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diff --git a/34219-h/34219-h.htm b/34219-h/34219-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1771e07 --- /dev/null +++ b/34219-h/34219-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12697 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Enchanted Castle, by E. Nesbit. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + .copyright {text-align: center; font-size: 70%;} + + .toc {font-size: 90%;} + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .chaptertitle {text-align: center; font-size: 110%; font-weight: bold;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold; font-size: 70%;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: .5em; margin-top: + .5em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: .5em; + margin-top: .5em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + .poem {margin-left: 30%; text-align: left;} + .poem2 {margin-left: 15%; text-align: left;} + .sig {margin-right: 10%; text-align: right;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .hang1 {text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Enchanted Castle, by E. Nesbit + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Enchanted Castle + +Author: E. Nesbit + +Illustrator: H. R. Millar + +Release Date: November 6, 2010 [EBook #34219] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENCHANTED CASTLE *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Emmy and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 308px;"> +<img src="images/coverpage.jpg" width="308" height="500" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>THE<br /> +ENCHANTED CASTLE</h1> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 121px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="121" height="120" alt="logo" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> + + + +<div class='bbox'> +<h2>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Books by Nesbit"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="u">FOR CHILDREN</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><i>Illustrated, crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Treasure Seekers</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Would-be-Goods</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nine Unlikely Tales for Children</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Five Children and It</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">New Treasure Seekers</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Story of the Amulet</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'>—————</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="u">FOR GROWN-UPS</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center'><i>Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Man and Maid</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='center'><br /> +LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px;"> +<img src="images/gs01.png" width="338" height="500" alt="THE HALL IN WHICH THE CHILDREN FOUND THEMSELVES WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE HALL IN WHICH THE CHILDREN FOUND THEMSELVES WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> +<h1>The<br /> +Enchanted Castle</h1> + +<div class='center'>BY<br /> +<big>E. NESBIT</big><br /> + + +<small>AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE AMULET,"</small><br /> +<small>"THE TREASURE SEEKERS," ETC.</small><br /> +<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +WITH 47 ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. R. MILLAR<br /> +<br /> +<br /><br /><br /> +LONDON<br /> +T. FISHER UNWIN<br /> +<span class="smcap">Adelphi Terrace</span><br /> +<br /> +1907<br /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='copyright'> +<i>(All rights reserved.)</i><br /></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + + + + +<div class='center'> +TO<br /> +<br /> +<big>MARGARET OSTLER</big><br /> +<br /> +WITH LOVE FROM<br /> +<br /> +<big>E. NESBIT</big><br /> +</div> + +<div class='poem'><br /><br /> +Peggy, you came from the heath and moor,<br /> +And you brought their airs through my open door;<br /> +You brought the blossom of youth to blow<br /> +In the Latin Quarter of Soho.<br /> +<br /> +For the sake of that magic I send you here<br /> +A tale of enchantments, Peggy dear,<br /> +—A bit of my work, and a bit of my heart. . .<br /> +The bit that you left when we had to part.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<i>September 25, 1907.</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Royalty Chambers, Soho, W.</span></span><br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + + +<div class='toc'> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'>THE HALL IN WHICH THE CHILDREN FOUND THEMSELVES</td><td align='center'><i><a href="#Page_4">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"LITTLE DECEIVER!" SHE SAID</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>JIMMY CAME IN HEAD FIRST</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_25"><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '24'">25</ins></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"IT'S THE ENTRANCE TO THE ENCHANTED CASTLE"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"THIS IS AN ENCHANTED GARDEN"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE RED CLUE RAN STRAIGHT ACROSS THE GRASS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE THREE STOOD BREATHLESS, AWAITING THE RESULT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"IT'S A GAME, ISN'T IT?" ASKED JIMMY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>SHE WAS WAITING FOR THEM WITH A CANDLE IN HER HAND</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>LOOKING AT HERSELF IN THE LITTLE SILVER-FRAMED MIRROR</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>BACKWARD AND FORWARD HE WENT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"YOUR SHADOW'S NOT INVISIBLE, ANYHOW"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE BREAD AND BUTTER WAVING ABOUT IN THE AIR</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"HALLOA, MISSY, AIN'T YOU BLACKED YER BACK, NEITHER!"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"YOU'RE GETTING AT ME"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>"STOW IT!" CRIED THE MAN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"WHAT'S THAT?" THE POLICEMEN ASKED QUICKLY</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"I MUST GO HOME—NOW—THIS MINUTE"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING STONE BEAST</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MEN WERE TAKING SILVER OUT OF TWO GREAT CHESTS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>JOHNSON WASHING IN HIS OWN BACKYARD</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>GERALD HALTED AT THE END OF A LITTLE LANDING-STAGE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HE STAGGERED BACK AGAINST THE WATER-BUTT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"'E'S LEP' INTO THE WATER"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>IT WAS ELIZA, DISHEVELLED, BREATHLESS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>SHE KISSED HIM WITH LITTLE QUICK, FRENCH PECKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>DOWN CAME THE LOVELIEST BLUE-BLACK HAIR</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>FULLY HALF A DOZEN OF THE CHAIRS WERE OCCUPIED</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A LIMP HAND WAS LAID ON HIS ARM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"WONDER WHAT LIES HE'S TELLING THEM"</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>IT WAS A STRANGE PROCESSION</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>A PAINTED POINTED PAPER FACE PEERED OUT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>JIMMY SHOOK THEM TO PIECES</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>TWO HATS WERE RAISED</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>KATHLEEN HANDS UP THE CLOTHES AND THE STICKS</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HE CRIED OUT ALOUD IN THAT CROWDED PLACE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>SHE SAT DOWN SUDDENLY ON THE FLOOR</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>KATHLEEN HAD HER WISH. SHE WAS A STATUE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>MABEL LAY DOWN, WAS COVERED UP, AND LEFT</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE MONSTER LIZARD SLIPPED HEAVILY INTO THE WATER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>"WHAT IS IT?" SHE ASKED, BEGINNING TO TREMBLE</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>SIDE BY SIDE THE THREE SWAM</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>IT WAS A CELESTIAL PICNIC</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_288">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE JOYS OF DIPPING ONE'S FEET IN COOL, RUNNING WATER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THEY STOOD STILL AND LOOKED AT EACH OTHER</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_319">319</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>HE BECAME EAGER, ALERT, VERY KEEN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>THE AMERICAN FIRED AGAIN</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td></tr> +</table></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> +<h2>The Enchanted Castle</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">There</span> were three of them—Jerry, Jimmy, and +Kathleen. Of course, Jerry's name was Gerald, +and not Jeremiah, whatever you may think; +and Jimmy's name was James; and Kathleen +was never called by her name at all, but Cathy, +or Catty, or Puss Cat, when her brothers were +pleased with her, and Scratch Cat when they +were not pleased. And they were at school +in a little town in the West of England—the +boys at one school, of course, and the girl +at another, because the sensible habit of having +boys and girls at the same school is not yet as +common as I hope it will be some day. They used +to see each other on Saturdays and Sundays +at the house of a kind maiden lady; but it +was one of those houses where it is impossible +to play. You know the kind of house, +don't you? There is a sort of a something +about that kind of house that makes you +hardly able even to talk to each other when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +you are left alone, and playing seems unnatural +and affected. So they looked forward +to the holidays, when they should all go home +and be together all day long, in a house where +playing was natural and conversation possible, +and where the Hampshire forests and fields were +full of interesting things to do and see. Their +Cousin Betty was to be there too, and there +were plans. Betty's school broke up before +theirs, and so she got to the Hampshire home +first, and the moment she got there she began +to have measles, so that my three couldn't go +home at all. You may imagine their feelings. +The thought of seven weeks at Miss Hervey's +was not to be borne, and all three wrote +home and said so. This astonished their parents +very much, because they had always thought it +was so nice for the children to have dear Miss +Hervey's to go to. However, they were "jolly +decent about it," as Jerry said, and after a lot +of letters and telegrams, it was arranged that +the boys should go and stay at Kathleen's +school, where there were now no girls left +and no mistresses except the French one.</div> + +<p>"It'll be better than being at Miss Hervey's," +said Kathleen, when the boys came round to +ask Mademoiselle when it would be convenient +for them to come; "and, besides, our school's not +half so ugly as yours. We do have tablecloths +on the tables and curtains at the windows, and +yours is all deal boards, and desks, and inkiness."</p> + +<p>When they had gone to pack their boxes +Kathleen made all the rooms as pretty as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +she could with flowers in jam jars, marigolds +chiefly, because there was nothing much else +in the back garden. There were geraniums in +the front garden, and calceolarias and lobelias; +of course, the children were not allowed to pick +these.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have some sort of play to +keep us going through the holidays," said +Kathleen, when tea was over, and she had +unpacked and arranged the boys' clothes in +the painted chests of drawers, feeling very +grown-up and careful as she neatly laid the +different sorts of clothes in tidy little heaps +in the drawers. "Suppose we write a book."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean me, of course," said Kathleen, +a little injured; "I meant us."</p> + +<p>"Too much fag," said Gerald briefly.</p> + +<p>"If we wrote a book," Kathleen persisted, +"about what the insides of schools really <i>are</i> +like, people would read it and say how clever +we were."</p> + +<p>"More likely expel us," said Gerald. "No; +we'll have an out-of-doors game—bandits, or +something like that. It wouldn't be bad if we +could get a cave and keep stores in it, and have +our meals there."</p> + +<p>"There aren't any caves," said Jimmy, who +was fond of contradicting every one. "And, +besides, your precious Mamselle won't let us +go out alone, as likely as not."</p> + +<p>"Oh, we'll see about that," said Gerald. "I'll +go and talk to her like a father."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Like that?" Kathleen pointed the thumb +of scorn at him, and he looked in the glass.</p> + +<p>"To brush his hair and his clothes and to +wash his face and hands was to our hero but +the work of a moment," said Gerald, and went +to suit the action to the word.</p> + +<p>It was a very sleek boy, brown and thin +and interesting-looking, that knocked at the +door of the parlour where Mademoiselle sat +reading a yellow-covered book and wishing +vain wishes. Gerald could always make himself +look interesting at a moment's notice, a +very useful accomplishment in dealing with +strange grown-ups. It was done by opening +his grey eyes rather wide, allowing the corners +of his mouth to droop, and assuming a gentle, +pleading expression, resembling that of the +late little Lord Fauntleroy—who must, by the +way, be quite old now, and an awful prig.</p> + +<p>"Entrez!" said Mademoiselle, in shrill French +accents. So he entered.</p> + +<p>"Eh bien?" she said rather impatiently.</p> + +<p>"I hope I am not disturbing you," said Gerald, +in whose mouth, it seemed, butter would not +have melted.</p> + +<p>"But no," she said, somewhat softened. +"What is it that you desire?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I ought to come and say how do +you do," said Gerald, "because of you being the +lady of the house."</p> + +<p>He held out the newly-washed hand, still +damp and red. She took it.</p> + +<p>"You are a very polite little boy," she said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Gerald, more polite than +ever. "I am so sorry for you. It must be +dreadful to have us to look after in the +holidays."</p> + +<p>"But not at all," said Mademoiselle in her +turn. "I am sure you will be very good +childrens."</p> + +<p>Gerald's look assured her that he and the +others would be as near angels as children +could be without ceasing to be human.</p> + +<p>"We'll try," he said earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Can one do anything for you?" asked the +French governess kindly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, thank you," said Gerald. "We don't +want to give you any trouble at all. And I was +thinking it would be less trouble for you if we +were to go out into the woods all day to-morrow +and take our dinner with us—something cold, +you know—so as not to be a trouble to the +cook."</p> + +<p>"You are very considerate," said Mademoiselle +coldly. Then Gerald's eyes smiled; they had +a trick of doing this when his lips were quite +serious. Mademoiselle caught the twinkle, and +she laughed and Gerald laughed too.</p> + +<p>"Little deceiver!" she said. "Why not say at +once you want to be free of <i>surveillance</i>, how +you say—overwatching—without pretending it +is me you wish to please?"</p> + +<p>"You have to be careful with grown-ups," +said Gerald, "but it isn't all pretence either. +We <i>don't</i> want to trouble you—and we don't +want you to——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 329px;"> +<img src="images/gs02.png" width="329" height="400" alt=""LITTLE DECEIVER!" SHE SAID." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"LITTLE DECEIVER!" SHE SAID.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To trouble you. Eh bien! Your parents, +they permit these days at woods?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Gerald truthfully.</p> + +<p>"Then I will not be more a dragon than the +parents. I will forewarn the cook. Are you +content?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" said Gerald. "Mademoiselle, you +are a dear."</p> + +<p>"A deer?" she repeated—"a stag?"</p> + +<p>"No, a—a <i>chérie</i>," said Gerald—"a regular +A1 <i>chérie</i>. And you shan't repent it. Is there +anything we can do for you—wind your wool, +or find your spectacles, or——?"</p> + +<p>"He thinks me a grandmother!" said Mademoiselle, +laughing more than ever. "Go then, +and be not more naughty than you must."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"Well, what luck?" the others asked.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Gerald indifferently. "I +told you it would be. The ingenuous youth +won the regard of the foreign governess, who +in her youth had been the beauty of her humble +village."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe she ever was. She's too +stern," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Gerald, "that's only because you +don't know how to manage her. She wasn't +stern with <i>me</i>."</p> + +<p>"I say, what a humbug you are though, +aren't you?" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"No, I'm a dip—what's-its-name? Something +like an ambassador. Dipsoplomatist—that's +what I am. Anyhow, we've got our day, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +if we don't find a cave in it my name's not +Jack Robinson."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle, less stern than Kathleen had +ever seen her, presided at supper, which was +bread and treacle spread several hours before, +and now harder and drier than any other food +you can think of. Gerald was very polite in +handing her butter and cheese, and pressing +her to taste the bread and treacle.</p> + +<p>"Bah! it is like sand in the mouth—of a dryness! +Is it possible this pleases you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Gerald, "it is not possible, but it +is not polite for boys to make remarks about +their food!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, but there was no more dried +bread and treacle for supper after that.</p> + +<p>"How <i>do</i> you do it?" Kathleen whispered +admiringly as they said good-night.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's quite easy when you've once got a +grown-up to see what you're after. You'll see, +I shall drive her with a rein of darning cotton +after this."</p> + +<p>Next morning Gerald got up early and +gathered a little bunch of pink carnations from +a plant which he found hidden among the +marigolds. He tied it up with black cotton +and laid it on Mademoiselle's plate. She smiled +and looked quite handsome as she stuck the +flowers in her belt.</p> + +<p>"Do you think it's quite decent," Jimmy +asked later—"sort of bribing people to let you +do as you like with flowers and things and +passing them the salt?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's not that," said Kathleen suddenly. "<i>I</i> +know what Gerald means, only I never think +of the things in time myself. You see, if you +want grown-ups to be nice to you the least +you can do is to be nice to them and think of +little things to please them. I never think of +any myself. Jerry does; that's why all the old +ladies like him. It's not bribery. It's a sort of +honesty—like paying for things."</p> + +<p>"Well, anyway," said Jimmy, putting away +the moral question, "we've got a ripping day +for the woods."</p> + +<p>They had.</p> + +<p>The wide High Street, even at the busy +morning hour almost as quiet as a dream-street, +lay bathed in sunshine; the leaves shone +fresh from last night's rain, but the road was +dry, and in the sunshine the very dust of it +sparkled like diamonds. The beautiful old +houses, standing stout and strong, looked as +though they were basking in the sunshine and +enjoying it.</p> + +<p>"But <i>are</i> there any woods?" asked Kathleen +as they passed the market-place.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't much matter about woods," said +Gerald dreamily, "we're sure to find <i>something</i>. +One of the chaps told me his father said when +he was a boy there used to be a little cave +under the bank in a lane near the Salisbury +Road; but he said there was an enchanted +castle there too, so perhaps the cave isn't true +either."</p> + +<p>"If we were to get horns," said Kathleen,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +"and to blow them very hard all the way, we +might find a magic castle."</p> + +<p>"If you've got the money to throw away on +horns ..." said Jimmy contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have, as it happens, so there!" said +Kathleen. And the horns were bought in a +tiny shop with a bulging window full of a +tangle of toys and sweets and cucumbers and +sour apples.</p> + +<p>And the quiet square at the end of the town +where the church is, and the houses of the most +respectable people, echoed to the sound of horns +blown long and loud. But none of the houses +turned into enchanted castles.</p> + +<p>So they went along the Salisbury Road, +which was very hot and dusty, so they agreed +to drink one of the bottles of gingerbeer.</p> + +<p>"We might as well carry the gingerbeer +inside us as inside the bottle," said Jimmy, "and +we can hide the bottle and call for it as we come +back."</p> + +<p>Presently they came to a place where the +road, as Gerald said, went two ways at once.</p> + +<p>"<i>That</i> looks like adventures," said Kathleen; +and they took the right-hand road, and the next +time they took a turning it was a left-hand one, +so as to be quite fair, Jimmy said, and then +a right-hand one and then a left, and so on, till +they were completely lost.</p> + +<p>"<i>Com</i>pletely," said Kathleen; "how jolly!"</p> + +<p>And now trees arched overhead, and the +banks of the road were high and bushy. The +adventurers had long since ceased to blow their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +horns. It was too tiring to go on doing that, +when there was no one to be annoyed by it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, kriky!" observed Jimmy suddenly, "let's +sit down a bit and have some of our dinner. +We might call it lunch, you know," he added +persuasively.</p> + +<p>So they sat down in the hedge and ate the +ripe red gooseberries that were to have been +their dessert.</p> + +<p>And as they sat and rested and wished that +their boots did not feel so full of feet, Gerald +leaned back against the bushes, and the bushes +gave way so that he almost fell over backward. +Something had yielded to the pressure of his +back, and there was the sound of something +heavy that fell.</p> + +<p>"O Jimminy!" he remarked, recovering himself +suddenly; "there's something hollow in +there—the stone I was leaning against simply +<i>went!</i>"</p> + +<p>"I wish it was a cave," said Jimmy; "but of +course it isn't."</p> + +<p>"If we blow the horns perhaps it will be," +said Kathleen, and hastily blew her own.</p> + +<p>Gerald reached his hand through the bushes. +"I can't feel anything but air," he said; "it's +just a hole full of emptiness." The other two +pulled back the bushes. There certainly was +a hole in the bank. "I'm going to go in," +observed Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" said his sister. "I wish you +wouldn't. Suppose there were snakes!"</p> + +<p>"Not likely," said Gerald, but he leaned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +forward and struck a match. "It <i>is</i> a cave!" +he cried, and put his knee on the mossy stone +he had been sitting on, scrambled over it, and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>A breathless pause followed.</p> + +<p>"You all right?" asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Yes; come on. You'd better come feet first—there's +a bit of a drop."</p> + +<p>"I'll go next," said Kathleen, and went—feet +first, as advised. The feet waved wildly in the +air.</p> + +<p>"Look out!" said Gerald in the dark; "you'll +have my eye out. Put your feet <i>down</i>, girl, +not up. It's no use trying to fly here—there's +no room."</p> + +<p>He helped her by pulling her feet forcibly +down and then lifting her under the arms. +She felt rustling dry leaves under her boots, +and stood ready to receive Jimmy, who came +in head first, like one diving into an unknown +sea.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> a cave," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"The young explorers," explained Gerald, +blocking up the hole of entrance with his +shoulders, "dazzled at first by the darkness of +the cave, could see nothing."</p> + +<p>"Darkness doesn't dazzle," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I wish we'd got a candle," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it does," Gerald contradicted—"could +see nothing. But their dauntless leader, whose +eyes had grown used to the dark while the +clumsy forms of the others were bunging up +the entrance, had made a discovery."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 267px;"> +<img src="images/gs03.png" width="267" height="450" alt="JIMMY CAME IN HEAD FIRST, LIKE ONE DIVING INTO AN UNKNOWN SEA." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JIMMY CAME IN HEAD FIRST, LIKE ONE DIVING INTO AN UNKNOWN SEA.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, what!" Both the others were used to +Gerald's way of telling a story while he acted +it, but they did sometimes wish that he didn't +talk quite so long and so like a book in +moments of excitement.</p> + +<p>"He did not reveal the dread secret to his +faithful followers till one and all had given him +their word of honour to be calm."</p> + +<p>"We'll be calm all right," said Jimmy impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Gerald, ceasing suddenly to +be a book and becoming a boy, "there's a light +over there—look behind you!"</p> + +<p>They looked. And there was. A faint greyness +on the brown walls of the cave, and a +brighter greyness cut off sharply by a dark line, +showed that round a turning or angle of the +cave there was daylight.</p> + +<p>"Attention!" said Gerald; at least, that was +what he meant, though what he said was +"'Shun!" as becomes the son of a soldier. +The others mechanically obeyed.</p> + +<p>"You will remain at attention till I give the +word 'Slow march!' on which you will advance +cautiously in open order, following your hero +leader, taking care not to tread on the dead +and wounded."</p> + +<p>"I wish you wouldn't!" said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"There aren't any," said Jimmy, feeling for +her hand in the dark; "he only means, take +care not to tumble over stones and things."</p> + +<p>Here he found her hand, and she screamed.</p> + +<p>"It's only me," said Jimmy. "I thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +you'd like me to hold it. But you're just like +a girl."</p> + +<p>Their eyes had now begun to get accustomed +to the darkness, and all could see that they +were in a rough stone cave, that went straight +on for about three or four yards and then +turned sharply to the right.</p> + +<p>"Death or victory!" remarked Gerald. "Now, +then—Slow march!"</p> + +<p>He advanced carefully, picking his way among +the loose earth and stones that were the floor +of the cave. "A sail, a sail!" he cried, as he +turned the corner.</p> + +<p>"How splendid!" Kathleen drew a long +breath as she came out into the sunshine.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any sail," said Jimmy, following.</p> + +<p>The narrow passage ended in a round arch +all fringed with ferns and creepers. They +passed through the arch into a deep, narrow +gully whose banks were of stones, moss-covered; +and in the crannies grew more ferns +and long grasses. Trees growing on the top +of the bank arched across, and the sunlight +came through in changing patches of brightness, +turning the gully to a roofed corridor of +goldy-green. The path, which was of greeny-grey +flagstones where heaps of leaves had +drifted, sloped steeply down, and at the end +of it was another round arch, quite dark inside, +above which rose rocks and grass and +bushes.</p> + +<p>"It's like the outside of a railway tunnel," +said James.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's the entrance to the enchanted castle," +said Kathleen. "Let's blow the horns."</p> + +<p>"Dry up!" said Gerald. "The bold Captain, +reproving the silly chatter of his subordinates——"</p> + +<p>"I like that!" said Jimmy, indignant.</p> + +<p>"I thought you would," resumed Gerald—"of +his subordinates, bade them advance with caution +and in silence, because after all there might be +somebody about, and the other arch might be an +ice-house or something dangerous."