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

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Chapter six, the secret panel, Where shall we hide him, Elfrida asked,
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impatiently. Cousin bet fired by Elfrida's enthusiasm, jumped up and began to
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finger the carved flowers about the chimney piece. The secret room, she said,
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But slip the ball to and turned the key in the lock. Elfrida
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locked the room door and turned to see the carved mantelpiece open like a cupboard.
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Then Elfrida flew to the window and set back the casement very wide,
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and in climbed the beautiful gentleman, and stood there, very handsome and tall,
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bowing to Miss Betty, who sank on her knees and kissed the white
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jeweled hand he held out. Quick, said Elfrida, get into the hole.
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There are stairs, said Betty, snatching a candle in his silver candlestick
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and holding it high. The Chevalier Saint George sprang to a chair, got
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his knee on the mantelpiece, and went into the hole, just as Alice
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goes through the looking glass in mister Taniel's picture. Betty handed him the candle,
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which his white hand reached down to take. Then Elfrida jumped on the
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chair and shut the panel, leaped down and opened the room door, just
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as the maid reached his other side with a supper tray. When the cousins
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were alone, Bet threw her arms round Elfrida. Don't be afraid, little
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cousin, she whispered, Your cousin, Bet will see that no harm comes
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to you from this adventure. Well, I do think, said Elfrida,
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getting out of the embrace most promptly. When it was me let him in,
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and you'd have screamed the house down if I hadn't stopped you. Stop
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chattering, child, said Bet, drawing a distracted hand over her pretty forehead.
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And let me set my wits to work. How I may serve my
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king, ay, said Elfrida, scornfully. Should give him something to eat
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and see that tis beds aired. But I suppose that would be too vulgar
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and common for you. The two looked at each other across the untasted supper.
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Impertinent chit said, Bet, cheat yourself, said Elfrida. Then she
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laughed, Come cousin, Bet, she said, your uncle's away and you're
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grown up. I'll tell you what to do. You just be wise and
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splendid so that your portrait will be in the illustrated Christmas numbers in white satin
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and an anxious expression, the savior of our king. That's what it will
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say. Don't wonder in your speech, child, said cousin Bet, pressing
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her hand to her brow. I've enough to distract me without that. And
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if you desire to ask my pardon, do so. Oh well, I
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beg your pardon. There, said Elfrida with extreme irritation. Now perhaps you'll
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give your king something to eat. Climb into that hold with the tray,
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and the servants perhaps coming in any minute. What would you say to them?
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If they did? All right, then I'll go, said Elfrida,
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only too glad of the chance. Bet touched the secret spring, and when
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Elfrida had climbed into the dark hole, which she did quite easily handed her
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the supper tray. Oh bother, said Elfrida, setting it down at her
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feet with great promptness. It's too heavy. He'll have to come down and
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fetch it. Give me a candle and shut the panel, and tell me
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which way to go to the right and up the steps. Be sure you
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kneel and kiss his hand before you say a word. Elfrida reached down for
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the candle. In its silver candlestick. The panel clicked into place, and
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she stood there among the cobwaby shadows of the secret passage, the light in
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her hand, and the tray at her feet. It's only a moldy wall,
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magic adventure, she said to hearten herself, turned to the right and
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went up the stairs. They were steep and narrow. At the top,
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she saw the long light line of a slightly open door. To knock seemed
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unwise. Instead, she spoke softly, her lips against the line of light.
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It's me, she said, and instantly the door opened, and the
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beautiful gentleman stood before her. The secret room had a little furniture, a
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couch, a table, chairs, all old fashioned, and their shapes showed
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beautiful even in the dim light of the two candles. Your supper, said
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Elfrida, is at the bottom of the stairs. The tray was too heavy
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for me. Do you mind fetching it up if you'll show me a light,
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he said, and went. You'll stay and eat with me, said
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he. When she had lighted him back to the secret room, and he
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set the tray on the table. I mustn't, said Elfrida, cousin bets
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such a muff. She wouldn't know where to say I was if the servants
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came in, Oh, I say, I'm so sorry. I forgot.
