told you that
28:39
Speaker 1: I was the third James, the rightful King of England,
28:42
Speaker 1: come to claim my own, Oh, said Elfrida, And he
28:47
Speaker 1: set her down, and she walked to the door of
28:49
Speaker 1: the castle and thumbed down it with her fists. Her
28:53
Speaker 1: tale had been told to the servants, and again to
28:56
Speaker 1: Cousin Bed and the maids, and the chorus of laymen
28:59
Speaker 1: and astonish shaman. We was settling down to a desire
29:02
Speaker 1: to have something to eat. Anyhow, the servants had gone
29:05
Speaker 1: to the kitchen to hurry the supper. Cousin Bed and
29:08
Speaker 1: Elfrida were alone in the parlor, where Elfrida had dutifully
29:12
Speaker 1: set the window ajar. The laurel that was trained all
29:15
Speaker 1: up the side of the house stirred in the breeze
29:18
Speaker 1: and tapped the window. Elfrida crossed to the window seat. No,
29:23
Speaker 1: it was only the laurel. But next moment a hand tapped,
29:27
Speaker 1: a hand with the rings on it, and a white
29:30
Speaker 1: square showed in the window. A letter for miss Betty Arden,
29:36
Speaker 1: said a whispering voice. Elfrida carried the letter to where
29:40
Speaker 1: her cousin sat and laid it on her flowered silked
29:43
Speaker 1: lap for me, child, Where did you get it? Read it,
29:49
Speaker 1: said Elfrida. It's from a gentleman lord, said cousin bed,
29:54
Speaker 1: what a day a highwayman and the jewels lost, and
29:58
Speaker 1: now a love letter. She opened it, read it, read
30:03
Speaker 1: it again, and let her hand flutter around with it
30:06
Speaker 1: in a helpless sort of way towards Elfrida, who very
30:09
Speaker 1: brisk and businesslike, took it and read it. It was
30:13
Speaker 1: clearly and beautifully written the chevalier Saint George, he said,
30:20
Speaker 1: visiting his kingdom in secret on pressing affairs of state,
30:25
Speaker 1: asking housing and hiding beneath the roof of the loyal
30:28
Speaker 1: gardens Now, don't scream, said Elfrida. Sharply. Who's the chevalier
30:34
Speaker 1: Saint George? Our king, said Betty in a whisper our,
30:39
Speaker 1: King over the water, King James the third. Oh, why
30:44
Speaker 1: isn't my uncle at home? They'll kill the king if
30:47
Speaker 1: they find him. What shall I do? What shall I
30:50
Speaker 1: do do? Said Elfrida. Why don't be so silly, that's
30:55
Speaker 1: what you've got to do. Why it's a glorious chance.
30:59
Speaker 1: Think how every one will say how brave you were?
31:02
Speaker 1: Is he bonnie, Prince Charlie? Will he be king some day? No?
31:07
Speaker 1: Not Charles James uncle wants him to be king. Then
31:13
Speaker 1: let's help him, said Elfrida. And perhaps it'll be your
31:17
Speaker 1: doing that he is king. Her history had never got
31:21
Speaker 1: beyond Edward fourth, on account of having to go back
31:23
Speaker 1: to ten sixty six on account of new girls. And
31:27
Speaker 1: she had only heard of Prince Charles in ballads and
31:30
Speaker 1: story books. And when he's king, he'll make you dowager
31:33
Speaker 1: duchess of somewhere and give you his portraits set in diamonds. Now,
31:38
Speaker 1: don't scream. He's outside. I'll call him in. Where can
31:41
Speaker 1: we hide him? And of Section seven