 Section 10 of a bunch of keys where they were found and what they might have unlocked a Christmas book edited by Tom Hook this is a LibriBox recording all LibriBox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriBox.org the key of the nursery cupboard part one by T. Hook if you open the nursery cupboard you will see but before I tell you what you would see I think perhaps I ought to tell you the whole story at the time when the old no-blessed fled terrified before the first fears of Hebal of that overwhelming volcano the French Revolution and Monsignor de la Bal made his appearance in a little town of Pinchester in Essex and put a modest advertisement into the local paper that he was desirous of giving lessons in French, Italian and rowing he found pupils and employment at the various schools in the town before long but not before his scrupulously neat dress showed signs of age and long wear it was only from this evidence which he could not conceal that even Mrs. Martin the widow with whom he lodged was able to see how straightened the poor gentleman's circumstances were even when she knew it she found it quite impossible to offer him any show of assistance for Monsignor de la Bal was not a person to take charity with a good grace. Honest Mrs. Martin was thoroughly touched to see his little girl the image of my Mary Mrs. Martin would say for the child was often very very hungry and looked thin and ill but the widow received a lesson from Monsignor de la Bal for which she did not pay but which she never forgot she had asked the child as he was sitting in the garden under the lilacs singing some quiet old French song to come in and have a little of her tart at dinner time the poor little thing at first refused though its eyes said yes it was plain that it act under orders but presently childlike it found the temptation too strong and Monsignor passing the door side in the midst of its enjoyment of such jam and such puff paste as only mrs. Martin knew how to make a few short sharp words in French said the little one upstairs in tears and Monsignor turning to mrs. Martin said that he did not permit Monsignor de la Bal to accept invitations from persons and without consulting him if she required refreshments she would find them in her own apartments and he said this as mrs. Martin described afterwards as proud as a nobleman where mrs. Martin had formed her idea of the pride of a nobleman I cannot tell for there was nothing higher than a bayonet within miles of incestor and she knew very little of him even but if she bought the notion out of her inner consciousness she was more successful than many clever people have been in so doing Monsignor de la Bal was as proud as a nobleman because he was a nobleman and one two with more than the ordinary pride of his rank the counts of de la Bal from time immemorial had been among the hottest of the haughty French aristocracy it was a tradition in the family that when Carlemagne passed through the province of the first count of the name that noble received him had on head and on terms of the most perfect equality the rest of the world said he belongs to you sir but the count of de la Bal is in peril here his descendants had been worthy of the grounds new and as proud as of de la Bal passed into a proper when the revolution broke out the nobles of the count's neighborhood enrolled themselves and their retainers and took up arms for the defense of their property against the mob and for a time were successful but the count was not among them it is true he had mastered his battles and armed them but when he found that the command was to be given to Monsignor de la Bal on the viewmess nil he retired in budget now the baron was a general a soldier by profession and the nobles who would have admitted the hereditary claims of the count if the country only had required defense were wisely appreciated of the experience and ability when the question was one of their own personal safety so the count de la Bal retired to his chateau in disgust he had troubled himself he said to assemble a force for the protection of these others and in this regarded the honor let them guard themselves for his part he had no fear for himself the rabble would not dare to come near him and in the surrounded country the lower orders had to intimate a knowledge of and to great regard for the traditions of de la Bal's the traditions of de la Bal's best known to the surrounding peasantry were traditions of ancient rung and tyranny and injustice the result was that one night the chateau de la Bal was the center of a fierce and furious horde that danced around singing its fierce song of vengeance as the red flames shot up their lighted tongues to the frightened sky and a pillar of fire and blood red smoke rose above the hill's orgy from that conflagration and the cordon of fiendish savages nor a soul belonging to the de la Bal household scape saved the count himself he came forth bearing his tail on his left arm and carrying his round sword in his right hand whether it was fear of that glittering skillful blade or some strange impulse of pity and remorse at the sight of the poor child which exerted a charm over the mob it is impossible to say but it is certain that the line opened to allow the count passed unharmed with his precious burden that burden by the way was more precious than the mob suspected the child carried and folded in her arms as she nestled terrified on her father's shoulder a little casket containing the heirlooms of the de la Bal's the family had not been a wealthy one of late indeed care less for riches than birth at any time but some antique jewels of great value had been treasured with great reverence one of them known as the de la Bal to pass being regarded especially with almost superstitious veneration the count had been a widow were some three years also he had therefore preserved in preserving his child and the jewels at once the hopes and the traditions of his family its future and its past when it does him on reaching England to adopt pinches their eyes his place of abode is not clear why he adopted teaching as a professor is less difficult to discover it was the only means of earning a living that was possible for him he was fitted for nothing else as was the case with the very many of the french refugees who found shelter in england about this time although not personally popular among his pupils monsiu de la Bal for the count changed his name as well as dropped his title soon became well known in vincister and all around about as a most successful teacher his manner was cold even stern but he spoke always to the point and so clearly and decidedly that he seldom failed to impress his words on the recollection of his heroes and he never endangered his authority by allowing familiarity or anything remotely approaching it to grow up between himself and those he thought his one fault was a hasty tamper but he kept it in great subjection a stupidity of the most hopelessly crass description could not wear out his patience in attention and idleness he was decided with but they never elicited any token of anger from him but an apparent slight the least rudeness or forgetfulness of the respect due to him would make his cheek leave it and wake a dangerous fire in his eye in very extreme cases he had been roused to the expression of his feelings in words though passionate and strong these words never approached vulgar abuse or sank into shrewish impactive but it was universally agreed that it was a perilous work to quarrel with muncio de la ball even those non-respecters of persons the schoolboys knew that and made quite sure that he was not within hearing when they said all de la ball and motha moth stick that they should not have had a nickname for him it would be too much to expect of human nature they despised everything french like intelligent young britans as they were but they could not help feeling all for him partly on account of a story well known to all the boys of pinchester there was at one of his schools in the town the son of a poor noble man who had won for himself a distinguished position in the lower house and held a subordinate place in the ministry the lad had been sent to get his education chiefly at pinchester now boys we know are ardent politicians the more ardent because as a rule they know nothing about politics and a classmate of these lads whose father was of opposition politics had talented him with a rumor which he had picked up heaven knows how the town was a little too sharp for the boy and he chances that the ball came upon him as he was wiping away the tears crying said he with a half sneer in my country the son of a noble man does not know what tears are he called my father names and said he sold himself to the government saw the lad he did set the frenchman sharply