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She told me to kneel and kiss your hand before I said anything about supper.
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I'll do it now, nay, said he. I'll kiss thy cheek,
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little lady, and drink a health to him who shall have thy lips?
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When thout seventeen and I am what was it? Five hundred two hundred
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and thirty, said Elfrida, returning his kiss cordially. You are nice,
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you know. I wish you were real. I'd better go back to bed
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now real, he said. Oh I'm talking nonsense, I know, said
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Elfrida. I'll go now. The absent tray will betray you, said he,
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taking food and wine from it and setting them on the table. Now
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I will carry this down again. You have all the curriage, but not
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quite the cunning of a conspirator. How long are you going to stay here,
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Elfrida asked. I suppose you're escaping from someone or something like in history.
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I shall not stay long, he said. If any one should ask
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you if you have seen the king, what would you say? I should
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say no, said Elfrida, boldly. You see, I can't possibly know
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that you're the king. You just say so, that's all. Perhaps,
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really you aren't exquisite, said he. So you don't believe me. Oh,
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yes I do, said Elfrida. But I needn't you know, slive,
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he said, But I wish I were. There'd be a coronet for
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somebody. You wish you were safely away, my little lady. And as
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for coronets, the jewels are safe. See I have set them in the
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cupboard in the corner, and he had. Then he carried down the tray,
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and Elfrida was very hungry. Try to persuade Bet that she must eat,
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if only to keep up her strength for the deeds of daring that might
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want doing at any moment. But Bet declared that she could not eat the
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least morsel would choke her. And as for going to bed, she was
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assuring her cousin that she knew her duty to her king better than that,
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and that she would defend her sovereign with her life if need were. When
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her loyal ecstasies were suddenly interrupted, for the quiet of the night was broken
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by a great knocking at the castle door, and the heavy voice of a
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man crying open in the Queen's name. They've come for him. All is
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lost, We are betrayed. What shall we do? Eat, said Elfrida.
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Eat for your life. She pushed bet into a chair and thrust a
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plate before her, put a chunk of meat pie on her plate and another
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on her own. Get your mouth full, she whispered, feeling her own
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as she spoke, So fool, you can't speak. It'll give you time
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to think. And then the door opened, and in a moment the room
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was full of gentlemen in riding dress, with very stern faces, and they
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all had swords. Betty, with her mouth quite full, was trying not
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to look towards the panel. Elfrida's mouth was equally full, looked at the
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gentleman who seemed to be leading the others, and remarked, this is a
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knife's time of night to come knocking people up. All hours are alike to
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a loyal subject, said a round, fat, blue eyed gentleman in a
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green suit. Have you any stranger under your roof to night? Oh,
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cried bet, all is lost. The gentleman exchanged glasses and crowded round her.
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Elfrida shrugged the shoulders of her mind if a mind has shoulders, and
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told herself that it didn't matter. History knew best, no doubt, and
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whatever seemed to be happening now was only history. You have a stranger here,
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they asked, And where is he? You cannot refuse to give him
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up? My heart told me, so, cried Bet. I knew it
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was he you were seeking. And with that she fainted elegantly into the arms
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of the nearest gentleman, who was dressed in plumb color and seemed to be
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struggling with some emotion which made him look as if he were laughing. Ask
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the child, Children and fools speak the truth, said the fat, blue
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eyed gentleman. Elfrida found herself suddenly lifted on to the table, from which
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she could see over the heads of the gentleman who stood all round her.
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She could see Bet reclining on the sofa, and the open door with servants
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crowding in it, all eyes and ears. No, said a dozen voices,
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the truth, little miss, What do you want to know, she
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asked, and in a much lower tone, I shan't tell you anything unless
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you send the servants away. The door was closed, and the truth was
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asked for again. If you'll only tell me what you want to know,
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she said again. Does any stranger lie here to night? No, said
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Elfrida. She knew that the beautiful gentleman in the secret chamber was not lying
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down, but sitting to his supper. But miss Arden said all is lost,
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and she knew twas he whom we sought. Well, Elfrida carefully explained,
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it is like this. You see, we were robbed by a highwayman
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to day, and I think that upset my cousin. She's rather easily upset.