</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Kathleen anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Bears, perhaps," said Gerald briefly.</p> + +<p>"There aren't any bears without bars—in +England, anyway," said Jimmy. "They call +bears bars in America," he added absently.</p> + +<p>"Quick march!" was Gerald's only reply.</p> + +<p>And they marched. Under the drifted damp +leaves the path was firm and stony to their +shuffling feet. At the dark arch they stopped.</p> + +<p>"There are steps down," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> an ice-house," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Don't let's," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Our hero," said Gerald, "who nothing could +dismay, raised the faltering hopes of his abject +minions by saying that he was jolly well +going on, and they could do as they liked +about it."</p> + +<p>"If you call names," said Jimmy, "you can go +on by yourself." He added, "So there!"</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 324px;"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a> +<img src="images/gs04.png" width="324" height="600" alt=""IT'S THE ENTRANCE TO THE ENCHANTED CASTLE," SAID KATHLEEN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"IT'S THE ENTRANCE TO THE ENCHANTED CASTLE," SAID KATHLEEN.</span> +</div> + +<p>"It's part of the game, silly," explained Gerald +kindly. "You can be Captain to-morrow, so +you'd better hold your jaw now, and begin to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +think about what names you'll call us when it's +your turn."</p> + +<p>Very slowly and carefully they went down the +steps. A vaulted stone arched over their heads. +Gerald struck a match when the last step was +found to have no edge, and to be, in fact, the +beginning of a passage, turning to the left.</p> + +<p>"This," said Jimmy, "will take us back into +the road."</p> + +<p>"Or under it," said Gerald. "We've come +down eleven steps."</p> + +<p>They went on, following their leader, who +went very slowly for fear, as he explained, of +steps. The passage was very dark.</p> + +<p>"I don't half like it!" whispered Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Then came a glimmer of daylight that grew +and grew, and presently ended in another arch +that looked out over a scene so like a picture +out of a book about Italy that every one's +breath was taken away, and they simply +walked forward silent and staring. A short +avenue of cypresses led, widening as it went, +to a marble terrace that lay broad and white +in the sunlight. The children, blinking, leaned +their arms on the broad, flat balustrade and +gazed. Immediately below them was a lake—just +like a lake in "The Beauties of Italy"—a +lake with swans and an island and weeping +willows; beyond it were green slopes dotted +with groves of trees, and amid the trees +gleamed the white limbs of statues. Against a +little hill to the left was a round white building +with pillars, and to the right a waterfall came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +tumbling down among mossy stones to splash +into the lake. Steps led from the terrace to +the water, and other steps to the green lawns +beside it. Away across the grassy slopes deer +were feeding, and in the distance where the +groves of trees thickened into what looked +almost a forest were enormous shapes of grey +stone, like nothing that the children had ever +seen before.</p> + +<p>"That chap at school——" said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> an enchanted castle," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I don't see any castle," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"What do you call that, then?" Gerald +pointed to where, beyond a belt of lime-trees, +white towers and turrets broke the blue of +the sky.</p> + +<p>"There doesn't seem to be any one about," +said Kathleen, "and yet it's all so tidy. I +believe it is magic."</p> + +<p>"Magic mowing machines," Jimmy suggested.</p> + +<p>"If we were in a book it would be an +enchanted castle—certain to be," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> an enchanted castle," said Gerald in +hollow tones.</p> + +<p>"But there aren't any." Jimmy was quite +positive.</p> + +<p>"How do you know? Do you think there's +nothing in the world but what <i>you've</i> seen?" +His scorn was crushing.</p> + +<p>"I think magic went out when people began +to have steam-engines," Jimmy insisted, "and +newspapers, and telephones and wireless telegraphing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wireless is rather like magic when you come +to think of it," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>that</i> sort!" Jimmy's contempt was +deep.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps there's given up being magic +because people didn't believe in it any more," +said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't let's spoil the show with any +silly old not believing," said Gerald with +decision. "I'm going to believe in magic as +hard as I can. This is an enchanted garden, +and that's an enchanted castle, and I'm jolly +well going to explore. The dauntless knight +then led the way, leaving his ignorant squires +to follow or not, just as they jolly well chose." +He rolled off the balustrade and strode firmly +down towards the lawn, his boots making, as +they went, a clatter full of determination.</p> + +<p>The others followed. There never was such +a garden—out of a picture or a fairy tale. +They passed quite close by the deer, who only +raised their pretty heads to look, and did not +seem startled at all. And after a long stretch +of turf they passed under the heaped-up heavy +masses of lime-trees and came into a rose-garden, +bordered with thick, close-cut yew +hedges, and lying red and pink and green and +white in the sun, like a giant's many-coloured, +highly-scented pocket-handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"I know we shall meet a gardener in a +minute, and he'll ask what we're doing here. +And then what will you say?" Kathleen asked +with her nose in a rose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 421px;"> +<img src="images/gs05.png" width="421" height="450" alt=""THIS IS AN ENCHANTED GARDEN AND THAT'S AN ENCHANTED CASTLE."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"THIS IS AN ENCHANTED GARDEN AND THAT'S AN ENCHANTED CASTLE."</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I shall say we've lost our way, and it will +be quite true," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>But they did not meet a gardener or anybody +else, and the feeling of magic got thicker and +thicker, till they were almost afraid of the +sound of their feet in the great silent place. +Beyond the rose garden was a yew hedge with +an arch cut in it, and it was the beginning of +a maze like the one in Hampton Court.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Gerald, "you mark my words. +In the middle of this maze we shall find the +secret enchantment. Draw your swords, my +merry men all, and hark forward tallyho in +the utmost silence."</p> + +<p>Which they did.</p> + +<p>It was very hot in the maze, between the +close yew hedges, and the way to the maze's +heart was hidden well. Again and again they +found themselves at the black yew arch that +opened on the rose garden, and they were all +glad that they had brought large, clean pocket-handkerchiefs +with them.</p> + +<p>It was when they found themselves there for +the fourth time that Jimmy suddenly cried, +"Oh, I wish——" and then stopped short very +suddenly. "Oh!" he added in quite a different +voice, "where's the dinner?" And then in a +stricken silence they all remembered that the +basket with the dinner had been left at the +entrance of the cave. Their thoughts dwelt +fondly on the slices of cold mutton, the six +tomatoes, the bread and butter, the screwed-up +paper of salt, the apple turnovers, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +little thick glass that one drank the gingerbeer +out of.</p> + +<p>"Let's go back," said Jimmy, "now this +minute, and get our things and have our +dinner."</p> + +<p>"Let's have one more try at the maze. I hate +giving things up," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> so hungry!" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you say so before?" asked +Gerald bitterly.</p> + +<p>"I wasn't before."</p> + +<p>"Then you can't be now. You don't get +hungry all in a minute. What's that?"</p> + +<p>"That" was a gleam of red that lay at the +foot of the yew hedge—a thin little line, that +you would hardly have noticed unless you had +been staring in a fixed and angry way at the +roots of the hedge.</p> + +<p>It was a thread of cotton. Gerald picked it +up. One end of it was tied to a thimble with +holes in it, and the other——</p> + +<p>"There <i>is</i> no other end," said Gerald, with +firm triumph. "It's a clue—that's what it is. +What price cold mutton now? I've always +felt something magic would happen some day, +and now it has."</p> + +<p>"I expect the gardener put it there," said +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"With a Princess's silver thimble on it? +Look! there's a crown on the thimble."</p> + +<p>There was.</p> + +<p>"Come," said Gerald in low, urgent tones, +"if you are adventurers <i>be</i> adventurers; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +anyhow, I expect some one has gone along the +road and bagged the mutton hours ago."</p> + +<p>He walked forward, winding the red thread +round his fingers as he went. And it <i>was</i> a +clue, and it led them right into the middle +of the maze. And in the very middle of the +maze they came upon the wonder.</p> + +<p>The red clue led them up two stone steps to a +round grass plot. There was a sun-dial in the +middle, and all round against the yew hedge +a low, wide marble seat. The red clue ran +straight across the grass and by the sun-dial, +and ended in a small brown hand with jewelled +rings on every finger. The hand was, naturally, +attached to an arm, and that had many bracelets +on it, sparkling with red and blue and green +stones. The arm wore a sleeve of pink and gold +brocaded silk, faded a little here and there but +still extremely imposing, and the sleeve was +part of a dress, which was worn by a lady who +lay on the stone seat asleep in the sun. The +rosy gold dress fell open over an embroidered +petticoat of a soft green colour. There was old +yellow lace the colour of scalded cream, and +a thin white veil spangled with silver stars +covered the face.</p> + +<p>"It's the enchanted Princess," said Gerald, +now really impressed. "I told you so."</p> + +<p>"It's the Sleeping Beauty," said Kathleen. +"It is—look how old-fashioned her clothes are, +like the pictures of Marie Antoinette's ladies in +the history book. She has slept for a hundred +years. Oh, Gerald, you're the eldest; you must +be the Prince, and we never knew it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs06.png" width="500" height="326" alt="THE RED CLUE RAN STRAIGHT ACROSS THE GRASS AND BY THE SUN-DIAL, AND ENDED IN A SMALL BROWN HAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE RED CLUE RAN STRAIGHT ACROSS THE GRASS AND BY THE SUN-DIAL, AND ENDED IN A SMALL BROWN HAND.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She isn't really a Princess," said Jimmy. +But the others laughed at him, partly because +his saying things like that was enough to spoil +any game, and partly because they really were +not at all sure that it was not a Princess who +lay there as still as the sunshine. Every stage +of the adventure—the cave, the wonderful +gardens, the maze, the clue, had deepened the +feeling of magic, till now Kathleen and Gerald +were almost completely bewitched.</p> + +<p>"Lift the veil up, Jerry," said Kathleen in a +whisper; "if she isn't beautiful we shall know +she can't be the Princess."</p> + +<p>"Lift it yourself," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"I expect you're forbidden to touch the +figures," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It's not wax, silly," said his brother.</p> + +<p>"No," said his sister, "wax wouldn't be much +good in this sun. And, besides, you can see her +breathing. It's the Princess right enough." She +very gently lifted the edge of the veil and +turned it back. The Princess's face was small +and white between long plaits of black hair. +Her nose was straight and her brows finely +traced. There were a few freckles on cheek-bones +and nose.</p> + +<p>"No wonder," whispered Kathleen, "sleeping +all these years in all this sun!" Her mouth +was not a rosebud. But all the same—</p> + +<p>"Isn't she lovely!" Kathleen murmured.</p> + +<p>"Not so dusty," Gerald was understood to reply.</p> + +<p>"Now, Jerry," said Kathleen firmly, "you're +the eldest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course I am," said Gerald uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Well, you've got to wake the Princess."</p> + +<p>"She's not a Princess," said Jimmy, with his +hands in the pockets of his knickerbockers; +"she's only a little girl dressed up."</p> + +<p>"But she's in long dresses," urged Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but look what a little way down her +frock her feet come. She wouldn't be any taller +than Jerry if she was to stand up."</p> + +<p>"Now then," urged Kathleen. "Jerry, don't +be silly. You've got to do it."</p> + +<p>"Do what?" asked Gerald, kicking his left boot +with his right.</p> + +<p>"Why, kiss her awake, of course."</p> + +<p>"Not me!" was Gerald's unhesitating rejoinder.</p> + +<p>"Well, some one's got to."</p> + +<p>"She'd go for me as likely as not the minute +she woke up," said Gerald anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I'd do it like a shot," said Kathleen, "but I +don't suppose it ud make any difference me +kissing her."</p> + +<p>She did it; and it didn't. The Princess still +lay in deep slumber.</p> + +<p>"Then you must, Jimmy. I daresay you'll +do. Jump back quickly before she can hit you."</p> + +<p>"She won't hit him, he's such a little chap," +said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Little yourself!" said Jimmy. "<i>I</i> don't mind +kissing her. I'm not a coward, like Some People. +Only if I do, I'm going to be the dauntless leader +for the rest of the day."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a> +<img src="images/gs07.png" width="467" height="400" alt="THE THREE STOOD BREATHLESS, AWAITING THE RESULT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE THREE STOOD BREATHLESS, AWAITING THE RESULT.</span> +</div> + +<p>"No, look here—hold on!" cried Gerald,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +"perhaps I'd better——" But, in the meantime, +Jimmy had planted a loud, cheerful-sounding +kiss on the Princess's pale cheek, and now the +three stood breathless, awaiting the result.</p> + +<p>And the result was that the Princess opened +large, dark eyes, stretched out her arms, yawned +a little, covering her mouth with a small brown +hand, and said, quite plainly and distinctly, and +without any room at all for mistake:—</p> + +<p>"Then the hundred years are over? How the +yew hedges have grown! Which of you is my +Prince that aroused me from my deep sleep of so +many long years?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said Jimmy fearlessly, for she did not +look as though she were going to slap any one.</p> + +<p>"My noble preserver!" said the Princess, and +held out her hand. Jimmy shook it vigorously.</p> + +<p>"But I say," said he, "you aren't really a +Princess, are you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I am," she answered; "who else +could I be? Look at my crown!" She pulled +aside the spangled veil, and showed beneath it +a coronet of what even Jimmy could not help +seeing to be diamonds.</p> + +<p>"But——" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Why," she said, opening her eyes very wide, +"you must have known about my being here, or +you'd never have come. How <i>did</i> you get past +the dragons?"</p> + +<p>Gerald ignored the question. "I say," he said, +"do you really believe in magic, and all that?"</p> + +<p>"I ought to," she said, "if anybody does. +Look, here's the place where I pricked my finger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +with the spindle." She showed a little scar on +her wrist.</p> + +<p>"Then this really <i>is</i> an enchanted castle?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it is," said the Princess. "How +stupid you are!" She stood up, and her pink +brocaded dress lay in bright waves about her +feet.</p> + +<p>"I said her dress would be too long," said +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It was the right length when I went to +sleep," said the Princess; "it must have grown +in the hundred years."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you're a Princess at all," said +Jimmy; "at least——"</p> + +<p>"Don't bother about believing it, if you don't +like," said the Princess. "It doesn't so much +matter what you believe as what I am." She +turned to the others.</p> + +<p>"Let's go back to the castle," she said, "and +I'll show you all my lovely jewels and things. +Wouldn't you like that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Gerald with very plain hesitation. +"But——"</p> + +<p>"But what?" The Princess's tone was impatient.</p> + +<p>"But we're most awfully hungry."</p> + +<p>"Oh, so am I!" cried the Princess.</p> + +<p>"We've had nothing to eat since breakfast."</p> + +<p>"And it's three now," said the Princess, +looking at the sun-dial. "Why, you've had +nothing to eat for hours and hours and hours. +But think of me! I haven't had anything to eat +for a hundred years. Come along to the castle."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The mice will have eaten everything," said +Jimmy sadly. He saw now that she really <i>was</i> +a Princess.</p> + +<p>"Not they," cried the Princess joyously. +"You forget everything's enchanted here. +Time simply stood still for a hundred years. +Come along, and one of you must carry my +train, or I shan't be able to move now it's grown +such a frightful length."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">When</span> you are young so many things are +difficult to believe, and yet the dullest people +will tell you that they are true—such things, +for instance, as that the earth goes round +the sun, and that it is not flat but round. +But the things that seem really likely, like +fairy-tales and magic, are, so say the grown-ups, +not true at all. Yet they are so easy +to believe, especially when you see them +happening. And, as I am always telling you, +the most wonderful things happen to all sorts +of people, only you never hear about them +because the people think that no one will +believe their stories, and so they don't tell +them to any one except me. And they tell +me, because they know that I can believe +anything.</div> + +<p>When Jimmy had awakened the Sleeping +Princess, and she had invited the three children +to go with her to her palace and get something +to eat, they all knew quite surely that they +had come into a place of magic happenings. +And they walked in a slow procession along +the grass towards the castle. The Princess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +went first, and Kathleen carried her shining +train; then came Jimmy, and Gerald came +last. They were all quite sure that they had +walked right into the middle of a fairy tale, +and they were the more ready to believe +it because they were so tired and hungry. +They were, in fact, so hungry and tired that +they hardly noticed where they were going, +or observed the beauties of the formal gardens +through which the pink-silk Princess was leading +them. They were in a sort of dream, +from which they only partially awakened to +find themselves in a big hall, with suits of +armour and old flags round the walls, the +skins of beasts on the floor, and heavy oak +tables and benches ranged along it.</p> + +<p>The Princess entered, slow and stately, but +once inside she twitched her sheeny train out +of Jimmy's hand and turned to the three.</p> + +<p>"You just wait here a minute," she said, +"and mind you don't talk while I'm away. +This castle is crammed with magic, and I +don't know what will happen if you talk." +And with that, picking up the thick goldy-pink +folds under her arms, she ran out, as +Jimmy said afterwards, "most unprincesslike," +showing as she ran black stockings and black +strap shoes.</p> + +<p>Jimmy wanted very much to say that he +didn't believe anything would happen, only he +was afraid something would happen if he did, +so he merely made a face and put out his +tongue. The others pretended not to see this,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +which was much more crushing than anything +they could have said. So they sat in silence, +and Gerald ground the heel of his boot upon +the marble floor. Then the Princess came back, +very slowly and kicking her long skirts in front +of her at every step. She could not hold them +up now because of the tray she carried.</p> + +<p>It was not a silver tray, as you might have +expected, but an oblong tin one. She set it +down noisily on the end of the long table and +breathed a sigh of relief.</p> + +<p>"Oh! it <i>was</i> heavy," she said. I don't know +what fairy feast the children's fancy had been +busy with. Anyhow, this was nothing like it. +The heavy tray held a loaf of bread, a lump of +cheese, and a brown jug of water. The rest of +its heaviness was just plates and mugs and +knives.</p> + +<p>"Come along," said the Princess hospitably. +"I couldn't find anything but bread and cheese—but +it doesn't matter, because everything's +magic here, and unless you have some dreadful +secret fault the bread and cheese will turn into +anything you like. What <i>would</i> you like?" she +asked Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Roast chicken," said Kathleen, without hesitation.</p> + +<p>The pinky Princess cut a slice of bread and +laid it on a dish. "There you are," she said, +"roast chicken. Shall I carve it, or will +you?"</p> + +<p>"You, please," said Kathleen, and received +a piece of dry bread on a plate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Green peas?" asked the Princess, cut a +piece of cheese and laid it beside the bread.</p> + +<p>Kathleen began to eat the bread, cutting it +up with knife and fork as you would eat +chicken. It was no use owning that she didn't +see any chicken and peas, or anything but cheese +and dry bread, because that would be owning +that she had some dreadful secret fault.</p> + +<p>"If I have, it <i>is</i> a secret, even from me," she +told herself.</p> + +<p>The others asked for roast beef and cabbage—and +got it, she supposed, though to her it only +looked like dry bread and Dutch cheese.</p> + +<p>"I <i>do</i> wonder what my dreadful secret fault +is," she thought, as the Princess remarked that, +as for her, she could fancy a slice of roast +peacock. "This one," she added, lifting a +second mouthful of dry bread on her fork, "is +quite delicious."</p> + +<p>"It's a game, isn't it?" asked Jimmy suddenly.</p> + +<p>"What's a game?" asked the Princess, frowning.</p> + +<p>"Pretending it's beef—the bread and cheese, +I mean."</p> + +<p>"A game? But it <i>is</i> beef. Look at it," +said the Princess, opening her eyes very wide.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course," said Jimmy feebly. "I was +only joking."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a> +<img src="images/gs08.png" width="450" height="337" alt=""IT'S A GAME, ISN'T IT?" ASKED JIMMY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"IT'S A GAME, ISN'T IT?" ASKED JIMMY.</span> +</div> + +<p>Bread and cheese is not perhaps so good as +roast beef or chicken or peacock (I'm not sure +about the peacock. I never tasted peacock, +did you?); but bread and cheese is, at any rate,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +very much better than nothing when you have +gone on having nothing since breakfast (gooseberries +and gingerbeer hardly count) and it is +long past your proper dinner-time. Every one +ate and drank and felt much better.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the Princess, brushing the breadcrumbs +off her green silk lap, "if you're sure +you won't have any more meat you can come +and see my treasures. Sure you won't take +the least bit more chicken? No? Then follow +me."</p> + +<p>She got up and they followed her down the +long hall to the end where the great stone +stairs ran up at each side and joined in a broad +flight leading to the gallery above. Under the +stairs was a hanging of tapestry.</p> + +<p>"Beneath this arras," said the Princess, "is +the door leading to my private apartments." +She held the tapestry up with both hands, for +it was heavy, and showed a little door that +had been hidden by it.</p> + +<p>"The key," she said, "hangs above."</p> + +<p>And so it did, on a large rusty nail.</p> + +<p>"Put it in," said the Princess, "and turn it."</p> + +<p>Gerald did so, and the great key creaked and +grated in the lock.</p> + +<p>"Now push," she said; "push hard, all of +you."</p> + +<p>They pushed hard, all of them. The door +gave way, and they fell over each other into +the dark space beyond.</p> + +<p>The Princess dropped the curtain and came +after them, closing the door behind her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look out!" she said; "look out! there are +two steps down."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Gerald, rubbing his knee +at the bottom of the steps. "We found that +out for ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," said the Princess, "but you can't +have hurt yourselves much. Go straight on. +There aren't any more steps."</p> + +<p>They went straight on—in the dark.</p> + +<p>"When you come to the door just turn the +handle and go in. Then stand still till I find +the matches. I know where they are."</p> + +<p>"Did they have matches a hundred years +ago?" asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I meant the tinder-box," said the Princess +quickly. "We always called it the matches. +Don't you? Here, let me go first."</p> + +<p>She did, and when they had reached the door +she was waiting for them with a candle in her +hand. She thrust it on Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Hold it steady," she said, and undid the +shutters of a long window, so that first a +yellow streak and then a blazing great oblong +of light flashed at them and the room was full +of sunshine.</p> + +<p>"It makes the candle look quite silly," said +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"So it does," said the Princess, and blew out +the candle. Then she took the key from the +outside of the door, put it in the inside key-hole, +and turned it.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 379px;"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> +<img src="images/gs09.png" width="379" height="500" alt="SHE WAS WAITING FOR THEM WITH A CANDLE IN HER HAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SHE WAS WAITING FOR THEM WITH A CANDLE IN HER HAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>The room they were in was small and high. +Its domed ceiling was of deep blue with gold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +stars painted on it. The walls were of wood, +panelled and carved, and there was no furniture +in it whatever.</p> + +<p>"This," said the Princess, "is my treasure +chamber."</p> + +<p>"But where," asked Kathleen politely, "<i>are</i> +the treasures?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see them?" asked the Princess.</p> + +<p>"No, we don't," said Jimmy bluntly. "You +don't come that bread-and-cheese game with +me—not twice over, you don't!"</p> + +<p>"If you <i>really</i> don't see them," said the +Princess, "I suppose I shall have to say the +charm. Shut your eyes, please. And give me +your word of honour you won't look till I tell +you, and that you'll never tell any one what +you've seen."</p> + +<p>Their words of honour were something that +the children would rather not have given just +then, but they gave them all the same, and +shut their eyes tight.</p> + +<p>"Wiggadil yougadoo begadee leegadeeve +nowgadow?" said the Princess rapidly; and +they heard the swish of her silk train moving +across the room. Then there was a creaking, +rustling noise.</p> + +<p>"She's locking us in!" cried Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Your word of honour," gasped Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do be quick!" moaned Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"You may look," said the voice of the +Princess. And they looked. The room was +not the same room, yet—yes, the starry-vaulted +blue ceiling was there, and below it half a dozen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +feet of the dark panelling, but below that the +walls of the room blazed and sparkled with +white and blue and red and green and gold and +silver. Shelves ran round the room, and on them +were gold cups and silver dishes, and platters +and goblets set with gems, ornaments of gold +and silver, tiaras of diamonds, necklaces of +rubies, strings of emeralds and pearls, all set +out in unimaginable splendour against a background +of faded blue velvet. It was like the +Crown jewels that you see when your kind uncle +takes you to the Tower, only there seemed to +be far more jewels than you or any one else has +ever seen together at the Tower or anywhere else.