 Section six of the House of Arden. This is the LibriVox recording. Our LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Sonja. The House of Arden by Edith Naspet. Chapter four, The Landing of the French. Then they had dinner. The children had to sit very straight and eat very slowly. And their glasses were filled with spear instead of water. And when they asked for water, Lady Arden asked, How many more times they would have to be told that water was unwholesome? Lord Arden was very quiet. At quite the beginning of dinner, he had told his wife all about the wise woman and the Landing of the French and the three signs. And she had said, Lord, save us, my Lord, you don't say so. And gone unpleasantly cutting up her meat. But when the cloth had been drawn and a decantus of wine placed among the dishes of dried plums and preserved pears, Lord Arden brought down his fist on the table and said, Not more than three glasses for me today, my lady. I am not so prestigious as well you know, but facts affects. What did he do with that white moldy warp? A Frida had put it in the bottom drawer of the tall boys in her room. Cook had told her which room that was, and said so rather timidly. It's my belief, said Lady Arden, who seemed to see what was her husband's belief and to make it her own, a very winning quality. It's my belief that it's a direct warning, in return perhaps, for the tea and sugar. Ah, said Lord Arden, Well, whether or no, every man in this village shall be armed and paraded this day, while I know the reason why. I am not going to have the French stepping ashore as cool as cucumbers, without with your leave or by your leave, and anyone to say afterwards, Well, Arden, you had fair warning, only you would know best. No, said Lady Arden, that would be unpleasant. Lord Arden's decision was made stronger by the arrival of a man on a very hot horse. The French are coming, he said, quite out of breath, but he could not say how he knew. They all say so, was all that could be got out of him, and they told me to come tell you, my Lord, and what's us to do? We live so safely now, we have nothing to be afraid of. When we have wars, they are not in our own country. The police look after burglars, and even thunder is attended to by lightning wads. It is not easy for us to understand the frantic terror of those times, when, from day to day, every man, woman, and child trembled in its shoes for fear less the French should come. The French, led by Boni. Boni to us is Napoleon Buenaparte, a little person in a cocked head out of the history books. To those who lived in England when he was a man alive, he was the terror that walked by night, making children afraid to go to bed, and causing strong men to sleep in their boots, were sought and pistoled by the bed head with an easy reach of the newly awakened hand. Edward and her frida began to understand a little when they saw how the foretelling of the wise woman, strengthened by the rumors that began to run about like rats in every house in the village, stirred the people to the wildest activity. Lord Arden was so busy giving orders, and my lady, so busy talking as orders over with the maid servants, that the children were left free to use their eyes and ears. And they went down into the village and saw many strange things. They saw men at the grindstone sharpening old swords, and others who had no swords, putting a fine edge on bill hooks, hatchets, skies, and kitchen choppers. They saw other men boarding up their windows and digging holes in their gardens and burrowing their money and their teaspoons in the holes. No one knew how the rumor had begun, but everyone believed it now. They went in and out of the cottages as they chose. Everyone seemed to know them and to be pleased, in an absent sort of way, to see them, but nobody had time to talk to them, so they soon lost the fear they had had at first of being found out to be not the people they were being taken for. They found the women busy brushing and tending old scarlet coats and tight white trousers, and all along the dip of the cliff men were posted, with spy-glasses looking out to sea. Other men toiled up the slope with great bundles of brown brushwood and dried furs on their backs, and those bundles were piled high, ready to be lighted the moment it should be certain that the French were coming. Elfride wished more than ever that she knew more about the later chapters of the history book. Did Boney land in England on the 17th of June, 1807? She could not remember. There was something she knew in the book about a French invasion, but she could not remember what it was an invasion of, nor when it took place. So she and Idred knew as little as anyone else what really was going to happen. The molywarp in the hurried interview she had had with it before dinner had promised to come if she called it, with poetry, of course, it added, but she curled up in the corner of the drawer, and this comforted her a great deal when, going up to get her bonnet, she found the bottom drawer empty. So, though she was as interested as Idred in all that was going on, it was only with half her mind. The other half was busy trying to make up a piece of poetry, so that any emergency which might suddenly arise would not find her powerless because poetry less. So for once Idred was more observant than she, and when he noticed that the man built a bonfire knot at all on the spot which Lord Arden had pointed out as most convenient, he wondered why. And presently, seeing a man going by that very spot, he asked him why. To surprise, the man at once poked him in the ribs with the bay-hard finger and said, Ah, you are a little work you are, but you are a little gentleman too, because the little lady-blesser, you never gave us a way to the preventives for all you found out. Of course, said Idred cautiously, we should never give anyone away. Want to come along down now? the man asked. He was a brown-faced, sturdy, sailor-looking man, with a short pigtail sticking out from the back of his head like the china-handle of a Japanese teapot. Oh yes, said Idred, and Idred did not say, oh no. Then just you wait till I'm out of sight, and then come down the way you see me go. Go along same as if he was after butterflies or the like. A bit this way and a bit that, you see? said the man. And they obeyed. Alas, too few children in these uninteresting times of ours have ever been in a smuggler's cave. To Idred and Idred, it was as great a novelty as it would be to you or to me. When they came up with the brown man, he was crouching in the middle of a patch of furs. Jumped they outside bushes, he said, and they jumped and wound their way among the furs bushes by little narrow rabbit paths till they stood by his side. Then he lifted a great heap of furs and bramble that looked as if it had lived and died exactly where it was. And there was a hole with steps going down. It was dark below, but I freed at it not hesitate to do as she was told and to go forward. And if Idred hesitated, it was only for a minute. The children went down some half a dozen steps. Then the brown man came into the hole, too, and drew the furs after him. And he lighted a lantern. There was a tello candle in it, and it smelled very nasty indeed. But what a smells, even those of hot tello and hot iron, compared with the splendid exploring of a smuggler's cave. It was everything the children had ever dreamed of, and more. There was the slow descent with the yellowness of the lantern flame casting golden lights and inky shadows on the smooth whiteness of the passages' chalk walls. There were steps, there was the rude heavy door, fastened by a great lock and a key to open it, as big as a church key. And when the door had creaked open, there was the great cave. It was so high that you could not see the roof, only darkness. Out of an opening in the chalk at the up-end, a stream of water fell, slid along a smooth channel down the middle of the cave, and ran along down a steep incline, rather like a small railway cutting, and disappeared on a low arch. So there'd always be water if you had to stand as each said Idred. On both sides of the great cave, barrels and bades were heaped on a sand floor. There were a table and benches cut out of solid chalk, and an irregular opening partly blocked by a mass of fallen cliff, through which you saw the mysterious twilight sea, with stars coming out over it. You saw this, and you felt, quite suddenly too, a white wind that pressed itself against you like a wrestler trying to fall, and whistled in your ears and drove you back to the big cave, out of breath and panting. There'd be half a gay tonight, said the smuggler, for such no doubt he was. Do you think the French will land tomorrow in Limb Church Bay, Idred asked? By the light of the lantern the smuggler solemnly winked. You too can keep a secret and know, he said, the French won't land, it's us what'll land, and we'll land here and not in bay, and what we'll land is a good drop of the real thing, and a yard or two of cirque or lace may be. I don't know who it was put it out about as the French was the coming, but you may lay to it, they aren't your friends of the revenue. Oh, I see, said Elfride, and did. The worst of it'll be the lookout they keep. Lucky for us, it's all our men, as has volunteered for duty, and we know our friends. But do you mean, said Idred, that you can be friends with the Frenchmen when we are at war with them? It's like this little man, said the smuggler, sitting down on a keg that stood handily on its head, ready for a seat. We ain't no quarrel with the free trademen, neither here nor there. A man's got his living to get, hasn't he now? So you see, a man's trade comes first, what he gets his bread by. So you see, these chaps as meet as mid-channel and hen as the stuff, they are free traders first and Frenchies after. The same like we are merchants before all. We ain't no quarrel with them. It's the French soldiers we are at war with, not the honest French trader, that's in the same boat as us ourselves. Then somebody's just made up about Boney coming, so as to keep people busy in the bay while you are smuggling here, said Idred. I wouldn't go so fast, that, said the man. But if it did happen that way, it'd be a sort of special dispensation for us free trademen that get our living by honest work and honest angel. That's all I say, knowing by what's gone before, that you too are safe as any old soldier float. The two children would have given a good deal to know what it was that had gone before, but they never did know, and sometimes even now, they wonder what it was that the Idred and her freed of those days had done to win the confidence of the smuggler. They both think, and I dare say they are right, that it must have been something rather fine. Having seen all the ins and outs of the cave, the children were not sorry to get back to Arden Castle for it was now dark and long past their proper bedtime, and it really had been rather a varying day. They were put to bed rather severely by Lady Arden's own maid, whom they had not met before and did not want to meet again, so troubled and dry and harsh was she. And they slept like happy little tops in the coarse homespun linen sheets centred with lavender grown in the castle garden that was spread over soft, fat, pincushioned beds filled with the feather of geese eaten at the castle table. Only Elfride worked once and found the room filled with red light, and looking out of the window saw that one of the beacon bonfires was a light and that the flames and smoke were streaming across the dark summer sky, driven by the wind that shouted and yelled and shook the windows