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I'm afraid, very easily. Several voices agreed, and some one added
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that it was a hair brained business, the shortest waste, the best,
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said the plum colored gentleman is Sir Edward Talbot here. No he isn't,
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said Elfrida, downrightly. And I don't believe you've got any business coming into
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people's houses and frightening other people into fits. And I shall tell Lord Arden
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when he comes home. So now you know sucks. Someone cried the child's
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got the spirit, and she's right too. Strike me if she isn't,
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but snails exclaimed another. We do but protect Lord Arden's house in his absence,
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if said Elfrida, you think your talbot's playing hide and seek here,
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and if he's done anything wrong, you can look for him if you like.
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But I don't believe Lord Arden will be pleased. That's all I should
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like to get down on to the floor, if you please. I don't
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know whether Elfrida would have had the courage to say all this if she had
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not remembered that this was history times and not now times. But the gentleman
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seemed delighted with her bravery. They lifted her gently down, and with many
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apologize for having discommoded the ladies, they went out of the room and out
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of the castle. Through the window, Elfrida heard the laughing voices and clatter
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and stamp of their horses hoofs as they mounted and rode off. They all
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seemed to be laughing, and she felt that she moved in the midst of
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mistress. She could not bear to go back into her own time without seeing
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the end of the adventure, so she went to bed in a large four
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poster with cousin bed for company. The fainting fit lasted exactly as long as
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the strange gentlemen were in the house, and no longer, which was very
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convenient. Elfrida got up extremely early in the morning and went down into the
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parlor. She had meant to go and see how the king was and whether
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he wanted his shaving water first thing, as her daddy used to do,
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but it was so very, very early that she decided that it would be
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better to wait a little. The king might be sleepy, and sleepy people
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were not always grateful, she knew for early shaving water. So she went
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out into the fields, where the dew was gray on the grass, and
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up on to Arden Knoll. And she stood there and heard the skylarks,
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and looked at the castle, and thought how new the mortar looked in the
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parts about the living house. And presently she saw two figures coming across the
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fields from where the spire of Arden Church rose out of the tops of trees,
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as round and green as the best double curled parsley. And one of
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the gentlemen wore a green coat and the other a purple coat. And she
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thought to herself how convenient it was to recognize people half a mile away by
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the color of their clothes. Quite plainly they were going to the castle.
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So she went down too, and met them at the gate with a civil
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good morning. You are nolia bed at least, said the green gentleman.
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And so no stranger lay at arden last night. Eh Elfrida found this difficult
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to answer. No doubt, the king had Lain was probably still lying in
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the secret chamber. But was he stranger? No, of course he wasn't,
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so no, she said. And then through the open window of the
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parlor came very unexpectedly, and suddenly her leg in a riding boot, then
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another leg, and the whole of the beautiful gentleman stood in front of them.
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So ho, he said, Speak softly, for the servants are not
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yet about they are, said Elfrida. Only they are at the back.
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Creep along under the wall. You will get away without their seeing you.
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Then, always so wonderful counselor, said the beautiful gentleman, bowing gracefully,
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Come with us, little maid. I have no secrets from thee. So
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they all crept along close to the castle wall, to that corner, from
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which between two shoulders of down you can see the sea. There they stopped,
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and the wager's mine, said the beautiful gentleman. For all you tried
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to spoil it, that was not in the Bond Fitzgerald entering Ardnate night at
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nine of the clock to ferret me out like a pack of hounds after Renner.
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There was nothing bad, said the green gentleman. We tried waylaying you
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on the road, but you were an hour early. Ah, said the
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beautiful gentleman, putting back clocks his easy work. And the ostler at the
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bull loves a handsome wager nigh as well as he loves a guinea. I
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do wish you'd explain, said Elfrida, almost stamping with curiosity and impatience.
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And so I will, my pretty said he, laughing. Aren't you the
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king? You said you were? Nay, nay, not so fast,
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I asked thee what thou wouldst say if I told you I was King James?
