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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter seven. The key of the parlor, Elfrida was behind
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the secret panel, and the panel had shut with the spring.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: She had come there hoping to find the jewels that
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: had been hidden two hundred years ago by Sir Edward
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Talbot when he was pretending to be the Chevalier Saint George.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: She had not had time even to look for the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: jewels before the panel closed, And now that she was
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: alone in the dusty dark, with the door shut between
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: her and the bright light parlor where her brother was,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the jewels hardly seemed to matter at all. And what
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: did so dreadfully and very much matter was that closed panel.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Edred had tried to open it, and he had fallen
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: off the chair. Well, there had been plenty of time
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: for him to get up again. Why don't you open
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the door, she called impatiently, and there was no answer
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Behind that panel. Silence seemed a thousand times more silent
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: than it ever had before, and it was so dark,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and Edred had the matches in his pocket. Edred, Edred,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: she called suddenly and very loud, why don't you open
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the door? And this time he answered, because I can't reach,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: he said, I feel that I ought to make that
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the end of the chapter and leave you to wonder
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: till the next how Elfrida got out, and how she
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: liked the not getting out, which certainly looked as though
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: it were going to last longer than anyone could possibly
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: be expected to find pleasant. But that would make the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: chapter too short, and there are other reasons, so I
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: will not disguise from you that when Elfrida put her
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: hand to her pocket and felt something there, something hard
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: and heavy, and remembered that she had put the key
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of the parlor there because it was such a nice,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: safe place where it couldn't possibly be lost, she uttered
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: what is known as a hollow groan. Ah. You see now,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: said Edred. Outside. You see, I'm not so stupid, after all,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Elfrida was thinking, I say, she called through the panel.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: It's no use my standing here. I shall try to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: feel my way up to the secret chamber. I wish
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I could remember whether there's a window there or not.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: If I were you, I should just take a book
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and read till something happens. Missus Honeyset's sure to come
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: back sometime. I can't hear half you say, said Edred.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: You do whiffles, Take a book shouted. His sister read
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: missus honeyset, we'll come back some time. So Edith got
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: down a book called Red Cotton Nightcap Country, which she
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: thought looked interesting. But I don't advise you to try it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: And Elfrida, her heart beating, rather heavily, put out her
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: hands and felt her way along the passage to the stairs.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: It's all very well, she told herself. The secret panel
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: is there all right, like it was when I went
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: into the past. But suppose the stairs are gone, or
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: weren't really ever there at all, or suppose I walked
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: straight into a wall or something, or perhaps not a wall.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: A well, she suggested to herself, with a sudden shrill
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of terror. And after that she felt very carefully with
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: each foot in turn before she ventured to put it
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: down in a fresh step. The boards were soft to
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: tread on, as though they had been carpeted with velvet,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and so were the stairs, for there were stairs, sure enough.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: She went up them, very slowly and carefully, reaching her
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: hands before her, and at last her hands came against
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: something that seemed like a door. She stroked it gently,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: feeling for the latch, which she presently found. The door
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: had not been opened for such a very long time
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that it was not at all inclined to open. Now
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Elfrida had to show with shoulder and knee, and with
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: all the strength she had. The door gave way out
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: of politeness, I should think, for Elfrida's knee and shoulder
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and strength were all quite small. And there was the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: room just as she had seen it when the Chevalier
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Saint George stood in it, bowing and smiling by the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: light of one candle in a silver candlestick. Only now
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Elfrida was alone, and the light was a sort of
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: green twilight that came from a little window over the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: mantelpiece that was hung outside with a thick curtain of ivy.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: If Elfrida had come out of the sunlight, she would
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: have called this a green darkness. But she had been
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: so long in the dark that this shadowy dusk seemed
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: quite light to her. All the same, she made haste
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: when she had shut the door to drag a chair
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in front of the fireplace and to get the window open.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: It opened inwards, and it did not want to open
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: at all, But it also was polite enough to yeeld
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: to her wishes, and when it had suddenly given way.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: She reached out and broke the ivy leaves of one
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: by one, making more and more daylight in the secret room.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: She did not let the leaves fall outside, but on
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the hearth stone, for said she, we don't want outside
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: people to get to know all about the arden's secret
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: hiding place. I'm glad I thought of that. I really
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: am rather like a detective in a book. When all
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the leaves were plucked from the window square, and only