and you what did you do to him what could i do sir you should have but i forget it is only the french language that i have to teach you was the answer i'm on suit the lava went on his way but the boy said afterwards i'm sure he was going to say killed and oh didn't he grind his teeth and turn white being chester as had been already hinted was not overrun with people of rank but its inhabitants were a decent of liking and will dispose it set of people as little morally injured by trade as is possible they were not always cuddling their brains to get a profit out of you and did not look upon all relations of life as business relations of which a debtor and a creditor account was to be kept mentally they were very willing to make a friend of the french master and for the first few years of his sojourn into town blight him with plentiful invitations for himself and still more numerous ones for his daughter but these were all declined very politely it is true but in a manner which mingled a tonus of price with a very decided hint that neither he nor but no sandalabal had any desire to make acquaintances in vinchester the good people of that town were not disposed to make themselves miserable at his refusal though they were perhaps a little sorry that they could not make friends with his daughter who had grown up into a very pretty girl and was so graceful and unassuming and good that it is no wonder she was sought after valérie de la bald herself probably was as much inclined to make friends as the vinchester people but her father would not permit it she was thought to hold a love and decline all advances to acquaintances just as in her childhood when mrs. smarting offered her some dainty she used to say her lesson no thank you i'm not hungry i couldn't eat it but just as in those days the big grey eyes used to look wistfully at the tempting bit so now they show how she hungered for friendship and the companionship of those her own age and sex despite her father's lectures she found it quite impossible to treat mrs. smarting as distantly as he wished her to do magma son del val forgets herself when she associates with the widow of a shopkeeper he would say so poor valérie was very solitary and spent her young days rarely at last she found a pet something on which to bestow her affection it was not a very lovely object but she became very fond of it it was a poor girl a lost and half-starved creature which had followed her to the door and pleaded so pagesly for food and shelter that she had taken it in and adopted it her father was far from delighted at the acquisition month blue it had been an italian ray hound or a well-bred dog of any description but this mongrel must study valérie i fear you have not tasted of a del val certainly purchasing was no beauty her coat was long and wary and stuck about stubbornly in unexpected afflux she had lost an ear and one eye was partially blind and she had all such a stump such a very abridged stump of a tail it seemed as if the fates otherwise exceedingly hard upon her had mercifully provided against any possibility of her having a thin kettle tied to it still though outwardly unprepossessing she seen was remarkably beautiful morally her attachment valérie was a thing touching to witness but it did not propitiate monsoon de la val peste he said for what are these lower animals made it is the least thing that they should be devoted servants of man he said it in a manner which seemed to imply that since the dog was intended to be devoted to the human race it was very small credit indeed that it should be so to one of the del val family he perhaps had something the same sort of idea about a canon traditional regard for that name that he had about the traditional loyalty of the lower orders to it just before the burn he said to over his head however he suffered valérie to keep the poor car though he made her feel at times that was retained under protest when valérie reached the age of 21 her father made a modest tea on her birthday they had a tasteful little dessert after dinner and a bottle of french wine of which a glass was sent down to mrs. martin with directions to drink to the health of mademoiselle de la valie the good woman repeated the toast but didn't drink the wine which she pronounced sour as vinegar on this day the school master was laid aside and the count of teleball presided at the frugal table and what he had drunk the toast with great grace and dignity and valérie had jumped up and flung her arms around his neck and kissed him he brought out all that was left him of the volleyball states the casket of jewels and his sword he made a long and impressive speech to valérie bidding her remember that she was the last of the noble line and pointing out to her the duties and responsibilities that devolved upon her then he placed the casket in her hand and making a tender allusion to the time when she wore those hernomes in safety from the burning chateau told her the jewels were hers henceforth there is my child another priceless jewel which you have in your keeping the honor of the devils guarded well for there must be a restoration of our right someday until then you have the jewels and i the sword amongst you the count the devils ungunned the flannel bandages in which his sword was carefully sweated silently imprinted a kiss on the glittering blade and lifted it silently towards heaven the next day the school master was assumed once more and the nobleman relayed by with the jewels and the sword not long after this a circumstance occurred which was fated to influence the history of the devils valérie with her faithful she seen was walking in the woods not far from vincister when the poor dog strained into a plantation by the wrong side was caught in a jinn valérie was in terrible distress and anguish and in all she could to release her pet but in vain she seemed having exhausted all means of extricating herself was lying on her side panting and looking askance at her mistress who was endeavoring to undo the cruel wire let me assist you said a man's voice valérie looked up and saw a tall handsome looking young man standing beside her she blushed and felt shy she had little experience of the society of strangers but the occasion was too pressing to admit of hesitation so she accepted the offer gratefully the gentleman knelt beside her and a few moments had extricated she seen from the snare the dog instead of recognizing the services thus rendered make use of its freedom to retire behind its mistress and snarl angrily at its liberator fie she seen is that the way in which you express your thanks let me apologize monsieur for she seems quite of manners i am indeed indebted to you that more than repays the little act i can't consent to do without she seen acknowledgments i must speak to the keeper and tell him not to send his trap so close to the road that is if you are often in the habit of walking this way he said this carelessly but it was plain that he expected an answer oh she seen an icon here very often i am glad to hear it for when i am at home the woods are a favorite hunt of mine and i may perhaps have the pleasure of seeing you again and giving she seen an opportunity of saying thank you when her temper has recovered its serenity which the trap has very naturally disturbed he was sauntering along by her side his manner was very pleasant and kind and Valerie confessed to herself he was handsome and felt he was a gentleman he on his side was immensely taken with Valerie who now was a woman in appearance with a fine figure and a beautiful face all the more beautiful for the absence of conscious beauty so they wandered on and the shyness of Valerie were off and the gentleman was most agreeable and chatty and treated her with such politeness and respect that she felt quite at her ease by and by when they came to the high road to pinchester they separated as they were parting he said as if a thought suddenly struck him i ought to have introduced myself long before this my name is paul fern we probably know my father admiral but fern by name Valerie had frequently heard of the admiral in vinchester where he was a very great personage being in fact the one baronet spoken of at the beginning of this story as the novel man of the neighborhood although young paul fern made no request to learn her name valery felt that she ought to tell him in her turn who she was i am valery delaval she said slightly my father's a teacher of languages in vinchester oh i have heard of muncio delaval often his reputation as an evil master is widespread i hope we shall be acquaintances goodbye but musel delaval i trust this will not be our last meeting he did not seem quite sure whether she would shake hands with him but she did in all frankness you see she had had no opportunity of learning the