</p> + +<p>The three children remained breathless, open-mouthed, +staring at the sparkling splendours all +about them, while the Princess stood, her arm +stretched out in a gesture of command, and +a proud smile on her lips.</p> + +<p>"My word!" said Gerald, in a low whisper. +But no one spoke out loud. They waited as if +spellbound for the Princess to speak.</p> + +<p>She spoke.</p> + +<p>"What price bread-and-cheese games now?" +she asked triumphantly. "Can I do magic, or +can't I?"</p> + +<p>"You can; oh, you can!" said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"May we—may we <i>touch?</i>" asked Gerald.</p> + +<p>"All that is mine is yours," said the Princess, +with a generous wave of her brown hand, and +added quickly, "Only, of course, you mustn't take +anything away with you."</p> + +<p>"We're not thieves!" said Jimmy. The others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +were already busy turning over the wonderful +things on the blue velvet shelves.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said the Princess, "but you're +a very unbelieving little boy. You think I can't +see inside you, but I can. <i>I</i> know what you've +been thinking."</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you know well enough," said the Princess. +"You're thinking about the bread and cheese +that I changed into beef, and about your secret +fault. I say, let's all dress up and you be princes +and princesses too."</p> + +<p>"To crown our hero," said Gerald, lifting a +gold crown with a cross on the top, "was the +work of a moment." He put the crown on his +head, and added a collar of SS and a zone of +sparkling emeralds, which would not quite meet +round his middle. He turned from fixing it +by an ingenious adaptation of his belt to find +the others already decked with diadems, necklaces, +and rings.</p> + +<p>"How splendid you look!" said the Princess, +"and how I wish your clothes were prettier. +What ugly clothes people wear nowadays! A +hundred years ago——"</p> + +<p>Kathleen stood quite still with a diamond +bracelet raised in her hand.</p> + +<p>"I say," she said. "The King and Queen?"</p> + +<p>"<i>What</i> King and Queen?" asked the Princess.</p> + +<p>"Your father and mother, your sorrowing +parents," said Kathleen. "They'll have waked +up by now. Won't they be wanting to see you, +after a hundred years, you know?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh—ah—yes," said the Princess slowly. "I +embraced my rejoicing parents when I got the +bread and cheese. They're having their dinner. +They won't expect me yet. Here," she added, +hastily putting a ruby bracelet on Kathleen's +arm, "see how splendid that is!"</p> + +<p>Kathleen would have been quite content to go +on all day trying on different jewels and looking +at herself in the little silver-framed mirror that +the Princess took from one of the shelves, but +the boys were soon weary of this amusement.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Gerald, "if you're sure your +father and mother won't want you, let's go out +and have a jolly good game of something. You +could play besieged castles awfully well in that +maze—unless you can do any more magic +tricks."</p> + +<p>"You forget," said the Princess, "I'm grown +up. I don't play games. And I don't like to do +too much magic at a time, it's so tiring. Besides, +it'll take us ever so long to put all these +things back in their proper places."</p> + +<p>It did. The children would have laid the +jewels just anywhere; but the Princess showed +them that every necklace, or ring, or bracelet +had its own home on the velvet—a slight +hollowing in the shelf beneath, so that each +stone fitted into its own little nest.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a> +<img src="images/gs10.png" width="450" height="392" alt="KATHLEEN LOOKING AT HERSELF IN THE LITTLE SILVER-FRAMED MIRROR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">KATHLEEN LOOKING AT HERSELF IN THE LITTLE SILVER-FRAMED MIRROR.</span> +</div> + +<p>As Kathleen was fitting the last shining +ornament into its proper place, she saw that +part of the shelf near it held, not bright +jewels, but rings and brooches and chains, as +well as queer things that she did not know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +the names of, and all were of dull metal and +odd shapes.</p> + +<p>"What's all this rubbish?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Rubbish, indeed!" said the Princess. "Why +those are <i>all</i> magic things! This bracelet—any +one who wears it has got to speak the truth. +This chain makes you as strong as ten men; if +you wear this spur your horse will go a mile a +minute; or if you're walking it's the same as +seven-league boots."</p> + +<p>"What does this brooch do?" asked Kathleen, +reaching out her hand. The Princess caught her +by the wrist.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't touch," she said; "if any one +but me touches them all the magic goes out at +once and never comes back. That brooch will +give you any wish you like."</p> + +<p>"And this ring?" Jimmy pointed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that makes you invisible."</p> + +<p>"What's this?" asked Gerald, showing a +curious buckle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that undoes the effect of all the other +charms."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean <i>really?</i>" Jimmy asked. +"You're not just kidding?"</p> + +<p>"Kidding indeed!" repeated the Princess +scornfully. "I should have thought I'd shown +you enough magic to prevent you speaking to +a Princess like <i>that!</i>"</p> + +<p>"I say," said Gerald, visibly excited. "You +might show us how some of the things act. +Couldn't you give us each a wish?"</p> + +<p>The Princess did not at once answer. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +the minds of the three played with granted +wishes—brilliant yet thoroughly reasonable—the +kind of wish that never seems to occur to +people in fairy tales when they suddenly get a +chance to have their three wishes granted.</p> + +<p>"No," said the Princess suddenly, "no; I can't +give wishes to <i>you</i>, it only gives me wishes. +But I'll let you see the ring make <i>me</i> invisible. +Only you must shut your eyes while I do it."</p> + +<p>They shut them.</p> + +<p>"Count fifty," said the Princess, "and then +you may look. And then you must shut them +again, and count fifty, and I'll reappear."</p> + +<p>Gerald counted, aloud. Through the counting +one could hear a creaking, rustling sound.</p> + +<p>"Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!" +said Gerald, and they opened their eyes.</p> + +<p>They were alone in the room. The jewels had +vanished and so had the Princess.</p> + +<p>"She's gone out by the door, of course," said +Jimmy, but the door was locked.</p> + +<p>"That <i>is</i> magic," said Kathleen breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Maskelyne and Devant can do <i>that</i> trick," +said Jimmy. "And I want my tea."</p> + +<p>"Your tea!" Gerald's tone was full of contempt. +"The lovely Princess," he went on, +"reappeared as soon as our hero had finished +counting fifty. One, two, three, four——"</p> + +<p>Gerald and Kathleen had both closed their +eyes. But somehow Jimmy hadn't. He didn't +mean to cheat, he just forgot. And as Gerald's +count reached twenty he saw a panel under the +window open slowly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Her," he said to himself. "I <i>knew</i> it was +a trick!" and at once shut his eyes, like an +honourable little boy.</p> + +<p>On the word "fifty" six eyes opened. And +the panel was closed and there was no Princess.</p> + +<p>"She hasn't pulled it off this time," said +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'd better count again," said +Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I believe there's a cupboard under the +window," said Jimmy, "and she's hidden in it. +Secret panel, you know."</p> + +<p>"You looked! that's cheating," said the voice +of the Princess so close to his ear that he quite +jumped.</p> + +<p>"I didn't cheat."</p> + +<p>"Where on earth—— What ever——" said all +three together. For still there was no Princess +to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Come back visible, Princess dear," said +Kathleen. "Shall we shut our eyes and count +again?"</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly!" said the voice of the Princess, +and it sounded very cross.</p> + +<p>"We're <i>not</i> silly," said Jimmy, and his voice +was cross too. "Why can't you come back and +have done with it? You know you're only +hiding."</p> + +<p>"Don't!" said Kathleen gently. "She <i>is</i> invisible, +you know."</p> + +<p>"So should I be if I got into the cupboard," +said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes," said the sneering tone of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +Princess, "you think yourselves very clever, I +dare say. But <i>I</i> don't mind. We'll play that +you <i>can't</i> see me, if you like."</p> + +<p>"Well, but we <i>can't</i>," said Gerald. "It's no use +getting in a wax. If you're hiding, as Jimmy +says, you'd better come out. If you've really +turned invisible, you'd better make yourself +visible again."</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean," asked a voice quite +changed, but still the Princess's, "that you <i>can't</i> +see me?"</p> + +<p>"Can't you <i>see</i> we can't?" asked Jimmy rather +unreasonably.</p> + +<p>The sun was blazing in at the window; the +eight-sided room was very hot, and every one +was getting cross.</p> + +<p>"You can't <i>see</i> me?" There was the sound of +a sob in the voice of the invisible Princess.</p> + +<p>"<i>No</i>, I tell you," said Jimmy, "and I want my +tea—and——"</p> + +<p>What he was saying was broken off short, as +one might break a stick of sealing wax. And +then in the golden afternoon a really quite +horrid thing happened: Jimmy suddenly leaned +backwards, then forwards, his eyes opened wide +and his mouth too. Backward and forward he +went, very quickly and abruptly, then stood still.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's in a fit! Oh, Jimmy, dear Jimmy!" +cried Kathleen, hurrying to him. "What is it, +dear, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"It's <i>not</i> a fit," gasped Jimmy angrily. "She +shook me."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 381px;"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a> +<img src="images/gs11.png" width="381" height="450" alt="BACKWARD AND FORWARD HE WENT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">BACKWARD AND FORWARD HE WENT.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Yes," said the voice of the Princess, "and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +I'll shake him again if he keeps on saying he +can't see me."</p> + +<p>"You'd better shake <i>me</i>," said Gerald angrily. +"I'm nearer your own size."</p> + +<p>And instantly she did. But not for long. +The moment Gerald felt hands on his shoulders +he put up his own and caught those other hands +by the wrists. And there he was, holding wrists +that he couldn't see. It was a dreadful sensation. +An invisible kick made him wince, but +he held tight to the wrists.</p> + +<p>"Cathy," he cried, "come and hold her legs; +she's kicking me."</p> + +<p>"Where?" cried Kathleen, anxious to help. +"I don't <i>see</i> any legs."</p> + +<p>"This is her hands I've got," cried Gerald. +"She <i>is</i> invisible right enough. Get hold of this +hand, and then you can feel your way down to +her legs."</p> + +<p>Kathleen did so. I wish I could make you +understand how very, very uncomfortable and +frightening it is to feel, in broad daylight, +hands and arms that you can't see.</p> + +<p>"I <i>won't</i> have you hold my legs," said the +invisible Princess, struggling violently.</p> + +<p>"What are you so cross about?" Gerald was +quite calm. "You said you'd be invisible, and +you <i>are</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'm not."</p> + +<p>"You are really. Look in the glass."</p> + +<p>"I'm not; I can't be."</p> + +<p>"Look in the glass," Gerald repeated, quite +unmoved.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let go, then," she said.</p> + +<p>Gerald did, and the moment he had done so +he found it impossible to believe that he really +had been holding invisible hands.</p> + +<p>"You're just pretending not to see me," said +the Princess anxiously, "aren't you? Do say +you are. You've had your joke with me. Don't +keep it up. I don't like it."</p> + +<p>"On our sacred word of honour," said Gerald, +"you're still invisible."</p> + +<p>There was a silence. Then, "Come," said the +Princess. "I'll let you out, and you can go. +I'm tired of playing with you."</p> + +<p>They followed her voice to the door, and +through it, and along the little passage into the +hall. No one said anything. Every one felt +very uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"Let's get out of this," whispered Jimmy as +they got to the end of the hall.</p> + +<p>But the voice of the Princess said: "Come +out this way; it's quicker. I think you're perfectly +hateful. I'm sorry I ever played with +you. Mother always told me not to play with +strange children."</p> + +<p>A door abruptly opened, though no hand was +seen to touch it. "Come through, can't you!" +said the voice of the Princess.</p> + +<p>It was a little ante-room, with long, narrow +mirrors between its long, narrow windows.</p> + +<p>"Goodbye," said Gerald. "Thanks for giving +us such a jolly time. Let's part friends," he +added, holding out his hand.</p> + +<p>An unseen hand was slowly put in his, which +closed on it, vice-like.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "you've jolly well <i>got</i> to look +in the glass and own that we're not liars."</p> + +<p>He led the invisible Princess to one of the +mirrors, and held her in front of it by the +shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "you just look for yourself."</p> + +<p>There was a silence, and then a cry of despair +rang through the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh—oh—oh! I <i>am</i> invisible. Whatever +shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Take the ring off," said Kathleen, suddenly +practical.</p> + +<p>Another silence.</p> + +<p>"I <i>can't!</i>" cried the Princess. "It won't come +off. But it can't be the ring; rings don't make +you invisible."</p> + +<p>"You said this one did," said Kathleen, "and +it has."</p> + +<p>"But it <i>can't</i>," said the Princess. "I was only +playing at magic. I just hid in the secret cupboard—it +was only a game. Oh, whatever <i>shall</i> +I do?"</p> + +<p>"A game?" said Gerald slowly; "but you <i>can</i> +do magic—the invisible jewels, and you made +them come visible."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's only a secret spring and the panelling +slides up. Oh, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>Kathleen moved towards the voice and +gropingly got her arms round a pink-silk +waist that she couldn't see. Invisible arms +clasped her, a hot invisible cheek was laid +against hers, and warm invisible tears lay wet +between the two faces.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't cry, dear," said Kathleen; "let me go +and tell the King and Queen."</p> + +<p>"The——?"</p> + +<p>"Your royal father and mother."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>don't</i> mock me!" said the poor Princess. +"You <i>know</i> that was only a game, too, like——"</p> + +<p>"Like the bread and cheese," said Jimmy +triumphantly. "I knew <i>that</i> was!"</p> + +<p>"But your dress and being asleep in the +maze, and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dressed up for fun, because every +one's away at the fair, and I put the clue just +to make it all more real. I was playing at Fair +Rosamond first, and then I heard you talking +in the maze, and I thought what fun; and now +I'm invisible, and I shall never come right again, +never—I know I shan't! It serves me right for +lying, but I didn't really think you'd believe it—not +more than half, that is," she added hastily, +trying to be truthful.</p> + +<p>"But if you're not the Princess, who <i>are</i> +you?" asked Kathleen, still embracing the +unseen.</p> + +<p>"I'm—my aunt lives here," said the invisible +Princess. "She may be home any time. Oh, +what shall I do?"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she knows some charm——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!" said the voice sharply; "she +doesn't believe in charms. She <i>would</i> be so +vexed. Oh, I daren't let her see me like this!" +she added wildly. "And all of you here, too. +She'd be so dreadfully cross."</p> + +<p>The beautiful magic castle that the children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +had believed in now felt as though it were +tumbling about their ears. All that was left +was the invisibleness of the Princess. But that, +you will own, was a good deal.</p> + +<p>"I just said it," moaned the voice, "and it +came true. I wish I'd never played at magic—I +wish I'd never played at anything at all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't say that," Gerald said kindly. +"Let's go out into the garden, near the lake, +where it's cool, and we'll hold a solemn council. +You'll like that, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Kathleen suddenly, "the buckle; +that makes magic come undone!"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't <i>really</i>," murmured the voice that +seemed to speak without lips. "I only just <i>said</i> +that."</p> + +<p>"You only 'just said' about the ring," said +Gerald. "Anyhow, let's try."</p> + +<p>"Not <i>you</i>—<i>me</i>," said the voice. "You go +down to the Temple of Flora, by the lake. +I'll go back to the jewel-room by myself. Aunt +might see you."</p> + +<p>"She won't see <i>you</i>," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Don't rub it in," said Gerald. "Where <i>is</i> +the Temple of Flora?"</p> + +<p>"That's the way," the voice said; "down +those steps and along the winding path through +the shrubbery. You can't miss it. It's white +marble, with a statue goddess inside."</p> + +<p>The three children went down to the white +marble Temple of Flora that stood close against +the side of the little hill, and sat down in its +shadowy inside. It had arches all round<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +except against the hill behind the statue, and +it was cool and restful.</p> + +<p>They had not been there five minutes before +the feet of a runner sounded loud on the gravel. +A shadow, very black and distinct, fell on the +white marble floor.</p> + +<p>"Your shadow's not invisible anyhow," said +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother my shadow!" the voice of the +Princess replied. "We left the key inside the +door, and it's shut itself with the wind, and it's +a spring lock!"</p> + +<p>There was a heartfelt pause.</p> + +<p>Then Gerald said, in his most business-like +manner:</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Princess, and we'll have a thorough +good palaver about it."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder," said Jimmy, "if we was +to wake up and find it was dreams."</p> + +<p>"No such luck," said the voice.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gerald, "first of all, what's +your name, and if you're not a Princess, who +are you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm—I'm," said a voice broken with sobs, +"I'm the—housekeeper's—niece—at—the—castle—and +my name's Mabel Prowse."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I thought," said Jimmy, +without a shadow of truth, because how could +he? The others were silent. It was a moment +full of agitation and confused ideas.</p> + +<p>"Well, anyhow," said Gerald, "you belong +here."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a> +<img src="images/gs12.png" width="446" height="475" alt=""YOUR SHADOW'S NOT INVISIBLE, ANYHOW," SAID JIMMY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"YOUR SHADOW'S NOT INVISIBLE, ANYHOW," SAID JIMMY.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Yes," said the voice, and it came from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +the floor, as though its owner had flung +herself down in the madness of despair. +"Oh yes, I belong here right enough, but +what's the use of belonging anywhere if +you're invisible?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Those</span> of my readers who have gone about +much with an invisible companion will not need +to be told how awkward the whole business is. +For one thing, however much you may have +been convinced that your companion <i>is</i> invisible, +you will, I feel sure, have found yourself every +now and then saying, "This <i>must</i> be a dream!" +or "I <i>know</i> I shall wake up in half a sec!" And +this was the case with Gerald, Kathleen, and +Jimmy as they sat in the white marble Temple +of Flora, looking out through its arches at the +sunshiny park and listening to the voice of +the enchanted Princess, who really was not a +Princess at all, but just the housekeeper's niece, +Mabel Prowse; though, as Jimmy said, "she +was enchanted, right enough."</div> + +<p>"It's no use talking," she said again and +again, and the voice came from an empty-looking +space between two pillars; "I never believed +anything would happen, and now it has."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gerald kindly, "can we do +anything for you? Because, if not, I think +we ought to be going."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy; "I <i>do</i> want my tea!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tea!" said the unseen Mabel scornfully. +"Do you mean to say you'd go off to your +teas and leave me after getting me into this +mess?"</p> + +<p>"Well, of all the unfair Princesses I ever +met!" Gerald began. But Kathleen interrupted.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't rag her," she said. "Think how +horrid it must be to be invisible!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think," said the hidden Mabel, "that +my aunt likes me very much as it is. She +wouldn't let me go to the fair because I'd +forgotten to put back some old trumpery +shoe that Queen Elizabeth wore—I got it out +from the glass case to try it on."</p> + +<p>"Did it fit?" asked Kathleen, with interest.</p> + +<p>"Not it—much too small," said Mabel. "I +don't believe it ever fitted any one."</p> + +<p>"I do want my tea!" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I do really think perhaps we ought to go," +said Gerald. "You see, it isn't as if we could +do anything for you."</p> + +<p>"You'll have to tell your aunt," said Kathleen +kindly.</p> + +<p>"No, no, no!" moaned Mabel invisibly; +"take me with you. I'll leave her a note to +say I've run away to sea."</p> + +<p>"Girls don't run away to sea."</p> + +<p>"They might," said the stone floor between +the pillars, "as stowaways, if nobody wanted +a cabin boy—cabin girl, I mean."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you oughtn't," said Kathleen +firmly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, what <i>am</i> I to do?"</p> + +<p>"Really," said Gerald, "I don't know what +the girl <i>can</i> do. Let her come home with us +and have——"</p> + +<p>"Tea—oh, yes," said Jimmy, jumping up.</p> + +<p>"And have a good council."</p> + +<p>"After tea," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"But her aunt'll find she's gone."</p> + +<p>"So she would if I stayed."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come on," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"But the aunt'll think something's happened +to her."</p> + +<p>"So it has."</p> + +<p>"And she'll tell the police, and they'll look +everywhere for me."</p> + +<p>"They'll never find you," said Gerald. "Talk +of impenetrable disguises!"</p> + +<p>"I'm sure," said Mabel, "aunt would much +rather never see me again than see me like +this. She'd never get over it; it might kill +her—she has spasms as it is. I'll write to +her, and we'll put it in the big letter-box at +the gate as we go out. Has any one got a +bit of pencil and a scrap of paper?"</p> + +<p>Gerald had a note-book, with leaves of the +shiny kind which you have to write on, not +with a blacklead pencil, but with an ivory +thing with a point of real lead. And it won't +write on any other paper except the kind +that is in the book, and this is often very +annoying when you are in a hurry. Then +was seen the strange spectacle of a little +ivory stick, with a leaden point, standing up at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +an odd, impossible-looking slant, and moving +along all by itself as ordinary pencils do when +you are writing with them.</p> + +<p>"May we look over?" asked Kathleen.</p> + +<p>There was no answer. The pencil went on +writing.</p> + +<p>"Mayn't we look over?" Kathleen said +again.</p> + +<p>"Of course you may!" said the voice near +the paper. "I nodded, didn't I? Oh, I forgot, +my nodding's invisible too."</p> + +<p>The pencil was forming round, clear letters +on the page torn out of the note-book. This +is what it wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">"<span class="smcap">Dear Aunt</span>,—</span> + +<p>"I am afraid you will not see me again for +some time. A lady in a motor-car has adopted +me, and we are going straight to the coast and +then in a ship. It is useless to try to follow +me. Farewell, and may you be happy. I +hope you enjoyed the fair.</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"<span class="smcap">Mabel.</span>"<br /> +</div></div> + +<p>"But that's all lies," said Jimmy bluntly.</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't; it's fancy," said Mabel. "If +I said I've become invisible, she'd think that +was a lie, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>come</i> along," said Jimmy; "you can +quarrel just as well walking."</p> + +<p>Gerald folded up the note as a lady in +India had taught him to do years before, and +Mabel led them by another and very much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +nearer way out of the park. And the walk +home was a great deal shorter, too, than the +walk out had been.</p> + +<p>The sky had clouded over while they were +in the Temple of Flora, and the first spots of +rain fell as they got back to the house, very +late indeed for tea.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle was looking out of the window, +and came herself to open the door.</p> + +<p>"But it is that you are in lateness, in +lateness!" she cried. "You have had a misfortune—no? +All goes well?"</p> + +<p>"We are very sorry indeed," said Gerald. +"It took us longer to get home than we expected. +I do hope you haven't been anxious. +I have been thinking about you most of the +way home."</p> + +<p>"Go, then," said the French lady, smiling; +"you shall have them in the same time—the +tea and the supper."</p> + +<p>Which they did.</p> + +<p>"How <i>could</i> you say you were thinking +about her all the time?" said a voice just by +Gerald's ear, when Mademoiselle had left them +alone with the bread and butter and milk and +baked apples. "It was just as much a lie as +me being adopted by a motor lady."</p> + +<p>"No, it wasn't," said Gerald, through bread +and butter. "I <i>was</i> thinking about whether +she'd be in a wax or not. So there!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a> +<img src="images/gs13.png" width="500" height="335" alt="IT WAS RATHER HORRID TO SEE THE BREAD AND BUTTER WAVING ABOUT IN THE AIR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">IT WAS RATHER HORRID TO SEE THE BREAD AND BUTTER WAVING ABOUT IN THE AIR.</span> +</div> + +<p>There were only three plates, but Jimmy +let Mabel have his, and shared with Kathleen. +It was rather horrid to see the bread<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +and butter waving about in the air, and bite +after bite disappearing from it apparently by +no human agency; and the spoon rising with +apple in it and returning to the plate empty. +Even the tip of the spoon disappeared as long +as it was in Mabel's unseen mouth; so that +at times it looked as though its bowl had +been broken off.</p> + +<p>Every one was very hungry, and more +bread and butter had to be fetched. Cook +grumbled when the plate was filled for the +third time.</p> + +<p>"I tell you what," said Jimmy; "I did want +my tea."</p> + +<p>"I tell <i>you</i> what," said Gerald; "it'll be jolly +difficult to give Mabel any breakfast. Mademoiselle +will be here then. She'd have a fit +if she saw bits of forks with bacon on them +vanishing, and then the forks coming back +out of vanishment, and the bacon lost for +ever."</p> + +<p>"We shall have to buy things to eat and +feed our poor captive in secret," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Our money won't last long," said Jimmy, +in gloom. "Have <i>you</i> got any money?"</p> + +<p>He turned to where a mug of milk was +suspended in the air without visible means of +support.</p> + +<p>"I've not got much money," was the reply +from near the milk, "but I've got heaps of +ideas."</p> + +<p>"We must talk about everything in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +morning," said Kathleen. "We must just say +good-night to Mademoiselle, and then you +shall sleep in my bed, Mabel. I'll lend you +one of my nightgowns."</p> + +<p>"I'll get my own to-morrow," said Mabel +cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"You'll go back to get things?