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Then who are you, she asked, Lain Edward Talbot, Baronet at
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your Ladyship's service, he said, with another of his fine bows. But
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I don't understand, she said, Do tell me all about it from the
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beginning. So he told her, and the other gentleman stood by laughing.
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The other night I was dining with mister Fitzgerald here, and the talk turned
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on highway robbery and on Arden Castle. Here with other matters. And these
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gentlemen, with others of the party, laid me a wager five hundred guineas
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it was that I would not rob a coach. I took the wager,
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and I waited beside that I would rob a coach of the Arden Jewels,
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and that I would lie a night at Arden beside, and no one should
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know my name there. And I have done all three and won my wager.
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I'm but newly come home from foreign parts, so your cousin could not
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know my face but Sound's child. Had it not been for Thee, I
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had lost my wager. I counted on Miss Arden's help, and a pale
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faced, fainting, useless, fine lady I should have found her. But
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thou thou'rt a girl in a thousand, and I'll buy thee the finest faring
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I can find next time I go to London. We are all friends.
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Tell pretty miss to hold that tongue of hers, and none shall hear the
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tale from us. But all these gentlemen coming last night, all the servants
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know the gentleman came no doubt to protect Miss Arden in case the villainous highwayman
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should have hidden behind the window curtain. Oh, but the wise child it
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is, has a care for every weak point in our armor. Then he
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told his friends the whole of the adventure, and they laughed very merrily for
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all they had lost their wager, and went home to breakfast across the dewy
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fields. It's nice of him to think me brave and all that, Elfrida
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told herself, But I do wish he'd really been the king. When she
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had told Betty what had happened, everything seemed suddenly to be not worth while.
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She did not feel as though she cared to stay any longer in that
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part of the past. So she ran upstairs, through the attic and the
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pigeon noises, back into her own times, and went down and found Edrid
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sitting on the second hand of the daisy clock. And he did not believe
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that she had been away at all, for all the time she had been
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away seemed no time to him, because he had been sitting on that second
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hand. So when the moliwarp told them to go along, in they went.
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And the way they went was not in, but out and round under
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the castle wall, to the corner from which you could see the sea.
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And there they lay on the warm grass, and Elfrida told Edred the whole
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story, and at first he did not believe a word of it. But
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it is true, I tell you, said she. You don't suppose I
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should make up a whole tale like that, do you No? Said Edred.
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Of course you're not clever enough. But you might have read it in
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a book. Well I didn't, said Elfrida. So there, if it
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was really true, you might have come back for me. You know how
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I've always wanted to meet a highwayman, you know you do? How could
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I come back? How was I to get off the horse and run home
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and get in among the chests and the pigeon noises and come out here and
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take you back? The highwayman Talbot, I mean would have been gone long
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before we got back. No, he wouldn't, said Edid Obstinately, you
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forget I was sitting on the clock and stopping it. There wasn't any time
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while you were gone. If you were there was with me, said Elfrida.
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Don't you see there wouldn't have been if you'd come back where I was.
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Edred interrupted, how can you be so aggravating? Elfrida found suddenly that
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she was losing her temper. You can't be as stupid as that, really,
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Oh can't, I said Edred. I can, though, if I
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like and stupider, much stupider, he added darkly. You wait, Edred,
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said his sister, slowly and fervently. Sometimes I feel as if I
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must shake you, you darned, said Edid do you tear me too?
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Yes, said Edred fiercely. Of course you're aware that after that, by
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all family laws, Elfrida was obliged to shake him. She did, and
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burst into tears. He looked at her for a moment, and but no
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tears are unmanly. I would not betray the weakness of my hero. Let
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us draw a veil, or take a turn round the castle and come back
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to them. Presently. It is just as well that we went away when
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we did, for we really turned our backs on a most unpleasant scene.
