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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, The Moldiwarp, Part one, And it was it
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: was the living image of the little pig like animal
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: that was stamped in gold above the checkered shield on
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the cover of the white book in which they had
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: found the spell, and as on the yellowy white of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the vellum book cover. So here on the timey grass
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of the knoll it shone golden. The children stood perfectly still.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: They were afraid to move lest they should scare away
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this little creature, which, though golden, was alive, and moved
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: about at their feet, turning a restless nose to right
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: and left. It is, said Elfrida, again, very softly, so
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: as not to frighten it. What Edred asked, though he
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: knew well enough off the book that we got the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: spell out of. That was our crest on the top
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: of our coat of arms, like on the old snuff
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: box that was Great Grandpapa's. Well, this is our crest,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: come alive, that's all. Don't you be too clever, said Edred.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: It said badge. I don't believe badge is the same
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: thing as crest. A badge's leaks or roses or thistles,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: something you can wear in your cap. I shouldn't like
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to wear that in my cap. And still the golden
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: thing at their feet moved cautiously and without ceasing. Why,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: said Edred, Suddenly it's just a common old mole. It isn't.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: It's our own crest that's on the spoons and things.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: It's our own old family mole, that's our crest. How
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: can it be a common mole? It's all golden? And
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: even as she spoke, it left off being golden for
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the last bit of sun dipped behind the shoulder of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the downs, and in the gray twilight that was left,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the mole was white. Anyone could see that, oh, said Elfrida.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: But she stuck to her point. So you see, she
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: went on, it can't be just a really mole. Really
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: moles are black, Well, said Edred. It's very tame. I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: will say that well, Edred was beginning. But at that
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: same moment the mole also suddenly and astonishingly said Well.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: There was a hushed pause. Then did you say that,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Elfrida whispered? No, said Edred, you did, don't whisper, now,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: said the mole. Tain't pretty manners, So I tells y
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: with one accord. The two children came to their knees,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: one on each side of the white mole, I say,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: said Edred. Now don't, said the mole, pointing its nose
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: at him, quite as disdainfully as any human being could
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: have pointed a finger. Don't you go for to pretend
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you don't know, as moldiwarp's has got tongues in their
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: heads same as what you've got, but not to talk with,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida softly. Don't you tell me, said the moldiwarp,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: bristling a little. Hasn't No one told you ere a
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: fairy tale? All us beastes as tongues, and when we're
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: dare us uses on em? When you're ware, said Edred,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: rather annoyed at being forced to believe in fairy tales,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: which he had never really liked. Why in a fairy tale,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: for sure, said the mole. Wherever to goodness, else on
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: earth do you suppose you be? We're here, said Edred,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: kicking the ground to make it feel more solid in himself,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: more sure of things on arden, knowle, And ain't that
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in a fairy tale? Demanded the mouldiwarp triumphantly. You do
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: talk so free, you called me, And here I be?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: What do you want are you, said Elfrida, thrilling with
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: surprise and fear and pleasure and hope and wonder and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a few other things which taken in the lump are
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: usually called a thousand conflicting emotions. Are you the badge
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: of Arden's house? Course? I be, said the mole, what's
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: left of it? And never did I think to be
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: called one by the ardent boy and gel As didn't
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: know their own silly mind. What do you want? Eh?
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: We told you in the spell, said Elfrida. Oh be
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: that all, said the mole, bitterly, nothing else. I'm to
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: make him brave and wise and show him to treasure
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: milk sop, it said so suddenly and fiercely that it
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: almost seemed to spit the words in poor Edred's face.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I'm not, said Edred, turning turkey Red. I got into
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the house and found the spell anyway, Yes, and who
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: did all the looking for it? She did? Bless you.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I was there, I know all about it. If it
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: was showing her the treasure, now there'd be some sense
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: in it. I think you're very unfair, said Elfrida, as
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: earnestly as though she had been speaking to a grown
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: up human being. If he was brave and wise, we
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: shouldn't want you to make him it. You ain't got
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with it, said the mole crossly. Yes
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: she has, said Edred. I mean to share and share
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: with her whatever I get. And if you could make
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: me whise, I teach her everything you taught me. But
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I don't believe you can. So there, Do you believe
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I can talk? The mole asked, and Edred quite definitely
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and surprisingly said no, I don't. You're a dream that's
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: all you are, he said, And I'm dreaming you. And
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: what do you think, the mole asked Elfrida, who hesitated.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: I think, she said at last, that it's getting very dark,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and Aunt Edith will be anxious about us, and will
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: you meet us another day? There isn't time to make
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: us brave and wise tonight. That there ain't for sure,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: said the mole meaningly. But you might tell us where
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the treasure is, said Edred. That comes last, greedy, said
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the mole. I've got to make you kind and wise first,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: And I see I've got my work cut out. Good night.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: It began to move away. Oh don't go, said Elfrida.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: We shall never find you again. Oh, don't. Oh, this
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: is dreadful. The mole paused, I've got to let you
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: find me again. Don't upset yourself, it said bitterly. When
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you wants me, come up to the knoll and say
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: a piece of poetry to me and call me and
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: I'll come. And it started again. But what poetry, Edred asked, Oh?