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? Nobody can see me. I think +I begin to see all sorts of amusing things +coming along. It's not half bad being invisible."</p> + +<p>It was extremely odd, Kathleen thought, to +see the Princess's clothes coming out of nothing. +First the gauzy veil appeared hanging +in the air. Then the sparkling coronet suddenly +showed on the top of the chest of +drawers. Then a sleeve of the pinky gown +showed, then another, and then the whole +gown lay on the floor in a glistening ring as +the unseen legs of Mabel stepped out of it. +For each article of clothing became visible as +Mabel took it off. The nightgown, lifted from +the bed, disappeared a bit at a time.</p> + +<p>"Get into bed," said Kathleen, rather nervously.</p> + +<p>The bed creaked and a hollow appeared in +the pillow. Kathleen put out the gas and +got into bed; all this magic had been rather +upsetting, and she was just the least bit +frightened, but in the dark she found it was +not so bad. Mabel's arms went round her +neck the moment she got into bed, and the +two little girls kissed in the kind darkness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +where the visible and the invisible could meet +on equal terms.</p> + +<p>"Good-night," said Mabel. "You're a darling, +Cathy; you've been most awfully good +to me, and I sha'n't forget it. I didn't like to +say so before the boys, because I know boys +think you're a muff if you're grateful. But I +<i>am</i>. Good-night."</p> + +<p>Kathleen lay awake for some time. She was +just getting sleepy when she remembered that +the maid who would call them in the morning +would see those wonderful Princess clothes.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to get up and hide them," she said. +"What a bother!"</p> + +<p>And as she lay thinking what a bother it was +she happened to fall asleep, and when she woke +again it was bright morning, and Eliza was +standing in front of the chair where Mabel's +clothes lay, gazing at the pink Princess-frock +that lay on the top of her heap and saying, +"Law!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't touch, <i>please!</i>" Kathleen leaped +out of bed as Eliza was reaching out her hand.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth did you get hold of that?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to use it for acting," said +Kathleen, on the desperate inspiration of the +moment. "It's lent me for that."</p> + +<p>"You might show <i>me</i>, miss," suggested Eliza.</p> + +<p>"Oh, please not!" said Kathleen, standing in +front of the chair in her nightgown. "You +shall see us act when we are dressed up. There! +And you won't tell any one, will you?"</p> + +<p>"Not if you're a good little girl," said Eliza.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +"But you be sure to let me see when you <i>do</i> +dress up. But where——"</p> + +<p>Here a bell rang and Eliza had to go, for it +was the postman, and she particularly wanted to +see him.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Kathleen, pulling on her +first stocking, "we shall have to <i>do</i> the acting. +Everything seems very difficult."</p> + +<p>"Acting isn't," said Mabel; and an unsupported +stocking waved in the air and quickly vanished. +"I shall love it."</p> + +<p>"You forget," said Kathleen gently, "invisible +actresses can't take part in plays unless they're +magic ones."</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried a voice from under a petticoat that +hung in the air, "I've got <i>such</i> an idea!"</p> + +<p>"Tell it us after breakfast," said Kathleen, as +the water in the basin began to splash about and +to drip from nowhere back into itself. "And +oh! I do wish you hadn't written such whoppers +to your aunt. I'm sure we oughtn't to tell lies +for anything."</p> + +<p>"What's the use of telling the truth if +nobody believes you?" came from among the +splashes.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Kathleen, "but I'm sure +we ought to tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> can, if you like," said a voice from the +folds of a towel that waved lonely in front of +the wash-hand stand.</p> + +<p>"All right. We will, then, first thing after +brek—<i>your</i> brek, I mean. You'll have to wait +up here till we can collar something and bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +it up to you. Mind you dodge Eliza when she +comes to make the bed."</p> + +<p>The invisible Mabel found this a fairly amusing +game; she further enlivened it by twitching out +the corners of tucked-up sheets and blankets +when Eliza wasn't looking.</p> + +<p>"Drat the clothes!" said Eliza; "anyone ud +think the things was bewitched."</p> + +<p>She looked about for the wonderful Princess +clothes she had glimpsed earlier in the morning. +But Kathleen had hidden them in a perfectly +safe place under the mattress, which she knew +Eliza never turned.</p> + +<p>Eliza hastily brushed up from the floor those +bits of fluff which come from goodness knows +where in the best regulated houses. Mabel, very +hungry and exasperated at the long absence of +the others at their breakfast, could not forbear +to whisper suddenly in Eliza's ear:—</p> + +<p>"Always sweep under the mats."</p> + +<p>The maid started and turned pale. "I must +be going silly," she murmured; "though it's just +what mother always used to say. Hope I ain't +going dotty, like Aunt Emily. Wonderful what +you can fancy, ain't it?"</p> + +<p>She took up the hearth-rug all the same, swept +under it, and under the fender. So thorough +was she, and so pale, that Kathleen, entering +with a chunk of bread raided by Gerald from +the pantry window, exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"Not done yet. I say, Eliza, you do look ill! +What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"I thought I'd give the room a good turn-out," +said Eliza, still very pale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing's happened to upset you?" Kathleen +asked. She had her own private fears.</p> + +<p>"Nothing only my fancy, miss," said Eliza. +"I always was fanciful from a child—dreaming +of the pearly gates and them little angels with +nothing on only their heads and wings—so +cheap to dress, I always think, compared with +children."</p> + +<p>When she was got rid of, Mabel ate the bread +and drank water from the tooth-mug.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it tastes of cherry tooth-paste +rather," said Kathleen apologetically.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter," a voice replied from the +tilted mug; "it's more interesting than water. +I should think red wine in ballads was rather +like this."</p> + +<p>"We've got leave for the day again," said +Kathleen, when the last bit of bread had +vanished, "and Gerald feels like I do about lies. +So we're going to tell your aunt where you really +are."</p> + +<p>"She won't believe you."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't matter, if we speak the truth," +said Kathleen primly.</p> + +<p>"I expect you'll be sorry for it," said Mabel; +"but come on—and, I say, do be careful not to +shut me in the door as you go out. You nearly +did just now."</p> + +<p>In the blazing sunlight that flooded the High +Street four shadows to three children seemed +dangerously noticeable. A butcher's boy looked +far too earnestly at the extra shadow, and his +big, liver-coloured lurcher snuffed at the legs of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +that shadow's mistress and whined uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>"Get behind me," said Kathleen; "then our +two shadows will look like one."</p> + +<p>But Mabel's shadow, very visible, fell on +Kathleen's back, and the ostler of the Davenant +Arms looked up to see what big bird had cast +that big shadow.</p> + +<p>A woman driving a cart with chickens and +ducks in it called out:—</p> + +<p>"Halloa, missy, ain't you blacked yer +back neither! What you been leaning up +against?"</p> + +<p>Every one was glad when they got out of the +town.</p> + +<p>Speaking the truth to Mabel's aunt did not +turn out at all as any one—even Mabel—expected. +The aunt was discovered reading a pink +novelette at the window of the housekeeper's +room, which, framed in clematis and green +creepers, looked out on a nice little courtyard +to which Mabel led the party.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," said Gerald, "but I believe +you've lost your niece?"</p> + +<p>"Not lost, my boy," said the aunt, who was +spare and tall, with a drab fringe and a very +genteel voice.</p> + +<p>"We could tell you something about her," +said Gerald.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 421px;"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a> +<img src="images/gs14.png" width="421" height="510" alt=""HALLOA, MISSY, AIN'T YOU BLACKED YER BACK, NEITHER!"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"HALLOA, MISSY, AIN'T YOU BLACKED YER BACK, NEITHER!"</span> +</div> + +<p>"Now," replied the aunt, in a warning voice, +"no complaints, please. My niece has gone, and +I am sure no one thinks less than I do of her +little pranks. If she's played any tricks on you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +it's only her light-hearted way. Go away, +children, I'm busy."</p> + +<p>"Did you get her note?" asked Kathleen.</p> + +<p>The aunt showed rather more interest than +before, but she still kept her finger in the +novelette.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, "so you witnessed her departure? +Did she seem glad to go?"</p> + +<p>"Quite," said Gerald truthfully.</p> + +<p>"Then I can only be glad that she is provided +for," said the aunt. "I dare say you were surprised. +These romantic adventures do occur in +our family. Lord Yalding selected me out of +eleven applicants for the post of housekeeper +here. I've not the slightest doubt the child was +changed at birth and her rich relatives have +claimed her."</p> + +<p>"But aren't you going to do anything—tell +the police, or——"</p> + +<p>"Shish!" said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> won't shish," said Jimmy. "Your Mabel's +invisible—that's all it is. She's just beside me +now."</p> + +<p>"I detest untruthfulness," said the aunt +severely, "in all its forms. Will you kindly +take that little boy away? I am quite satisfied +about Mabel."</p> + +<p>"<i>Well</i>," said Gerald, "you <i>are</i> an aunt and no +mistake! But what will Mabel's father and +mother say?"</p> + +<p>"Mabel's father and mother are dead," said +the aunt calmly, and a little sob sounded close +to Gerald's ear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right," he said, "we'll be off. But don't +you go saying we didn't tell you the truth, +that's all."</p> + +<p>"You have told me nothing," said the aunt, +"none of you, except that little boy, who has +told me a silly falsehood."</p> + +<p>"We meant well," said Gerald gently. "You +don't mind our having come through the +grounds, do you? We're very careful not to +touch anything."</p> + +<p>"No visitors are allowed," said the aunt, +glancing down at her novel rather impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Ah! but you wouldn't count <i>us</i> visitors," +said Gerald in his best manner. "We're +friends of Mabel's. Our father's Colonel of +the —th."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the aunt.</p> + +<p>"And our aunt's Lady Sandling, so you can +be sure we wouldn't hurt anything on the +estate."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure you wouldn't hurt a fly," said the +aunt absently. "Goodbye. Be good children."</p> + +<p>And on this they got away quickly.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Gerald, when they were outside +the little court, "your aunt's as mad as a hatter. +Fancy not caring what becomes of you, and +fancy believing that rot about the motor lady!"</p> + +<p>"I knew she'd believe it when I wrote it," said +Mabel modestly. "She's not mad, only she's +always reading novelettes. <i>I</i> read the books in +the big library. Oh, it's such a jolly room—such +a queer smell, like boots, and old leather +books sort of powdery at the edges. I'll take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +you there some day. Now your consciences are +all right about my aunt, I'll tell you my great +idea. Let's get down to the Temple of Flora. +I'm glad you got aunt's permission for the +grounds. It would be so awkward for you +to have to be always dodging behind bushes +when one of the gardeners came along."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Gerald modestly, "I thought of +that."</p> + +<p>The day was as bright as yesterday had been, +and from the white marble temple the Italian-looking +landscape looked more than ever like +a steel engraving coloured by hand, or an oleographic +imitation of one of Turner's pictures.</p> + +<p>When the three children were comfortably +settled on the steps that led up to the white +statue, the voice of the fourth child said sadly: +"I'm not ungrateful, but I'm rather hungry. +And you can't be always taking things for me +through your larder window. If you like, I'll +go back and live in the castle. It's supposed +to be haunted. I suppose I could haunt it as +well as any one else. I am a sort of ghost +now, you know. I will if you like."</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Kathleen kindly; "you must +stay with us."</p> + +<p>"But about food. I'm not ungrateful, really +I'm not, but breakfast is breakfast, and bread's +only bread."</p> + +<p>"If you could get the ring off, you could go +back."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel's voice, "but you see, I +can't. I tried again last night in bed, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +again this morning. And it's like stealing, +taking things out of your larder—even if it's +only bread."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is," said Gerald, who had carried out +this bold enterprise.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, what we must do is to earn +some money."</p> + +<p>Jimmy remarked that this was all very well. +But Gerald and Kathleen listened attentively.</p> + +<p>"What I mean to say," the voice went on, +"I'm really sure is all for the best, me being +invisible. We shall have adventures—you see +if we don't."</p> + +<p>"'Adventures,' said the bold buccaneer, 'are +not always profitable.'" It was Gerald who +murmured this.</p> + +<p>"This one will be, anyhow, you see. Only +you mustn't all go. Look here, if Jerry could +make himself look common——"</p> + +<p>"That ought to be easy," said Jimmy. And +Kathleen told him not to be so jolly disagreeable.</p> + +<p>"I'm not," said Jimmy, "only——"</p> + +<p>"Only he has an inside feeling that this +Mabel of yours is going to get us into trouble," +put in Gerald. "Like La Belle Dame Sans +Merci, and he does not want to be found in +future ages alone and palely loitering in the +middle of sedge and things."</p> + +<p>"I won't get you into trouble, indeed I won't," +said the voice. "Why, we're a band of brothers +for life, after the way you stood by me yesterday. +What I mean is—Gerald can go to the +fair and do conjuring."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He doesn't know any," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> should do it really," said Mabel, "but Jerry +could look like doing it. Move things without +touching them and all that. But it wouldn't do +for all three of you to go. The more there are +of children the younger they look, I think, and +the more people wonder what they're doing all +alone by themselves."</p> + +<p>"The accomplished conjurer deemed these +the words of wisdom," said Gerald; and +answered the dismal "Well, but what about +us?" of his brother and sister by suggesting +that they should mingle unsuspected with the +crowd. "But don't let on that you know me," +he said; "and try to look as if you belonged to +some of the grown-ups at the fair. If you don't, +as likely as not you'll have the kind policemen +taking the little lost children by the hand and +leading them home to their stricken relations—French +governess, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Let's go <i>now</i>," said the voice that they never +could get quite used to hearing, coming out of +different parts of the air as Mabel moved from +one place to another. So they went.</p> + +<p>The fair was held on a waste bit of land, about +half a mile from the castle gates. When they +got near enough to hear the steam-organ of the +merry-go-round, Gerald suggested that as he +had ninepence he should go ahead and get something +to eat, the amount spent to be paid back +out of any money they might make by conjuring. +The others waited in the shadows of a +deep-banked lane, and he came back, quite soon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +though long after they had begun to say what +a long time he had been gone. He brought +some Barcelona nuts, red-streaked apples, small +sweet yellow pears, pale pasty gingerbread, a +whole quarter of a pound of peppermint bull's-eyes, +and two bottles of gingerbeer.</p> + +<p>"It's what they call an investment," he said, +when Kathleen said something about extravagance. +"We shall all need special nourishing +to keep our strength up, especially the bold +conjurer."</p> + +<p>They ate and drank. It was a very beautiful +meal, and the far-off music of the steam-organ +added the last touch of festivity to the scene. +The boys were never tired of seeing Mabel eat, +or rather of seeing the strange, magic-looking +vanishment of food which was all that showed +of Mabel's eating. They were entranced by the +spectacle, and pressed on her more than her just +share of the feast, just for the pleasure of seeing +it disappear.</p> + +<p>"My aunt!" said Gerald, again and again; +"that ought to knock 'em!"</p> + +<p>It did.</p> + +<p>Jimmy and Kathleen had the start of the +others, and when they got to the fair they +mingled with the crowd, and were as unsuspected +as possible.</p> + +<p>They stood near a large lady who was watching +the cocoanut shies, and presently saw a +strange figure with its hands in its pockets +strolling across the trampled yellowy grass +among the bits of drifting paper and the sticks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +and straws that always litter the ground of an +English fair. It was Gerald, but at first they +hardly knew him. He had taken off his tie, and +round his head, arranged like a turban, was the +crimson school-scarf that had supported his +white flannels. The tie, one supposed, had +taken on the duties of the handkerchief. +And his face and hands were a bright black, +like very nicely polished stoves!</p> + +<p>Every one turned to look at him.</p> + +<p>"He's just like a nigger!" whispered Jimmy. +"I don't suppose it'll ever come off, do you?"</p> + +<p>They followed him at a distance, and when he +went close to the door of a small tent, against +whose door-post a long-faced melancholy +woman was lounging, they stopped and tried +to look as though they belonged to a farmer +who strove to send up a number by banging +with a big mallet on a wooden block.</p> + +<p>Gerald went up to the woman.</p> + +<p>"Taken much?" he asked, and was told, but +not harshly, to go away with his impudence.</p> + +<p>"I'm in business myself," said Gerald, "I'm a +conjurer, from India."</p> + +<p>"Not you!" said the woman; "you ain't no +nigger. Why, the backs of yer ears is all +white."</p> + +<p>"Are they?" said Gerald. "How clever of +you to see that!" He rubbed them with his +hands. "That better?"</p> + +<p>"That's all right. What's your little game?"</p> + +<p>"Conjuring, really and truly," said Gerald. +"There's smaller boys than me put on to it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +in India. Look here, I owe you one for telling +me about my ears. If you like to run the show +for me I'll go shares. Let me have your tent to +perform in, and you do the patter at the door."</p> + +<p>"Lor' love you! I can't do no patter. And +you're getting at me. Let's see you do a bit of +conjuring, since you're so clever an' all."</p> + +<p>"Right you are," said Gerald firmly. "You +see this apple? Well, I'll make it move slowly +through the air, and then when I say 'Go!' it'll +vanish."</p> + +<p>"Yes—into your mouth! Get away with your +nonsense."</p> + +<p>"You're too clever to be so unbelieving," said +Gerald. "Look here!"</p> + +<p>He held out one of the little apples, and the +woman saw it move slowly and unsupported +along the air.</p> + +<p>"Now—<i>go!</i>" cried Gerald, to the apple, and +it went. "How's that?" he asked, in tones of +triumph.</p> + +<p>The woman was glowing with excitement, and +her eyes shone. "The best I ever see!" she +whispered. "I'm on, mate, if you know any +more tricks like that."</p> + +<p>"Heaps," said Gerald confidently; "hold out +your hand." The woman held it out; and from +nowhere, as it seemed, the apple appeared and +was laid on her hand. The apple was rather +damp.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 473px;"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a> +<img src="images/gs15.png" width="473" height="511" alt=""YOU'RE GETTING AT ME. LET'S SEE YOU DO A BIT OF CONJURING, SINCE YOU'RE SO CLEVER AN' ALL."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"YOU'RE GETTING AT ME. LET'S SEE YOU DO A BIT OF CONJURING, SINCE YOU'RE SO CLEVER AN' ALL."</span> +</div> + +<p>She looked at it a moment, and then whispered: +"Come on! there's to be no one in it +but just us two. But not in the tent. You take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +a pitch here, 'longside the tent. It's worth twice +the money in the open air."</p> + +<p>"But people won't pay if they can see it all +for nothing."</p> + +<p>"Not for the first turn, but they will after—you +see. And you'll have to do the patter."</p> + +<p>"Will you lend me your shawl?" Gerald +asked. She unpinned it—it was a red and black +plaid—and he spread it on the ground as he had +seen Indian conjurers do, and seated himself +cross-legged behind it.</p> + +<p>"I mustn't have any one behind me, that's +all," he said; and the woman hastily screened +off a little enclosure for him by hanging old +sacks to two of the guy-ropes of the tent. +"Now I'm ready," he said. The woman got a +drum from the inside of the tent and beat it. +Quite soon a little crowd had collected.</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," said Gerald, "I come +from India, and I can do a conjuring entertainment +the like of which you've never seen. When +I see two shillings on the shawl I'll begin."</p> + +<p>"I dare say you will!" said a bystander; and +there were several short, disagreeable laughs.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Gerald, "if you can't afford +two shillings between you"—there were about +thirty people in the crowd by now—"I say no +more."</p> + +<p>Two or three pennies fell on the shawl, then +a few more, then the fall of copper ceased.</p> + +<p>"Ninepence," said Gerald. "Well, I've got a +generous nature. You'll get such a nine-pennyworth +as you've never had before. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +don't wish to deceive you—I have an accomplice, +but my accomplice is invisible."</p> + +<p>The crowd snorted.</p> + +<p>"By the aid of that accomplice," Gerald went +on, "I will read any letter that any of you +may have in your pocket. If one of you will +just step over the rope and stand beside me, +my invisible accomplice will read that letter +over his shoulder."</p> + +<p>A man stepped forward, a ruddy-faced, horsy-looking +person. He pulled a letter from his +pocket and stood plain in the sight of all, in a +place where every one saw that no one could +see over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Now!" said Gerald. There was a moment's +pause. Then from quite the other side of the +enclosure came a faint, far-away, sing-song +voice. It said:—</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—Yours of the fifteenth duly to hand. +With regard to the mortgage on your land, +we regret our inability——'"</p> + +<p>"Stow it!" cried the man, turning threateningly +on Gerald.</p> + +<p>He stepped out of the enclosure explaining +that there was nothing of that sort in his +letter; but nobody believed him, and a buzz of +interested chatter began in the crowd, ceasing +abruptly when Gerald began to speak.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, laying the nine pennies down +on the shawl, "you keep your eyes on those +pennies, and one by one you'll see them disappear."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 465px;"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a> +<img src="images/gs16.png" width="465" height="500" alt=""STOW IT!" CRIED THE MAN, TURNING THREATENINGLY ON GERALD." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"STOW IT!" CRIED THE MAN, TURNING THREATENINGLY ON GERALD.</span> +</div> + +<p>And of course they did. Then one by one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +they were laid down again by the invisible +hand of Mabel. The crowd clapped loudly. +"Brayvo!" "That's something like!" "Show +us another!" cried the people in the front rank. +And those behind pushed forward.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Gerald, "you've seen what I can +do, but I don't do any more till I see five +shillings on this carpet."</p> + +<p>And in two minutes seven-and-threepence lay +there and Gerald did a little more conjuring.</p> + +<p>When the people in front didn't want to +give any more money, Gerald asked them to +stand back and let the others have a look in. I +wish I had time to tell you of all the tricks he +did—the grass round his enclosure was absolutely +trampled off by the feet of the people +who thronged to look at him. There is really +hardly any limit to the wonders you can do if +you have an invisible accomplice. All sorts of +things were made to move about, apparently +by themselves, and even to vanish—into the +folds of Mabel's clothing. The woman stood +by, looking more and more pleasant as she +saw the money come tumbling in, and beating +her shabby drum every time Gerald stopped +conjuring.</p> + +<p>The news of the conjurer had spread all over +the fair. The crowd was frantic with admiration. +The man who ran the cocoanut shies +begged Gerald to throw in his lot with him; +the owner of the rifle gallery offered him free +board and lodging and go shares; and a brisk, +broad lady, in stiff black silk and a violet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +bonnet, tried to engage him for the forthcoming +Bazaar for Reformed Bandsmen.</p> + +<p>And all this time the others mingled with the +crowd—quite unobserved, for who could have +eyes for any one but Gerald? It was getting +quite late, long past tea-time, and Gerald, who +was getting very tired indeed, and was quite +satisfied with his share of the money, was +racking his brains for a way to get out of it.</p> + +<p>"How are we to hook it?" he murmured, as +Mabel made his cap disappear from his head +by the simple process of taking it off and +putting it in her pocket. "They'll never let us +get away. I didn't think of that before."</p> + +<p>"Let me think!" whispered Mabel; and next +moment she said, close to his ear: "Divide +the money, and give her something for the +shawl. Put the money on it and say...." +She told him what to say.</p> + +<p>Gerald's pitch was in the shade of the tent; +otherwise, of course, every one would have seen +the shadow of the invisible Mabel as she moved +about making things vanish.</p> + +<p>Gerald told the woman to divide the money, +which she did honestly enough.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, while the impatient crowd +pressed closer and closer. "I'll give you five bob +for your shawl."</p> + +<p>"Seven-and-six," said the woman mechanically.</p> + +<p>"Righto!" said Gerald, putting his heavy share +of the money in his trouser pocket.</p> + +<p>"This shawl will now disappear," he said, +picking it up. He handed it to Mabel, who put<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +it on; and, of course, it disappeared. A roar of +applause went up from the audience.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "I come to the last trick of +all. I shall take three steps backward and +vanish." He took three steps backward, Mabel +wrapped the invisible shawl round him, and—he +did not vanish. The shawl, being invisible, did +not conceal him in the least.</p> + +<p>"Yah!" cried a boy's voice in the crowd. +"Look at 'im! 'E knows 'e can't do it."</p> + +<p>"I wish I could put you in my pocket," said +Mabel. The crowd was crowding closer. At +any moment they might touch Mabel, and +then anything might happen—simply anything. +Gerald took hold of his hair with both hands, +as his way was when he was anxious or discouraged. +Mabel, in invisibility, wrung her +hands, as people are said to do in books; that +is, she clasped them and squeezed very tight.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she whispered suddenly, "it's loose. +I can get it off."</p> + +<p>"Not——"</p> + +<p>"Yes—the ring."</p> + +<p>"Come on, young master. Give us summat +for our money," a farm labourer shouted.</p> + +<p>"I will," said Gerald. "This time I really will +vanish. Slip round into the tent," he whispered +to Mabel. "Push the ring under the canvas. +Then slip out at the back and join the others. +When I see you with them I'll disappear. Go +slow, and I'll catch you up."