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And now that we come back to them, though, crying is still going
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on, Elfrida is saying that she's very sorry, and is trying to find
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her handkerchief to lend to Edred, whose own is unexpectedly mislaid. Oh all
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right, yissays I'm sorry too, there, But us saying we're sorry won't
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make us unquarrel. That's the worst of it. We shan't be able to
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find the door for three days. Now I do wish we hadn't. It
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is sickening. Never mind, said Elfrida, we didn't have real I'll never
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speak to you again. You see, if I do quarrel, did we
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I don't suppose it matters what sort of quarrel you had, said the boy
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in a loom. Look here, I'll tell you what you tell me,
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all about it over again, and I'll try to believe you. I really
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will, on the honor of an Arden. So she told him all over
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again. And where said he? When she had quite finished. Where did
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you put the jewels? I they He put them in the corner cupboard in
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the secret room, said Elfrida. If you'd taken me and not been in
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such a hurry. No, I'm not quarreling. I'm only reasoning with you,
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Like Aunt Edith. If i'd been there, I should have buried those
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jewels somewhere and then come back for me, and we'd have dug them up
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and been rich beyond the dreams of what do they call it? But I
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never told Betty where they were. Perhaps they are there now. Let's go
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and look if they are, said he, I'll believe everything you've been to
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telling me without trying at all. You'll have to do that if there's a
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secret room, won't you, perhaps, said Edred. Let's go and see.
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I expect I shall have got a headache. Presently you didn't ought to
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have shaken me. Missus Honeyset says. It's very bad for people to be
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shaken. It mixes up their brains inside their heads so that they ache,
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and you're stupid. I expect that's what made you say I was stupid,
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Oh dear, said Elfrida despairingly. You know that was before I shook you,
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and I did say I was sorry. I know it was, But
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it comes to the same thing. Come on, let's have a squint at
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your own secret room. But unfortunately it was now dinner time. If you
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do happen to know the secret of a card panel with the staircase hidden away
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behind it, you don't want to tell that secret lightly, as though it
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were the day of the week, or the date of the Battle of Waterloo,
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or what nine times seven is not even to grown up so justly like
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as missus Honeyset and Besides, a hot beefsteak, pudding and greens do not
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seem to go well with the romances of old days. To have looked for
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the spring of that panel, while that dinner smoked on the board would have
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been as unseemly as to try on a new gold crown over curl papers.
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Elfrida felt this, and Idri did not more than half believe in the secret
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anyway, And besides, he was very hungry. Wait till afterwards, was
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what they said to each other in whispers while missus Honeyset was changing the plates.
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You do beautiful cooking, Edith remarked, as the gooseberry pie was cut
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open and revealed its cry so press colored contents. Yodo beautiful eating them,
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said missus Honeyset. And you'll be quick about it. You ain't got into
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no mischief this morning, have you? You look as though butter wouldn't melt
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in either of your mouth, and that's always a sign of something being up
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with most children. No, indeed, we haven't, said Elfrida earnestly,
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and we don't mean to either, and are looking like that's only because we've
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brushed our hairs with wet brushes. Most likely it does make you look good
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somehow, I've often noticed it. I've been flying round this morning, missus
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Honey said, went on so as to get down to my sister's for a
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bit this afternoon. She's not so well again, poor old dear, and
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I might be kept late. But my niece Emily's coming up to take charge.
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She's a nice, lively young girl. She'll get you your teeth and
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look after you as nice as nice. Now, don't you go doing anything
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what you wouldn't if I was behind of you. Will you that stairs?
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Nothing could have happened better. Both children felt that Emily, being a young
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girl, would be more easy to manage than missus Honey said. As soon
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as they were alone, they talked it over comfortably and decided that the best
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thing would be to ask Emily if she would go down to the station and
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see if there was a parcel therefore the Master Arden or miss Arden, and
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if there isn't, Elfrida jiggled, We'll say she'd better wait till it comes.
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We'll run down and fetch her. As soon as we've explored the secret
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chamber, I say, Edrid remarked, thoughtfully, we haven't bothered much about
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finding the treasure? Have we? I thought that was what we were going
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into history for now, Edred said his sister. You know very well we
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didn't go into history on purpose. No, but said Edred, we ought
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to have. Suppose the treasure is really those jewels, we'd sell them and
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rebuild Arden Castle like it used to be, wouldn't we. We'd give Aunt
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to edit a few Jules, I think, wouldn't we. She's such a
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dear you know, yes, she should have first choice. I do believe
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we're on the brink, and I feel just exactly like as if something really
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was going to happen, not in history, but here at Arden now Arden.