convenances and she followed the dictates of her heart which was warm and generous and trustful goodbye she seen but she seemed only growled and showed her few remaining teeth and so the pair separated valery did not revisit the woods for several days she was afraid that reginald paul fern would think her over both but it must be confessed she felt a strong inclination for a walk in that direction an inclination which at last she found it impossible to overcome accordingly one day she and she seen found themselves once again in a moral paul fern's plantation they had not walked forward before she seems frank forward barking firstly and made a rush towards a gate on which reginald paul fern proved to be sailing when valery came up you ungrateful she seen said valery oh muncio delaval when an ungrateful creature isn't she and she shook hands with him i thought you had forsaken the woods i have not seen you since the day of she seems mishap have you been here no i have hardly been out of door since ah you should make the most of this weather it will not last long you see the lips are turning already look they have even begun to fall we shall have fox and damson when val fern would will not be the best place for a promenade he fell into his old place by her side and they strolled along talking pleasantly they were quite like old friends now and by the end of the walk there began to creep into existence another feeling than friendship before the threatening fox and damson came and while yet the red and russet and gold glories were lingering on the woods these two young people had met again and again and their love was no secret between them though it had never been confessed that love had become valery's life now all the treasured passion of her nature centered in reginald paul fern her solitary life had not allowed her affection to run to waste it was hoarded up for this time and this man she worshiped him and so when the moment came and he asked her to give him her heart she could only tell him that it was his already and let her head sink on his shoulder while through the mist of the happy tears all golden dreams of bliss and peace and content floated before her eyes it had not been with any intention of concealment originally that valery had not told her father of her acquaintances with john bonn fern she did not tell him of the first meeting because she fancied he might become alarmed at her solitary walks and forbid them and because she did not wish to cause him anxiety by and by when her heart became the shrine of a deep and earnest love the subject was too sacred to be spoken of and now when the love was confessed and she and reginald had plighted faith she learned that there was a reason for continuing her silence the admiral sir matthew ball fern was a specimen of the old school of naval officers a man full of strong prejudices quick tempered obstinate domineering he ruled his household as if it had been a men of war and his language and bearing were those of the quarter deck and among his strongest and most enduring prejudices was a hatred of friends and frenchmen reginald ball fern his son had been brought up in slavish fear and obedience as might be expected he did not know what it was to have a wish or will of his own in opposition to his father until he met ballady when love as usual broke down all barriers but reginald will still stood in terrible awe of the admiral and dreaded about all things that he should learn how his son was paying attention to a frenchman's daughter above and beyond this reginald was selfish irredeemably selfish and if he feared to this way his father by force of his education in the dread of his wrath he also was anxious not to suffer the consequences of the disobedience for the old man's first threat on every occasion was to cut him off with the shielding and leave him a beggar there was under these circumstances a very powerful reason for his trying to conceal his attachment for ballady his father had been married a second time to a widow with two grown up daughters and there was no love lost between him and his stepmother who was very anxious to contrive the assertion of his place in his father's affections by her daughters the old gentleman however had his family pride and there was no fear of reginald's being superseded as long as he did nothing to bring himself into disgrace he laid all this before ballery and begged her to keep her engagement a secret which she readily consented to do he was hers that was enough she was content to wait patiently for years calm in the consciousness of his love the knowledge of that seemed the perfection of happiness and she needed nothing more meantime she seemed having at length been induced to overcome her dislike to reginald had rushed into the other extreme and was as extravagantly fond of him luckily for her she had not the sense to reserve the demonstrations of her affection for the proper occasion and accordingly one day the reginald's horror when he had driven into vinchester with his stepmother for some shopping he found she seemed jumping and jumping about his legs with every talking of delight and friendship the next time he met ballery he brought her of this unfortunate indiscretion of the dogs you must get rid of the dog ballet darling lady b is as keen as a needle and if she had seen she seen with its owner would have made dangerous conductives she seen must go ballery's eyes filled with tears at the top and she pleaded for her favorite to whom she reminded reginald the older acquaintances the reginald's safety was concerned and therefore reginald had no mercy ballery was ready to sacrifice anything for him so devoted and blind was her love so poor she seen was handed over to mrs martin with orders that she should be given to someone who would be kind to her and ballery being questioned as to the reason of her parting with her pet said that it was because papa did not like dogs and she seen annoyed him much though he would not say so but she seen was not so easily to be got rid of she returned from her new home so often that at last it became necessary to try and send her away to some distance she was given to a barge man who was going up the canal with orders to keep her tied up for two or three days but even this was not successful within a week after her departure she seen was back again half start and travel stained and ready to drop with fatigue ballery was so touched by this fidelity that she could not find hard to send the dog away again and when next she met reginald tried to obtain a reversal of the sentence of punishment she learned however that on her way home this last time she seen had passed by a firm house had recognized reginald at a window which opened it on loan and had rushed in and covered him with muddy caresses to the great astonishment of the family who were at breakfast he had been obliged to order the servants to drive her away with whips to her other bewilderment this had sealed her fate reginald told ballery that a friend and brother officer of his was about to sail in a few days i would take she seen on board and thus forever bear her beyond rich or mischief ballery star of woolly consented and took a far well of her old favorite and reginald carried she seen off with him and going to the river after he parted from ballery tied a stone around the poor dog's neck and deliberately drowned in it a few days later ballery walking on the banks of the vine saw the bloated but still recognizable corpse of poor she seen aground in a creek it was a warning but a vain one she did not for a moment suspect reginald and thus time glided on and reginald and ballery met frequently and forgot in the idle purposeless dreaming of love the stern necessities of real life until one day the former learned from a letter written by a friend in London that he would soon be recalled to his ship which was to be ordered to join the fleet then the two young people were obliged to look this actual world in the face and each looked at it from a different point of view ballery was heartbroken at the thought of reginald's leaving her and leaving her to face the dangers of war but beyond that she thought of nothing reginald on the other hand felt anxiety cheaply because he feared that in his absence some other might step in and carry off ballery and yet he dreaded to discover their love to his father the only possible way by which he could secure ballery and yet not in danger his position with his father was a secret marriage to this he hardly dared to hope that ballery will consent he formed his opinion partly it is true from his knowledge of baller's character which was too noble and too frank to deal readily in concealment and evasion but we know that love though it often enhances our virtues can with needful make us consent to minutes we