</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>"It's me," said a pale and obvious Mabel in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +the ear of Kathleen. "He's got the ring; come +on, before the crowd begins to scatter."</p> + +<p>As they went out of the gate they heard a +roar of surprise and annoyance rise from the +crowd, and knew that this time Gerald really +<i>had</i> disappeared.</p> + +<p>They had gone a mile before they heard footsteps +on the road, and looked back. No one was +to be seen.</p> + +<p>Next moment Gerald's voice spoke out of +clear, empty-looking space.</p> + +<p>"Halloa!" it said gloomily.</p> + +<p>"How horrid!" cried Mabel; "you did make +me jump! Take the ring off. It makes me +feel quite creepy, you being nothing but a +voice."</p> + +<p>"So did you us," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Don't take it off yet," said Kathleen, who +was really rather thoughtful for her age, "because +you're still black, I suppose, and you +might be recognised, and eloped with by gipsies, +so that you should go on doing conjuring for +ever and ever."</p> + +<p>"I should take it off," said Jimmy; "it's +no use going about invisible, and people +seeing us with Mabel and saying we've eloped +with her."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel impatiently, "that would +be simply silly. And, besides, I want my +ring."</p> + +<p>"It's not yours any more than ours, anyhow," +said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is," said Mabel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, stow it!" said the weary voice of Gerald +beside her. "What's the use of jawing?"</p> + +<p>"I want the ring," said Mabel, rather mulishly.</p> + +<p>"Want"—the words came out of the still +evening air—"want must be your master. You +can't have the ring. <i>I can't get it off!</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> difficulty was not only that Gerald had got +the ring on and couldn't get it off, and was therefore +invisible, but that Mabel, who had been +invisible and therefore possible to be smuggled +into the house, was now plain to be seen and +impossible for smuggling purposes.</div> + +<p>The children would have not only to account +for the apparent absence of one of themselves, +but for the obvious presence of a perfect +stranger.</p> + +<p>"I can't go back to aunt. I can't and I won't," +said Mabel firmly, "not if I was visible twenty +times over."</p> + +<p>"She'd smell a rat if you did." Gerald owned—"about +the motor-car, I mean, and the adopting +lady. And what we're to say to Mademoiselle +about you——!" He tugged at the ring.</p> + +<p>"Suppose you told the truth," said Mabel +meaningly.</p> + +<p>"She wouldn't believe it," said Cathy; "or, if +she did, she'd go stark, staring, raving mad."</p> + +<p>"No," said Gerald's voice, "we daren't <i>tell</i> her. +But she's really rather decent. Let's ask her to +let you stay the night because it's too late for +you to get home."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's all right," said Jimmy, "but what +about you?"</p> + +<p>"I shall go to bed," said Gerald, "with a bad +headache. Oh, <i>that's</i> not a lie! I've got one +right enough. It's the sun, I think. I know +blacklead attracts the concentration of the sun."</p> + +<p>"More likely the pears and the gingerbread," +said Jimmy unkindly. "Well, let's get along. +I wish it was me was invisible. I'd do something +different from going to bed with a silly headache, +I know that."</p> + +<p>"What would you do?" asked the voice of +Gerald just behind him.</p> + +<p>"Do keep in one place, you silly cuckoo!" said +Jimmy. "You make me feel all jumpy." He +had indeed jumped rather violently. "Here, +walk between Cathy and me."</p> + +<p>"What <i>would</i> you do?" repeated Gerald, from +that apparently unoccupied position.</p> + +<p>"I'd be a burglar," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Cathy and Mabel in one breath reminded him +how wrong burgling was, and Jimmy replied:</p> + +<p>"Well, then—a detective."</p> + +<p>"There's got to be something to detect before +you can begin detectiving," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Detectives don't always detect things," said +Jimmy, very truly. "If I couldn't be any other +kind I'd be a baffled detective. You could be one +all right, and have no end of larks just the same. +Why don't you do it?"</p> + +<p>"It's exactly what I <i>am</i> going to do," said +Gerald. "We'll go round by the police-station +and see what they've got in the way of crimes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>"</p> + +<p>They did, and read the notices on the board +outside. Two dogs had been lost, a purse, and +a portfolio of papers "of no value to any but +the owner." Also Houghton Grange had been +broken into and a quantity of silver plate stolen. +"Twenty pounds reward offered for any information +that may lead to the recovery of the +missing property."</p> + +<p>"That burglary's my lay," said Gerald; "I'll +detect that. Here comes Johnson," he added; +"he's going off duty. Ask him about it." The +fell detective, being invisible, was unable to pump +the constable, but the young brother of our hero +made the inquiries in quite a creditable manner. +"Be creditable, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Jimmy hailed the constable.</p> + +<p>"Halloa, Johnson!" he said.</p> + +<p>And Johnson replied: "Halloa, young shaver!"</p> + +<p>"Shaver yourself!" said Jimmy, but without +malice.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing this time of night?" +the constable asked jocosely. "All the dicky +birds is gone to their little nesteses."</p> + +<p>"We've been to the fair," said Kathleen. +"There was a conjurer there. I wish you could +have seen him."</p> + +<p>"Heard about him," said Johnson; "all fake, +you know. The quickness of the 'and deceives +the hi."</p> + +<p>Such is fame. Gerald, standing in the shadow, +jingled the loose money in his pocket to console +himself.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" the policeman asked quickly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 304px;"> +<img src="images/gs17.png" width="304" height="500" alt=""WHAT'S THAT?" THE POLICEMAN ASKED QUICKLY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"WHAT'S THAT?" THE POLICEMAN ASKED QUICKLY.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Our money jingling," said Jimmy, with +perfect truth.</p> + +<p>"It's well to be some people," Johnson remarked; +"wish I'd got my pockets full to jingle +with."</p> + +<p>"Well, why haven't you?" asked Mabel. +"Why don't you get that twenty pounds +reward?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you why I don't. Because in this +'ere realm of liberty, and Britannia ruling the +waves, you aint allowed to arrest a chap on +suspicion, even if you know puffickly well who +done the job."</p> + +<p>"What a shame!" said Jimmy warmly. +"And who <i>do</i> you think did it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think—I know." Johnson's voice was +ponderous as his boots. "It's a man what's +known to the police on account of a heap o' +crimes he's done, but we never can't bring it +'ome to 'im, nor yet get sufficient evidence to +convict."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy, "when I've left school +I'll come to you and be apprenticed, and be a +detective. Just now I think we'd better get +home and detect our supper. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>They watched the policeman's broad form +disappear through the swing door of the police-station; +and as it settled itself into quiet again +the voice of Gerald was heard complaining +bitterly.</p> + +<p>"You've no more brains than a halfpenny +bun," he said: "no details about how and when +the silver was taken."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But he told us he knew," Jimmy urged.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's all you've got out of him. A silly +policeman's silly idea. Go home and detect your +precious supper! It's all you're fit for."</p> + +<p>"What'll you do about supper?" Mabel +asked.</p> + +<p>"Buns!" said Gerald, "halfpenny buns. They'll +make me think of my dear little brother and +sister. Perhaps you've got enough sense to buy +buns? I can't go into a shop in this state."</p> + +<p>"Don't you be so disagreeable," said Mabel +with spirit. "We did our best. If I were Cathy +you should whistle for your nasty buns."</p> + +<p>"If you were Cathy the gallant young detective +would have left home long ago. Better +the cabin of a tramp steamer than the best +family mansion that's got a brawling sister in +it," said Gerald. "You're a bit of an outsider at +present, my gentle maiden. Jimmy and Cathy +know well enough when their bold leader is +chaffing and when he isn't."</p> + +<p>"Not when we can't see your face we don't," +said Cathy, in tones of relief. "I really thought +you were in a flaring wax, and so did Jimmy, +didn't you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, rot!" said Gerald. "Come on! This +way to the bun shop."</p> + +<p>They went. And it was while Cathy and +Jimmy were in the shop and the others were +gazing through the glass at the jam tarts and +Swiss rolls and Victoria sandwiches and Bath +buns under the spread yellow muslin in the +window, that Gerald discoursed in Mabel's ear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +of the plans and hopes of one entering on a +detective career.</p> + +<p>"I shall keep my eyes open to-night, I can tell +you," he began. "I shall keep my eyes skinned, +and no jolly error. The invisible detective may +not only find out about the purse and the silver, +but detect some crime that isn't even done yet. +And I shall hang about until I see some suspicious-looking +characters leave the town, and +follow them furtively and catch them red-handed, +with their hands full of priceless jewels, +and hand them over."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Mabel, so sharply and suddenly +that Gerald was roused from his dream to +express sympathy.</p> + +<p>"Pain?" he said quite kindly. "It's the +apples—they <i>were</i> rather hard."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's not that," said Mabel very earnestly. +"Oh, how awful! I never thought of that +before."</p> + +<p>"Never thought of <i>what?</i>" Gerald asked +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"The window."</p> + +<p>"What window?"</p> + +<p>"The panelled-room window. At home, you +know—at the castle. That settles it—I <i>must</i> +go home. We left it open and the shutters as +well, and all the jewels and things there. +Auntie'll never go in; she never does. That +settles it; I <i>must</i> go home—now—this minute."</p> + +<p>Here the others issued from the shop, bun-bearing, +and the situation was hastily explained +to them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 284px;"> +<img src="images/gs18.png" width="284" height="450" alt=""I MUST GO HOME—NOW—THIS MINUTE."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"I MUST GO HOME—NOW—THIS MINUTE."</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So you see I must go," Mabel ended.</p> + +<p>And Kathleen agreed that she must.</p> + +<p>But Jimmy said he didn't see what good it +would do. "Because the key's inside the door, +anyhow."</p> + +<p>"She <i>will</i> be cross," said Mabel sadly. "She'll +have to get the gardeners to get a ladder +and——"</p> + +<p>"Hooray!" said Gerald. "Here's me! Nobler +and more secret than gardeners or ladders was +the invisible Jerry. I'll climb in at the window—it's +all ivy, I know I could—and shut the +window and the shutters all sereno, put the key +back on the nail, and slip out unperceived the +back way, threading my way through the maze +of unconscious retainers. There'll be plenty of +time. I don't suppose burglars begin their fell +work until the night is far advanced."</p> + +<p>"Won't you be afraid?" Mabel asked. "Will +it be safe—suppose you were caught?"</p> + +<p>"As houses. I can't be," Gerald answered, and +wondered that the question came from Mabel +and not from Kathleen, who was usually inclined +to fuss a little annoyingly about the danger and +folly of adventures.</p> + +<p>But all Kathleen said was, "Well, goodbye: +we'll come and see you to-morrow, Mabel. The +floral temple at half-past ten. I hope you +won't get into an awful row about the motor-car +lady."</p> + +<p>"Let's detect our supper now," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Gerald a little bitterly. +It is hard to enter on an adventure like this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +and to find the sympathetic interest of years +suddenly cut off at the meter, as it were. +Gerald felt that he ought, at a time like this, +to have been the centre of interest. And he +wasn't. They could actually talk about supper. +Well, let them. He didn't care! He spoke +with sharp sternness: "Leave the pantry +window undone for me to get in by when +I've done my detecting. Come on, Mabel." +He caught her hand. "Bags I the buns, +though," he added, by a happy afterthought, +and snatching the bag, pressed it on Mabel, +and the sound of four boots echoed on the +pavement of the High Street as the outlines +of the running Mabel grew small with distance.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>Mademoiselle was in the drawing-room. She +was sitting by the window in the waning light +reading letters.</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>vous voici!</i>" she said unintelligibly. +"You are again late; and my little Gerald, +where is he?"</p> + +<p>This was an awful moment. Jimmy's detective +scheme had not included any answer to +this inevitable question. The silence was unbroken +till Jimmy spoke.</p> + +<p>"He <i>said</i> he was going to bed because he +had a headache." And this, of course, was true.</p> + +<p>"This poor Gerald!" said Mademoiselle. "Is +it that I should mount him some supper?"</p> + +<p>"He never eats anything when he's got one +of his headaches," Kathleen said. And this also +was the truth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<p>Jimmy and Kathleen went to bed, wholly +untroubled by anxiety about their brother, and +Mademoiselle pulled out the bundle of letters +and read them amid the ruins of the simple +supper.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>"It is ripping being out late like this," said +Gerald through the soft summer dusk.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel, a solitary-looking figure +plodding along the high-road. "I do hope +auntie won't be <i>very</i> furious."</p> + +<p>"Have another bun," suggested Gerald kindly, +and a sociable munching followed.</p> + +<p>It was the aunt herself who opened to a very +pale and trembling Mabel the door which is +appointed for the entrances and exits of the +domestic staff at Yalding Towers. She looked +over Mabel's head first, as if she expected to +see some one taller. Then a very small voice +said:—</p> + +<p>"Aunt!"</p> + +<p>The aunt started back, then made a step +towards Mabel.</p> + +<p>"You naughty, naughty girl!" she cried +angrily; "how could you give me such a +fright? I've a good mind to keep you in bed +for a week for this, miss. Oh, Mabel, thank +Heaven you're safe!" And with that the +aunt's arms went round Mabel and Mabel's +round the aunt in such a hug as they had +never met in before.</p> + +<p>"But you didn't seem to care a bit this +morning," said Mabel, when she had realised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +that her aunt really had been anxious, really +was glad to have her safe home again.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?"</p> + +<p>"I was there listening. Don't be angry, +auntie."</p> + +<p>"I feel as if I never could be angry with you +again, now I've got you safe," said the aunt +surprisingly.</p> + +<p>"But how was it?" Mabel asked.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said the aunt impressively, "I've +been in a sort of trance. I think I must be +going to be ill. I've always been fond of you, +but I didn't want to spoil you. But yesterday, +about half-past three, I was talking about +you to Mr. Lewson, at the fair, and quite +suddenly I felt as if you didn't matter at all. +And I felt the same when I got your letter and +when those children came. And to-day in +the middle of tea I suddenly woke up and +realised that you were gone. It was awful. I +think I must be going to be ill. Oh, Mabel, +why did you do it?"</p> + +<p>"It was—a joke," said Mabel feebly. And +then the two went in and the door was shut.</p> + +<p>"That's most uncommon odd," said Gerald, +outside; "looks like more magic to me. I don't +feel as if we'd got to the bottom of this yet, +by any manner of means. There's more about +this castle than meets the eye."</p> + +<p>There certainly was. For this castle happened +to be—but it would not be fair to Gerald to tell +you more about it than he knew on that night +when he went alone and invisible through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +shadowy great grounds of it to look for the +open window of the panelled room. He knew +that night no more than I have told you; but +as he went along the dewy lawns and through +the groups of shrubs and trees, where pools +lay like giant looking-glasses reflecting the +quiet stars, and the white limbs of statues +gleamed against a background of shadow, he +began to feel—well, not excited, not surprised, +not anxious, but—different.</p> + +<p>The incident of the invisible Princess had surprised, +the incident of the conjuring had excited, +and the sudden decision to be a detective had +brought its own anxieties; but all these happenings, +though wonderful and unusual, had +seemed to be, after all, inside the circle of +possible things—wonderful as the chemical +experiments are where two liquids poured +together make fire, surprising as legerdemain, +thrilling as a juggler's display, but nothing +more. Only now a new feeling came to him as +he walked through those gardens; by day those +gardens were like dreams, at night they were +like visions. He could not see his feet as he +walked, but he saw the movement of the dewy +grass-blades that his feet displaced. And he +had that extraordinary feeling so difficult to +describe, and yet so real and so <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'unforgetable'">unforgettable</ins>—the +feeling that he was in another world, that +had covered up and hidden the old world as a +carpet covers a floor. The floor was there all +right, underneath, but what he walked on +was the carpet that covered it—and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +carpet was drenched in magic, as the turf was +drenched in dew.</p> + +<p>The feeling was very wonderful; perhaps you +will feel it some day. There are still some places +in the world where it can be felt, but they grow +fewer every year.</p> + +<p>The enchantment of the garden held him.</p> + +<p>"I'll not go in yet," he told himself; "it's too +early. And perhaps I shall never be here at +night again. I suppose it <i>is</i> the night that +makes everything look so different."</p> + +<p>Something white moved under a weeping +willow; white hands parted the long, rustling +leaves. A white figure came out, a creature +with horns and goat's legs and the head and +arms of a boy. And Gerald was not afraid. +That was the most wonderful thing of all, +though he would never have owned it. The +white thing stretched its limbs, rolled on the +grass, righted itself, and frisked away across the +lawn. Still something white gleamed under +the willow; three steps nearer and Gerald saw +that it was the pedestal of a statue—empty.</p> + +<p>"They come alive," he said; and another +white shape came out of the Temple of Flora +and disappeared in the laurels. "The statues +come alive."</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 370px;"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a> +<img src="images/gs19.png" width="370" height="600" alt="THE MOVING STONE BEAST." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE MOVING STONE BEAST.</span> +</div> + +<p>There was a crunching of the little stones in +the gravel of the drive. Something enormously +long and darkly grey came crawling towards +him, slowly, heavily. The moon came out just +in time to show its shape. It was one of those +great lizards that you see at the Crystal Palace,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +made in stone, of the same awful size which +they were millions of years ago when they +were masters of the world, before Man was.</p> + +<p>"It can't see me," said Gerald. "I am not +afraid. <i>It's</i> come to life, too."</p> + +<p>As it writhed past him he reached out a hand +and touched the side of its gigantic tail. It +was of stone. It had not "come alive," as he +had fancied, but <i>was</i> alive in its stone. It +turned, however, at the touch; but Gerald also +had turned, and was running with all his speed +towards the house. Because at that stony +touch Fear had come into the garden and +almost caught him. It was Fear that he ran +from, and not the moving stone beast.</p> + +<p>He stood panting under the fifth window; +when he had climbed to the window-ledge by +the twisted ivy that clung to the wall, he looked +back over the grey slope—there was a splashing +at the fish-pool that had mirrored the stars—the +shape of the great stone beast was wallowing +in the shallows among the lily-pads.</p> + +<p>Once inside the room, Gerald turned for +another look. The fish-pond lay still and dark, +reflecting the moon. Through a gap in the +drooping willow the moonlight fell on a statue +that stood calm and motionless on its pedestal. +Everything was in its place now in the garden. +Nothing moved or stirred.</p> + +<p>"How extraordinarily rum!" said Gerald. "I +shouldn't have thought you <i>could</i> go to sleep +walking through a garden and dream—like +that."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + +<p>He shut the window, lit a match, and closed +the shutters. Another match showed him the +door. He turned the key, went out, locked the +door again, hung the key on its usual nail, and +crept to the end of the passage. Here he +waited, safe in his invisibility, till the dazzle +of the matches should have gone from his +eyes, and he be once more able to find his +way by the moonlight that fell in bright +patches on the floor through the barred, unshuttered +windows of the hall.</p> + +<p>"Wonder where the kitchen is," said Gerald. +He had quite forgotten that he was a detective. +He was only anxious to get home and tell the +others about that extraordinarily odd dream +that he had had in the gardens. "I suppose +it doesn't matter <i>what</i> doors I open. I'm invisible +all right still, I suppose? Yes; can't see +my hand before my face." He held up a hand +for the purpose. "Here goes!"</p> + +<p>He opened many doors, wandered into long +rooms with furniture dressed in brown holland +covers that looked white in that strange light, +rooms with chandeliers hanging in big bags from +the high ceilings, rooms whose walls were alive +with pictures, rooms whose walls were deadened +with rows on rows of old books, state bedrooms +in whose great plumed four-posters Queen +Elizabeth had no doubt slept. (That Queen, by +the way, must have been very little at home, for +she seems to have slept in every old house in +England.) But he could not find the kitchen. +At last a door opened on stone steps that went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +up—there was a narrow stone passage—steps +that went down—a door with a light under it. +It was, somehow, difficult to put out one's hand +to that door and open it.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" Gerald told himself; "don't be +an ass! Are you invisible, or aren't you?"</p> + +<p>Then he opened the door, and some one inside +said something in a sudden rough growl.</p> + +<p>Gerald stood back, flattened against the wall, +as a man sprang to the doorway and flashed +a lantern into the passage.</p> + +<p>"All right," said the man, with almost a sob +of relief. "It was only the door swung open, it's +that heavy—that's all."</p> + +<p>"Blow the door!" said another growling voice; +"blessed if I didn't think it was a fair cop that +time."</p> + +<p>They closed the door again. Gerald did not +mind. In fact, he rather preferred that it should +be so. He didn't like the look of those men. +There was an air of threat about them. In their +presence even invisibility seemed too thin a disguise. +And Gerald had seen as much as he +wanted to see. He had seen that he had been +right about the gang. By wonderful luck—beginner's +luck, a card-player would have told +him—he had discovered a burglary on the very +first night of his detective career. The men were +taking silver out of two great chests, wrapping +it in rags, and packing it in baize sacks. The +door of the room was of iron six inches thick. +It was, in fact, the strong-room, and these men +had picked the lock. The tools they had done it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +with lay on the floor, on a neat cloth roll, such +as wood-carvers keep their chisels in.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up!" Gerald heard. "You needn't +take all night over it."</p> + +<p>The silver rattled slightly. "You're a rattling +of them trays like bloomin' castanets," said the +gruffest voice. Gerald turned and went away, +very carefully and very quickly. And it is a +most curious thing that, though he couldn't find +the way to the servants' wing when he had +nothing else to think of, yet now, with his mind +full, so to speak, of silver forks and silver cups, +and the question of who might be coming after +him down those twisting passages, he went +straight as an arrow to the door that led from +the hall to the place he wanted to get to.</p> + +<p>As he went the happenings took words in +his mind.</p> + +<p>"The fortunate detective," he told himself, +"having succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, +himself left the spot in search of assistance."</p> + +<p>But what assistance? There were, no doubt, +men in the house, also the aunt; but he could +not warn them. He was too hopelessly invisible +to carry any weight with strangers. The assistance +of Mabel would not be of much value. +The police? Before they could be got—and +the getting of them presented difficulties—the +burglars would have cleared away with their +sacks of silver.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 438px;"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a> +<img src="images/gs20.png" width="438" height="500" alt="THE MEN WERE TAKING SILVER OUT OF TWO GREAT CHESTS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE MEN WERE TAKING SILVER OUT OF TWO GREAT CHESTS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Gerald stopped and thought hard; he held his +head with both hands to do it. You know the +way—the same as you sometimes do for simple<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +equations or the dates of the battles of the Civil +War.</p> + +<p>Then with pencil, note-book, a window-ledge, +and all the cleverness he could find at the +moment, he wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>You know the room where the silver is. +Burglars are burgling it, the thick door is picked. +Send a man for police. I will follow the burglars +if they get away ere police arrive on the spot.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>He hesitated a moment, and ended—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>From a Friend—this is not a sell.</i>"</p></div> + +<p>This letter, tied tightly round a stone by means +of a shoe-lace, thundered through the window of +the room where Mabel and her aunt, in the +ardour of reunion, were enjoying a supper of +unusual charm—stewed plums, cream, sponge-cakes, +custard in cups, and cold bread-and-butter +pudding.</p> + +<p>Gerald, in hungry invisibility, looked wistfully +at the supper before he threw the stone. He +waited till the shrieks had died away, saw the +stone picked up, the warning letter read.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said the aunt, growing calmer. +"How wicked! Of course it's a hoax."</p> + +<p>"Oh! do send for the police, like he says," +wailed Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Like who says?" snapped the aunt.</p> + +<p>"Whoever it is," Mabel moaned.</p> + +<p>"Send for the police at once," said Gerald, +outside, in the manliest voice he could find.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You'll only blame yourself if you don't. I +can't do any more for you."</p> + +<p>"I—I'll set the dogs on you!" cried the aunt.</p> + +<p>"Oh, auntie, <i>don't!</i>" Mabel was dancing with +agitation. "It's true—I know it's true. Do—do +wake Bates!"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe a word of it," said the aunt. +No more did Bates when, owing to Mabel's persistent +worryings, he was awakened. But when +he had seen the paper, and had to choose +whether he'd go to the strong-room and see that +there really wasn't anything to believe or go for +the police on his bicycle, he <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'choose'">chose</ins> the latter +course.</p> + +<p>When the police arrived the strong-room door +stood ajar, and the silver, or as much of it as +three men could carry, was gone.</p> + +<p>Gerald's note-book and pencil came into play +again later on that night. It was five in the +morning before he crept into bed, tired out and +cold as a stone.