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

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