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I do hope we find the jewels, said Elfrida. Oh I do,
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and I do hope we manage the lively young girl, all right,
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missus Honicet's pestress was a nice bright red, the kind of color you can
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see a long way off. They watched it till it disappeared round a shoulder
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of the downs, and then set about the task of managing Emily. The
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lively young girl proved quite easy to manage. The idea of popping on her
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hat and running down to the station was naturally much pleasanter to her than the
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idea of washing the plates that had been used for beefsteak pudding and gooseberry pie,
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and then giving the kitchen a thorough scrub out, which was the way
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missus Honeysett had meant her to spend the afternoon. Her best dress, she
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had slipped the skirt over her print count so as to look smart. As
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she came up through the village was a vivid violet, another good distance color.
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It also was watched till it dipped into the lane. And now,
28:30
cried Elfrida. We're all alone and we can explore the great secret. But
28:37
suppose somebody comes, said Edred, and interrupts and finds it out and grabs
28:41
the jewels, and all is lost. There's tramps, you know, and
28:47
gipsy women with baskets. Yes, or a drink of water, or to
28:52
ask the time? I tell you what? We lock up the doors back
28:56
in front. They did, but even this did not satisfy the suddenly cautious
29:03
Edred. The parlor door two, he said. So they locked the parlor
29:07
door, and Elfrida put the key in a safe place for fear of accidents.
29:11
She said, I do not at all know what she meant, And
29:15
when she came to think it over, she did not know either, but
29:19
it seemed all right. At the time they had provided themselves with a box
29:25
of matches and a candle, and now the decisive moment had come. As
29:30
they say about battles, Elfrida fumbled for the secret spring. How does it
29:36
open, asked the boy. I'll show you, presently, said the girl.
29:41
She could not show him then, because, in point of fact,
29:44
she did not know. She only knew there was a secret spring, and
29:48
she was feeling for it with both hands among the carved dress of the panels
29:52
as she stood with one foot on each of the arms of a very high
29:56
chair, the only chair in the room high enough for her to be able
30:00
to reach all round the panel. Suddenly, something clicked and the secret door
30:07
flew open. She just had time to jump to the floor or it would
30:11
have knocked her down. Then she climbed up again and got into the hole
30:15
and edred handed her the candle. Where's the matches, she asked, in
30:21
my pocket, said he firmly. I'm not going to have your starting off
30:26
without me again. Well, come on, then, said Elfrida, ignoring
30:30
the injustice of this speech? All right, said Edred, climbing on the
30:34
chair. How does it open? He had half closed the door and was
30:40
feeling among the carved leaves as he had seen her do. Oh come on,
30:45
said Elfrida. Oh look out? Well might she request her careless brother
30:51
to look out? As he reached up to touch the carving, the chair
30:55
tilted. He was jerked forward, caught at the carving to save himself,
31:00
missed it and fell forward with all his weight against the half open door.
31:03
It shut with a loud bang. Then every sounding crash echoed through the quiet
31:08
house as Edred and the big chair fell to the floor in so to speak
31:14
each other's arms. There was a stricken pause. Then Elfrida, from the
31:18
other side of the panel, beat upon it with her fists and shouted open
31:22
the door. You aren't hurt, are you? Yes? I am very
31:27
much, said Edred from the outside of the secret door, and also from
31:33
the hearth rug. I've twisted my leg in the knickerbocker part, and I've
31:37
got a great bump on my head, and i think I'm going to be
31:41
very poorly well. Open the panel first, said Elfrida, rather unfeelingly,
31:48
But then she was alone in the dark on the other side of the panel.
31:52
I don't know how to, said Edred, and Elfrida heard the sound
31:57
of someone picking himself up from among disordered furniture. Feel among the leaves like
32:05
I did. She said, it's quite easy. You'll soon find it.
32:10
Silence end of section eight.