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>"Master Gerald!"—it was Eliza's voice in his +ears—"it's seven o'clock and another fine day, +and there's been another burglary—— My cats +alive!" she screamed, as she drew up the blind +and turned towards the bed; "look at his bed, +all crocked with black, and him not there! Oh, +Jimminy!" It was a scream this time. Kathleen +came running from her room; Jimmy sat up in +his bed and rubbed his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Whatever is it?" Kathleen cried.</p> + +<p>"I dunno when I 'ad such a turn." Eliza sat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +down heavily on a box as she spoke. "First +thing his bed all empty and black as the chimley +back, and him not in it, and then when I looks +again he <i>is</i> in it all the time. I must be going +silly. I thought as much when I heard them +haunting angel voices yesterday morning. But +I'll tell Mam'selle of you, my lad, with your +tricks, you may rely on that. Blacking yourself +all over like a dirty nigger and crocking up your +clean sheets and pillow-cases. It's going back +of beyond, this is."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Gerald slowly; "I'm going +to tell you something."</p> + +<p>Eliza simply snorted, and that was rude of +her; but then, she had had a shock and had not +got over it.</p> + +<p>"Can you keep a secret?" asked Gerald, very +earnest through the grey of his partly rubbed-off +blacklead.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Eliza.</p> + +<p>"Then keep it and I'll give you two bob."</p> + +<p>"But what was you going to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"That. About the two bob and the secret. +And you keep your mouth shut."</p> + +<p>"I didn't ought to take it," said Eliza, holding +out her hand eagerly. "Now you get up, +and mind you wash all the corners, Master +Gerald."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad you're safe," said Kathleen, +when Eliza had gone.</p> + +<p>"You didn't seem to care much last night," +said Gerald coldly.</p> + +<p>"I can't think how I let you go. I didn't care<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +last night. But when I woke this morning and +remembered!"</p> + +<p>"There, that'll do—it'll come off on you," said +Gerald through the reckless hugging of his +sister.</p> + +<p>"How did you get visible?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"It just happened when she called me—the +ring came off."</p> + +<p>"Tell us all about everything," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," said Gerald mysteriously.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>"Where's the ring?" Jimmy asked after +breakfast. "<i>I</i> want to have a try now."</p> + +<p>"I—I forgot it," said Gerald; "I expect it's in +the bed somewhere."</p> + +<p>But it wasn't. Eliza had made the bed.</p> + +<p>"I'll swear there aint no ring there," she said. +"I should 'a' seen it if there had 'a' been."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'>"<span class="smcap">Search</span> and research proving vain," said +Gerald, when every corner of the bedroom had +been turned out and the ring had not been +found, "the noble detective hero of our tale +remarked that he would have other fish to fry +in half a jiff, and if the rest of you want to hear +about last night...."</div> + +<p>"Let's keep it till we get to Mabel," said +Kathleen heroically.</p> + +<p>"The assignation was ten-thirty, wasn't it? +Why shouldn't Gerald gas as we go along? I +don't suppose anything very much happened, +anyhow." This, of course, was Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"That shows," remarked Gerald sweetly, "how +much <i>you</i> know. The melancholy Mabel will +await the tryst without success, as far as this +one is concerned. 'Fish, fish, other fish—other +fish I fry!'" he warbled to the tune of +"Cherry Ripe," till Kathleen could have pinched +him.</p> + +<p>Jimmy turned coldly away, remarking, +"When you've quite done."</p> + +<p>But Gerald went on singing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"'Where the lips of Johnson smile,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There's the land of Cherry Isle.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Other fish, other fish,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Fish I fry.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Stately Johnson, come and buy!'"</span><br /> +</div> + +<p>"How can you," asked Kathleen, "be so +aggravating?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Gerald, returning to prose. +"Want of sleep or intoxication—of success, I +mean. Come where no one can hear us.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"Oh, come to some island where no one can hear,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And beware of the keyhole that's glued to an ear,"</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>he whispered, opened the door suddenly, and +there, sure enough, was Eliza, stooping without. +She flicked feebly at the wainscot with a duster, +but concealment was vain.</div> + +<p>"You know what listeners never hear," said +Jimmy severely.</p> + +<p>"I didn't, then—so there!" said Eliza, whose +listening ears were crimson. So they passed +out, and up the High Street, to sit on the +churchyard wall and dangle their legs. And all +the way Gerald's lips were shut into a thin, +obstinate line.</p> + +<p>"<i>Now</i>," said Kathleen. "Oh, Jerry, don't be +a goat! I'm simply dying to hear what +happened."</p> + +<p>"That's better," said Gerald, and he told his +story. As he told it some of the white mystery +and magic of the moonlit gardens got into his +voice and his words, so that when he told of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +statues that came alive, and the great beast +that was alive through all its stone, Kathleen +thrilled responsive, clutching his arm, and even +Jimmy ceased to kick the wall with his boot +heels, and listened open-mouthed.</p> + +<p>Then came the thrilling tale of the burglars, +and the warning letter flung into the peaceful +company of Mabel, her aunt, and the bread-and-butter +pudding. Gerald told the story with the +greatest enjoyment and such fulness of detail +that the church clock chimed half-past eleven as +he said, "Having done all that human agency +could do, and further help being despaired of, +our gallant young detective—— Hullo, there's +Mabel!"</p> + +<p>There was. The tail-board of a cart shed her +almost at their feet.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't wait any longer," she explained, +"when you didn't come. And I got a lift. +Has anything more happened? The burglars +had gone when Bates got to the strong-room."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say all that wheeze is +<i>real?</i>" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"Of course it's real," said Kathleen. "Go on, +Jerry. He's just got to where he threw the +stone into your bread-and-butter pudding, +Mabel. Go on."</p> + +<p>Mabel climbed on to the wall. "You've got +visible again quicker than I did," she said.</p> + +<p>Gerald nodded and resumed:</p> + +<p>"Our story must be told in as few words as +possible, owing to the fish-frying taking place at +twelve, and it's past the half-hour now. Having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +left his missive to do its warning work, Gerald de +Sherlock Holmes sped back, wrapped in invisibility, +to the spot where by the light of their +dark-lanterns the burglars were still—still +burgling with the utmost punctuality and +despatch. I didn't see any sense in running +into danger, so I just waited outside the passage +where the steps are—you know?"</p> + +<p>Mabel nodded.</p> + +<p>"Presently they came out, very cautiously, of +course, and looked about them. They didn't see +me—so deeming themselves unobserved they +passed in silent Indian file along the passage—one +of the sacks of silver grazed my front part—and +out into the night."</p> + +<p>"But which way?"</p> + +<p>"Through the little looking-glass room where +you looked at yourself when you were invisible. +The hero followed swiftly on his invisible tennis-shoes. +The three miscreants instantly sought +the shelter of the groves and passed stealthily +among the rhododendrons and across the park, +and"—his voice dropped and he looked straight +before him at the pinky convolvulus netting a +heap of stones beyond the white dust of the +road—"the stone things that come alive, they +kept looking out from between bushes and +under trees—and <i>I</i> saw them all right, but they +didn't see me. They saw the burglars though, +right enough; but the burglars couldn't see +them. Rum, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"The stone things?" Mabel had to have +them explained to her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> never saw them come alive," she said, +"and I've been in the gardens in the evening as +often as often."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> saw them," said Gerald stiffly.</p> + +<p>"I know, I know," Mabel hastened to put +herself right with him: "what I mean to say is +I shouldn't wonder if they're only visible when +you're <i>in</i>visible—the liveness of them, I mean, +not the stoniness."</p> + +<p>Gerald understood, and I'm sure I hope +you do.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't wonder if you're right," he said. +"The castle garden's enchanted right enough; +but what I should like to know is <i>how</i> and why. +I say, come on, I've got to catch Johnson before +twelve. We'll walk as far as the market and +then we'll have to run for it."</p> + +<p>"But go on with the adventure," said Mabel. +"You can talk as we go. Oh, do—it is so +awfully thrilling!"</p> + +<p>This pleased Gerald, of course.</p> + +<p>"Well, I just followed, you know, like in a +dream, and they got out the cavy way—you +know, where we got in—and I jolly well thought +I'd lost them; I had to wait till they'd moved +off down the road so that they shouldn't hear +me rattling the stones, and I had to tear to +catch them up. I took my shoes off—I expect +my stockings are done for. And I followed and +followed and followed and they went through +the place where the poor people live, and right +down to the river. And—— I say, we must run +for it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>So the story stopped and the running began.</p> + +<p>They caught Johnson in his own back-yard +washing at a bench against his own back-door.</p> + +<p>"Look here, Johnson," Gerald said, "what'll +you give me if I put you up to winning that +fifty pounds reward?"</p> + +<p>"Halves," said Johnson promptly, "and a +clout 'longside your head if you was coming +any of your nonsense over me."</p> + +<p>"It's <i>not</i> nonsense," said Gerald very impressively. +"If you'll let us in I'll tell you all about +it. And when you've caught the burglars and +got the swag back you just give me a quid for +luck. I won't ask for more."</p> + +<p>"Come along in, then," said Johnson, "if the +young ladies'll excuse the towel. But I bet +you <i>do</i> want something more off of me. Else +why not claim the reward yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Great is the wisdom of Johnson—he speaks +winged words." The children were all in the +cottage now, and the door was shut. "I want +you never to let on who told you. Let them +think it was your own unaided pluck and farsightedness."</p> + +<p>"Sit you down," said Johnson, "and if you're +kidding you'd best send the little gells home +afore I begin on you."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 470px;"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a> +<img src="images/gs21.png" width="470" height="500" alt=""LOOK HERE, JOHNSON," GERALD SAID, "WHAT'LL YOU GIVE ME IF I PUT YOU UP TO WINNING THAT FIFTY POUNDS REWARD?"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"LOOK HERE, JOHNSON," GERALD SAID, "WHAT'LL YOU GIVE ME IF I PUT YOU UP TO WINNING THAT FIFTY POUNDS REWARD?"</span> +</div> + +<p>"I am not kidding," replied Gerald loftily, +"never less. And any one but a policeman would +see why I don't want any one to know it was me. +I found it out at dead of night, in a place where +I wasn't supposed to be; and there'd be a +beastly row if they found out at home about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +me being out nearly all night. <i>Now</i> do you see, +my bright-eyed daisy?"</p> + +<p>Johnson was now too interested, as Jimmy +said afterwards, to mind what silly names he +was called. He said he did see—and asked to +see more.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you ask any questions, then. +I'll tell you all it's good for you to know. Last +night about eleven I was at Yalding Towers. +No—it doesn't matter how I got there or what +I got there for—and there was a window open +and I got in, and there was a light. And it +was in the strong-room, and there were three +men, putting silver in a bag."</p> + +<p>"Was it you give the warning, and they sent +for the police?" Johnson was leaning eagerly +forward, a hand on each knee.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that was me. You can let them think +it was you, if you like. You were off duty, +weren't you?"</p> + +<p>"I was," said Johnson, "in the arms of +Murphy——"</p> + +<p>"Well, the police didn't come quick enough. +But <i>I</i> was there—a lonely detective. And I +followed them."</p> + +<p>"You did?"</p> + +<p>"And I saw them hide the booty and I know +the other stuff from Houghton Court's in the +same place, and I heard them arrange about +when to take it away."</p> + +<p>"Come and show me where," said Johnson, +jumping up so quickly that his Windsor +arm-chair fell over backwards, with a crack, +on the red-brick floor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not so," said Gerald calmly; "if you go +near the spot before the appointed time you'll +find the silver, but you'll never catch the +thieves."</p> + +<p>"You're right there." The policeman picked +up his chair and sat down in it again. +"Well?"</p> + +<p>"Well, there's to be a motor to meet them +in the lane beyond the boat-house by +Sadler's Rents at one o'clock to-night. They'll +get the things out at half-past twelve and +take them along in a boat. So now's your +chance to fill your pockets with chink and +cover yourself with honour and glory."</p> + +<p>"So help me!"—Johnson was pensive and +doubtful still—"so help me! you <i>couldn't</i> have +made all this up out of your head."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I could. But I didn't. Now look +here. It's the chance of your lifetime, Johnson! +A quid for me, and a still tongue for you, and +the job's done. Do you agree?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>I</i> agree right enough," said Johnson. "I +<i>agree</i>. But if you're coming any of your +larks——"</p> + +<p>"Can't you <i>see</i> he isn't?" Kathleen put in +impatiently. "He's not a liar—we none of +us are."</p> + +<p>"If you're not on, say so," said Gerald, "and +I'll find another policeman with more sense."</p> + +<p>"I could split about you being out all night," +said Johnson.</p> + +<p>"But you wouldn't be so ungentlemanly," +said Mabel brightly. "Don't you be so unbelieving,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +when we're trying to do you a +good turn."</p> + +<p>"If I were you," Gerald advised, "I'd go +to the place where the silver is, with two other +men. You could make a nice little ambush +in the wood-yard—it's close there. And I'd +have two or three more men up trees in the +lane to wait for the motor-car."</p> + +<p>"You ought to have been in the force, you +ought," said Johnson admiringly; "but s'pose +it <i>was</i> a hoax!"</p> + +<p>"Well, then you'd have made an ass of yourself—I +don't suppose it ud be the first time," +said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Are you on?" said Gerald in haste. "Hold +your jaw, Jimmy, you idiot!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Yes</i>," said Johnson.</p> + +<p>"Then when you're on duty you go down +to the wood-yard, and the place where you +see me blow my nose is <i>the</i> place. The sacks +are tied with string to the posts under the +water. You just stalk by in your dignified +beauty and make a note of the spot. That's +where glory waits you, and when Fame elates +you and you're a sergeant, please remember +me."</p> + +<p>Johnson said he was blessed. He said it +more than once, and then remarked that he +was on, and added that he must be off that +instant minute.</p> + +<p>Johnson's cottage lies just out of the +town beyond the blacksmith's forge and the +children had come to it through the wood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +They went back the same way, and then +down through the town, and through its +narrow, unsavoury streets to the towing-path +by the timber yard. Here they ran along +the trunks of the big trees, peeped into the +saw-pit, and—the men were away at dinner +and this was a favourite play place of every +boy within miles—made themselves a see-saw +with a fresh cut, sweet-smelling pine plank +and an elm-root.</p> + +<p>"What a ripping place!" said Mabel, breathless +on the see-saw's end. "I believe I like this +better than pretending games or even magic."</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Jimmy. "Jerry, don't keep +sniffing so—you'll have no nose left."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it," Gerald answered: "I daren't +use my hankey for fear Johnson's on the look-out +somewhere unseen. I wish I'd thought of +some other signal." Sniff! "No, nor I +shouldn't want to now if I hadn't got not to. +That's what's so rum. The moment I got down +here and remembered what I'd said about +the signal I began to have a cold—and—— Thank +goodness! here he is."</p> + +<p>The children, with a fine air of unconcern, +abandoned the see-saw.</p> + +<p>"Follow my leader!" Gerald cried, and ran +along a barked oak trunk, the others following. +In and out and round about ran the file of +children, over heaps of logs, under the jutting +ends of piled planks, and just as the policeman's +heavy boots trod the towing-path Gerald halted +at the end of a little landing-stage of rotten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +boards, with a rickety handrail, cried "Pax!" +and blew his nose with loud fervour.</p> + +<p>"Morning," he said immediately.</p> + +<p>"Morning," said Johnson. "Got a cold, aint +you?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! I shouldn't have a cold if I'd got boots +like yours," returned Gerald admiringly. "Look +at them. Any one ud know your fairy footstep +a mile off. How do you ever get near enough +to any one to arrest them?" He skipped off the +landing-stage, whispered as he passed Johnson, +"Courage, promptitude, and despatch. That's +the place," and was off again, the active leader +of an active procession.</p> + +<p>"We've brought a friend home to dinner," +said Kathleen, when Eliza opened the door. +"Where's Mademoiselle?"</p> + +<p>"Gone to see Yalding Towers. To-day's +show day, you know. An' just you hurry +over your dinners. It's my afternoon out, +and my gentleman friend don't like it if he's +kept waiting."</p> + +<p>"All right, we'll eat like lightning," Gerald +promised. "Set another place, there's an angel."</p> + +<p>They kept their word. The dinner—it was +minced veal and potatoes and rice-pudding, +perhaps the dullest food in the world—was over +in a quarter of an hour.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Mabel, when Eliza and a jug +of hot water had disappeared up the stairs +together, "where's the ring? I ought to put +it back."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 432px;"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a> +<img src="images/gs22.png" width="432" height="500" alt="GERALD HALTED AT THE END OF A LITTLE LANDING-STAGE OF ROTTEN BOARDS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GERALD HALTED AT THE END OF A LITTLE LANDING-STAGE OF ROTTEN BOARDS.</span> +</div> + +<p>"I haven't had a turn yet," said Jimmy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +"When we find it Cathy and I ought to have +turns same as you and Gerald did."</p> + +<p>"When you find it——?" Mabel's pale face +turned paler between her dark locks.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry—we're all very sorry," began +Kathleen, and then the story of the losing had +to be told.</p> + +<p>"You couldn't have looked properly," Mabel +protested. "It can't have vanished."</p> + +<p>"You don't know what it can do—no more do +we. It's no use getting your quills up, fair lady. +Perhaps vanishing itself is just what it does do. +You see, it came off my hand in the bed. We +looked everywhere."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind if <i>I</i> looked?" Mabel's eyes +implored her little hostess. "You see, if it's lost +it's my fault. It's almost the same as stealing. +That Johnson would say it was just the same. +I know he would."</p> + +<p>"Let's all look again," said Mabel, jumping up. +"We <i>were</i> rather in a hurry this morning."</p> + +<p>So they looked, and they looked. In the +bed, under the bed, under the carpet, under the +furniture. They shook the curtains, they explored +the corners, and found dust and flue, +but no ring. They looked, and they looked. +Everywhere they looked. Jimmy even looked +fixedly at the ceiling, as though he thought the +ring might have bounced up there and stuck. +But it hadn't.</p> + +<p>"Then," said Mabel at last, "your housemaid +must have stolen it. That's all. I shall tell her +I think so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p>And she would have done it too, but at that +moment the front door banged and they knew +that Eliza had gone forth in all the glory of her +best things to meet her "gentleman friend."</p> + +<p>"It's no use"—Mabel was almost in tears; +"look here—will you leave me alone? Perhaps +you others looking distracts me. And I'll go +over every inch of the room by myself."</p> + +<p>"Respecting the emotion of their guest, the +kindly charcoal-burners withdrew," said Gerald. +And they closed the door softly from the outside +on Mabel and her search.</p> + +<p>They waited for her, of course—politeness +demanded it, and besides, they had to stay at +home to let Mademoiselle in; though it was a +dazzling day, and Jimmy had just remembered +that Gerald's pockets were full of the money +earned at the fair, and that nothing had yet +been bought with that money, except a few +buns in which he had had no share. And of +course they waited impatiently.</p> + +<p>It seemed about an hour, and was really quite +ten minutes, before they heard the bedroom +door open and Mabel's feet on the stairs.</p> + +<p>"She hasn't found it," Gerald said.</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"The way she walks," said Gerald. You can, +in fact, almost always tell whether the thing +has been found that people have gone to look +for by the sound of their feet as they return. +Mabel's feet said "No go," as plain as they +could speak. And her face confirmed the cheerless +news.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + +<p>A sudden and violent knocking at the back +door prevented any one from having to be polite +about how sorry they were, or fanciful about +being sure the ring would turn up soon.</p> + +<p>All the servants except Eliza were away on +their holidays, so the children went together to +open the door, because, as Gerald said, if it was +the baker they could buy a cake from him and +eat it for dessert. "That kind of dinner sort of +<i>needs</i> dessert," he said.</p> + +<p>But it was not the baker. When they opened +the door they saw in the paved court where the +pump is, and the dust-bin, and the water-butt, a +young man, with his hat very much on one side, +his mouth open under his fair bristly moustache, +and his eyes as nearly round as human eyes can +be. He wore a suit of a bright mustard colour, +a blue necktie, and a goldish watch-chain across +his waistcoat. His body was thrown back and +his right arm stretched out towards the door, +and his expression was that of a person who is +being dragged somewhere against his will. He +looked so strange that Kathleen tried to shut +the door in his face, murmuring, "Escaped +insane." But the door would not close. There +was something in the way.</p> + +<p>"Leave go of me!" said the young man.</p> + +<p>"Ho yus! I'll leave go of you!" It was the +voice of Eliza—but no Eliza could be seen.</p> + +<p>"Who's got hold of you?" asked Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"<i>She</i> has, miss," replied the unhappy stranger.</p> + +<p>"Who's she?" asked Kathleen, to gain time, +as she afterwards explained, for she now knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +well enough that what was keeping the door +open was Eliza's unseen foot.</p> + +<p>"My fyongsay, miss. At least it sounds like +her voice, and it feels like her bones, but something's +come over me, miss, an' I can't see her."</p> + +<p>"That's what he keeps on saying," said Eliza's +voice. "E's my gentleman friend; is 'e gone +dotty, or is it me?"</p> + +<p>"Both, I shouldn't wonder," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Eliza, "you call yourself a man; +you look me in the face and say you can't +see me."</p> + +<p>"Well—I can't," said the wretched gentleman +friend.</p> + +<p>"If <i>I'd</i> stolen a ring," said Gerald, looking at +the sky, "I should go indoors and be quiet, not +stand at the back door and make an exhibition +of myself."</p> + +<p>"Not much exhibition about her," whispered +Jimmy; "good old ring!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't stolen <i>any</i>thing," said the gentleman +friend. "Here, you leave me be. It's my +eyes has gone wrong. Leave go of me, d'ye +hear?"</p> + +<p>Suddenly his hand dropped and he staggered +back against the water-butt. Eliza had "left go" +of him. She pushed past the children, shoving +them aside with her invisible elbows. Gerald +caught her by the arm with one hand, felt for +her ear with the other, and whispered. "You +stand still and don't say a word. If you do——well, +what's to stop me from sending for the +police?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> +<img src="images/gs23.png" width="452" height="510" alt="HE STAGGERED BACK AGAINST THE WATER-BUTT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HE STAGGERED BACK AGAINST THE WATER-BUTT.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>Eliza did not know what there was to stop +him. So she did as she was told, and stood +invisible and silent, save for a sort of blowing, +snorting noise peculiar to her when she was out +of breath.</p> + +<p>The mustard-coloured young man had recovered +his balance, and stood looking at the +children with eyes, if possible, rounder than +before.</p> + +<p>"What <i>is</i> it?" he gasped feebly. "What's +up? What's it all about?"</p> + +<p>"If you don't know, I'm afraid we can't tell +you," said Gerald politely.</p> + +<p>"Have I been talking very strange-like?" he +asked, taking off his hat and passing his hand +over his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Very," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"I hope I haven't said anything that wasn't +good manners," he said anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Kathleen. "You only said +your <i>fiancée</i> had hold of your hand, and that +you couldn't see her."</p> + +<p>"No more I can."</p> + +<p>"No more can we," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"But I couldn't have dreamed it, and then +come along here making a penny show of myself +like this, could I?"</p> + +<p>"You know best," said Gerald courteously.</p> + +<p>"But," the mustard-coloured victim almost +screamed, "do you mean to tell me...."</p> + +<p>"I don't mean to tell you anything," said +Gerald quite truly, "but I'll give you a bit of +advice. You go home and lie down a bit and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +put a wet rag on your head. You'll be all right +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"But I haven't——"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> should," said Mabel; "the sun's very hot, +you know."</p> + +<p>"I feel all right now," he said, "but—well, +I can only say I'm sorry, that's all I can say. +I've never been taken like this before, miss. +I'm not subject to it—don't you think that. +But I could have sworn Eliza—— Aint she +gone out to meet me?"</p> + +<p>"Eliza's indoors," said Mabel. "She can't +come out to meet anybody to-day."</p> + +<p>"You won't tell her about me carrying on this +way, will you, miss? It might set her against +me if she thought I was liable to fits, which I +never was from a child."</p> + +<p>"We won't tell Eliza anything about you."</p> + +<p>"And you'll overlook the liberty?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. We know you couldn't help it," +said Kathleen. "You go home and lie down. +I'm sure you must need it. Good-afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon, I'm sure, miss," he said +dreamily. "All the same I can feel the print of +her finger-bones on my hand while I'm saying +it. And you won't let it get round to my boss—my +employer I mean? Fits of all sorts are +against a man in any trade."</p> + +<p>"No, no, no, it's all right—<i>goodbye</i>," said +every one. And a silence fell as he went slowly +round the water-butt and the green yard-gate +shut behind him. The silence was broken by +Eliza.