and was by this time she had sure at least three-quarters of a gale. The beacon was lighted, therefore the friends were coming, and Elfride yawned and went back to bed. She was too sleepy to believe in bony, but at that time a hundred years ago hundreds of little children shivered in their beds, being quite sure that now at last all the dreadful prophecies of mothers and nurses would come true and that bony, in all his mysterious, unknown horror would really now at last have them. It was grey morning when the wind, varied of the silly resistance of the leaded window suddenly put forth the strings, tore the window from its hinges, drove it across the window frame and swept through the room, flapping the bedclothes like wet sails and wakening the children most thoroughly, far beyond any hope of one more snooze. They got up and dressed. No one was about in the house, but the front door was open. It was quite calm on that side, but as soon as the children left the shelter of the castle wall, the wind caught at them, hid, slabbed, drove, worried, bed them till they had had worked, set upright, and getting along was very slow and difficult. Yet they made their way somehow to the cliff, where thick black crowd stood. A crowd that was not really black when you got quite close and could look at it in the grey dawn light, but rather brilliantly red, white and blue, like the Union Jack. Because they were the armed men in their makeshift uniforms, whom old Lord Arden had drilled and paraded the evening before, and they were all looking out to sea. The sea was like the inside of an oyster shell, bowed with witches of cold silver, the sky above was grey as a gull's wing, and between sea and sky a ship was driving straight on to the rocks a hundred feet below. To the friendship by her rig, someone said. The first of the fleet, a scout, said another, and heaven has sent a storm to destroy them, like it destroyed the accursed Amada in Queen Bethesdaim. And still the ship came nearer. To the bonnest balance, said the low voice of the smuggler friend close to her freedor's ear, and she could only just hear him through the whistling of the gale. To his true word, old Betty said, the French will land here today, but they'll land dead corpses. In all our little cargo, they've missed our boat in the gale. It'll always smash to bits a four hour eyes. It's poor work being an honest merchant. The men in their queer uniforms, carrying their queer weapons, huddled closer together, as they were fixed on the ship as it came on and on. Is it sure to be wrecked? whispered the freedor, catching at old Lord Arden's hand. No hope, my child. Get your home to bed, he said. It did not make any difference that all this had happened a hundred years ago. There was the coat, furious sea, lashing the rocks far down below the cliff. A freedor could not bear to stay and see that ship smash on the rocks as her calf work box had smashed when she dropped it on the kitchen bricks. She could not even bear to think of seeing it. Poetry was difficult, but to stay here and see a ship wrecked, a ship that had man aboard was more difficult still. Oh, moldy warp, do come to me. I cannot bear it, do you see? Was not perhaps fan poetry, but it expressed her feelings exactly, and anyhow it did what it was meant to do. The white mold rubbed against her ankles even as she spoke. She caught it up. Oh, what are we to do? Go home, it said, to the castle. We'll find the door now. And they turned to go, and as they turned they heard a grinding crunch, mixed with the noise of the waves and winds enormously louder, but yet just the sort of noise it dark makes when he is eating the bones of the chicken you had for dinner and gets the chicken's ribs wrapped once into his mouth. Then there was a sort of sighing moan from the crowd on the cliff who had been there all night for the French to land, and then Lord Arden's voice. The French have landed. She spoke the truth. The French have landed. Heaven helped them. And as the children ran towards the house, they knew that every man in that crowd would now be ready to risk his life to save from the sea whom they had set up all night to kill with swords and skies and builds and meat shoppers. Man are queer creatures. To get out of it, back to the safe quiet of a life without chip-brakes and ridges, that was all it freedom wanted. Holding the mole in one hand and dragging Idrid by the other, she got back to the castle and in at the front door, up the stairs and straight to a door, she knew it would be the right one, but she didn't know what it was. There was the large attic with the beams and the long, wonderful row of chests under the sloping roof. And the moment the door was shut, the raging noise of the wind seized as the flaring noise of gas ceases when he turned it off. And now once more, the golden light filtered through the chinks of the tiles and outside was the tick, tick of moving pigeon feet, the rustling of pigeon feathers and the cruel recue of pigeon voices. On the ground lay their own clothes. Change said the white mole, a little out of breath because it had been held very tight and carried very fast. And the moment they began to put on their own clothes, it seemed that the pigeon noises came closer and closer and somehow helped them out of the prickly clothes of 1807 and back into the comfortable sailor suits of 1907. Did you find the treasure, the mole asked, and the children answered, Why no, we never thought of it. I don't make no odds, said the mole, try on there. There, said Elfride, then we are here, we are now again, I mean, we are not then. Oh, you're now sure enough, said the mole, and won't you catch it? Dame Honey said it's been raising the countryside out here. Next time you go gallivanting at the convention times, you'd best set the clock back. Young folks don't know everything. Get along down and take your scolding. What must be must, if you can't get crump, you must put up with crust. Goodbye. It ran under one of the chests, and Edwin and Elfride were left looking at each other in the attic between the rows of chests. Do you like adventures? said Edwin slowly. Yes, said Elfride firmly, and you, come along down. End of Section 6 Recording by Zonia Baltimore, Maryland Section 7 of the House of Arden This is a Leap Of Box recording. All Leap Of Box recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LeapOfBox.org Recording by Daphne Lee The House of Arden by Edith Nesbitt The Highwaymen They both meant what they said, and yet, of course, it is nonsense to promise that you will never do anything again. Because, of course, you must do something if it's only simple subtraction or eating poached eggs and sausages. You will, of course, understand that what they meant was that they would never again do anything to cause Mrs. Honey said a moment's uneasiness. And in order to make this possible, the only thing to do was, of course, to find out how to set a clock back. Slowly munching sausage and feeling as she always did when she ate slowly, that she was doing something very virtual and ought to have a prize or a medal for it. Alfreda asked her mind to be kind enough to get some poetry ready by the time she had finished breakfast. And sure enough, her mind in its own secret backyard as it were did get something ready. And while this was happening, it was clear to her mind's front garden was wishing that she had been born a poet. Like the one who did a piece about a favorite goldfish drowned in top of cats, she said pensively. Yes, or even Shakespeare, said Idrid. Only he's so long always. I wonder, said the girl, where the clock is that we've got to set back. Oh, Mody Warp tell us, said a boy. But Mody Warp didn't. When breakfast was over they went out into the grassy space from which the ruined walls of the castle rose up so gray and stately with the wallflowers and toad flags growing out of them and sat down among the round-faced wife-rail daisies and told each other what they had thought or what they thought they had thought while they were back in those times when people were afraid of boning. And the castle's ward was very green and the daisies were very white and the sun shone on everything very grand and golden. And as they sat there it came over Alfreda suddenly how good a place it was and how lucky they were to be there at home at Arden rather than in the house with the pale smooth brass door-knocker that stood in the street with the red pavement and the lodgers who kept all on ringing their bells so that she said quite without knowing if she was going to say anything. Arden, Arden, Arden lawn and castle and garden daisies and grass and wallflowers gold moldy warp come out of the mold That's more like a poetry that is said in moldy warp sitting on a green grass between the children more like in anything I've heard you said yet so it is. And now then, what is it for you to find there now? It seemed in such a good temper that Alfreda asked a question that had long tried to get itself asked Why was the question and it was spoken to the white mole Why do you talk like the country people do? Sussex barn and bread said a mole But I know other talk Sussex talks what they call racy of the soil means smells of the earth where I live I can talk all sorts though I used to speak French once on a time young Fitzler senior You must know lots and lots said Idrit I do said a mole Idrit asked in spite of Alfreda's warning Hush, it's rude As old as my tongue and a little older rammy teeth said a mole showing them Ah, don't be cross said Alfreda and such a beautiful day too and just when we wanted you to show us how to put back the clock and all That's a deed that is said a mole But you've not quarreled these three days so you can go where you please Only you're in the way here if you want to stop the clock Get up into the gate tower and look out and when you see the great clock face come down the once and sit on the second hand that'll stop it if anything well Looking out through the breezy arch among the swinging ends of IV and the rustle and wear of pigeon wings the children saw a very curious sight The green and white of grass and daisies began to swim as it were before their eyes The lawn within the castle walls was all uneven because the grass had not been laid there by careful gardeners with spiral levels and rollers who wanted to make a lawn But by nature herself who wanted just to cover up bits of broken crockery and stone and old birds' nests and all sorts of odd rubbish and now it began to stretch itself as though it were a life carpet and to straighten and tighten itself till it lay perfectly flat and the grass seemed to be getting greener in places and in other places there were patches of white, thicker and purer than before Look! Look! cried Idred Look! The daisies are walking about They were stiffly and steadily like well-drilled little soldiers The daisies were forming into tubes into pores into companies Looking down from the window of the gate tower it was like watching thousands of little white beads sort themselves out from among green ones What are they going to do? Idred asked, but naturally Alfreda was not able to answer The daisies marched very steadily like little people who knew their business very well They messed themselves together in regiments, in armies On certain parts of the smooth grass certain companies of them stopped and stayed They're making a sort of pattern said Idred Look! There's a big ring all around a sort of pattern I should think they were cried Alfreda Look! Look! It's the clock It was On the pure green face of the lawn was an enormous circle marked by a thick line of closely packed white daisies Within