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Anything you can pick and shoes. Edred thought of the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: lays of ancient rome. Only tain't no good without you
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: makes it up yourselves, said the mouldiwarp. Oh, said the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: two much disheartened. And course it must be asking me
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: kindly to come to you. Get along home. Where are
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you going, Elfrida asked, home too? Of course, it said,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And this time it really did go. The two children
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: turned towards the lights of Ardenhurst's station in perfect silence.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Only as they reached the place where the down turf
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: ends and the road begins, Edred said in tones of awe,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I say, and Elfrida answered, yes, isn't it. Then they
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: walked still without talking to the station. The lights there,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: and the voices of porters and passengers, the rattle of
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: signal wires and the ping ping of train signals had
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: on them. The effect of a wet sponge passed over
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the face of a sleeper by some already up person.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: They seemed to awaken from a dream, and the moment
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: they were in the train, which fortunately came quite soon,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: they began to talk. They talked without stopping till they
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: got to Cliffville station, and then they talked all the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: way home, And by the time they reached the house
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: with the green balconies and the smooth, pale, polished door knocker,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: they had decided, as children almost always do in cases
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of magic adventure, that they had better not say anything
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: to any one. As I am always pointing out, it
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: is extremely difficult to tell your magic experiences to people
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: who not only will not but cannot believe you. This
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: is one of the drawbacks of really wonderful happenings. Aunt
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Edith had not come home, but she came as they
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: were washing their heads and faces for supper. She brought
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: with her presents for Edred's birthday, nicer presents and more
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: of them than he had had for three years. She
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: bought him a box of wonderfully varied chocolate and a
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: box of tools, a very beautiful bat and a cricket ball,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and a set of stumps, and a beetle backed paint box,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in which all the colors were whole pans, and not
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: half one's as they usually are the boxes you get
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: His presents in this were beautiful paint brushes, two camel's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: hair ones, and a sable with a point. As fine
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: as fine. You are a dear aunty, he said, with
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: his arms very tight round her waist. He was very happy,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: and it made him feel more generous than usual, so
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: he said again, you are a dear and Elfrida can
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: use the paint box whenever I'm out, and the camel's
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: hair brushes, not the sable, of course, Oh Edred, how
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: jolly of you, said Elfrida, quite touched. I've got something
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  Speaker 1: for Elfrida too, said Aunt Edith, feeling among the rustling
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: pile of brown paper and tissue paper and string and
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: cardboard and shavings that were the husks of Edred's presence. Ah,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: here it is. It was a book, a red book
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: with gold pictures on back and cover, and it was
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: called the Amulet. So then it was Elfrida's turn to
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: clasp her aunt round the waist and tell her about
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: her dearness. And now to supper, said the deer, roast
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: chicken and gooseberry pie and cream. To the children accustomed
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: to the mild, uninterestingness of bread and milk for supper,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: this seemed the crowning wonder of the day, and what
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a day it had been. And while they ate the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: brown chicken with bread, sauce and gravy and stuffing, and
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the gooseberry pie and cream, the aunt told them of
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: her day. It really is a ship, she said, and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the best thing it brings is that we shan't let
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: lodgings any more. Hurrah, was the natural response. And we
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: shall have more money to spend and be more comfortable,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and you can go to a really nice school. And
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: where do you think we're going to live, not, said
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Elfrida in a whisper, Not at the castle? Why how
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: did you guess? Elfrida looked at Edred. He hastily swallowed
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: a large mouthful of chicken to say, Auntie, I do
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: hope you won't mind. We went to Arden to day
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: you said we might go this year. Then the whole
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: story came out, yes, quite all up to the saying
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: of the spell. And did anything happen? Aunt Edith asked
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: The children were thankful to see that she was only
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: interested and did not seem vexed at what they had done. Well,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida, slowly we saw mole. Aunt Edith laughed, and
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Edred said quickly, that's all the story, Auntie, And I
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: am Lord Arden, aren't I? Yes? The aunt answered gravely,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you are Lord Arden, oh ripping, cried Edred with so