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: the brown ivy bows left, she turned back to the room.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: The furniture was all powdered heavily with dust, and what
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: had made the floor so soft to walk upon was
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the thick carpet of dust that lay there. There was
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: the table on which the Chevalier Saint George no Sir
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Edward Talbot had set the train. There were the chairs,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and there sure enough was the corner cupboard in which
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: he had put the jewels. Elfrida got its door opened
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: with I don't know what of mingled hopes and fears.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It had three shelves, but their jewels were on none
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: of them. In fact, there was nothing on any of them,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: but on the inside of the door. Her hand as
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: she held it open, felt something rough, and when she
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: looked it was a name card. And when she swung
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the door well back so that the light fell full
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: on it, she saw that the name was E. Talbot.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So then she knew that all she had seen in
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: that room before must have really happened two hundred years before,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: and was not just a piece of magic, moldy warpiness.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: She climbed up on the chair again and looked out
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: through the little window. She could see nothing of the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: castle walls, only the distant shoulder of the downs and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the path that cut across it towards the station. She
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: would have liked to see a red figure or a
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: violet one coming along that path, but there was no
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: figure on it at all. What do you usually do
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: when you are shut up in a secret room with
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: no chance of getting out for hours? As for me,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I always say poetry to myself. It is one of
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the uses of poetry. One says it to oneself in
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: distressing circumstances of that kind, or when one has to
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: wait at railway stations, or when one cannot get to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: sleep at night. You will find poetry most useful for
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: this purpose, So learn plenty of it. And be sure
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: it is the best kind, because this is most useful
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: as well as most agreeable. Elfrida began with ruin sees
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the Ruthless King. But there were parts of that which
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: she liked best when there were other people about, So
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: she stopped it and began Horacious and the Bridge. This
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: lasts a long time. Then came the favorite Cat drowned
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: in a tub of goldfish. And in the middle of that,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: quite suddenly, and I don't know why, she thought of
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the mouldiwar. It didn't quite quarrel, she told herself, at
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: least not really truly quarreling. I might try, anyhow, So
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: she set to work to make a piece of poetry
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: to call up the Mouldiwarp with. This was how, after
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: a long time, the first peace came out. The mouldiwarpop
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Arden by the nine Gods. Its war that Elfrida of
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Arden should be shut up no more. By the nine Gods.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: It swore it and named a convenient time, no doubt,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and bade its messengers ride forth east and west, south
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and north to let Elfrida out. But when she said
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: it aloud, nothing happened. I wonder, said Elfrida, whether it's
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: because we quarreled, or because it just says he'll let
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: me out and doesn't ask him to, or because I
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: had to say Elfrida to make its sound right, or
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: because it's such dreadful nonsense. I'll try again. She tried again.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: This time she got behind the secret panel's lines. The
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: pensive Elfrida reclines and wishes she was at home at least.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I'm at home, of course, but things are getting worse
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: and worse. Dear mole, come, come, come, come, She said
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: it aloud, and when she came to the last words,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: there was the white mouldiwarp sitting on the floor at
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: her feet and looking up at her with eyes that blink.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: You are good to come, Elfrida said, Well, what do
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you want now? Said the mole. I I ought to
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: tell you that I oughtn't to ask you to do anything,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: but I didn't think you'd come. If it really counted
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: as a quarrel. It was only little one, and we
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: were both sorry quite directly. You have a straightforward nature,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: said the moleiwarf Well, well, I must say you've got
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: yourself into a nice hole. It would be a very
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: nice hole, said Elfrida eagerly, if only the panel were open,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't mind how long I stayed here. Then that's funny,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: isn't it, Yes, said the mole. Well, if you hadn't quarreled,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I could get you into another time, some time when
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the panel was open, and you could just walk out.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: You shouldn't quarrel. It makes everything different. It puts dust
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: into the works. It stops the wheels of the clock
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: the clock, said Elfrida slowly. Couldn't that work backwards? I
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: don't know what you mean, said the mole. I don't
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: know that. I quite know myself, Elfrida explained. But the
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: daisy clock you sit on the second hand, and there
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: isn't any time, and yet there's lots where you're not sitting.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: If I could sit on the daisy clock, the time
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be anything before some one comes to let me out.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: But I can't get to the daisy clock, even if
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: you'd make it for me. So that's no good. You
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: are a very clever girl, said the mouldiwarp, And all
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the clocks in the world aren't made of daisis. Move
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the table and chairs back against the wall. We'll see
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: what we can do for you. While Elfrida was carrying