it were the figures that are on the face of a clock all twelve of them The hands were of white daisies too both the minute hand and the hand that marks the hours And between the six and the center was a smaller circle also wide enough daisies around which they could see a second hand move a white second hand formed of daisies wheeling with a precision that would have made the holiest general in the land shed tears of pure admiration With one accord the two children blunder down the dark dusty cobwebby twisted stairs of the gate tower and rushed across the lawn In the very center of the clock face set a moldy warp looking conscious and a little conceited How did you do it? Alfreda gasped The daisies did it Poor little things they can't invent at all But they do carry out other people's ideas quite nicely All the white things have to obey me of course it added carelessly And this is the clock The moldy warp giggled My child what presumption The clock is much too big for you to see ever all at once The sun's the center of it This is just a pretending clock It'll do for what we want of course or I wouldn't have had it made for you Sit down on the second hand Oh no it won't hurt the daisies Count a hundred Yes that's right They sat down on the close wide line of daisies and began to count earnestly And now the moldy warp sat When a hundred was counted It's just the same time as it was when you began So now you understand They said they did And I am sure I hope you do But if we sit here said Alfreda How can we ever be anywhere else? You can't said a moldy warp So one of you will have to stay and the other to go You go Alfie said Idrid I'll stay till you come back That's very dear of you said Alfreda But I'd rather we went together Can't you manage it She asked a mold I could of course it said But he's afraid to go without you he said suddenly He isn't and he's two years younger than me anyway Alfreda said hotly Well go without him said a mold You understand perfectly don't you That when he stopped the clock You're going is the same as you're not going And you're being here is the same as not being And what I mean It added hastily returning to Sussex talk You needn't be so turbo put out You won't know you've gone Nor yet you won't believe you've come back Be off with it my girl Alfreda hesitated Then Oh Idrid She said I have had such a time Did it seem very long I know you was horrid of me But it was so interesting I couldn't come back before Nonsense said Idrid Well go if you like I don't mind I've been I tell you Said Alfreda dragging him The soldiers instantly resumed their Really March So now you see said a mold Tell you what next time You want to stop the clock we'll just We'll devour onto it Now you go alone and play You've had enough art and magic for this year First day so you have bless your hearts And all And they went That was how Idrid perceived the adventure Of the highway man and the But I will not anticipate The adventure seemed to Alfreda Was rather different After the mold said my girl She hesitated And then went slowly towards the castle Where the red roof of the house Showed between the old ivy grown Gray buttresses She looked back to see Idrid And the moldy wore close together On the face of the wonderful green And white clock They were very still She made her mind up She found it at once Shut the door and open the second chest To the right You change your clothes and the Times change too Change that is what you've got to do Said the pigeons or the silence Or Alfreda I wonder she said Sleeping on a quilted green setting Patecoed with pink rose buds Embroidered on it Whether Shakespeare began being A poet like that Just little odd lines coming into His head without him meaning them too In her mind As she put on a pink and white brocade Dress was busy with such words as Our great poet Miss Alfreda Arden Or Miss Arden The female Milton of nowadays She tied a white soft little cap With pink ribbons under her chin And ran to open the door She was not a bit afraid It was like going into a dream Nothing would be real there Yet as she ran through the added door And the lace of her sleeve caught On a big rusty nail And tore with a harsh hissing noise She felt very sorry In a thing that was only a dream The lace felt very real And was very beautiful But she had only half the first half Of a thought to give to the lace The door opened Not on a quiet corridor with the old Prince at Arden Castle But on a quite strange paneled room Full of the most extraordinary Disorder of stuffs Feathers, dresses, cloaks Bonnie boxes, parcels, rows Packets, lace, scarves, hats, gloves And finery of all sorts There were a good many people there Survey mates She knew they were survey mates There were many breeches Showing some fine china on the lacquer tray And in the middle A very pretty languishing looking young lady With whom Alfreda at once felt deeply in love All the women wore enormous crinolines Or hoods What? Hit in the closet All the wild cousin? Said the young lady Oh, but it's the slightest chit Come, see how the new scarf It can't slide back Yes Said Alfreda Not knowing in the least what to say Everything gave a sort of tremble and twist Light glass bits in a kaleidoscope Give just before they saddled into a pattern Then as with the bits of glass Everything was saddled And Alfreda, instead of feeling that she was Looking at a picture Felt that she was alive With life people Some extraordinary accident have fixed In Alfreda's mind The fact that Queen Anne began to reign In 1702 I don't know how it was These accidents do sometimes occur And she knew that in Queen Anne's day Ladies wore hoods Also, since they had gone back a hundred years To Bonnie's time Perhaps the second venture had taken her Back two hundred years If so Please, she said very quickly Is this 1707 And is Queen Anne dead? Heaven forbid Said everyone in the room And Bette added Love child, don't delay us with your prattle The coach will be here at ten And we must lie at home bridge tonight So Alfreda, all eyes and ears Squeezed into a corner between A band box and a roll of thick pink Flower silk and looked and listened Bette, she gathered, was her cousin Arden, too. She and Bette and the maids And an escort of She couldn't quite make out how many men Were to go down to Arden together The many men were because of the Arden jewels That had been reset in the newest mode And the color of pearls And other presents Uncle Arden had Given to Bette And the highwaymen, who she learned Were grown so bold That they would attack a coach In St. Paul's church or in broad daylight Bette, it seemed Had undertaken commissions for all her Girlfriends near Arden And had put off most of them till the last moment She had carefully Spent her own pin money during her stay In town And was now hastily spending theirs The room was crowded with tradesmen And women actually pushing each other To get near the lady who had money to spend One woman with a basket Of china was offering it In exchange for old clothes or shoes Just as old women do now at Bette doors And cousin Bette's maid had a very good bargain She considered In a china teapot and two dishes In exchange for a worn blue Loose-dream dress and a hooked patty coat Of violet-quoted satin Then there was a hasty meal of cakes And hot chocolate And a freed up being wrapped up In a long skirted coat and scarves Almost beyond bearing It was announced that the coach was at the door It was a very tight fit At the last they were all packed into the carriage But though the carriage was large There was a great deal to fill it up What with cousin Bette and her great hoops And the maids and the bandboxes And packages of different sizes and shapes And a horrid little pet dog That yapped and yachted And tried to bite everyone from the footman To Elfrida The streets were narrow and very dirty And smelled very nasty in the hot June sun And it was very hot And stuffy inside the carriage And more bombty than you would think possible More bombty even in a wagon Going across a furrowed cornfield Elfrida felt rather haddocky As you do when you go out in a small boat And everyone says it's not at all rough By the time the carriage got to Loose-ham Elfrida's bones were quite sore And she felt as though she had been beaten There were no springs to the carriage And it reminded her of a bathing machine More than anything else You know the weather And it reminded her of a bathing machine More than anything else You know the way it bumps on the shingley part of the shore When they are drawing you up at the beach And you tumble about And can't go on dressing And all your things slide off the seats The maids were cross and looked it Cousin Bette had danced till nine midnight And being up with the lark So she said And having said it Went to sleep in a corner of the carriage Looking crosser than the maids Elfrida began to feel That empty uninterested sensation Which makes you wish you hadn't come The carriage plunged And rattled on through the green country The wheels bounding In and out of the most dreadful rut More than once The wheel got into a rut so deep That it took all the men to heave it out again Cousin Bette woke up to say That it was vastly annoying And instantly went to sleep again Elfrida, being the smallest person In the carriage, except Amore the dog Was constantly being thrown Into somebody's lap To the annoyance of both parties It was very much the most Uncomfortable ride she had ever had She thought of the smooth Swift rush of the train Even the carrier's car was Luxury compared to this The roads aren't like roads at all She told herself They're like plowed fields With celery trenches in them She had a friend, a market gardener Long before the carriage Drove up in front of the bull at home bridge Elfrida felt that if she only had A piece of poach ready She would say it And ask the motor-wolf to take her back To her own times Where at any rate carriages had springs And roads were roads And when the carriage did stop She was so stiff she could hardly stand Come along in Said a stout pleasant-faced lady In a field cap There's a fine supper, though it's me Says it And a bet that you won't beat in camp For soft and clean You may lay to that There was a great bustle of shouting Oslers and stablemen The horses were taken out before the travelers Were free of the carriage Supper was laid in a big, low upper room With shining furniture and windows at both ends One sat looking on the road Where the sign of the bull creaked and swung And the other looking On the very neat green garden With clipped box hedges and new uppers Getting all the luggage Into the house seemed likely to be a long business Elfrida saw that she would not be missed And she slipped down the twisty Cornering back stairs And threw the back kitchen Into the green garden It was pleasant to stretch one's legs And not to be cramped And buffeted and shaken But she walked down the grass path Rather demurely For she was very stiff indeed And it was there In the U-Uber That she came subtly on the grandest Enhancement gentleman That she had ever seen He wore a white wig Very full at the sides And covered with powder And a full skirted coat of dark blue silk And under it a long waistcoat With the loveliest roses And forget-me-nots Tied in bunches with gold ribbons And embroidered on silk He had lace ruffles and a jeweled brooch And the jolliest blue eyes in the world He looked at Elfrida very kindly With his jolly eyes A lady of quality I'll be bound, he said And traveling with her sweet I'm Miss Arden of Arden Said Elfrida Your servant, madam Said he Spring into his feet and waving his head In a very flourishing sort