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: joyous a face that his aunt put away a little
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: sermon she had got ready in the train on the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: duties of the English aristocracy that would keep, she thought,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: and to say no, dear to Elfrida's eager question. Then
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: I'm Lady Arden, aren't I. If he's a lord, I
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: ought to be a lady. Elfrida said, it's not fair.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Never mind, old girl, said Edred kindly, I'll call you
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Lady Arden whenever you like. How would you like? Asked
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: the aunt to go over and live at the castle
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: now tonight? No, no, she laughed, next week, you see,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: I must try to let this house, and I shall
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: be very busy. Missus Honeysett, the old lady who used
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to keep house for your great uncle wrote to the
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: lawyers and asked if we would employ her. I remember
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: her when I was a little girl. She is a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: deer and knows heaps of old songs. How would you
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: like to be there with her while I finish up
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: here and get rid of the lodgers. Oh there's that
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: bell again. I don't think we'll have any bells at
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the castle, shall we. So that was how it was arranged.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: The aunt stayed at the bow Windowed house to arrange
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the new furniture for the house was to be let furnished,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: and to pack up the beautiful old things that were
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: real arden things. And the children went in the carrier's
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: cart with their clothes and their toys in two black boxes,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and in their hearts a world of joyous anticipations. Missus
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Honeyset received them with a pretty old fashioned curtsey which
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: melted into an embrace. You're welcome to your home, my lord,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: she said, with an arm round each child, And you too,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: miss my dear. Any one can see your ardens, both
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: two of you. There was always a boy and a girl,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: A boy and a girl. She had a sweet, patient
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: face with large, pale blue eyes that twinkled when she smiled,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: and she almost always smiled when she looked at the children. Oh,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: but it was fine to unpack one's own box, to
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: lay out one's clothes, and long cedar wood drawers fronted
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: with curved, polished mahogany, to draw back the neat muslin
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: blinds from lattice paned windows that had always been arden windows,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: to look out, as so many Ardens must have done
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: over land, that, as far as one could see, had
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: belonged to one's family in old days, that it no
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: longer belonged hardly mattered at all to the romance of
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: hearts only ten and twelve years old. Then to go
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: down one's own shallow, polished stairs, where portraits of old
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Ardens hung on the wall, and to find the cloth
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: laid for dinner in one's own wainskirted parlor laid for two.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: I think it was nice of Edred to say the
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: moment Missus Honeysett had helped them to toad in the
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: hole and left them to eat it. May I pass
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: you some potatoes, lady Arden, Elfrida giggled happily. The parlor
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: was furnished with the kind of furniture they knew and loved.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: It had a long, low window that showed the long,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: narrow garden outside. The walls were paneled with wood, browny
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: gray under its polish. Oh, said Elfrida, there must be
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: secret panels here, And though Edred said secret fiddlesticks, he
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: and his heart felt that she was right. After dinner,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: May we explore, Elfrida asked, and missus Honeyset, most charming
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: of women, answered heartily, why not, It's all his own,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Bless his dear heart. So they explored. The house was
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: much bigger than they had found it on that wonderful
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: first day when they had acted the part of burglars.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: There was a door covered with faded green baize. Missus
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Honeyset pointed it out to them with don't you think
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: this is all? There's the other house beyond, And at
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the other side of that door there was indeed the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: other house. The house they had already seen was neat, orderly,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: bees whacked, as Missus Honeyset said, till every bit of
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: furniture shone like a mirror or a fond hope. But
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: beyond the bay's door there were shadows. There was dust,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: windows draped in cobwebs, before which hung curtains tattered and faded,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: drooping from their poles, like the old banners that slowly
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: rotting in great cathedrals, sway in the quiet air where
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: no wind is stirred, perhaps by the breath of Fame's
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: invisible trumpet, to the air of old splendors and glories.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: The carpets lay in rags on the floors, on the furniture,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the dust lay thick, and on the boards of corridor
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: and staircase, on the four post beds. In the bed chambers,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: the hangings hung dusty and rusty. The quilts showed the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: holes eaten by moths and mice. In one room, a