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: out this order. The white mole stood on its hind
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: feet and called out softly in a language she did
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: not understand. Others understood it, though it seemed for A
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: white pigeon fluttered in through the window, and then another
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: and another, till the room seemed full of circling wings
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: and gentle cooings, and a shower of soft white feather
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: fell like snow. Then the mole was silent, and one
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: by one the white pigeons sailed back through the window
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: into the blue and gold world of out of doors.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Get upon a chair, and keep out of the way,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: said the moleiwarp and Elfrida did. And then a soft
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: wind blew through the little room, a wind like the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: wind that breathes softly in walled gardens and shakes down
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the rose leaves on sparkling summer mornings. And the white
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: feathers on the floor were stirred by the sweet wind
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: and drifted into little heaps and lines and curves, till
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: they made on the dusty floor the circle of a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: clock face, with all its figures and its long hand
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and its short hand and its second hand. And the
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: white mole stood in the middle all white things. Sopay me,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: it said, Come sit down on the minute hand, and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: you'll be there in no time. Where, asked Elfrida, getting
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: off the chair, Why at the time when they opened
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the panel. Let me get out of the clock first,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: and give me the key of the parlor door. It'll
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: say time in the end. So Elfrida sat down on
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: the minute hand, and instantly it began to move round
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: faster than you can possibly imagine, and it was very
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: soft to sit on, like a cloud would be, if
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the laws of nature ever permitted you to sit on clouds.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: And it spun round so that it seemed no time
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: at all before she found herself sitting on the floor
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and heard voices and knew that the secret panel was open.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I see, she said, wisely, It does work backwards, doesn't it.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: But there was no one to answer her, for the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: mouliwark was gone. When the white pigeons feathers were in
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: heaps on the floor, she saw them as she stood up,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: and there wasn't any clock face any more. Edred soon
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: got tired of red cotton nightcup country, which really is
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: not half such good fun as it sounds, even for
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: grown ups, and he tried several other books, but reading
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: did not seem amusing somehow, And the house was so
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: much too quiet, and the clock outside ticks so much
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: too loud, and Elfrida was shut up, and there were
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: bars to the windows, and the door was locked. He
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: walked about and sat in each of the chairs in turn,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: but no one of them was comfortable, and his thoughts
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: were not comfortable either. Suppose no one ever came to
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: let them out. Supposing the years rode on and found
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: him still a prisoner. When he he was a white
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: haired old man like people in the bastili or in
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: iron masks. His eyes filled with tears at the thought. Fortunately,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: did not occur to him that unless someone came pretty soon,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: he would be unlikely to live to a great age,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: since people cannot live long without eating. If he had
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: thought of this, he would have been even more unhappy
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: than he was, and he was quite unhappy enough. Then
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: he began to wonder if anything had happened to Elfrida.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: She was dreadfully quiet inside there behind the panel. He
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: wished he had not quarreled with her. Everything was very miserable.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: He went to the window and looked out as Elfrida
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: had done to see if he could see a red
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: dress or a violet dress coming over the downs, but
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: there was nothing, And the time got longer and longer,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: drawing itself out like a putty snake when you rub
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: it between your warm hands. And at last, what with
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: misery and having cried a good deal, and it's being
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: long past tea time, he fell asleep on the window seat.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: He was raised by a hand on his shoulder and
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: a voice calling his name. Next moment he was in
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: the arms of Aunt Edith, or as much in her
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: arms as he could be with the window bars between them.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: When he told her where Elfrida was and where the
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: room key was, which took some time, he began to
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: cry again, for he did not quite see even now
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: how he was to be got out. Now, don't be
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: a dear silly, said Aunt digit If we can't get
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: you out any other way, I'll run and fetch a locksmith.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: But look what I found right in the middle of
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: the path as I came up from the station. It
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: was a key and light. It was an ivory label,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and on the label were written the words parlor door arden.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: You might try it, she said. He did try it,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and it fitted, and he unlocked the parlor door and
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: then the front door so that Aunt Edith could come in,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: And together they got the kitchen steps and found the
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: secret spring, and opened the panel and got out the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: dusty Elfrida, and then Aunt Edith lighted the kitchen fire
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: and boiled the kettle. They had tea, which everyone wanted
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: very badly. Indeed, and Aunt Edith had brought little cakes
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: for tea with pink icing on them, very soft inside
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: with apricot jam, and she had come to stay over Sunday.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: She was as much excited as the children over the