should not dream of in our sober senses reginald's chief reason however for supposing that ballery would refuse to marry him secretly was the consciousness that he himself in a like case would hesitate before making such a bad bargain he judged of her by himself and he was wrong she loved him far too well not to condescend to the measures he proposed and she never thought of herself for her part she could have trusted him and hope it and waited on but as he wished to make her his wife she was ready she must be his wife she could be no others well did it matter whether it was now or in a few years if it was publicly known or a secret like their love the relevance belong to the old Huguenot nobility so there was no difficulty in the question of religion and reginald speedily found means of making ballery his bride under circumstances of the utmost secrecy his departure was unexpectedly delayed longer than he anticipated his vessel have been detained from part of a convoy before he left England his wife confided to him the tender news which should make a young husband's heart so full of joy and pride and happy solicitude but reginald was only rendered anxious and terrified he once again bound ballery by the most silent obligations not to reveal their marriage to anyone under any circumstances it was impossible that he did not see what misery unspeakable this must entail upon her but it was not in his nature to consider how great were the sacrifices he exacted provided only that he was insert against discomfort or loss it was rather to prepare against any extremity which might endanger his secret done with a desire for her well-being and peace of mind that he gave ballery the address of his old nurse who was a pensioner of the family living down by the sea coast in her native village in any difficulty he told ballery to write to her and a few days he had sale poor ballery so young so inexperienced so innocent she little knew of the terrible consequences of her promise it was only one sweet hope that she saw of the future the dark terrible side was disregarded but the day of anguish and trial and tribulation came at last it is impossible to describe the horror and anger of Monser the Laval when he discovered as he believed the shame which had fallen on his house read to the girl how long is it since I told you that the honor of the house of the deval was in your keeping poor ballery who had sunk into a chair at the first adverse of the storm could only rock to and throw with a low morning she had of late begun to dread this but she never thoroughly realized it until it came what have I done said the old man firstly that this this honor falls upon me in my old age that my gray hairs are disgraced Mon Dieu what have I done to deserve this as he glanced upwards defiantly almost his eye caught the sword which hung over the mantlepiece he snatched it down and tore off the covering true you are my friend I know my duty then turning to ballery he said in a harsh horse whisper his name but she only stretched out one hand precantedly and solved as though her heart were breaking miserable creature it is not enough that you have brought shame upon me no no I have not father was all she could find strength to other liar as well dishonored you have lost forever the good name of the deval's which was entrusted to your keeping tell me his accursed name that I may wash out this stain in his blood no no it cannot it must not be I am innocent you persist in your falsehood you are certainly not a deval a deval never lies but his name his name by heaven I will have his name he caught her by the wrist with his left hand and shook her fiercely his name his name never she cast the brutality had roused the spirit of the daughter she faced him now as bold as himself he passed for a moment looked at her with a gaze of concentrated rage and hate and then flunk her over him want you lost lost to everything nameless shameless abandoned go leave me out of my sight let me never see you again and you he looked at his sword once guardian of the honor of my race your task is done I am an old man and must die soon and the honor of the deval's is departed your mission is at an end there is no more need for you my heart is broken break you to spotless blade break he placed this word across his knee a snap a tinkling clash and he flunked the broken weapon from him sank into a chair and burst into an agony of tears then all batteries anger melted away and she stole up and tried to soothe him but at the first touch of her hand he shrank back and sprang to his feet touch me not your touches defilement disgraced this honored shameless wanton go I say leave this roof you are no child of mine go he whipped her off furiously his voice choked he staggered a moment and then fell heavily to the ground in a fit battery rang the bell in terror and said mrs. Martin for a doctor monsoon the ball was placed on his bed and before long began to recover but only to sink into state of beverage delirious weakness even though the shadow of madness and the misses of half insensibility he kept crying to them to take battery out of his hide she left the room at last for the doctor said his patient would be no better while she stayed there then she seated herself on the threshold outside the bedroom door and listening with him bitterly but in silence she could hear him still moaning thrust her from my roof same same and he continued complaining thus until the opiate which the doctor had administered began to take effect and he felt into an easy slumber the doctor coming out of the room at last almost fell over battery who exhausted by her emotion and the terrible anxiety of the scene she had gone through had sunk against the doorpost almost soon she asked the doctor faintly if her father was better out of danger yes i trust madame said he very stifley he was a harsh man i'm very cold but i cannot answer for his life unless my orders are obeyed your presence will endanger his recovery you must not go near him and he went away without even wishing her a good morning mrs. martin too was very frigid and would hardly speak to her it almost broke poor battery's heart to find everyone shrinking from her what was she to do this was no longer a home for her she must find a shelter elsewhere so she packed up her few clothes and trinkets and determined to go to her husband's old nurse for a long time she was uncertain what she should do about the gentle casket it was hers she felt and she had gone nothing to forfeit it by and by when her husband came home and claimed her openly as his wife she could return to her father and say i have kept all the jewels of the delibals and that priceless jewel our owner take me back to your arms yes she would retain the casket if her father was angry at her doing so for a while he would know all before long she stole into his room to take one last look at him before she went away he was sleeping calmly now she grabbed to the bedside kiss his hand and baked it with tears as she did so she heard him murmur lost lost take her out of my side even in his dreams this terrible mistake was haunting him it was like a stab to her poor heart and she heard it from the room reginald dear reginald husband what am i not suffering for your sake it had indeed been a painful struggle but valery was determined to keep her son named promise to her husband she knew that if she told her father and tried ever so hard to convince him of the necessity of keeping the marriage a secret he would refuse to do so he would not understand how anyone could feel dishonored by an alliance with the delibals and he would not consider that her husband's interests were at all comparable with the necessity for guarding the name of the delibal from even the shadow of suspicion end of section 10 section 11 of a bunch of keys where they were found and what they might have unlocked a christmas book edited by tom hood this is a library box recording all library box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liverybox.org the key of the nursery cupboard part 2 by t-hood so with her little box she took her departure for the village where her husband's nurse resided it was a small fishing place about 30 miles from vinchester to the north and was to be reached without great difficulty she had to take a fly from vinchester to cybly crossroads where she took the coach that carried her within four miles of the seaside village which was called halbrough it was a poor little village depending for support on the spread fishery it was situated on a belt of a marsh that extended four miles along the coast and behind it stretched away leagues of rich corn land protected from the floods which overran the marshes by an embankment halbrough itself stood on a little null which sometimes in severe winters when the