of bow Elfrida's little curtsy Was not at all the right kind of curtsy But he had to do And what can I do to please Miss Arden of Arden? He asked Would she like a ride on my black mare? Oh no, thank you Said Elfrida So earnestly that he laughed as he said Sure, I should not have Thought fear lived with those eyes I am not afraid Said Elfrida contemptuously Only I've been riding A horrible carriage all day And I feel as though I never Wanted to ride on anything anymore He laughed again Well, well, he said Come and sit by me and tell me All the town news Elfrida smiled to think what news She could tell him And then frowned in the effort To think of any news that wouldn't seem nonsense She told him all that she knew Of Cousin Bette and the journey He was quite politely interested She told of Cousin Bette's purchases The color of pearls And the gold pulmander studied with corals The little gold watch And the family jewels that had been reset And you have all tonight To rest in from the cruel coach He said Yes, said Elfrida We don't go on again till after breakfast Tomorrow No, so slow Don't you think you'd like to have a carriage Drawn by a fiery iron horse That went sixteen miles an hour You have an ingenious wit Said a beautiful gentleman Such as I should admire in my wife Will you marry me when you shall be grown A great girl No, said Elfrida You'd be too old Even if you were to be able to Stubble life till I was grown up You'd be much too old How old do you suppose I shall be When you're seventeen I should have to do sums Said Elfrida Who was rather good at these exercises She broke a twig from a current bush And scratched in the dust I don't know, she said Raising a flushed face And trampling out her sum With little shoes that had red heels But I think you'll be Two hundred and thirty On that he left More than ever and vowed She was the lady for him Your cyphering would double My income ten times over, he said He was very kind indeed Would have her taste his wine Which she didn't like And the little cakes on the red and blue plate Which she did And what's your name She asked My name, said he Is a secret Can you keep a secret Yes, said Elfrida So can I, said he And then a flouncing angry maid Came suddenly, sweeping down Between the box hedges And dragged Elfrida away Before she could curse it properly And say, thank you for being so kind Farewell, said a beautiful gentleman Don't not, but we shall meet again And next time, tis I shall carry thee off For two hundred years Till thou art seventeen And has learned to cypher Elfrida was left by the maid Which nearly choked her with fury And sat down to supper In a big upstairs room The maid indignantly told Where she had found Elfrida Talking with a strange gentleman And when cousin Betty had heard All about it, Elfrida told her tale And he was a great deer She said A very beautiful gentleman I wish you'd been there cousin Betty You'd have liked him too Then cousin Betty also slapped her And Elfrida wished more than ever That she had some poetry ready For the Mody War The next day's journey was as Bumpty as the first And Elfrida got very tired Of the whole business Oh, I wish something would happen She said It was a very much longer day too And the dust kept falling While still they were on the road The sun had set red behind black trees And brown twilight was thickening All about When, at a crossroads A man with a cloak and mask On a big black horse suddenly Leaped from a hedge Stooped from his saddle Opened the carriage door Caught Elfrida with one hand By the gatherers of her full traveling coat He must have been fightfully strong And so must the gatherers Set her very neatly and quite comfortably On the saddle before him And said Hand up your valuables please Or I shoot the horses And keep your walkers low For if you aim at me You shoot a child And if you shoot my horse The child and I fall together But even as he spoke through his black mask He wheeled the horse so that his body Was a shield between her What do you want? Cousin Bath's voice was quite squeaky We have no valuables We're playing country people Travelling home to our farm I want a collar of pearls Said he And a pole mender And a little gold watch And the jewels that have been reset Then Elfrida knew who he was Oh! She cried You aren't mean Said he But he held her quite gently and kindly Now, my fair madam The men were hesitating Fingering their pistols The horses frightened by the sudden check Were dancing and prancing all across the road The maid servants were shouting That it was true He had the child And better lose a few jewels than all their lives And Cousin Bath was sobbing And wailing inside the dark coach Well, the jewels were handed out That was how it ended Handed out slowly and gradually And the hand that reached for them Through the dusk was very white Cousin Bath sat afterwards Elfrida held by the high women's arm Kept very still Suddenly he stooped and whispered In her ear Are you afraid that I shall Do you any harm? No, whispered Elfrida And to this day she does not know Why she was not afraid Then Said he Oh, the brave little lady And on that suddenly sat spurs to his horse Left a low hatch And rained up sharply Go on home, my brave fellows He shouted And keep your mouth shut on this night's work I shall be at Arden before you The child Shricked the maids Oh, the child And even Cousin Bath interrupted her hysterics Now quite strong and overwhelming to say The child Shall I order supper for you at Arden? He shouted back mockingly And rode on across country With Elfrida breathlessly frightened And consciously brave Leaning back against his shoulder It is a very wonderful feeling Riding on a great strong dark horse Through a deepening night In a strange country Health fast by an arm you can trust And with the muscles of the horse's Great shoulder rippling against your legs As they hang helplessly down Elfrida ceased to think of Modi Warps or try to be a poet And quite soon They were at the top of Arden Hill And the lights of the castle Gleamed and blinked below them Now sweetheart Said a highwayman I shall set you down inside of the door And wait till the door opens You can tell them all that has chance Save this that I tell you now You will see me again They will not know me, but you will Keep a still tone till tomorrow And I swear Miss Arden shall have All her jewels again And you shall have a gold locket To put your true love's hair in When you're seventeen and I'm two hundred and thirty And leave the polar window open And when I tap, come to it Is it a bargain? Then you're not really a highwayman What should you say? What should I say? What should you say? He asked If I told you that I was the third James The rightful king of England Come to claim my own Oh! said Alfreda And he set her down And she walked to the door of the castle And thumped on it with her fists Her tail had been told to the servants And again to cousin Bette and the maids And the chorus of laymen And astonishment were settling down To a desire to have something to eat Anyhow The servants had gone to the kitchen To hurry to supper Cousin Bette and Alfreda were alone in the polar Where Alfreda had dutifully set the window ajar The laurel that was Trained all up the side of the house Sturred in the breeze and tapped at the window Alfreda crossed to the window seat No, it was only the laurel But next moment A hand tapped A hand with the rings on it And a white square showed in the window A letter For Miss Betty Arden Said a whispering voice Alfreda carried the letter To where her cousin sat And laid it on her flowered soaked lap For me child Where did you get it Read it Said Alfreda It's from a gentleman Lord Said cousin Bette What a day! And now a love letter She opened it Read it again And let her hand flutter out with it In a helpless sort of way towards Alfreda Who very brisk and businesslike Took it and read it It was clearly and beautifully written The chevelier Saying George He said Visiting his kingdom in secret on pressing the fears of state Asking housing Beneath the roof of the loyal ardents Now don't scream Said Alfreda sharply Who's the chevelier saying George Our king Said Betty in a whisper Our king over the water King James the third Oh why isn't my uncle at home They'll kill the king if they find him What shall I do What shall I do Do? said Alfreda Why don't be so silly That's what you've got to do Why it's a glorious chance Think how everyone will say how brave you were Is he Bonnie Prince Charlie Will he be king someday No, not Charles James Uncle wants him to be king Then let's help him Said Alfreda And perhaps it'll be your doing that he is king Her history had never got beyond Edward IV The account of having to go back to 1066 On account of new girls And she had only heard of Prince Charles In ballads and story books And when he's king He'll make you dial with your duchess of somewhere And give you his portrait set in diamonds Now don't scream He's outside I'll call him in Where can we hide him End of section 7 Recording by Daphne Lee in Taipei This is a LibriVox recording Or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Lars Rolander The House of Arden by Idid Nespit Chapter 6 The Secret Panel Where shall we hide him Alfreda asked impatiently Kassin Bet fired by Alfreda's Enthusiast jumped up And began to finger the card flowers About the chimney piece The secret room, she said But slipped the ball through And turned the key in the lock Alfreda locked the room door And turned to see the card mantelpiece Open like a cupboard Then Alfreda flew to the window And set back the casement Very wide And inclined the beautiful gentleman And stood there very handsome And tall, bowing to Miss Petty Who sank on her knees and kissed The white jeweled hand he held out Quick said Alfreda Get into the hole There are stairs, said Betty Snatching a candle in his silver candlestick And holding it high The chivalier St. George Sprang to a chair Got his knee on the mantelpiece And went into the hole Just as Alice goes through the looking glass In Mr. Tenniel's picture Betty handed him the candle Which his white hand reached down to take Then Alfreda jumped on the chair And shut the panel, leaped down And opened the room door Just as the maid reaches Other side with a suppertree When the cousins were alone Bet threw her arms around Alfreda Don't be afraid, little cousin She whispered Your cousin Bet will see That no harm comes to you From this adventure Well, I do think, said Alfreda Getting out of the embrace Most promptly When it was me let him in And you'd have screamed the house down If I hadn't stopped you Stopped chattering Child, said Bet Drawing a distracted hand Over her pretty forehead And let me set my wits to work How I may serve my king I, said Alfreda scornfully Should give him something to eat And see that his speds aired But I suppose that would be Vulgar and common for you The two looked at each other Across the untasted suppertree In pertin and chit, said Bet Chit yourself, said Alfreda Then she laughed Come, cousin Bet, she said Your uncle's away and you're grown up I'll tell you what to do You just be wise and splendid So that your portraitil Be in the illustrated Christmas numbers In white satin and an anxious expression Save your over king That's what it will say Don't wander in your speech Child, said cousin Bet Pressing her hand to her brow I've enough to distract me without that And if you decide to ask my pardon Do so Oh well I beg your pardon there Said Alfreda with extreme irritation Now Perhaps you'll give your king Something to eat I've been to that hole with the tray And the servants perhaps coming In any