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: secret panel. And after tea, when Edred had fetched Emily
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: from the wild goose Chase for a parcel at the
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: station on which she was still engaged, the aunt and
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the niece and the nephew explored the secret stare and
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the secret chamber thoroughly. What a wonderful lot of pigeons feathers,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: said Aunt Edith. They must have been piling up here
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: for years and years. It was lucky you finding that key,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: said Edred. I wonder who dropped it? Where's the other one? Elf?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know, said Elfrida, truthfully, it isn't in my
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: pocket now, and though Edred and Aunt Edith searched every
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: corner of the secret hiding place, they never found that key.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Elfrida alone knows that she gave it to the moldiwarp,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: And as missus Honeysid declared that there had never been
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: a parlor key with a label on it in her time,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: it certainly does seem as though the mole must have
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: put the key he got from Elfrida on the path
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: for Aunt Idith to find, after carefully labely it to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: prevent mistakes. How the mole got the label is another question,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: But I really think that finding a label for a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: key is quite a simple thing to do. I have
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: done it myself, whereas making a clockface of white pigeon
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: feathers is very difficult, indeed, and a thing that I
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: have never been able to do. And as for making
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: that clock face, the means of persuading time to go
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: fast or slow just as one wishes, well, I don't
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: suppose even you could do that. Elfrida found it rather
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: a relief to go back to the ordinary world, where
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: magic moles did not upset the clock, a world made
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: pleasant by nice aunts and the old delightful games that
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: delight ordinary people, games such as Hunt the Thimble, what
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: is My thought Like? And Proverbs. The three had a
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: delightful weekend, and Aunt Edith told them all about the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: lodgers and the seaside house, which already seemed very long
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: ago and far away. On Sunday evening, as they walked
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: home from Arden Church, where they had tried to attend
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: to the service and not to look too much at
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: the tombs and monuments of dead and gone Ardens that
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: line the chancel, the three sat down on Arden Knoll
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: and Aunt Edith explained things a little to them. She
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: told them much more than they could understand about wills
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: and trustees and incomes. But they were honored by her
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: confidence and pleased by the fact that she seemed to
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: think they could understand such grown up kind of things.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: And the thing that remained on their minds after the talk,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: like a ship cast up by a high tide, was
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: this that Arden Castle was theirs, and that there was
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: very little money to keep it up with, so that
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: every one must be very careful and no one must
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: be at all extravagant. And Aunt Edith was going back
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: to the world o lawyers and wills and trustees early
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: on Monday morning, and they must be very good children
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: and not bother missus Honeysett, and never never lock themselves
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: in and hide the key in safe places. All this
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: remained as the lasting result of the pleasant talk on
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the downs in the softly lessening light, And another thing remained,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: which Edith put into words as the two children looked
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: back from the station where they had seen Aunt Edith
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: into the train and weighed their good byes to her.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: It is very important, indeed, he said, for us to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: find the treasure, then we could keep up the castle
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: without any bother. We must have it built up again
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: first course, and then we'll keep it up, and we
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: won't have any old clocks and not keeping together. This time,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: we'll both of us go and find thee attic the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: minute our quarrels three days old, and we'll ask the
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Mouldiwarp to send us to a time when we can
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: really see the treasure with our own eyes. I do
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: think that's a good idea, don't you, he asked with
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: modest pride. Very Elfrida said, And I say, Edrid, I
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: don't mean to quarrel any more. If I can help it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: It is such a waste of time, she added, in
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: her best grown up manner, and does delay everything. So
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: delays are dangerous, it says, so in the proverb game.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Suppose there really was a chance of getting the treasure,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: and we had to wait three days because of quarreling.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: But I'll tell you one thing I found out. You
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: can get the mold to come and help you, even
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: if you have quarreled a little, because I did, and
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: she told him how. But I expect, she added, it
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: would only come if I were in the most awful
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: trouble and all human aid despaired of. Well we are
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: not that, now, said Edred, knocking the head off a
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: poppy with a stick. And I am jolly glad we're not,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: I wonder, said Elfrida, who lives in that cottage where
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the witch was. I know exactly where it is. I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: expect it's been pulled down, though. Let's go round that way.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: It'll be something to do. So they went round that way,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and the way was quite easy to find. But when
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: they got to the place where the tumble down cottage
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: had been in Bonney's time, there was only a little
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: slate roofed house with a blue bill pasted up on