waters were out became an island it was a very desolate place at the best of times but it was at its dreadedest and darkest pitch of desolation when ballery reached it winter was far advanced and the marshes were immense lakes of leaden colored water taking their color from the leaden sky once the rain was descending in lashing torrents scarcely seen through the drift a dark sea edge with cruel white foam that looked like monstrous fangs devouring the coast filled up the background of a struggling village of poverty-stricken houses most of them mere holdings to be sure battery entered the place on the worst side at the further end there was a handful of decent cottages and shops for it was frequented by a few visitors in the summer and had humble pretensions to being a watering place it was just large enough to be in hospital and just small enough to be scandalous there were too many inhabitants to form the little family group which so many little hamlets present and there were too few for them not to find everybody else's business more interesting than their own mrs. pooth house was on the borders of the genteel quarter but it was but a humble shabby genteel sort of place it was a shop for the all sorts kind displaying in its window which was not a shop window but an ordinary one bits of work small articles of drapery toys and sweets and some modest stationery the old woman did not drive a brisk trade but she was not dependent on her shop having a sufficient living in the pension she received from the old admiral a real woman was mrs. pooth who had been the tyrant of nurseries and had never softened to any child but reginald when the poor children of hardware came to expand their minds in her shop now kindly impulse ever induced her to tell the scale in their favor by adding one sweet drop beyond exact weight though as we know she only kept the shop as an employment not as a livelihood she gave valery no very warm reception reginald had told her of his marriage with the daughter of a french teacher and had asked her to give his wife what advice and assistance she could when the time of trouble came as come it must he knew very well mrs. pooth at once concluded that he had been entrapped into a marriage by some designing girl and took an immediate dislike to valery without having seen her but she of course determined to do all that reginald asked her to do she would have died for him have suffered any pain or discomfort to save him from trouble it is curious to observe how often selfish people get this sort of devotion and from how many people women more specially there was one thing which the old woman had made up her mind to do to persuade valery no matter by what means to forego her claim to be reginald's wife it was a hard savage designed from one woman to another and other forgetfulness of all sympathy for her sex but you remember that mrs. pooth had only one tender place in her heart her affection for the voice she had nursed she gave up to valery the room over the shop it was a dark smoky chamber but it was the best in the house and it was better furnished than any of the others when mrs. pooth left the family to come here reginald's mother who was a good sweet woman she might have changed her son's nature had she lived longer gave her all the furniture of the nursery with which the old woman had filled up this room over the mental peace hung an old picture of a child's head not reginald's portrait but a portrait of a little girl one of the ball firm family in which the nurse had said she saw strong likeness to the boy and which she had begged of her mistress it was not a valuable picture and no one knew whom it represented but if it had been twice as important lady ball firm could not have refused it to her boy's faithful and deported nurse before valery had been with her long mrs. pooth perceived that she was in error as to her having entrapped reginald her love for him was too real and unaffected but the old nurse was nevertheless still determined if possible to separate her from him he must marry someone worthy of him not the child of a poor school master she was not astonished to find that valery was ardently attached to reginald that seemed to her only natural he was a sultan in her eyes who had only to throw his handkerchief to make a woman his slave for life it was through this devotion that she first tried to work out her project she pointed out to valery that she was ruining the man she loved his place was high up in the world but she was dragging him down if you are as fond of him as you say you must see that his whole career is spoiled by your marriage and he might have aimed so high if i were placed as you are i would never ask for recognition good heavens woman what are you counseling for the happiness of the man you profess to be ready to die for this is not as much as time you will still make his wife in reality whatever the world may think but my father my good name what is he to your husband and your good name i thought just said you will die for him ah this is worse than death mrs. wuth child is nonsense and for this baby's stuff you will make him lose his position i do not understand you who will respect him when he has for a wife the discarded unsuspected daughter of a french teacher at the school in vinchester my father is a count in his own land said valery proudly the old woman laughed a short sharp laugh that will be a poor recommendation to my old master he might forgive his marrying the child of an english beggar in the streets but not the daughter of a french king amy what is to be done side valery but perhaps when my reginald comes home he will let me tell papa and then we can wait patiently i do not value even my good name so much as reginald's happiness so don't you know that your father will be only too delighted to blurt out the secret it isn't every man whose daughter can marry a ball firm valery felt that her father's pride will revel against the concealment the future looked very dark do you think said the old woman after a boss that i was not born and educated for something better than a nurse's place my father was a clergyman who took poo pills i was clandestinely married to one of them the heir of toa tidal i knew that the discovery of our union will be his ruin and i never claimed to be acknowledged with his wife he died five years afterwards but i did not seek recognition by his family other women you can see can do what you are called upon to do now this story was partly true and partly false it was true in the main it was false in all the important particulars mrs budd's father was a clergyman and took poo pills and mrs budd had been secretly engaged one of them but he was only the son of a wealthy tradesman and had tilted her after he went to college her father had become a bankrupt had his come take him from him for some questionable practices and died in the depth of jail this was why mrs budd had been obligated to go into service as a nurse but her story and her conversation were enough to make poor valery missable still however the young wife hoped for the best and looked for dragnons coming as the cure for all her doubts and difficulties in due time valery's child was born a little girl ah what a comfort there was in that child the mother seemed to gather fresh strength and hope from looking into her baby's eyes it delighted mrs budd to see how wrapped up valery wasn't it for she thought that it would usurp his father's place in her heart and make the resignation of him easy but she somewhat miscalculated in this as she discovered one day when she overheard valery talking to the little thing will they have me give you no father darling oh no no i would sacrifice myself but not you you're poor little helpless angel haven't give me strength and life to watch over you then mrs budd saw that she must change her tactics she resolved to adopt a new plan she must work on the mother through her child and a very cruel plan it was that she devised when valery was growing stronger she came one day and sat down beside her on the bed my dear she said now that your trouble is over and you have a child to love i had better tell you everything you must be prepared for the worst valery leaned forward with starting eyeballs speechless trembling faint with terror you have been deceived captain bald firm cannot recognize you as his wife cannot recognize me no for you are not really his wife the ceremony was not legally performed i have his own authority oh impossible impossible cried poor valery flinging herself down on the pillow and bursting into tears it was not an intentional deception said mrs budd who could not even to do him a service make a reginal appear criminal but it is a barrier an insurmountable barrier to your ever being acknowledged in fact you cannot be acknowledged what