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: cradle of carved oak still had a coverlet of tattered
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: silk dragging from it. From the great kitchen hearth, where
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: no fire had been this very long time, yet, where
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: still the ashes of the last fire lay gray and white.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: A chill air came. The place smelt damp and felt.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's haunted, Elfrida asked, rot was her
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: brother's brief reply. And they went on. They found long,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: narrow corridors hung crookedly with old black framed prints, which
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: drooped cobwebs like gray draped crape. They found rooms with
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: floors of gray, uneven oak, and fireplaces in whose grates
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: lay old soot, and the broken nests of starlings hatched
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: very long ago. Edred's handkerchief, always a rag of all work,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: rubbed a space in one of the windows, and they
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: looked out over the swelling downs. This part of the
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: house was not built within the castle. That was plain.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: When they had opened every door and looked at every
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: roomful of decayed splendor, they went out and round. Then
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: they saw that this was a wing built right out
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: of the castle, a wing with squarish windows with carved dripstones.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: All the windows were yellow as parchment, with the inner
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: veil laid on them by time, and the spider the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: ivy grew thick ground the windows, almost hiding some of
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: them altogether. Oh, cried Elfrida, throwing herself down on the turf.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: It's too good to be true. I can't believe it.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: What I can't believe, said Edred. Doing likewise is that
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: precious mole. But we saw it, said Elfrida. You can't
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: help believing things when you've seen them. I can, said Edred, superior.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: You remember the scarlet told stools and hereward. Suppose those
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: peppermint creams were enchanted to make us dream things. They
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: were good, said Elfrida. I say, well, have you made
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: up any poetry to call the mole with? Have you? No,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I've tried, though, I've tried, and I've done it. Oh, Edred,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: you are clever. Do say it? If I do. Do
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: you think the mole will come? Of course it will, well,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: said Edred slowly. Of course I want to find the
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: treasure and all that, but I don't believe in it.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: It isn't likely. That's what I think now, Is it likely?
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Unlikelier things happened in the amulet, said Elfrida. Ah, said Edred.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: That's a story, the mole said. We were in a story,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I say, Edred, Do say your poetry? Edred slowly said it, mole, mole,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: come out of your hole. I know you're blind, but
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I don't mind. Elfrida looked eagerly round her. There was
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the short turf, the castle walls ivied and gray rose
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: high above her. Pigeons circled overhead and in the arches
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: of the windows, and on the roof of the house.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: They perched, preening their bright feathers, or telling each other coo, coo, coooo. Cooooh,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: whatever that may mean. But there was no mole, not
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a hint or a dream or idea of a mole.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Drid said his sister. Well, did you really make that up?
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Don't be cross, but I do think I've heard something
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: like it before. I I adopted it, said Edred. What
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: said Elfrida? Haven't you seen it in books? Adopted from
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the French? I altered it. I don't believe that'll do.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: How much did you alter? What's the real poetry? Like
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the mole? The mole he lives in a hole. The
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: mole is blind. I don't mind, said Edred sulkily. Aunt
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: he told it me the day you went with her
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to missus Harrison. I'm sure you ought to make it
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: up all yourself. You see, the mole doesn't come. There
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: isn't any mole, said Edred. Let's both think hard. I'm
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: sure I could make poetry if I knew how to begin.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: If any one's got to make it, it's me, said Edred.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: You're not Lord Arden. You're very unkind, said Elfrida, and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Edred knew she was right. I don't mind trying, he said, condescendingly.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: You make the poetry, and I'll say it. Elfrida buried
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: her head in her hands and thought till her forehead
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: felt as large as a mangle wirzl, and her blood
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: throbbed in it like a church clock ticking. Got it yet,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: he asked, just as she thought she had really got it? Don't,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: said the poet in agony. Then there was silence except
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: for the pigeons and the skylarks, and the mooing of
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a cow at a distant, red roofed farm. Will this do?
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: She said, at last, lifting her head from her hands
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: and her elbows from the grass. There were deep dents
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: and lines on her elbows made by the grass stalk
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: she had leaned on so long. Spit it out, said Edred.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: End of Section three.