minute What would you say to them if they did All right, then I'll go Said Alfreda Only too glad of the chance Bet touched the secret spring And when Alfreda had climbed Into the dark hole Which she did quite easily Handed her the suppertree Oh bother, said Alfreda Setting it down at her feet with great promptness It's too heavy He'll have to come down and fetch it Give me a candle and shut the panel And tell me which way to go To the right and up the steps Be sure you kneel and kiss his hand Before you say a word Alfreda reached down for the candle In its silver candlestick The panel clicked into place And she stood there Among the cobwebby shadows Of the secret passage The light in her hand And the tray at her feet It's only a moldy warp magic adventure She said to hearten herself Turn to the right And went up the stairs They were steep and narrow At the top she saw the long Light line of a slightly open door To knock seemed unwise Instead she spoke softly Her lips against the line of light It's me, she said And instantly the door opened And the beautiful gentlemen stood before her The secret room had a little furniture A couch, a table Chairs, all old fashioned And their shapes showed beautiful Even in the dim light Of the two candles Your supper, said Alfreda Is at the bottom of the stairs The tray was too heavy for me Do you mind fetching it up? If you'll show me a light He said and went You'll stay and eat with me? Said he when she had lighted him Back to the secret room And he had set the tray on the table I mustn't, said Alfreda Cast in bed such a muff She wouldn't know where to say I was if the servants came in Oh, I say I'm so sorry I forgot She told me to kneel and kiss Your hand before I said Anything about supper I'll do it now Nay, said he I'll kiss thy cheek, little lady And drink a health to him Who shall have thy lips when thou'rt seventeen And I am, what was it, five hundred? Two hundred and thirty, said Alfreda Returning his kiss cordially You are nice, you know I wish you were real I'd better go back to bed now Real? he said Oh, I'm talking nonsense I know, said Alfreda I'll go now The absent tray will betray you, said he Taking food and wine from it And setting them on the table Now I will carry this down again You have all the courage But not quite the cunning of a conspirator How long are you going to stay here? Alfreda asked I suppose you're escaping from someone Or something like in history I shall not stay long He said I should ask you if you have seen the king What would you say? I should say no, said Alfreda boldly You see, I can't possibly know that you're the king You just say so That's all, perhaps really you aren't Exquisite, said he So you don't believe me Oh, yes, I do, said Alfreda But I needn't, you know Slive, he said But I wish I were There'd be a cornet for somebody You wish you were? Safely weigh my little lady And as for coronets The jewels are safe See, I have set them in the cupboard In the corner And he had Then he carried down the tray And Alfreda was very hungry Tried to persuade Beth that she must eat If only to keep up her strength For the deeds of daring That might want doing at any moment But Beth declared that she could not eat The least morsel would choke her And as for going to bed She was assuring her cousin That she knew her duty to her king better than that And that she would defend Her sovereign with her life If need were When her loyal ecstasies were suddenly interrupted For the quiet of the night Was broken by a great knocking At the castle door And the heavy voice of a man crying Open in the queen's name They've come for him All is lost We are betrayed What shall we do? Eat, said Alfreda Eat for your life She pushed Beth into a chair And thrust a plate before her Put a chunk of meat pie on her plate And another on her own Get your mouth full She whispered filling her own as she spoke So full you can't speak It'll give you time to think And then the door opened Full of gentlemen in riding-dress With very stern faces And they all had swords Betty with her mouth quite full Was trying not to look towards the panel Alfreda's mouth was equally full Looked at the gentleman Who seemed to be leading the others And remarked This is a nice time of night To come knocking people up All ours are alike To a loyal subject Said a round fat blue-eyed gentleman Have you any stranger Under your roof tonight? Oh, cried Beth, all is lost The gentleman exchanged glasses And crowded round her Alfreda shrugged the shoulders Of her mind If a mind has shoulders And told herself that it didn't matter History knew best, no doubt And whatever seemed to be happening Now was only history You have a stranger here? They asked And where is he? You cannot refuse to give him up My heart told me so, cried Beth I knew it was he you were seeking And with that she fainted elegantly Into the arms of the nearest gentleman Who was dressed in plum colour And seemed to be struggling With some emotion Which made him look as if he were laughing Ask the child Children and fools speak the truth Said the fat blue-eyed gentleman Alfreda found herself suddenly Lifted onto the table From which she could see Over the heads of the gentleman Who stood all round her She could see Beth reclining on the sofa And the open door With servants crowding in it All eyes and ears No, said a dozen voices The truth, little miss What do you want to know? She asked, and in a much lower tone I shan't tell you anything Unless you send the servants away The door was closed And the truth was asked for again If you'll only tell me what you want to know She said again Does any stranger lie here tonight? No, said Alfreda She knew that the beautiful gentleman In the secret chamber Was not lying down But sitting to his supper But Miss Arden said All is lost And she knew it was he whom we sought Well, Alfreda carefully explained It is like this You see, we were robbed By a highway man today And I think that upset my cousin She's rather easily upset I'm afraid Very easily, several voices agreed And someone added That it was a harebrained business The shortest way is the best Said the plum-collar gentleman Is Sir Edward Talbot here? No, he isn't Said Alfreda downrightly And I don't believe You've got any business coming into people's houses And frightening other people into fits And I shall tell Lord Arden When he comes home So now you know Sooks, someone cried The child's got a spirit And she's right to strike me If she isn't But Snails exclaimed another We do but protect Lord Arden's house In his absence Said Alfreda You think your Talbot's playing hide-and-seek here And if he's done anything wrong You can look for him if you like But I don't believe Lord Arden will be pleased That's all I should like to get down onto the floor If you please I don't know whether Alfreda would have had The courage to say all this If she had not remembered That this was history times And not now times But the gentleman seemed delighted with her bravery He lifted her gently down And with many apologies for having Discommoded the ladies They went out of the room And out of the castle Through the wind of Alfreda Heard the laughing voices And clatter and stamp of their horses As they mounted and rode off They all seemed to be laughing And she felt that she moved In the midst of mysteries She could not bear to go back Into her own time without seeing Her, so she went to bed In a large four-poster With cousin Bette for company The fainting fit lasted exactly as long As the strange gentleman Were in the house and no longer Which was very convenient Alfreda got up extremely early in the morning And went down into the parlor She had meant to go And see how the king was And whether he wanted his shaving water First thing as her daddy used to do But it was so very, very early That she decided that it would be Better to wait a little The king might be sleepy And sleepy people were not always Grateful, she knew For early shaving water So she went out into the fields Where the dew was gray on the grass And up onto Ardenol And she stood there And heard the skylarks And looked at the castle And thought how new the mortar Looked in the parts about the living house And presently She saw two figures coming across The fields from where the Spire of Arden church rose Out of the tops of trees As round and green as the best Double curled parsley And one of the gentlemen wore A green coat and the other a purple coat And she thought to herself How convenient it was to recognize People half a mile away By the color of their clothes Quite plainly they were going to the castle So she went down too And met them at the gate With a civil good morning You are no lie a bed at least Said the green gentleman And so no stranger Lay at Arden last night, eh? Elfride found this difficult to answer No doubt the king had lain Was probably still lying In the secret chamber But was he stranger? No, of course he wasn't So? No, she said And then through the open window Of the parlour came very unexpectedly And suddenly A leg in a riding boot Then another leg And the whole of the beautiful gentleman Stood in front of them So ho, he said Speak softly for the servants Are not yet about They are, said Elfride Only they are at the back Creep along under the wall You will get away without their seeing you, then Always a wonderful counselor Said the beautiful gentleman Bowing gracefully Come with us, little maid I have no secrets from thee So they all crept along Close to the castle wall To that corner from which Between two shoulders of down You can see the sea There they stopped And the wagers' mine Said the beautiful gentleman All you tried to spoil it That was not in the bond, Fitzgerald Entering Arden at night At nine o' the clock To ferret me out like a pack Of hounds after Renner There was nothing barred, said the green gentleman We tried way-laying you on the road But you were an hour early Ha, said the beautiful gentleman Putting back clocks is easy work And the Osler at the bull Loves a handsome wager Nigh as well as he loves a geese I do wish you'd explain, said Elfride Almost stamping with curiosity And impatience And so I will, my pretty Said he, laughing Aren't you the king you said you were? Nay, nay, not so fast I asked thee what thou would say If I told you I was King James Then who are you? She asked Plain Edward Talbot Plain Edward Talbot Plain Edward Talbot Plain Edward Talbot Baronet at your ladyship's service He said with another of his finebows But I don't understand She said Do tell me all about it from the beginning So he told her And the other gentleman stood by Laughing The other night I was dining With Mr. Fitzgerald here And the talk turned on highway robbery And on Arden Castle here With other matters And these gentlemen with others of the party Laid me on wager Five hundred guineats it was That I would not rob a coach I took the wager And I wagered beside that I would rob A coach of the Arden duels And that I would lie a knight At Arden beside And no one should know my name there And I have done all three And won my wager I'm but newly come home From foreign parts So your cousin could not know my face But sounds child Had it not been for thee I had lost my wager I counted on Miss Arden's help And a pale faced Fainting useless fine lady I should have found her But thou art a girl In a thousand And I'll by thee the finest fairing I can find next time I go to London We are all friends And I'm very missed to hold that tongue of hers And none shall hear the tale from us But all these gentlemen Coming last night All the servants know The gentlemen came no doubt to protect Miss Arden In case the villainous