you are not his wife but he loves me so dearly i know he loves me he will not desert me for i am his wife a mere oversight in the ceremony cannot be so fatal to our happiness cannot desert you what has he done now did he not leave you to the certain team of discovery and to the wrath of your father did he not pin you with a snap bow to conceal the only thing that could save you does this look like love like the affection of a fun husband valery grown all this was terribly true she had tried again and again not to think so but the old woman's words came home irresistibly to her mind my child my poor fatherless child what will become of you oh the child will be provided for and so will you not doubt dear you're not the only woman who has suffered and been deceived i have no doubt captain ball firm will place his child where it will be well cared for and send it to school when it grows up valery hugged her baby to her breast no no my treasure my darling i have bought you at the price and they shall not take you from me well if you don't want to have it taken away you had better let no one know where you are and then this hard old woman with her handsome face as a stern as if it were chiseled out of stone left the room and poor valery went through her dark hour alone mrs. pooth had triumphed time brought on and non-use of reginald came the old woman was delighted at this at first for it made her case stronger and gave her poison time to work but presently she became alarmed she received her pension quarterly through the commander of the cost guard station and there was generally a short letter from that maril with it he was too anxious about his son at last he wrote that he feared he was either dead or a prisoner for his vessel had been captured by the french she did not speak of this to valery who had ceased now to ask about her husband as mrs. pooth had represented to her friends and acquaintances at whole world that valery was at knees of hers whose intellects were weak and who had had a misfortune the poor girl had no opportunity of hearing any news from anyone else for she was generally avoided or taking no notice of valery's little girl grew up a delicate and strange child she had no playfellows and was always with her mother until she was old enough to be allowed to go out on the beach by herself she had the sea for a playfellow then for she did not care to make friends with the other children she met there they were too rough and rude in their gambles for her she used to sit on the sun hills looking at the distant ships really and seeing him some little french air that she had learned from her mother with her tiny trouble the people of hall brew gave her a white birth for they were a superstitious people and fancy there was something selfish about her with her strange songs and her beautiful golden hair and large gray eyes next to the sea she loved the picture over the mental piece of the bedroom that little girl was so quiet and nice that she wished she would come and play with her she said as may have been imagined poor valery had little enough money she and mrs. pooth had to pinch sorely to make both ends meet and as a consequence poor little amy had few toys or childish treasures it was only natural that when she saw other little folk in possession of beautiful dolls she should sigh at times for something like them and then her mother would tell her that she should have one when her ship came home by the grace amy began to look forward to that event and to connect it with a great many things mama will my little girl in the picture come and play with me when the ship comes home she asked one day and her mother covered her with kisses and told her some fond foolish story about the little girl and how she was sailing in the ship and what a beautiful ship it was and how full of riches and that they were all for this pet amy of mamas how often the child's braggle groomed the poor mother's heart there was once a terrible anguish for poor valery in the little ones words it was during the summer when halberg could boast its visitors and made believe it was a watering place valery and the child were sitting on the sand hills the mother working and amy at her usual occupation watching the sales in the often and wondering whether any of them belonged it to her vessel a merry group of little ones passed by freddy king and laughing round their father papa papa was constantly on their lips and was carried by the cheery voices to where the two were sitting on the sand hills amy looked very thoughtful as she watched them and then turning to her mother said mama other little girls have papa's haven't i got a papa where is he valery was almost took with the effort to repress her anguish she could not speak will he come too when the ship comes mama oh how i wish i could go see it sailing in with its purple sick sails and its gold mast and its fluttering flax will papa come with the ship mama yes darling yes i hope i cannot tell i hope and valery turned away for the big tears that would not be denied were rolling down her cheeks think of that dolly said a knee to her poor old battered wooden doll when the ship comes home papa will bring us such lots of fine things and you shouldn't have such grand dresses dolly and though there will be great fine wax dolls like the little girls at sea view villa i love you the best still next to mama dolly a me was five years old now but there was still no news of captain ball firm if there had been of course mrs. spooth would not have told valery but the admiral had been dead a couple of years now and his widow though she still remitted the pension as directed in his will did not trouble herself to write to mrs. spooth so that the old woman was really ignorant of what had happened to reagan up valery had ceased to look for his return perhaps to care for it she had had years to brood over the past and his selfishness had become revealed to her she knew that he had deliberately sacrificed her her honor perhaps her life and that of his child in order to save himself from discomfort comparatively light when considered beside the misery to which he was knowingly condemning her her whole existence was wrapped up in her child now she had no thought no hope except for her in the winter of the year in which amy's sixth birthday fell there came a time of distress and trial for the little village of holbrook in the spring there had been some very heavy and high tides and the embankment of the corn lands had been broken through and all the country was under water next the spread fishery failed but that was a little moment after all for the fish were chiefly sold as manure for the now flooded fields and then there were very few visitors for the floods frightened them away holbrook having been an island for two whole months at the beginning of the summer when the winter came came the tribulation the inhabitants of this little place always kept up a hand fight with starvation they were engaged all the spring and summer in lane by the store for the winter and this year there have been nothing to delay by the farmers roundabout who were the rich people of the neighborhood had all been ruined by the inundation so the little village had to stand and face the famine alone and unassisted with the autumn and the dense cold parks which sucked up from the marshes came sickness as usual but this time the people were too unfeebled by probation by want of food and clothing and fuel to withstand its rapages the sickness was in the village all the autumn and on into the winter and the churchyard at the back of the town at the edge of the marshes so near the edge that some of the graves were half full of water within an hour after they were dug was covered with fresh heaps of black mold for the people had not the time or the heart to turf them one of the first victims of the sickness was all muses booth it was not that she was suffering so severely from want as many of her neighbors for the pension was enough to guard her against that but she was frightened at the illness all around she tried all sorts of preventives never moved out of doors and was in a constant state of terror lest she should run risk of infection the result was that she frightened herself into an illness which soon took an alarming turn passed rapidly into the prevalent fever one of a t-foil character and the old woman died before the doctor could be summoned from brats hall there was no resident surgeon and brats hall was nearly four miles off when muses booth felt death approaching you may be sure that she did not look back upon her treatment of pailary with much complacency a deathbed is the only place in which some people can judge justly of their own actions but it is us too late to repair the wrongs then sorely sorely did the old woman suffer remorse