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Give me up!" she said. "Give me up to +break my heart in a prison cell!"</p> + +<p>There was a sudden splash, and a round wet +drop lay on the doorstep.</p> + +<p>"Thunder shower," said Jimmy; but it was a +tear from Eliza.</p> + +<p>"Give me up," she went on, "give me up"—splash—"but +don't let me be took here in the +town where I'm known and respected"—splash. +"I'll walk ten miles to be took by a strange +police—not Johnson as keeps company with my +own cousin"—splash. "But I do thank you for +one thing. You didn't tell Elf as I'd stolen the +ring. And I didn't"—splash—"I only sort of +borrowed it, it being my day out, and my +gentleman friend such a toff, like you can see +for yourselves."</p> + +<p>The children had watched, spellbound, the +interesting tears that became visible as they +rolled off the invisible nose of the miserable +Eliza. Now Gerald roused himself, and spoke.</p> + +<p>"It's no use your talking," he said. "We +can't see you!"</p> + +<p>"That's what <i>he</i> said," said Eliza's voice, +"but——"</p> + +<p>"You can't see yourself," Gerald, went on. +"Where's your hand?"</p> + +<p>Eliza, no doubt, tried to see it, and of course +failed; for instantly, with a shriek that might +have brought the police if there had been any +about, she went into a violent fit of hysterics. +The children did what they could, everything +that they had read of in books as suitable to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +such occasions, but it is extremely difficult to do +the right thing with an invisible housemaid in +strong hysterics and her best clothes. That was +why the best hat was found, later on, to be +completely ruined, and why the best blue dress +was never quite itself again. And as they were +burning bits of the feather dusting-brush as +nearly under Eliza's nose as they could guess, a +sudden spurt of flame and a horrible smell, as the +flame died between the quick hands of Gerald, +showed but too plainly that Eliza's feather +boa had tried to help.</p> + +<p>It did help. Eliza "came to" with a deep +sob and said, "Don't burn me real ostrich +stole; I'm better now."</p> + +<p>They helped her up and she sat down on the +bottom step, and the children explained to her +very carefully and quite kindly that she really +was invisible, and that if you steal—or even +borrow—rings you can never be sure what will +happen to you.</p> + +<p>"But 'ave I got to go on stopping like this," +she moaned, when they had fetched the little +mahogany looking-glass from its nail over the +kitchen sink, and convinced her that she was +really invisible, "for ever and ever? An' we +was to a bin married come Easter. No one +won't marry a gell as 'e can't see. It aint +likely."</p> + +<p>"No, not for ever and ever," said Mabel +kindly, "but you've got to go through with +it—like measles. I expect you'll be all right +to-morrow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To-night, <i>I</i> think," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"We'll help you all we can, and not tell +any one," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Not even the police," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Now let's get Mademoiselle's tea ready," said +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"And ours," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Gerald, "we'll have our tea <i>out</i>. +We'll have a picnic and we'll take Eliza. I'll go +out and get the cakes."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> shan't eat no cake, Master Jerry," said +Eliza's voice, "so don't you think it. You'd see +it going down inside my chest. It wouldn't +be what I should call nice of me to have cake +showing through me in the open air. Oh, it's +a dreadful judgment—just for a borrow!"</p> + +<p>They reassured her, set the tea, deputed +Kathleen to let in Mademoiselle—who came +home tired and a little sad, it seemed—waited for +her and Gerald and the cakes, and started off for +Yalding Towers.</p> + +<p>"Picnic parties aren't allowed," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Ours will be," said Gerald briefly. "Now, +Eliza, you catch on to Kathleen's arm and +I'll walk behind to conceal your shadow. My +aunt! take your hat off. It makes your +shadow look like I don't know what. People +will think we're the county lunatic asylum +turned loose."</p> + +<p>It was then that the hat, becoming visible in +Kathleen's hand, showed how little of the +sprinkled water had gone where it was meant +to go—on Eliza's face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Me best 'at," said Eliza, and there was a +silence with sniffs in it.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Mabel, "you cheer up. Just +you think this is all a dream. It's just the kind +of thing you might dream if your conscience +had got pains in it about the ring."</p> + +<p>"But will I wake up again?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, you'll wake up again. Now we're +going to bandage your eyes and take you +through a very small door, and don't you resist, +or we'll bring a policeman into the dream like +a shot."</p> + +<p>I have not time to describe Eliza's entrance +into the cave. She went head first: the girls +propelled and the boys received her. If Gerald +had not thought of tying her hands some one +would certainly have been scratched. As it was +Mabel's hand was scraped between the cold rock +and a passionate boot-heel. Nor will I tell +you all that she said as they led her along the +fern-bordered gully and through the arch into +the wonderland of Italian scenery. She had but +little language left when they removed her +bandage under a weeping willow where a statue +of Diana, bow in hand, stood poised on one toe, +a most unsuitable attitude for archery, I have +always thought.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Gerald, "it's all over—nothing +but niceness now and cake and things."</p> + +<p>"It's time we did have our tea," said Jimmy. +And it was.</p> + +<p>Eliza, once convinced that her chest, though +invisible, was not transparent, and that her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +companions could not by looking through it +count how many buns she had eaten, made an +excellent meal. So did the others. If you want +really to enjoy your tea, have minced veal and +potatoes and rice-pudding for dinner, with +several hours of excitement to follow, and +take your tea late.</p> + +<p>The soft, cool green and grey of the garden +were changing—the green grew golden, the +shadows black, and the lake where the swans +were mirrored upside down, under the Temple +of Phœbus, was bathed in rosy light from the +little fluffy clouds that lay opposite the sunset.</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> pretty," said Eliza, "just like a picture-postcard, +aint it?—the tuppenny kind."</p> + +<p>"I ought to be getting home," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"I can't go home like this. I'd stay and be +a savage and live in that white hut if it had any +walls and doors," said Eliza.</p> + +<p>"She means the Temple of Dionysus," said +Mabel, pointing to it.</p> + +<p>The sun set suddenly behind the line of black +fir-trees on the top of the slope, and the white +temple, that had been pink, turned grey.</p> + +<p>"It would be a very nice place to live in even +as it is," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Draughty," said Eliza, "and law, what a lot +of steps to clean! What they make houses for +without no walls to 'em? Who'd live in——" +She broke off, stared, and added: "What's that?"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"That white thing coming down the steps. +Why, it's a young man in statooary."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The statues do come alive here, after sunset," +said Gerald in very matter-of-fact tones.</p> + +<p>"I see they do." Eliza did not seem at all +surprised or alarmed. "There's another of 'em. +Look at them little wings to his feet like +pigeons."</p> + +<p>"I expect that's Mercury," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"It's 'Hermes' under the statue that's got +wings on its feet," said Mabel, "but——"</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> don't see any statues," said Jimmy. "What +are you punching me for?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see?" Gerald whispered; but he +need not have been so troubled, for all Eliza's +attention was with her wandering eyes that +followed hither and thither the quick movements +of unseen statues. "Don't you see? +The statues come alive when the sun goes +down—and you can't see them unless you're +invisible—and <i>I</i>—if you <i>do</i> see them you're not +frightened—unless you <i>touch</i> them."</p> + +<p>"Let's get her to touch one and see," said +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"'E's lep' into the water," said Eliza in a rapt +voice. "My, can't he swim neither! And the +one with the pigeons' wings is flying all over +the lake having larks with 'im. I do call that +pretty. It's like cupids as you see on wedding-cakes. +And here's another of 'em, a little chap +with long ears and a baby deer galloping +alongside! An' look at the lady with the +biby, throwing it up and catching it like as +if it was a ball. I wonder she ain't afraid. +But it's pretty to see 'em."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 424px;"> +<img src="images/gs24.png" width="424" height="600" alt=""'E'S LEP' INTO THE WATER," SAID ELIZA IN A RAPT VOICE. "MY, CAN'T HE SWIM NEITHER!"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"'E'S LEP' INTO THE WATER," SAID ELIZA IN A RAPT VOICE. "MY, CAN'T HE SWIM NEITHER!"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>The broad park lay stretched before the +children in growing greyness and a stillness +that deepened. Amid the thickening shadows +they could see the statues gleam white and +motionless. But Eliza saw other things. She +watched in silence presently, and they watched +silently, and the evening fell like a veil that +grew heavier and blacker. And it was night. +And the moon came up above the trees.</p> + +<p>"Oh," cried Eliza suddenly, "here's the dear +little boy with the deer—he's coming right for +me, bless his heart!"</p> + +<p>Next moment she was screaming, and her +screams grew fainter and there was the sound +of swift boots on gravel.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" cried Gerald; "she touched it, +and then she was frightened. Just like I was. +Run! she'll send every one in the town mad if +she gets there like that. Just a voice and boots! +Run! Run!"</p> + +<p>They ran. But Eliza had the start of them. +Also when she ran on the grass they could not +hear her footsteps and had to wait for the +sound of leather on far-away gravel. Also +she was driven by fear, and fear drives fast.</p> + +<p>She went, it seemed, the nearest way, invisibly +through the waxing moonlight, seeing she only +knew what amid the glades and groves.</p> + +<p>"I'll stop here; see you to-morrow," gasped +Mabel, as the loud pursuers followed Eliza's +clatter across the terrace. "She's gone through +the stable yard."</p> + +<p>"The back way," Gerald panted as they turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +the corner of their own street, and he and +Jimmy swung in past the water-butt.</p> + +<p>An unseen but agitated presence seemed to +be fumbling with the locked back-door. The +church clock struck the half-hour.</p> + +<p>"Half-past nine," Gerald had just breath to +say. "Pull at the ring. Perhaps it'll come +off now."</p> + +<p>He spoke to the bare doorstep. But it was +Eliza, dishevelled, breathless, her hair coming +down, her collar crooked, her dress twisted +and disordered, who suddenly held out a hand—a +hand that they could see; and in the hand, +plainly visible in the moonlight, the dark circle +of the magic ring.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"'Alf a mo!" said Eliza's gentleman friend +next morning. He was waiting for her when +she opened the door with pail and hearthstone +in her hand. "Sorry you couldn't come out +yesterday."</p> + +<p>"So'm I." Eliza swept the wet flannel along +the top step. "What did you do?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a> +<img src="images/gs25.png" width="318" height="550" alt="IT WAS ELIZA, DISHEVELLED, BREATHLESS, HER HAIR COMING DOWN, HER COLLAR CROOKED, HER DRESS TWISTED AND DISORDERED, WHO SUDDENLY HELD OUT A HAND." title="" /> +<span class="caption">IT WAS ELIZA, DISHEVELLED, BREATHLESS, HER HAIR COMING DOWN, HER COLLAR CROOKED, HER DRESS TWISTED AND DISORDERED, WHO SUDDENLY HELD OUT A HAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>"I 'ad a bit of a headache," said the gentleman +friend. "I laid down most of the afternoon. +What were you up to?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing pertickler," said Eliza.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"Then it was all a dream," she said, when +he was gone; "but it'll be a lesson to me not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +to meddle with anybody's old ring again in a +hurry."</p> + +<p>"So they didn't tell 'er about me behaving +like I did," said he as he went—"sun, I suppose—like +our Army in India. I hope I aint going +to be liable to it, that's all!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Johnson</span> was the hero of the hour. It was he +who had tracked the burglars, laid his plans, +and recovered the lost silver. He had not +thrown the stone—public opinion decided that +Mabel and her aunt must have been mistaken +in supposing that there was a stone at all. But +he did not deny the warning letter. It was +Gerald who went out after breakfast to buy +the newspaper, and who read aloud to the +others the two columns of fiction which were +the <i>Liddlesby Observer's</i> report of the facts. +As he read every mouth opened wider and +wider, and when he ceased with "this gifted +fellow-townsman with detective instincts which +outrival those of Messrs. Lecoq and Holmes, +and whose promotion is now assured," there +was quite a blank silence.</div> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy, breaking it, "he doesn't +stick it on neither, does he?"</p> + +<p>"I feel," said Kathleen, "as if it was our fault—as +if it was us had told all these whoppers; +because if it hadn't been for you they couldn't +have, Jerry. How could he say all that?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gerald, trying to be fair, "you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +know, after all, the chap had to say something. +I'm glad I——" He stopped abruptly.</p> + +<p>"You're glad you what?"</p> + +<p>"No matter," said he, with an air of putting +away affairs of state. "Now, what are we +going to do to-day? The faithful Mabel +approaches; she will want her ring. And you +and Jimmy want it too. Oh, I know. Mademoiselle +hasn't had any attention paid to her +for more days than our hero likes to confess."</p> + +<p>"I wish you wouldn't always call yourself +'our hero,'" said Jimmy; "you aren't mine, +anyhow."</p> + +<p>"You're both of you <i>mine</i>," said Kathleen +hastily.</p> + +<p>"Good little girl." Gerald smiled annoyingly. +"Keep baby brother in a good temper till +Nursie comes back."</p> + +<p>"You're not going out without us?" Kathleen +asked in haste.</p> + +<div class='poem'> +"'I haste away,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">'Tis market day,'"</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>sang Gerald,</div> + +<div class='poem'> +"'And in the market there<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Buy roses for my fair.'</span><br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>If you want to come too, get your boots on, +and look slippy about it."</div> + +<p>"I don't want to come," said Jimmy, and +sniffed.</p> + +<p>Kathleen turned a despairing look on Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Oh, James, James," said Gerald sadly, "how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +difficult you make it for me to forget that +you're my little brother! If ever I treat you +like one of the other chaps, and rot you like +I should Turner or Moberley or any of my +pals—well, this is what comes of it."</p> + +<p>"You don't call them your baby brothers," +said Jimmy, and truly.</p> + +<p>"No; and I'll take precious good care I don't +call you it again. Come on, my hero and +heroine. The devoted Mesrour is your salaaming +slave."</p> + +<p>The three met Mabel opportunely at the corner +of the square where every Friday the stalls and +the awnings and the green umbrellas were +pitched, and poultry, pork, pottery, vegetables, +drapery, sweets, toys, tools, mirrors, and all +sorts of other interesting merchandise were +spread out on trestle tables, piled on carts +whose horses were stabled and whose shafts +were held in place by piled wooden cases, or +laid out, as in the case of crockery and hardware, +on the bare flagstones of the market-place.</p> + +<p>The sun was shining with great goodwill, +and, as Mabel remarked, "all Nature looked +smiling and gay." There were a few bunches +of flowers among the vegetables, and the +children hesitated, balanced in choice.</p> + +<p>"Mignonette is sweet," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Roses are roses," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Carnations are tuppence," said Jimmy; and +Gerald, sniffing among the bunches of tightly-tied +tea-roses, agreed that this settled it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>So the carnations were bought, a bunch of +yellow ones, like sulphur, a bunch of white ones +like clotted cream, and a bunch of red ones like +the cheeks of the doll that Kathleen never +played with. They took the carnations home, +and Kathleen's green hair-ribbon came in +beautifully for tying them up, which was +hastily done on the doorstep.</p> + +<p>Then discreetly Gerald knocked at the door +of the drawing-room, where Mademoiselle +seemed to sit all day.</p> + +<p>"Entrez!" came her voice; and Gerald +entered. She was not reading, as usual, but +bent over a sketch-book; on the table was +an open colour-box of un-English appearance, +and a box of that slate-coloured liquid so +familiar alike to the greatest artist in water-colours +and to the humblest child with a six-penny +paint-box.</p> + +<p>"With all of our loves," said Gerald, laying +the flowers down suddenly before her.</p> + +<p>"But it is that you are a dear child. For +this it must that I embrace you—no?" And +before Gerald could explain that he was too +old, she kissed him with little quick French +pecks on the two cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Are you painting?" he asked hurriedly, to +hide his annoyance at being treated like a baby.</p> + +<p>"I achieve a sketch of yesterday," she +answered; and before he had time to wonder +what yesterday would look like in a picture +she showed him a beautiful and exact sketch +of Yalding Towers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> +<img src="images/gs26.png" width="450" height="419" alt="SHE KISSED HIM WITH LITTLE QUICK FRENCH PECKS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SHE KISSED HIM WITH LITTLE QUICK FRENCH PECKS.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I say—ripping!" was the critic's comment. +"I say, mayn't the others come and +see?" The others came, including Mabel, who +stood awkwardly behind the rest, and looked +over Jimmy's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I say, you are clever," said Gerald respectfully.</p> + +<p>"To what good to have the talent, when +one must pass one's life at teaching the +infants?" said Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>"It must be fairly beastly," Gerald owned.</p> + +<p>"You, too, see the design?" Mademoiselle +asked Mabel, adding: "A friend from the +town, yes?"</p> + +<p>"How do you do?" said Mabel politely. +"No, I'm not from the town. I live at +Yalding Towers."</p> + +<p>The name seemed to impress Mademoiselle +very much. Gerald anxiously hoped in his +own mind that she was not a snob.</p> + +<p>"Yalding Towers," she repeated, "but this +is very extraordinary. Is it possible that you +are then of the family of Lord Yalding?"</p> + +<p>"He hasn't any family," said Mabel; "he's +not married."</p> + +<p>"I would say are you—how you say?—cousin—sister—niece?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mabel, flushing hotly, "I'm +nothing grand at all. I'm Lord Yalding's +housekeeper's niece."</p> + +<p>"But you know Lord Yalding, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mabel, "I've never seen him."</p> + +<p>"He comes then never to his château?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not since I've lived there. But he's coming +next week."</p> + +<p>"Why lives he not there?" Mademoiselle +asked.</p> + +<p>"Auntie say he's too poor," said Mabel, and +proceeded to tell the tale as she had heard it +in the housekeeper's room: how Lord Yalding's +uncle had left all the money he could +leave away from Lord Yalding to Lord Yalding's +second cousin, and poor Lord Yalding +had only just enough to keep the old place +in repair, and to live very quietly indeed somewhere +else, but not enough to keep the house +open or to live there; and how he couldn't +sell the house because it was "in tale."</p> + +<p>"What is it then—in tail?" asked Mademoiselle.</p> + +<p>"In a tale that the lawyers write out," +said Mabel, proud of her knowledge and +flattered by the deep interest of the French +governess; "and when once they've put your +house in one of their tales you can't sell it +or give it away, but you have to leave it to +your son, even if you don't want to."</p> + +<p>"But how his uncle could he be so cruel—to +leave him the château and no money?" Mademoiselle +asked; and Kathleen and Jimmy stood +amazed at the sudden keenness of her interest +in what seemed to them the dullest story.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can tell you that too," said Mabel. +"Lord Yalding wanted to marry a lady his +uncle didn't want him to, a barmaid or a +ballet lady or something, and he wouldn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +give her up, and his uncle said, 'Well then,' +and left everything to the cousin."</p> + +<p>"And you say he is not married."</p> + +<p>"No—the lady went into a convent; I expect +she's bricked-up alive by now."</p> + +<p>"Bricked——?"</p> + +<p>"In a wall, you know," said Mabel, pointing +explainingly at the pink and gilt roses of the +wall-paper, "shut up to kill them. That's what +they do to you in convents."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Mademoiselle; "in convents +are very kind good women; there is +but one thing in convents that is detestable—the +locks on the doors. Sometimes people cannot +get out, especially when they are very +young and their relations have placed them +there for their welfare and happiness. But +brick—how you say it?—enwalling ladies to +kill them. No—it does itself never. And +this Lord—he did not then seek his lady?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes—he sought her right enough," +Mabel assured her; "but there are millions +of convents, you know, and he had no idea +where to look, and they sent back his letters +from the post-office, and——"</p> + +<p>"Ciel!" cried Mademoiselle, "but it seems +that one knows all in the housekeeper's +saloon."</p> + +<p>"Pretty well all," said Mabel simply.</p> + +<p>"And you think he will find her? No?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll find her all right," said Mabel, +"when he's old and broken down, you know—and +dying; and then a gentle sister of charity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +will soothe his pillow, and just when he's dying +she'll reveal herself and say: 'My own lost love!' +and his face will light up with a wonderful joy +and he'll expire with her beloved name on his +parched lips."</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle's was the silence of sheer +astonishment. "You do the prophesy, it +appears?" she said at last.</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Mabel, "I got that out of +a book. I can tell you lots more fatal love +stories any time you like."</p> + +<p>The French governess gave a little jump, as +though she had suddenly remembered something.</p> + +<p>"It is nearly dinner-time," she said. "Your +friend—Mabelle, yes—will be your convivial, +and in her honour we will make a little +feast. My beautiful flowers—put them to the +water, Kathleen. I run to buy the cakes. +Wash the hands, all, and be ready when I +return."</p> + +<p>Smiling and nodding to the children, she left +them, and ran up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Just as if she was young," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"She <i>is</i> young," said Mabel. "Heaps of ladies +have offers of marriage when they're no younger +than her. I've seen lots of weddings too, with +much older brides. And why didn't you tell me +she was so beautiful?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Is</i> she?" asked Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Of course she is; and what a darling to +think of cakes for me, and calling me a convivial!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look here," said Gerald, "I call this jolly +decent of her. You know, governesses never +have more than the meanest pittance, just +enough to sustain life, and here she is spending +her little all on us. Supposing we just don't go +out to-day, but play with her instead. I expect +she's most awfully bored really."</p> + +<p>"Would she really like it?" Kathleen wondered. +"Aunt Emily says grown-ups never +really like playing. They do it to please us."</p> + +<p>"They little know," Gerald answered, "how +often we do it to please them."</p> + +<p>"We've got to do that dressing-up with the +Princess clothes anyhow—we said we would," +said Kathleen. "Let's treat her to that."</p> + +<p>"Rather near tea-time," urged Jimmy, "so +that there'll be a fortunate interruption and the +play won't go on for ever."</p> + +<p>"I suppose all the things are safe?" Mabel +asked.</p> + +<p>"Quite. I told you where I put them. Come +on, Jimmy; let's help lay the table. We'll get +Eliza to put out the best china."</p> + +<p>They went.</p> + +<p>"It was lucky," said Gerald, struck by a +sudden thought, "that the burglars didn't go +for the diamonds in the treasure-chamber."</p> + +<p>"They couldn't," said Mabel almost in a +whisper; "they didn't know about them. I +don't believe anybody knows about them, except +me—and you, and you're sworn to secrecy." +This, you will remember, had been done almost +at the beginning. "I know aunt doesn't know.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +I just found out the spring by accident. Lord +Yalding's kept the secret well."</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd got a secret like that to keep," +said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"If the burglars <i>do</i> know," said Mabel, "it'll +all come out at the trial. Lawyers make you +tell everything you know at trials, and a lot of +lies besides."</p> + +<p>"There won't be any trial," said Gerald, kicking +the leg of the piano thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"No trial?"</p> + +<p>"It said in the paper." Gerald went on slowly, +"'The miscreants must have received warning +from a confederate, for the admirable preparations +to arrest them as they returned for their +ill-gotten plunder were unavailing. But the +police have a clue.'"</p> + +<p>"What a pity!" said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"You needn't worry—they haven't got any +old clue," said Gerald, still attentive to the piano +leg.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean the clue; I meant the confederate."</p> + +<p>"It's a pity you think he's a pity, because he +was <i>me</i>," said Gerald, standing up and leaving +the piano leg alone. He looked straight before +him, as the boy on the burning deck may have +looked.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't help it," he said. "I know you'll +think I'm a criminal, but I couldn't do it. I +don't know how detectives can. I went over +a prison once, with father; and after I'd given +the tip to Johnson I remembered that, and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +just couldn't. I know I'm a beast, and not +worthy to be a British citizen."</p> + +<p>"I think it was rather nice of you," said +Mabel kindly. "How did you warn them?"</p> + +<p>"I just shoved a paper under the man's door—the +one that I knew where he lived—to tell +him to lie low."</p> + +<p>"Oh! do tell me—what did you put on it +exactly?" Mabel warmed to this new interest.</p> + +<p>"It said: 'The police know all except your +names. Be virtuous and you are safe. But if +there's any more burgling I shall split and you +may rely on that from a friend.' I know it was +wrong, but I couldn't help it. Don't tell the +others. They wouldn't understand why I did it. +I don't understand it myself."</p> + +<p>"I do," said Mabel: "it's because you've got a +kind and noble heart."</p> + +<p>"Kind fiddlestick, my good child!" said Gerald, +suddenly losing the burning boy expression and +becoming in a flash entirely himself. "Cut +along and wash your hands; you're as black as +ink."