highwayman Should have hidden behind the wind of curtain Oh, but the wise child it is Has a care for every weak point In our armour Then he told his friends The whole of the adventure And they laughed very merrily For all they had lost their wager And went home to breakfast across The dewy fields It's nice of him To think me brave and all that Elfrida told herself But I do wish he'd really been The king When she had told Betty what had happened Everything seemed suddenly to be Not worthwhile She did not feel as though She cared to stay any longer In that part of the past So she ran upstairs Through the attic and the pigeon noises Back into her own times And went down and found Edred Sitting on the second hand Of the daisy-claw And he did not believe that she had been away At all For all the time she had been away Seemed no time to him Because she had been sitting on that second hand So when the molywarp Told them to go along in They went They went was not in But out And round under the castle wall To the corner from which you could see the sea And there they lay on the warm grass And Elfrida told Edred The whole story And at first he did not believe a word of it But it is true I tell you, said she You don't suppose I should make up A whole tale like that, do you? No, said Edred Of course you're not clever enough But you might have read it in a book Well, I didn't, said Elfrida So there If it was really true You might have come back for me You know how I've always wanted To meet a highwayman You know, you do How could I come back? How was I to get off the horse And run home and get in among the chests And the pigeon noises And come out here and take you back The highwayman, Talbot I mean Would have been gone long before we got back No, he wouldn't Said Edred obstinately You forget I was sitting on the clock And stopping it There wasn't any time while you were gone If you were gone There was with me, said Elfrida Don't you see There wouldn't have been if you'd come back Where I was, Edred interrupted How can you be so aggravating? Elfrida found Suddenly that she was losing her temper You can't be as stupid as that really Oh, can't I? Said Edred I can though if I like And stupider, much stupider He added darkly You wait Said his sister slowly and fervently Sometimes I feel as if I must Shake you You dare, said Edred Do you dare me too? Yes, said Edred fiercely Of course you are aware that after that By all family laws Elfrida was obliged to shake him She did And burst into tears He looked at her for a moment and But no, tears are unmanly I would not betray The weakness of my hero Let us draw a veil Or take a turn round the castle And come back to them presently It is just as well That we went away when we did For we really turned our backs On a most unpleasant scene And now that we come back to them Though crying is still going on Elfrida is saying That she's very sorry And is trying to find her handkerchief To lend to Edred Whose own is unexpectedly mislaid Oh, all right He says I'm sorry too There But us saying we're sorry Won't make us unquarrel That's the worst of it We shan't be able to find The door for three days now I do wish we hadn't It is sickening Never mind Said Elfrida We didn't have real I'll never speak to you again You see if I do quarrel Did we? I don't suppose it matters What sort of quarrel you had Said the boy in a gloom All about it over again And I'll try to believe you I really will On the honor of an ardent So she told him all over again And where Said he did when she had quite finished Where did you put the jewels I They He put them in the corner cupboard In the secret room Said Elfrida If you'd taken me and not been in such a hurry I'm only reasoning with you like aunt Edith If I'd been there I should have buried those jewels somewhere And then come back for me And we'd have dug them up And been rich beyond the dreams of What do they call it But I never told Betty where they were Perhaps they are there now Let's go and look If they are Said he I'll believe everything You've been telling me without trying at all You'll have to do that If there's a secret room won't you Perhaps Let's go and see I expect I shall have got a headache Presently You didn't ought to have shaken me Mrs. Honey said says it's very bad for people To be shaken It mixes up their brains inside their heads So that they ache And you're stupid I expect that's what made you say I was stupid Oh dear Said Elfrida despairingly You know that was before I shook you And I did say I was sorry I know it was But it comes to the same thing Come on Let's have a squint at your old secret room But unfortunately It was now dinner time If you do happen to know the secret Of a car panel With a staircase hidden away behind it You don't want to tell that secret lightly As though it were the day of the week Or the date of the battle of water Loo Or what nine times seven is Not even to grown up So justly liked as Mrs. Honey said And besides A hot beef steak pudding And greens Do not seem to go well With the romances of old days To have looked for the spring of that panel While that dinner smoked On the board Would have been as unseemly as to try On a new gold crown Over curl papers Elfrida felt this And Eadry did not more than Half-believe in the secret anyway And besides He was very hungry Wait till afterwards Was what they said to each other In whispers while Mrs. Honey said was changing the plates You do beautiful cooking Eadry dream out As the gooseberry pie was cut open And revealed its Cry-suppress-coloured contents You do beautiful eating then Said Mrs. Honey said And you be quick about it You ain't got into no mischief this morning, have you? You look as though butter wouldn't melt In either of your mouths And that's always a sign of something Being up with most children No, indeed we haven't Said Elfrida earnestly And we don't mean to either And are looking like that That's only because we brushed our hairs With wet brushes, most likely It does make you look good somehow I've often noticed it I've been flying round this morning Mrs. Honey said went on So as to get down to my sisters For a bit this afternoon She's not so well again Poor old dear And I might be kept late But my niece Emily's coming up To take charge She's a nice, slightly young girl Your tease and look after you As nice as nice Now, don't you go doing anything What you wouldn't if I was behind Of you, will you? That stares Nothing could have happened better Both children felt that Emily Being a young girl would be more easy To manage than Mrs. Honey said As soon as they were alone They talked it over comfortably And decided that the best thing Would be to ask Emily To the station And see if there was a parcel There for the master ardent or miss ardent And if there isn't Elfrida jiggled Will say, she'd better wait till it comes We'll run down and fetch her As soon as we've explored the secret chamber I say Idrid remarked thoughtfully We haven't bothered much About finding the treasure, have we I thought that was what we were going Into history for Idrid, said his sister You know very well we didn't go into history On purpose No, but Said Idrid, we ought to have Suppose the treasure is really Those jewels We'd sell them and rebuild ardent castle Like it used to be, wouldn't we We'd give Auntie Edith a few jewels I think, wouldn't we She's such a dear, you know Yes, she should have First choice I don't believe we're on the brink And I feel just exactly like as if Something really was going to happen Not in history but here at ardent Now ardent I do hope we find the jewels Said Elfrida Oh, I do And I do hope we manage The lively young girl All right Mrs. Honisette's best dress was A nice bright red The kind of colour you can see a long way off They watched it till it disappeared Run a shoulder of the downs And then set about the task Of managing Emily The lively young girl proved Quite easy to manage The idea of popping on her hat And running down to the station Was naturally much pleasanter to her Then the idea of washing the plates That had been used for beef steak pudding And gooseberry pie And then giving the kitchener Thorough scrub out Was the way Mrs. Honisette had meant Her to spend the afternoon Her best dress she had slipped The skirt over her print gown So as to look smart as she came Up through the village Was a vivid violet, another good Distance colour It also was watched till it dipped into the lane And now Pride Elfrida We're all alone and we can explore The great secret But suppose somebody comes And interrupts and finds it out And grabs the jewels And all is lost There's tramps, you know And gypsy women with baskets Yes, or a drink of water Or to ask the time I tell you what We lock up the doors back and front They did But even this did not satisfy The suddenly cautious Idred The parlor door too He said The parlor door and Elfrida Put the key in a safe place For fear of accidents She said I do not at all know what she meant And when she came to think it over She did not know either But it seemed all right at the time They had provided themselves With a box of matches and a candle And now the decisive moment Had come as they say About battles Elfrida fumbled for the secret spring How does it open? Asked the boy I'll show you presently, said the girl She could not show him then Because in point of fact She did not know She only knew there was a secret spring And she was feeling for it with both hands Among the card rests of the panels As she stood with one foot On each of the arms of the very high chair The only chair in the room High enough for her to be able To reach all around the panel Suddenly something clicked And the secret door flew open She just had time to jump to the floor Or it would have knocked her down Then she climbed up again And got into the hole And eithered handed her the candle Where's the matches? She asked In my pocket, said he firmly I'm not going to have you starting off Without me again Well, come on then, said Elfrida Ignoring the injustice of this speech All right, said Idrid Climbing on the chair How does it open? He had hopped close the door And was feeling among the carved leaves As he had seen her do Oh, come on, said Elfrida Oh, look out Well, might she request Her careless brother to look out As he reached up to touch the carving The chair tilted He was jerked forward Quoted the carving to save himself Missed it and fell forward With all his weight Against the half-open door It shut with a loud bang Then a resounding crash Echoed through the quiet house As Idrid and the big chair fell to the floor In, so to speak, each other's arms There was a stricken pause Then Elfrida from the other side Of the panel beat upon it With her fists and shouted Open the door! You aren't hurt, are you? I am very much, said Idrid From the outside of the secret door And also from the hearth rug I've twisted my leg In the knickerbocker part And I've got a great bump on my head And I think I'm going to be Very poorly Well, open the panel first Said Elfrida Rather unfeelingly But then she was alone in the dark On the other side of the panel I don't know how to, said Idrid Too, said Idrid And Elfrida heard the sound Of someone picking himself up From among disordered furniture Feel among the leaves Like I did, she said It's quite easy You'll soon find it Silence End of section 8 Read by Lars Brolander Section 9 of The House of Arden This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information Or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Reading by Lars Brolander The House of Arden by Edith Nespit Chapter 7 The Key of the Parlor Elfrida was behind the secret