for her conduct and with it there mingled a terrible doubt that after all wrecking out might have loved pailary very truly he might even now be longing to find her wondering where she was and brokenhearted at her last but was too late she had not even the strength to tell ballery of the deception she had practiced on her all that she could do just as the world was closing to her and her soul was on the point of taking its flight was to clasp ballery's hand and whisper i did it all for the best i did all for the best the old woman was buried and the fact of her death reported by the commander of the cost score to lady ball fern he also mentioned that muses booth had left her niece and a child as he supposed unprovided for lady ball fern however was not the sort of woman to trouble herself about that we have had to keep the old hag for long enough we can't be expected to provide for all her relations she said as she tossed the note into the fire mrs booth had left ball fern house long before her leadership married sir matthew then came hard times for poor battery the shop as had been already mentioned drove buddha very small trade and her stock of money was slander after a hard struggle she had long ago sold some of the contents of the jewel gasket and now one by one the more precious relics which she had laid aside had to be parted with she and amie had to live on very poor fare the winter was but just begun and the jewels which she got miserable prices for would hardly carry them through the trying time amie was always a delicate and sickly child visitors to halberd as they passed her with their groups of healthy rosy children looked at her pittingly and exchanged glasses full of pain sometimes an unguarded whisper would reach ballerys ear poor little thing there's death in that face then she would snatch her child to her heart gaze into her dear face and try to read the doom which others other but it was kindly bailed from her she kissed the little white brow and did not see the seal set there she looked into the eyes but did not perceive the strange fatal light in them she smoothed the pale cheek and did not feel the deadly temp she toyed with the golden curls and never saw their brightness was borrowed from light of another world when the winter set in amie could not longer take her walk to the beach or sit on her favorite sand hills to look for the promised seal but she used to sit at the window of the bedroom from which she could catch a glimpse of the sea there she would stay for hours and her mother who now occupied the little room behind the shop used to hear her insensibly talking to her little girl in the picture by and by poor amie was too tired to sit at the window she used to lie on her bed with her eyes fixed on the portrait over the mantelpiece sometimes talking to it and sometimes singing snatches of song in her low voice i am so tired mama was her constant complaint she was sickening her mother saw it with what our arm can be readily imagined she sent for the doctor but he only shook his head and ordered a nourishing diet and wine then the dual casket was once more in requisition and what she had hoped to make last for the winter was sold at once the jeweler at bratshall to whom she sent them was astonished at the beauty of a large tapas which was among them but he paid her none the more handsomely for his astonishment poor valerie, friendless, helpless and hopeless it was no wonder that she turned to her father now she wrote him a long sorrowful leather and endured his aid not for herself but her child she received no answer amie did not improve at all she shrank almost to a skeleton although valerie procured the most nourishing food she could for her while herself poor mother lived upon dry bread she determined to husband every shilling in order to purchase what was necessary for her child and to pay for medical attendance doctor sternford her physician was a poor man with a large family and could not afford to attend patients for nothing besides he never saw although her house was a humble one any signs of poverty about and she seemed of so superior a rank in life that he never suspected her of being in want so he took his guinea for a visit never dreaming how ill she could spare it though she never begrudged it for was it not for her darling's safety and now all the jewels were sold and the money was going so fast she determined to search and see what there might be belonging to mrs. bluth that she could convert into money almost the first thing she came upon was a box containing letters one of them written in reginald's hand caught her eye she opened and read it it was the one in which he had told mrs. bluth to prepare for his wife's arrival it was evident from this letter that mrs. bluth had deceived her she was indeed reginald's wife and he intended to acknowledge her on his father's death but the discovery came too late to revive valerie's love for him she only saw in his solicitude for her comfort here a selfish solicitude she could detect selfishness now even in the very expression of his love for her in another letter she read of the admiral's anxiety about the prolonged absence of his son and his fear that he was either dead or a prisoner when she had finished she looked toward the vet where Amy was lying asleep for her sake for child's sake reginald dead or alive you will absolve me from a portion of my bow and she sat down and wrote once again to her father for the first time she told him of her being really married but she did not reveal her husband's name she said she could not do so yet but she intrigued him to have pity to come to her to save a far dearer life than hers then having dispatched her letter she knelt by her child's bed and prayed to be supported and granted patience and strength until she received a reply that night Amy was worse she tossed in feverish restlessness and the next morning seemed worn out all through her delirium valerie had heard her calling to the little girl in the picture and asking her to come and put her cool hand on her hot forehead when dr. stanford came she told him of this he looked at the picture and said there's something odd about the expression of it it's an old painting a family portrait as opposed perhaps it will be as well to turn its face to the wall till my little patient is better in fever even a staring pattern in a paper is injurious so the picture was turned to the wall that night Amy still continued delirious but poor valerie was so worried with continuous watching that she could keep awake no longer she dosed fitfully in her chair too worn out to move or to do more than look to see that her child was safe in the bed she never knew whether she was really awake or asleep but about the middle of the night it appeared to her that she was roused by the child's talking laughing Amy was speaking to the little girl in the picture and valerie's impression was that looking towards the mental she saw the picture in the bright moonlight turned round again with its back to the wall next morning however she funded as she had left it the night before but Amy was still weaker and fainter for two days the child kept fading and fading and yet no news from her father at last the money failed on the third day when dr. stanford visited her she had only a guinea in this world and that was his fee he was struck with the change in the child good heavens this cannot last long i fear she is sinking from sheer weakness poor child the food had grown short now you must try and make her some strong beef tea i will ride home as quickly as i can and send you some restoratives and tonics this is a terrible change he took his guinea never noticing how poor valerie had to struggle with an inclination to ask him to let her keep it and wait a little for his fee he mounted his horse thinking a penny to the boy who had held it and clattered away down the street with hungry eyes poor valerie watched the urchin as he turned over the penny meditatively she called to him you're a good boy for watching the doctor's horse see here i'll give you all these for your penny because you're a good boy she emptied a bottle of sweets into a paper and held them out to him they were all ones he had known them as long as he could remember in mrs boost's window but he was to get them all for a penny so it did not matter he took his prize and valerie clutched the money and hurried out how carefully she carried that greasy coin it was her last penny in the world and she had to save her child's life she went to the butcher's shop in the higher part of the town business was very slack even with him now a poor neck of a mutant and a spare leg of beef was all that he had to display valerie walked by the shop twice before she could summon the courage to enter but the recollection of the poor pale