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: its yellow brick face, saying that somebody's a one genior
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: bear and up to date minerals were sold there. The
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: house was dull to look at, and they did not
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: happen to have any spare money for ginger beer, so
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: they turned round to go home, and suddenly found themselves
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: face to face with a woman. She wore a red
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and black plaid blouse and a bought ready made black skirt,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and on her head was a man's peaked cap, such
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: as women in the country were now, instead of the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: pretty sun bonnets that they used to wear when I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: was a little girl. So they pulled an old cottage down,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: she said, they SNeW housel be fine and dry. Inside
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I lay. The rain comes in through the roof of
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: the old one, so's you might a most as well
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: be laying in the open meadow. The children listened politely,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and both were wondering where they had seen this woman before,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: for her face was strangely familiar to them, and yet
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: they didn't seem really to know her either. Most O,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the cottage's bout ere is just as bad as they
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: always was, she went on. When arden has the handling
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: of the treasure, he'll see to it that poor folks
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: lie warm and dry. Won't tea now? And then, all
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: in a minute, the children both knew, and she knew
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that they knew. Why, said he did? You're the yes,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: she said, I'm the witch, come from old ancient times.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: If you can go back, I can go forth, because
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: then and now it's the same. If I know how
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: to make a clock, can you make clocks? Said Elfrida.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I thought it was only so it be, said the witch.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I can't make them, but I know them as can.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: And I've come here to find you, cause you brought
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: me the tea and sugar. I've got the wise eye
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I have. I can see back and forth. I looked
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: forward and I saw ye, and I looked back, and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: I saw what you're seeking. And I know where the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: treasure is. And but where did you get those clothes? Edodosk.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And it was a question he was afterwards to have
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: reason to regret. Oh, clothes is easy to come by,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: said the witch. If it was only close, I could
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: be a crowned queen. This very minute, the children had
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a fleeting impression of seeing against the criss cross fence
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: of the potato patch, a lady in crimson and ermine
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: with a gold crown. They blinked, startled, and saw that
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: there was no crimson and gold, only the dull clothes
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: of the witch against the background of potato patch. And
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: how did you get here, edodosk That speckled hen o
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: mines settin' on the clock face now, she said, I
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: quieted her with a chalk line drawn from her beaks
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: end and straight out into the world, O wonders. If
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: she rouses up, then I'm back there, And I can't
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: never come back here, my DearS, not more than once.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I can't. So let's make haste down to the castle
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and I'll show you where my great granny see them
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: put the treasure when she was a little girl. The
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: three hurried down the steep bank lane. Men's the time
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the witch went on. My granny pointed it out to me.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: It's just alongside where. And then the witch was not
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: there any more. Edred and Elfrida were alone in the lane.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: The speckled hen must have recovered from her quieting and
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: got off the clock. She's gone right enough, said Edred,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: And now we'll never know. And just when she was
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: going to tell us where it was. I do think
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: it's too jolly stupid for anything. It's you that's too
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: jolly stupid for anything, said Elfrida hotly. What did you
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: want to go asking her about her silly clothes for?
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: It was that, did it? She'd have told us where
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: it was before now if you hadn't taken her time
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: up with clothes, as if clothes mattered. I do wish
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: to goodness you'd sometimes try to behave as if you'd
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: got some sense, got it, said Edith bitterly, as if
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: everything wasn't tiresome enough. Now there's another three days to
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: wait because of your nagging. Oh it's just exactly like
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a girl, so it is. I'm I'm sorry, said Elfrida,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: eve stricken. Let's do something good to make up. I'll
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: give you that note book of mine with the lead
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: pointed mother of pearl pencil, and we'll go round to
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: all the cottages and find out which are leaky, so
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: as to be ready to patch them up when we've
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: got the treasure. I don't want to be good, said
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Edred bitterly. I haven't quarreled and put everything back, but
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: I'm going to now, he said with determination. I don't
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: see why everything should be smashed up and me not
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: said any of the things I want to say. Oh don't,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: cried Elfrida. It's bad enough to quarrel when you don't
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: want to, but to set out to quarrel, don't. Edred didn't.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: He kicked the dust up with his boots, and the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: two went back to the castle in gloomy silence. At
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: the gate, Edred paused, I'll make it up now if
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you like, He said, I've only just thought of it.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: But perhaps it's three days from the end of the quarrel,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I see, said Elfrida. So the longer we keep it up, yes,
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: said Edred. So let's call it packs and not waste
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: any more time. End of Section nine.