panel And the panel had shopped with the spring She had come there hoping To find the jewels that had been hidden 200 years ago by Sir Edward Talbot When he was pretending to be The Chevalier Saint George She had not had time Even to look for the jewels Before the panel closed And now that she was alone in the dusty dark With the door shut between her And the bright light parlor Where her brother was The jewels hardly seemed to matter At all And what did so dreadfully What matter was that closed Panel? Edrid had tried to open it And he had fallen off the chair Well, there had been plenty of time For him to get up again Why don't you open the door? She called impatiently And there was no answer Behind that panel Silent seemed a thousand times More silent than it ever had before And it was so dark And Edrid had the matches in his pocket Edrid, Edrid She called suddenly and very loud Why don't you open the door? And this time he answered Because I can't reach He said I feel that I ought to make that The end of the chapter And leave you to wonder Till the next how Elfrida got out And how she liked the Not getting out Which certainly looked as though It were going to last longer Than anyone could possibly be expected To find pleasant But that would make the chapter too short And there are other reasons So I will not disguise From you that when Elfrida Put her hand to her pocket And felt something there Something hard and heavy And remembered that she had Put the key of the parlor there Because it was such a nice Safe place where it Couldn't possibly be lost She uttered what is known As a hollow groan Ah, you see now Said Edrid outside You see, I'm not so stupid after all Elfrida was thinking I say She called through the panel It's no use my standing here I shall try to feel my way Up to the secret chamber I wish I could remember Whether there is a window there Or not If I were you I should just take a book And read till something happens Mrs. Honeyset's sure to come back Sometime I can't hear half you say Said Edrid You do whiff also Take a book Shouted his sister Read Mrs. Honeyset will come back Edrid got down a book called Red Cotton Nightcap Country Which he thought looked interesting But I don't advise you to try it And Elfrida Her heart beating rather heavily Put out her hands And felt her way along the passage To the stairs It's all very well She told herself The secret panel is there all right Like it was when I went Into the past I suppose the stairs are gone Or weren't really ever there at all Or suppose I walked straight Into a wall or something Or perhaps not a wall, a well She suggested to herself With a sudden shrill of terror And after that She felt very carefully With each foot in turn Before she ventured To put it down in a fresh step The boards were soft to tread on As though they had been carpeted With velvet And so were the stairs For there were stairs sure enough She went up them very slowly And carefully Reaching her hands before her And at last her hands came Against something that seemed Like a door She stroked it gently Feeling for the latch Which she presently found The door had not been opened For such a very long time That it was not at all Incline to open now Elfride had to show With shoulder and knee And with all the strength she had The door gave way out of Politeness I should think For Elfride's knee and shoulder and strength Were all quite small And there was the room Just as she had seen it When the Chevalier Saint George Stood in it bowing and smiling By the light of one candle With a silver candlestick Only now Elfride was alone And the light was a sort Of green twilight That came from a little window Over the mantelpiece That was hung outside with a thick curtain Of ivy If Elfride had come out of the sunlight She would have called this a green Darkness But she had been so long in the dark That this shadowy dusk seemed quite light To her The same she made haste When she had shut the door to drag A chair in front of the fireplace And to get the window open It opened inwards And it did not want to open at all But it also was polite enough To yield to her wishes And when it had suddenly given Way she reached out And broke the ivy leaves Of one by one Making more and more daylight In the secret room She did not let the leaves fall outside But on the hearth stone For, said she, We don't want outside people To get to know all about the ardent Secret hiding place I'm glad I thought of that I really am rather Like a detective in a book When all the leaves were plucked From the window square And only the brown ivy bows Left, she turned back To the room The furniture was all powdered Heavily with dust And what had made the floor so soft To walk upon was the thick carpet Of dust that lay there There was the table On which the Chevalier Saint George No, Sir Edward Talbot Had set the train There were the chairs And there sure enough Was the corner cupboard In which he had put the jewels Elfrida got its door opened With, I don't know, what Of mingled hopes and fears It had three shelves But their jewels were On none of them In fact, there was nothing On any of them But on the inside of the door Her hand, as she held it open Felt something rough And when she looked It was a name card And when she swung the door well back So that the light fell full on it So that the name was E. Talbot So then she knew That all she had seen in that room before Must have really happened Two hundred years before And was not just a piece Of magic mouldy warpiness She climbed up on the chair again And looked out through the little window She could see nothing Of the castle walls Only the distant shoulder Of the downs And the path that cut across it Towards the station She would have liked to see A red figure or a violet one Coming along that path But there was no figure on it At all What do you usually do When you are shut up in a secret room With no chance of getting out For hours? As for me, I always say Poetry to myself It is one of the uses of poetry One says it to oneself In distressing circumstances of that kind Or when one has to wait At railway stations Or when one cannot get To sleep at night You will find poetry most useful For this purpose So learn plenty of it And be sure it is the best kind Because this is most Useful as well as most Agreeable Elfrida began with ruin Ceased the ruthless king But there were parts of that which she liked best When there were other people about So she stopped it And began Horatious and the bridge This lasts a long time Then came the favorite cat Drowned in a tub of goldfish And in the middle of that Quite suddenly And I don't know why She thought of the Moliwap We didn't quite quarrel She told herself At least not really truly quarreling I might Try anyhow So she said to work To make a piece of poetry To call up the Moliwap with This was how after a long time The first piece came out The Moliwap of Arden By the Nine Gods it swore That Elfrida of Arden Should be shut up no more By the Nine Gods it swore it And named a convenient Time no doubt And bathed its messengers Right forth East and west south and north To let Elfrida out But when she said it aloud Nothing happened I wonder Said Elfrida Whether it's because we quarreled Or because it just says He let me out and doesn't ask him to Or because I had to say Elfrida to make it sound right Or because it's such Dreadful nonsense I'll try again She tried again This time she got Behind the secret panel's lines The pensive Elfrida reclines And wishes she was at home At least I'm at home, of course But things are getting worse and worse Dear Moll Come, come, come, come She said, Come, come, come, come She said it aloud And when she came to the last words There was the white moldy warp Sitting on the floor at her feet And looking up at her with eyes That blink You are good to come Elfrida said Well, what do you want now? Said the Moll I ought to tell you That I oughtn't to ask you to do anything But I didn't think You'd come if it really counted As a quarrel It was only a little one And we were both sorry Quite directly You have a straightforward nature Said the Molly Warp Well, well, I must say You've got yourself into a nice hole It would be a very nice hole Said Elfrida eagerly If only the panel were open I wouldn't mind how long I stayed here then That's funny, isn't it? Yes, said the Moll Well, if you hadn't quarrelled I could get you into another time Sometime when the panel was open And you could just walk out You shouldn't quarrel It makes everything different It puts dust into the works It stops the wheels of the clock The clock Said Elfrida slowly Couldn't that work backwards? I don't know what you mean Said the Moll I don't know that I quite know myself Elfrida explained But the daisy clock You sit on the second hand And there isn't any time And yet there's lots where you're not sitting If I could sit on the daisy clock The time wouldn't be anything Before someone comes to let me out But I can't get to the daisy clock Even if you'd make it for me So that's no good You are a very clever girl Said the Molliwarp And all the clocks in the world Aren't made of daisies Move the table And chairs back against the wall We'll see what we can do for you While Elfrida was carrying out this order The white Moll stood on its hind feet And called out softly in a language She did not understand Others understood it though It seemed, for a white Moll It seemed, for a white pigeon Fluttered in through the window And then another and another Till the room seemed full Of circling wings And gentle coupings And a shower of soft white feathers Fell like snow Then the Moll was silent And one by one The white pigeon sailed back Through the window Into the blue and gold world Of out-of-doors Get upon a chair and keep out of the way Said the Molliwarp And Elfrida did And then a soft wind Blew through the little room A wind like the wind that breathes Softly in walled gardens And shakes down the rose leaves On sparkling summer mornings And the white feathers On the floor were stirred By the sweet wind And drifted into little heaps And lines and curves On the dusty floor The circle of a clock face With all its figures And its long hand And its short hand And its second hand And the white Moll stood in the middle All white things obey me It said Come sit down on the minute hand And you'll be there in no time Where? asked Elfrida Getting off the chair Why? at the time when they open the panel Let me get out of the clock first And give me the key of the parlour door It'll save time in the end So Elfrida sat down on the minute hand And instantly it began to move round Faster than you can possibly imagine And it was very soft to sit on Like a cloud would be If the laws of nature ever permitted you To sit on clouds And it spun round so that it seemed No time at all Before she found herself sitting on the floor And heard voices and knew That the secret panel was open I see She said wisely It does work backwards, doesn't it? But there was no one To answer her For the Mollie warp was gone And the white pigeons feathers Were in heaps on the floor She saw them as she stood up And there wasn't any clock face Anymore Idrid soon got tired Of red cotton nightcap country Which really is not half such Good fun as it sounds Even for grown-ups And he tried several other books But reading did not seem amusing Somehow And the house was so much too quiet And the clock outside ticked So much too loud And Elfride was shut up And there were bars to the windows And the door was locked He walked about And sat in each of the chairs in turn But no one of them was comfortable And his thoughts were not