little face on the pillow at home nerfed her and she went in the butcher was sitting on the chopping block whistling gloomy and cutting up a skewer for want of employment will you sell me a penny worth of please it's for my bird and it likes beef best the butchers there at her topped a racked end of the beef and plunged towards her she cut it up lay down the penny and heard it from the shop that crazy niece of all mrs boost I wonder how she gets on now her own step said the butcher resuming his seat and his occupation valerie has turned home and taking a peep at her child went down to prepare the beef tea with the poor scrap of meat she had purchased how tedious the process seemed the tiny teacup full of water stood simmering slowly it seemed an hour she kept running up and down between the bedroom and the kitchen trembling with anxiety and terror for she could not put seed that bore a me was sinking faster and still faster don't smile for heaven's sake dear reader but it was positively a race between the child's life and that necessarily slow process of cooking at last however the beef tea was ready and valerie poured it into a cup which she stood in a bowl of cold water to cool it and then she hurried up with it to the child's room as she opened the door she saw a me sitting up in the bed mama mama my little girl is here to play with me so the ship has come home mama the ship has come home at last and then the wary head fell back on the pillow with its golden profusion of girls one soft sigh a smile as the darkening eyes turned towards valerie and the little spirit was free and fluttered up from the dark desolate chamber into god's presence and all the brightness of heaven oh my darling my treasure and valerie was kneeling by the bedside clasping the poor little corpse to her heart as if she could cling to the life that was gone and retain it but it was only the empty casket of her u-wool that she held and even the fire that was consuming her heart could not warm it into existence she was obligated to yield to the billiard knowledge at last and then stunted a nub with the mental agony she rose from her knees and sat on the edge of the bed clasping the tiny dead hand lost to everything saved the recollection of her child and insensible to all outward sides and sounds valerie's father after she left him became even more reserved and self-contained that before he saw no one spoke to no one saved his pupils and those who employed him he was a broken spirited miserable old man and only kept alive by the old fire of his pride but for that he must have succumbed he was determined that no one should suspect him of grieving for one who had dishonored him when valerie's first letter reached him he burst into a fit of ungovernable rage was it not bad enough that she reminded him of her dishonored existence but that she must tell him that she had sold the deleval jewels to support the child of her shame and the old man cursed his daughter again the second letter was as ineffectual as the first he would not believe that she was married a liar the first deleval that was a liar she only employed the talents of her race to make her falsehood seem like truth and he cursed her yet again the day after this last letter reached him a stranger came to mrs martins inquired for valerie and insisted on seeing monsir deleval he was a wild odd-looking man clothed in rags and with a bird as unkempt as a lion's mane he would take no refusal but force himself into the old man's presence your daughter monsir deleval where's your daughter it was enough the old man instinctively guessed who was his questioner he sprang to the mantle itself snatched down the broken blade of his sword and flung himself napping on the stranger wretch betrayer dishonor of the race of the leval die he shriek as he launched fiercely at his throat but the aged man was nervous the stranger he was reginald balfourn put it aside with ease caught the broken weapon and flung it behind him full weak old fool where is your daughter where's my wife at that monsir deleval hesitated your wife yes my wife mine reginald balfourn sir reginald if you like cursal titles and all money and all rank my wife if you and i haven't murdered her between us where is she but the father had fallen in a heap on the floor with his head against the wall won't you won't you and she was innocent the reginald balfourn was too fiercely moved to suffer him to lie there he dragged him out helped him against the wall and once again hissed his question into his face from between his clenched teeth where is she and the old man as best as he could gather his scattered senses related hardly all that had happened when he spoke of the two appealing letters a fierce fire bleddered in reginald's eye and he cried great god you have murdered my child and what have you done to mine ask it the old man reginald groaned let us in heaven's name do all we can to repair the wrong how far how far order a chase and a pair of the ones he rushed to the bell and rang it until mrs martin appeared order a chase and a pair the fastest pair in the stables at once mrs martin hesitated i ordered it sir reginald balfourn of balfourn hall will that satisfy you course the woman should stand there staring while my wife and child are dying through all the strangeness of his appearance there was something of the old reginald's visible and mrs martin recognized it and obeyed his orders before long moncieux de la balle and reginald were tearing along the road to hauburg as fast as two horses could gallop reginald balfourn had been nearly seven years a captive in a french prison in the solitude of that long confinement he had time to reflect on his past and his character became softened by adversity a real and deep love for his wife took the place of his old half selfish admiration of and pride in her and he bitterly repented the misery he had as he knew only too well entailed upon her when at length he obtained his freedom he flew without a moment's delay to find her he had been put ashore on the point of the asex bank of the dames nearest to benchester and had hurried at once across country to find her or her father and now at length he was on the road to clash her once more to his heart and ask her pardon byry sitting by the deathbed of amy did not take note of the hasty footsteps on the stairs was only roused from her unconsciousness by the sight of her father and her husband she recognized him at a glance as they rushed into the room but she never moved or changed color she was ashy pale she was a stone cold she seemed as dead as the child beside her they were terrified at her immobility and paws on the dress hoop her father rushed forward and falling at her feet cried out in broken accents my child my child she did not turn her head but the white leaves moved mechanically and she answered my child my child her husband knelt beside her and ceasing her listless right hand covered it with warm kisses or warm tears but in her left lay the tiny hand of her dead child and the tilt from it smoked her heart and she remained stern unplayable passionless as a standard then the two men shrugged from her in fear and anguish and leaning on each other's shoulders wept like children lady ball fern is a fine handsome woman but hers are the eyes that have looked into the eyes of sorrow the sea closes above a sunken vessel and its surface burns no recording ripple the billowy green turf of the churchyard swallows half the dead and shows no sign but a happiness gone down at the sea a buried grief leaves an undeniable epitaph graven on the human brow leaves an undying memorial lamp that burns in the eyes of those who have suffered and survived and if the features are thus marked how is the poor heart scarred wounds of warfare deeply seem and only to be a face when death's hands crumbles the earthen casket wherein they are written lady ball fern is beloved for her acts of charity but she's reserved and silent and even those who bless her have seldom seen her it is supposed that she and her husband sir reginald live no less happily together than other married people she has several children she's an exemplary wife an exemplary mother but at night when the little ones are going to bed and the nursery is deserted valery lady ball fern takes a key from a dual casket which contains nothing beside and going to the nursery unlocks a cupboard there in that cupboard there lie a child's clothes of a very coarse material carefully folded with a pair of little shoes on top of them beside them you will see a mirror log of a wooden doll lackless and armless dressed in a common duster tied rounded with an old shoestring a headless horse with red spots and a little wooden spade worn out with much digging this is what the key of the nursery cupboard has to reveal end of section 11