comfortable either Suppose no one ever came To let them out Supposing the years rolled on And found him still a prisoner When he was a white-haired old man Like people in the Bastille Or in iron masks His eyes filled with tears At the thought Fortunately did not occur to him That unless someone came pretty soon He would be unlikely to live To a great age Since people cannot live long Without eating If he had thought of this He would have been even more unhappy Than he was And he was quite unhappy enough Then he began to wonder If anything had happened to Elfride She was dreadfully quiet Inside there behind the panel He wished he had not quarreled with her Everything was very miserable He went to the window and looked out As Elfride had done To see if he could see a red dress Or a violet dress coming Over the downs But there was nothing And the time got longer and longer Drawing itself out Like a putty snake When you rub it between your warm hands And at last What with misery And having cried a good deal And it's being long past tea time He fell asleep on the window seat He was roused by a hand On his shoulder And a voice calling his name Next moment He was in the arms of an aunt Edith Or as much in her arms as he could be With the window bars between them When he told her where Elfride was And where the room key was Which took some time He began to cry again For he did not quite see even now How he was to be got out Now don't be a dear silly Said Aunt Edith If we can't get you out any other way I'll run and fetch a locksmith But look what I found Right in the middle of the path As I came up from the station It was a key And tied to it was an ivory label And on the label were written The words Parlor Door Arden You might try it, she said He did try it And it fitted And he unlocked the parlor door And then the front door So that Aunt Edith could come in And together They got the kitchen steps And found the secret spring And opened the panel And got out the dusty Elfride And then Aunt Edith Lighted the kitchen fire And boiled the kettle They had tea which everyone wanted Very badly indeed And Aunt Edith Had brought little cakes for tea With pink icing on them Very soft inside with apricot jam And she had come to stay Over Sunday She was as much excited as the children Over the secret panel And after tea When Edrid had fetched Emily From the wild goose chase for a parcel At the station On which she was still engaged The aunt and the niece and the nephew Explored the secret stair And the secret chamber thoroughly What a wonderful lot of pigeons feathers Said Aunt Edith They must have been piling up here For years and years It was lucky you finding that key, said Edrid. I wonder who dropped it. Where's the other one, Elf? I don't know, said Elfrida truthfully. It isn't in my pocket now. And though Edrid and Aunt Edith Searched every corner of the secret hiding place, They never found that key. Elfrida alone knows That she gave it to the Moldeworp. And as Mrs. Honey said Declared that there had never been A parlor key with the key In her time It certainly does seem as though The Molde must have put the key He got from Elfrida on the path For Aunt Edith to find After carefully labelling it To prevent mistakes. How the Molde got the label Is another question. But I really think that finding a label For a key is quite a simple thing To do. I have done it myself. Whereas making a clock face A white pigeon feathers Is very difficult indeed And a thing that I have never Been able to do. And as for making that clock face The means of persuading time To go fast or slow Just as one wishes Well, I don't suppose even You could do that. Elfrida found it rather a relief To go back to the ordinary world Where magic moles did not Upset the clock. A world made pleasant By nice aunts And the old delightful games That delight ordinary people Games such as Hunt the Thimble What is my thought like And Proverbs The three had a delightful weekend And Aunt Edith told them all About the lodgers And the seaside house Which already seemed very long ago And far away. On Sunday evening as they walked home In church, where they had tried To attend to the service And not to look too much at the tombs And monuments of dead and gone ardents That lined the chancel The three sat down on ardent null And Aunt Edith explained Things a little to them. She told them much more Than they could understand About wills and trustees And incomes But they were honoured by her confidence And pleased by the fact That she seemed to think they could Understand such grown-up kind Of things. And the thing that remained on their minds After the talk, like a ship Cast up by a high tide Was this. That ardent castle was theirs And that there was very little money To keep it up with So that everyone must be very careful And no one must be at all extravagant And Aunt Edith was going back To the world of lawyers And wills and trustees Early on Monday morning And they must be very good children And not bother Mrs. Honey said And never, never lock themselves In and hide the key In safe places. All this remained as the lasting Result of the pleasant talk On the downs in the softly Listening light. And another thing remained Which Edith put into words As the two children booked back The accommodation Where they had seen Aunt Edith Into the train and waved Their goodbyes to her. It is very important indeed, He said, for us to find The treasure. Then we could keep up the castle Without any bother. We must have it built up again First, of course. And then we'll keep it up. And we won't have any old clocks And not keeping together this time. We'll find the Attic, the minute Our quarrel's three days old. And we'll ask the Moliwarp To send us to a time When we can really see the treasure With our own eyes. I do think that's a good idea, Don't you? He asked with modest pride. Very, Elfrida said. And I say, Edith, I don't mean to quarrel anymore If I can help it. It is such a waste of time. She added in her best grown-up manner. And thus delay everything so. Delays are dangerous. It says so in the proverb game. Suppose there really was A chance of getting the treasure. And we had to wait three days Because of quarrelling. But I'll tell you one thing I found out. You can get the mole To come and help you Even if you have quarrelled a little. Because I did. And she told him how. But I expect, she added, It would only come If I were in the most awful trouble And all human aid Despaired of. Well, we are not that now, Said Edrid, knocking the head Of a poppy with a stick. And I am jolly glad We're not. I wonder, said Elfrida, Who lives in that cottage Where the witch was. I know exactly where it is. I expect it's been pulled down, though. Let's go round that way. It'll be something to do. So they went round that way. And the way was quite easy to find. But when they got to the place Where the tumble-down cottage Had been in bonus time There was only a little slate-roofed house With a blue bill pasted up On its yellow brick face Saying that somebody's A1 Virginia beer and up-to-date Minerals were sold there. The house was dull to look at And they did not happen to have Any spare money for Virginia beer. So they turned round to go home And suddenly found themselves Face-to-face with a woman. She wore a red-and-black Played blouse and a Boat-ready-made black skirt And on her head was a man's Peaked cap, such as women In the country wear now Instead of the pretty sun-bonnets Used to wear when I was A little girl. So they pulled the old cottage down. She said, they knew How shall be fine and dry inside. I lay. The rain comes in through the roof Of the old one, so you might Amost as well be laying In the open meadow. The children listened politely And both were wondering Where they had seen this woman before. For her face was strangely familiar To them, and yet they didn't seem Really to know her either. Most of the cottage's Bout here is just as bad As they always was, she went on. When Arden has the Handling of the treasurer He'll see to it that poor Forks lie warm and dry Wonty now. And then, all in a minute The children both knew And she knew that they knew. Why, said he, did you're the Yes, she said. I'm the witch come from Old ancient times. If you can go back I can go forth Because then and now's The same if I know How to make a clock. Can you make clocks? Said Elfrida. I thought it was only. So it be, said the witch. I can't make them, But I know them as can. And I've come here to find you Because you brought me the tea And sugar. I've got the wise I I have. I can see back and forth. I looked for it, and I Saw ye. And I look back, and I saw What you're seeking. And I know where the Treasurer is and But where did you get Those clothes, Ida does. And it was a question he Was afterwards to have reason To regret. A clothes is easy to come by, Said the witch. If it was only clothes, I could Be a crowned queen this very Minute. The children had a fleeting impression Of seeing against the crisscross Fence of the potato patch, A lady in crimson and ermine With a gold crown. They blinked, startled, and saw No snow, crimson and gold. Only the dull clothes of the Witch against the background of potato Patch. And how did you get here, Ida does. That speckled hen of mines Is sitting on the clock face now, She said. I quieted her with a chalk line Drawn from her beaks, end and Straight out into the world of Wonders. If she rouses up, then I'm back There, and I can't never come Not more than once, I can't. So let's make haste Down to the castle, and I'll Show you where my great granny See them put the treasure when She was a little girl. The three hurried down the steep bank Lane. Menace the time, the witch went on. My granny pointed it out To me. It's just alongside Where? And then the witch was not there Anymore. The three were alone in the lane. The speckled hen must have recovered From her quieting, and got off The clock. She's gone right enough, said Idrid. And now we'll never know. And just when she was going To tell us where it was I do think it's too jolly Stupid for anything. It's you. That's too jolly stupid for anything, Said Elfrida hotly. What did you want to go asking Her about her silly clothes for? It was that, did it. She'd have told us where it was before now If you hadn't taken her time Up with clothes, as if Clothes mattered. I do wish to goodness You'd sometimes try To behave, as if you'd got Some sense. Got it? said Idrid As if everything was Entire some enough. Now there's another three days To wait because of your nagging. Oh, it's just exactly Like a girl, so it is. I'm... I'm sorry, said Elfrida, Avestricken. Let's do something good to make up. I'll give you that notebook of mine With the lead-pointed mother Of pearl pencil, and we'll Go round to all the cottages And find out which are leaky So as to be ready to patch Them up when we've got the treasure. I don't want to Be good, said Idrid bitterly. I haven't quarrelled And put everything back, but I'm Going to now, he said With determination. I don't see why everything should be Smashed up, and me not said Any of the things I want to say. Oh, don't! cried Elfrida. It's bad enough to quarrel when you don't Want to, but to set out to quarrel Don't! Idrid didn't. He kicked the dust up with his boots And the two went back to the castle In gloomy silence. At the gate Idrid paused. I'll make it up now if you like, He said. I've only just thought of it, But perhaps it's three days from The end of the quarrel. I see, said Elfrida. So the longer we keep it up. Yes, said Idrid. So let's call it pucks And not waste any more time. End of section nine Read by Lars Rolander