</p> + +<p>"So are you," said Mabel, "and I'm not. It's +dye with me. Auntie was dyeing a blouse this +morning. It told you how in <i>Home Drivel</i>—and +she's as black as ink too, and the blouse is all +streaky. Pity the ring won't make just parts of +you invisible—the dirt, for instance."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," Gerald said unexpectedly, "it +won't make even all of you invisible again."</p> + +<p>"Why not? You haven't been doing anything +to it—have you?" Mabel sharply asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No; but didn't you notice you were invisible +twenty-one hours; I was fourteen hours +invisible, and Eliza only seven—that's seven less +each time. And now we've come to——"</p> + +<p>"How frightfully good you are at sums!" said +Mabel, awestruck.</p> + +<p>"You see, it's got seven hours less each time, +and seven from seven is nought; it's got to be +something different this time. And then afterwards—it +can't be minus seven, because I don't +see how—unless it made you more visible—thicker, +you know."</p> + +<p>"<i>Don't!</i>" said Mabel; "you make my head go +round."</p> + +<p>"And there's another odd thing," Gerald went +on; "when you're invisible your relations don't +love you. Look at your aunt, and Cathy never +turning a hair at me going burgling. We +haven't got to the bottom of that ring yet. +Crikey! here's Mademoiselle with the cakes. +Run, bold bandits—wash for your lives!"</p> + +<p>They ran.</p> + +<p>It was not cakes only; it was plums and +grapes and jam tarts and soda-water and raspberry +vinegar, and chocolates in pretty boxes +and "pure, thick, rich" cream in brown jugs, +also a big bunch of roses. Mademoiselle was +strangely merry, for a governess. She served +out the cakes and tarts with a liberal hand, +made wreaths of the flowers for all their heads—she +was not eating much herself—drank the +health of Mabel, as the guest of the day, in the +beautiful pink drink that comes from mixing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +raspberry vinegar and soda-water, and actually +persuaded Jimmy to wear his wreath, on the +ground that the Greek gods as well as the +goddesses always wore wreaths at a feast.</p> + +<p>There never was such a feast provided by any +French governess since French governesses +began. There were jokes and stories and +laughter. Jimmy showed all those tricks with +forks and corks and matches and apples which +are so deservedly popular. Mademoiselle told +them stories of her own school-days when she +was "a quite little girl with two tight tresses—so," +and when they could not understand the +tresses, called for paper and pencil and drew +the loveliest little picture of herself when she +was a child with two short fat pig-tails sticking +out from her head like knitting-needles from a +ball of dark worsted. Then she drew pictures +of everything they asked for, till Mabel pulled +Gerald's jacket and whispered: "The acting!"</p> + +<p>"Draw us the front of a theatre," said Gerald +tactfully, "a French theatre."</p> + +<p>"They are the same thing as the English +theatres," Mademoiselle told him.</p> + +<p>"Do you like acting—the theatre, I mean?"</p> + +<p>"But yes—I love it."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Gerald briefly. "We'll act +a play for you—now—this afternoon if you +like."</p> + +<p>"Eliza will be washing up," Cathy whispered, +"and she was promised to see it."</p> + +<p>"Or this evening," said Gerald; "and please, +Mademoiselle, may Eliza come in and look on?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But certainly," said Mademoiselle; "amuse +yourselves well, my children."</p> + +<p>"But it's <i>you</i>," said Mabel suddenly, "that we +want to amuse. Because we love you very much—don't +we, all of you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," the chorus came unhesitatingly. +Though the others would never have thought +of saying such a thing on their own account. +Yet, as Mabel said it, they found to their +surprise that it was true.</p> + +<p>"Tiens!" said Mademoiselle, "you love the +old French governess? Impossible," and she +spoke rather indistinctly.</p> + +<p>"You're not old," said Mabel; "at least not so +very," she added brightly, "and you're as lovely +as a Princess."</p> + +<p>"Go then, flatteress!" said Mademoiselle, laughing; +and Mabel went. The others were already +half-way up the stairs.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a> +<img src="images/gs27.png" width="417" height="510" alt="DOWN CAME THE LOVELIEST BLUE-BLACK HAIR." title="" /> +<span class="caption">DOWN CAME THE LOVELIEST BLUE-BLACK HAIR.</span> +</div> + +<p>Mademoiselle sat in the drawing-room as +usual, and it was a good thing that she was +not engaged in serious study, for it seemed that +the door opened and shut almost ceaselessly all +throughout the afternoon. Might they have +the embroidered antimacassars and the sofa +cushions? Might they have the clothes-line out +of the washhouse? Eliza said they mightn't, +but might they? Might they have the sheepskin +hearth-rugs? Might they have tea in the +garden, because they had almost got the stage +ready in the dining-room, and Eliza wanted to +set tea? Could Mademoiselle lend them any +coloured clothes—scarves or dressing-gowns, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +anything bright? Yes, Mademoiselle could, and +did—silk things, surprisingly lovely for a governess +to have. Had Mademoiselle any rouge? +They had always heard that French ladies—— No. +Mademoiselle hadn't—and to judge by the +colour of her face, Mademoiselle didn't need it. +Did Mademoiselle think the chemist sold rouge—or +had she any false hair to spare? At this +challenge Mademoiselle's pale fingers pulled out +a dozen hairpins, and down came the loveliest +blue-black hair, hanging to her knees in straight, +heavy lines.</p> + +<p>"No, you terrible infants," she cried. "I have +not the false hair, nor the rouge. And my teeth—you +want them also, without doubt?"</p> + +<p>She showed them in a laugh.</p> + +<p>"I <i>said</i> you were a Princess," said Mabel, "and +now I know. You're Rupunzel. Do always +wear your hair like that! May we have the +peacock fans, please, off the mantelpiece, and +the things that loop back the curtains, and all +the handkerchiefs you've got?"</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle denied them nothing. They had +the fans and the handkerchiefs and some large +sheets of expensive drawing-paper out of the +school cupboard, and Mademoiselle's best sable +paint-brush and her paint-box.</p> + +<p>"Who would have thought," murmured Gerald, +pensively sucking the brush and gazing at the +paper mask he had just painted, "that she +was such a brick in disguise? I wonder why +crimson lake always tastes just like Liebig's +Extract."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>Everything was pleasant that day somehow. +There are some days like that, you know, when +everything goes well from the very beginning; +all the things you want are in their places, +nobody misunderstands you, and all that you do +turns out admirably. How different from those +other days which we all know too well, when +your shoe-lace breaks, your comb is mislaid, +your brush spins on its back on the floor and +lands under the bed where you can't get at it—you +drop the soap, your buttons come off, an +eyelash gets into your eye, you have used your +last clean handkerchief, your collar is frayed at +the edge and cuts your neck, and at the very +last moment your suspender breaks, and there +is no string. On such a day as this you are +naturally late for breakfast, and every one +thinks you did it on purpose. And the day goes +on and on, getting worse and worse—you mislay +your exercise-book, you drop your arithmetic in +the mud, your pencil breaks, and when you open +your knife to sharpen the pencil you split your +nail. On such a day you jam your thumb in +doors, and muddle the messages you are sent +on by grown-ups. You upset your tea, and your +bread-and-butter won't hold together for a +moment. And when at last you get to bed—usually +in disgrace—it is no comfort at all to +you to know that not a single bit of it is your +own fault.</p> + +<p>This day was not one of those days, as you +will have noticed. Even the tea in the garden—there +was a bricked bit by a rockery that made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +a steady floor for the tea-table—was most +delightful, though the thoughts of four out of +the five were busy with the coming play, and +the fifth had thoughts of her own that had +had nothing to do with tea or acting.</p> + +<p>Then there was an interval of slamming doors, +interesting silences, feet that flew up and down +stairs.</p> + +<p>It was still good daylight when the dinner-bell +rang—the signal had been agreed upon at tea-time, +and carefully explained to Eliza. Mademoiselle +laid down her book and passed out of +the sunset-yellowed hall into the faint yellow +gaslight of the dining-room. The giggling Eliza +held the door open before her, and followed her +in. The shutters had been closed—streaks of +daylight showed above and below them. The +green-and-black tablecloths of the school dining-tables +were supported on the clothes-line from +the backyard. The line sagged in a graceful +curve, but it answered its purpose of supporting +the curtains which concealed that part of the +room which was the stage.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 467px;"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a> +<img src="images/gs28.png" width="467" height="600" alt="SHE SAW THAT FULLY HALF A DOZEN OF THESE CHAIRS WERE OCCUPIED, AND BY THE QUEEREST PEOPLE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SHE SAW THAT FULLY HALF A DOZEN OF THESE CHAIRS WERE OCCUPIED, AND BY THE QUEEREST PEOPLE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Rows of chairs had been placed across the +other end of the room—all the chairs in the +house, as it seemed—and Mademoiselle started +violently when she saw that fully half a dozen +of these chairs were occupied. And by the +queerest people, too—an old woman with a +poke bonnet tied under her chin with a red +handkerchief, a lady in a large straw hat +wreathed in flowers and the oddest hands that +stuck out over the chair in front of her, several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +men with strange, clumsy figures, and all with +hats on.</p> + +<p>"But," whispered Mademoiselle, through the +chinks of the tablecloths, "you have then invited +other friends? You should have asked me, my +children."</p> + +<p>Laughter and something like a "hurrah" +answered her from behind the folds of the +curtaining tablecloths.</p> + +<p>"All right, Mademoiselle Rapunzel," cried +Mabel; "turn the gas up. It's only part of the +entertainment."</p> + +<p>Eliza, still giggling, pushed through the lines +of chairs, knocking off the hat of one of the +visitors as she did so, and turned up the three +incandescent burners.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle looked at the figure seated +nearest to her, stooped to look more closely, +half laughed, quite screamed, and sat down +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried, "they are not alive!"</p> + +<p>Eliza, with a much louder scream, had found +out the same thing and announced it differently. +"They ain't got no insides," said she. The seven +members of the audience seated among the +wilderness of chairs had, indeed, no insides to +speak of. Their bodies were bolsters and rolled-up +blankets, their spines were broom-handles, +and their arm and leg bones were hockey sticks +and umbrellas. Their shoulders were the wooden +cross-pieces that Mademoiselle used for keeping +her jackets in shape; their hands were gloves +stuffed out with handkerchiefs; and their faces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +were the paper masks painted in the afternoon +by the untutored brush of Gerald, tied +on to the round heads made of the ends of +stuffed bolster-cases. The faces were really +rather dreadful. Gerald had done his best, but +even after his best had been done you would +hardly have known they were faces, some of +them, if they hadn't been in the positions which +faces visually occupy, between the collar and the +hat. Their eyebrows were furious with lamp-black +frowns—their eyes the size, and almost +the shape, of five-shilling pieces, and on their +lips and cheeks had been spent much crimson +lake and nearly the whole of a half-pan of +vermilion.</p> + +<p>"You have made yourself an auditors, yes? +Bravo!" cried Mademoiselle, recovering herself +and beginning to clap. And to the sound of +that clapping the curtain went up—or, rather, +apart. A voice said, in a breathless, choked +way, "Beauty and the Beast," and the stage was +revealed.</p> + +<p>It was a real stage too—the dining-tables +pushed close together and covered with pink-and-white +counterpanes. It was a little unsteady +and creaky to walk on, but very imposing to +look at. The scene was simple, but convincing. +A big sheet of cardboard, bent square, with slits +cut in it and a candle behind, represented, quite +transparently, the domestic hearth; a round +hat-tin of Eliza's, supported on a stool with a +night-light under it, could not have been mistaken, +save by wilful malice, for anything but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +a copper. A waste-paper basket with two or +three school dusters and an overcoat in it, and +a pair of blue pyjamas over the back of a chair, +put the finishing touch to the scene. It did not +need the announcement from the wings, "The +laundry at Beauty's home." It was so plainly +a laundry and nothing else.</p> + +<p>In the wings: "They look just like a real +audience, don't they?" whispered Mabel. "Go +on, Jimmy,—don't forget the Merchant has to be +pompous and use long words."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, enlarged by pillows under Gerald's +best overcoat, which had been intentionally +bought with a view to his probable growth +during the two years which it was intended to +last him, a Turkish towel turban on his head +and an open umbrella over it, opened the first +act in a simple and swift soliloquy:</p> + +<p>"I am the most unlucky merchant that ever +was. I was once the richest merchant in +Bagdad, but I lost all my ships, and now I live +in a poor house that is all to bits; you can see +how the rain comes through the roof, and my +daughters take in washing. And——"</p> + +<p>The pause might have seemed long, but +Gerald rustled in, elegant in Mademoiselle's pink +dressing-gown and the character of the eldest +daughter.</p> + +<p>"A nice drying day," he minced. "Pa dear, +put the umbrella the other way up. It'll save +us going out in the rain to fetch water. Come +on, sisters, dear father's got us a new wash-tub. +Here's luxury!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> + +<p>Round the umbrella, now held the wrong way +up, the three sisters knelt and washed imaginary +linen. Kathleen wore a violet skirt of +Eliza's, a blue blouse of her own, and a cap of +knotted handkerchiefs. A white nightdress girt +with a white apron and two red carnations in +Mabel's black hair left no doubt as to which of +the three was Beauty.</p> + +<p>The scene went very well. The final dance +with waving towels was all that there is of +charming, Mademoiselle said; and Eliza was +so much amused that, as she said, she got quite +a nasty stitch along of laughing so hearty.</p> + +<p>You know pretty well what Beauty and the +Beast would be like acted by four children who +had spent the afternoon in arranging their +costumes and so had left no time for rehearsing +what they had to say. Yet it delighted them, +and it charmed their audience. And what more +can any play do, even Shakespeare's? Mabel, in +her Princess clothes, was a resplendent Beauty; +and Gerald a Beast who wore the drawing-room +hearthrugs with an air of indescribable distinction. +If Jimmy was not a talkative merchant, +he made it up with a stoutness practically +unlimited, and Kathleen surprised and delighted +even herself by the quickness with which she +changed from one to the other of the minor +characters—fairies, servants, and messengers. +It was at the end of the second act that Mabel, +whose costume, having reached the height of +elegance, could not be bettered and therefore +did not need to be changed, said to Gerald,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +sweltering under the weighty magnificence of +his beast-skin:—</p> + +<p>"I say, you might let us have the ring +back."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to," said Gerald, who had quite +forgotten it. "I'll give it you in the next +scene. Only don't lose it, or go putting it on. +You might go out all together and never be +seen again, or you might get seven times as +visible as any one else, so that all the rest of us +would look like shadows beside you, you'd be so +thick, or——"</p> + +<p>"Ready!" said Kathleen, bustling in, once +more a wicked sister.</p> + +<p>Gerald managed to get his hand into his +pocket under his hearthrug, and when he rolled +his eyes in agonies of sentiment, and said, +"Farewell, dear Beauty! Return quickly, for +if you remain long absent from your faithful +beast he will assuredly perish," he pressed a ring +into her hand and added: "This is a magic ring +that will give you anything you wish. When +you desire to return to your own disinterested +beast, put on the ring and utter your wish. +Instantly you will be by my side."</p> + +<p>Beauty-Mabel took the ring, and it was <i>the</i> +ring.</p> + +<p>The curtains closed to warm applause from +two pairs of hands.</p> + +<p>The next scene went splendidly. The sisters +were almost <i>too</i> natural in their disagreeableness, +and Beauty's annoyance when they splashed +her Princess's dress with real soap and water<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +was considered a miracle of good acting. Even +the merchant rose to something more than mere +pillows, and the curtain fell on his pathetic +assurance that in the absence of his dear Beauty +he was wasting away to a shadow. And again +two pairs of hands applauded.</p> + +<p>"Here, Mabel, catch hold," Gerald appealed +from under the weight of a towel-horse, the tea-urn, +the tea-tray, and the green baize apron of +the boot boy, which together with four red +geraniums from the landing, the pampas-grass +from the drawing-room fireplace, and the indiarubber +plants from the drawing-room window +were to represent the fountains and garden of +the last act. The applause had died away.</p> + +<p>"I wish," said Mabel, taking on herself the +weight of the tea-urn, "I wish those creatures +we made were alive. We should get something +like applause then."</p> + +<p>"I'm jolly glad they aren't," said Gerald, +arranging the baize and the towel-horse. +"Brutes! It makes me feel quite silly when I +catch their paper eyes."</p> + +<p>The curtains were drawn back. There lay the +hearth-rug-coated beast, in flat abandonment +among the tropic beauties of the garden, the +pampas-grass shrubbery, the indiarubber plant +bushes, the geranium-trees and the urn fountain. +Beauty was ready to make her great +entry in all the thrilling splendour of despair. +And then suddenly it all happened.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle began it: she applauded the +garden scene—with hurried little clappings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +her quick French hands. Eliza's fat red palms +followed heavily, and then—some one else +was clapping, six or seven people, and their +clapping made a dull padded sound. Nine faces +instead of two were turned towards the stage, +and seven out of the nine were painted, pointed +paper faces. And every hand and every face +was alive. The applause grew louder as Mabel +glided forward, and as she paused and looked +at the audience her unstudied pose of horror +and amazement drew forth applause louder +still; but it was not loud enough to drown the +shrieks of Mademoiselle and Eliza as they +rushed from the room, knocking chairs over and +crushing each other in the doorway. Two +distant doors banged, Mademoiselle's door +and Eliza's door.</p> + +<p>"Curtain! curtain! quick!" cried Beauty-Mabel, +in a voice that wasn't Mabel's or the +Beauty's. "Jerry—those things <i>have</i> come +alive. Oh, whatever <i>shall</i> we do?"</p> + +<p>Gerald in his hearthrugs leaped to his feet. +Again that flat padded applause marked the +swish of cloths on clothes-line as Jimmy and +Kathleen drew the curtains.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" they asked as they drew.</p> + +<p>"You've done it this time!" said Gerald to +the pink, perspiring Mabel. "Oh, bother these +strings!"</p> + +<p>"Can't you burst them? <i>I've</i> done it?" +retorted Mabel. "I like that!"</p> + +<p>"More than I do," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's all right," said Mabel, "Come on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +We must go and pull the things to pieces—then +they <i>can't</i> go on being alive."</p> + +<p>"It's your fault, anyhow," said Gerald with +every possible absence of gallantry. "Don't +you see? It's turned into a wishing ring. I +<i>knew</i> something different was going to happen. +Get my knife out of my pocket—this string's +in a knot. Jimmy, Cathy, those Ugly-Wuglies +have come alive—because Mabel wished it. +Cut out and pull them to pieces."</p> + +<p>Jimmy and Cathy peeped through the curtain +and recoiled with white faces and staring eyes. +"Not me!" was the brief rejoinder of Jimmy. +Cathy said, "Not much!" And she meant it, +any one could see that.</p> + +<p>And now, as Gerald, almost free of the hearth-rugs, +broke his thumb-nail on the stiffest blade +of his knife, a thick rustling and a sharp, heavy +stumping sounded beyond the curtain.</p> + +<p>"They're going out!" screamed Kathleen—"<i>walking</i> +out—on their umbrella and broomstick +legs. You can't stop them, Jerry, they're +too awful!"</p> + +<p>"Everybody in the town'll be insane by +to-morrow night if we <i>don't</i> stop them," cried +Gerald. "Here, give me the ring—I'll unwish +them."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a> +<img src="images/gs29.png" width="450" height="510" alt="A LIMP HAND WAS LAID ON HIS ARM." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A LIMP HAND WAS LAID ON HIS ARM.</span> +</div> + +<p>He caught the ring from the unresisting +Mabel, cried, "I wish the Uglies <i>weren't</i> alive," +and tore through the door. He saw, in fancy, +Mabel's wish undone, and the empty hall +strewed with limp bolsters, hats, umbrellas, +coats and gloves, prone abject properties from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +which the brief life had gone out for ever. +But the hall was crowded with live things, +strange things—all horribly short as broomsticks +and umbrellas are short. A limp +hand gesticulated. A pointed white face with +red cheeks looked up at him, and wide red +lips said something, he could not tell what. +The voice reminded him of the old beggar down +by the bridge who had no roof to his mouth. +These creatures had no roofs to their mouths, +of course—they had no——</p> + +<p>"Aa oo ré o me me oo a oo ho el?" said the +voice again. And it had said it four times +before Gerald could collect himself sufficiently +to understand that this horror—alive, and most +likely quite uncontrollable—was saying, with a +dreadful calm, polite persistence:—</p> + +<p>"Can you recommend me to a good hotel?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'>"<span class="smcap">Can</span> you recommend me to a good hotel?" +The speaker had no inside to his head. Gerald +had the best of reasons for knowing it. The +speaker's coat had no shoulders inside it—only +the cross-bar that a jacket is slung on by careful +ladies. The hand raised in interrogation was +not a hand at all; it was a glove lumpily +stuffed with pocket-handkerchiefs; and the +arm attached to it was only Kathleen's school +umbrella. Yet the whole thing was alive, and +was asking a definite, and for anybody else, +anybody who really <i>was</i> a body, a reasonable +question.</div> + +<p>With a sensation of inward sinking, Gerald +realised that now or never was the time for him +to rise to the occasion. And at the thought he +inwardly sank more deeply than before. It +seemed impossible to rise in the very smallest +degree.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon" was absolutely the best +he could do; and the painted, pointed paper +face turned to him once more, and once more +said:—</p> + +<p>"Aa oo ré o me me oo a oo ho el?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You want a hotel?" Gerald repeated stupidly, +"a <i>good</i> hotel?"</p> + +<p>"A oo ho el," reiterated the painted lips.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully sorry," Gerald went on—one +can always be polite, of course, whatever happens, +and politeness came natural to him—"but +all our hotels shut so early—about eight, +I think."</p> + +<p>"Och em er," said the Ugly-Wugly. Gerald +even now does not understand how that practical +joke—hastily wrought of hat, overcoat, +paper face and limp hands—could have managed, +by just being alive, to become perfectly respectable, +apparently about fifty years old, and +obviously well off, known and respected in his +own suburb—the kind of man who travels first +class and smokes expensive cigars. Gerald +knew this time, without need of repetition, that +the Ugly-Wugly had said:—</p> + +<p>"Knock 'em up."</p> + +<p>"You can't," Gerald explained; "they're all +stone deaf—every single person who keeps a +hotel in this town. It's—" he wildly plunged—"it's +a County Council law. Only deaf people +allowed to keep hotels. It's because of the hops +in the beer," he found himself adding; "you +know, hops are so good for earache."</p> + +<p>"I o wy ollo oo," said the respectable Ugly-Wugly; +and Gerald was not surprised to find +that the thing did "not quite follow him."</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> a little difficult at first," he said. The +other Ugly-Wuglies were crowding round. The +lady in the poke bonnet said—Gerald found he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +was getting quite clever at understanding the +conversation of those who had no roofs to +their mouths:—</p> + +<p>"If not a hotel, a lodging."</p> + +<p>"My lodging is on the cold ground," sang +itself unhidden and unavailing in Gerald's ear. +Yet stay—was it unavailing?</p> + +<p>"I do know a lodging," he said slowly, +"but——" The tallest of the Ugly-Wuglies +pushed forward. He was dressed in the old +brown overcoat and top-hat which always hung +on the school hat-stand to discourage possible +burglars by deluding them into the idea that +there was a gentleman-of-the-house, and that he +was at home. He had an air at once more +sporting and less reserved than that of the first +speaker, and any one could see that he was not +quite a gentleman.</p> + +<p>"Wa I wo oo oh," he began, but the lady +Ugly-Wugly in the flower-wreathed hat interrupted +him. She spoke more distinctly than +the others, owing, as Gerald found afterwards, +to the fact that her mouth had been drawn +<i>open</i>, and the flap cut from the aperture had +been folded back—so that she really had something +like a roof to her mouth, though it was +only a paper one.</p> + +<p>"What <i>I</i> want to know," Gerald understood +her to say, "is where are the carriages we +ordered?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Gerald, "but I'll find +out. But we ought to be moving," he added; +"you see, the performance is over, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +want to shut up the house and put the lights +out. Let's be moving."</p> + +<p>"Eh—ech e oo-ig," repeated the respectable +Ugly-Wugly, and stepped towards the front +door.</p> + +<p>"Oo um oo," said the flower-wreathed one; +and Gerald assures me that her vermilion lips +stretched in a smile.</p> + +<p>"I shall be delighted," said Gerald with +earnest courtesy, "to do anything, of course. +Things do happen so awkwardly when you least +expect it. I could go with you, and get you +a lodging, if you'd only wait a few moments +in the—in the yard. It's quite a superior sort +of yard," he went on, as a wave of surprised +disdain passed over their white paper faces—"not +a common yard, you know; the pump," +he added madly, "has just been painted green +all over, and the dustbin is enamelled iron."</p> + +<p>The Ugly-Wuglies turned to each other in +consultation, and Gerald gathered that the +greenness of the pump and the enamelled +character of the dust-bin made, in their opinion, +all the difference.</p> + +<p>"I'm awfully sorry," he urged eagerly, "to +have to ask you to wait, but you see I've got +an uncle who's quite mad, and I have to give +him his gruel at half-past nine. He won't feed +out of any hand but mine." Gerald did +not mind what he said. The only people one +is allowed to tell lies to are the Ugly-Wuglies; +they are all clothes and have no insides, because +they are not human beings, but only a sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +very real visions, and therefore cannot be really +deceived, though they may seem to be.</p> + +<p>Through the back door that has the blue, +yellow, red and green glass in it, down the iron +steps into the yard, Gerald led the way, and +the Ugly-Wuglies trooped after him. Some +of them had boots, but the ones whose feet +were only broomsticks or umbrellas found the +open-work iron stairs very awkward.</p> + +<p>"If you wouldn't <i>mind</i>," said Gerald, "just +waiting <i>under</i> the balcony? My uncle is so <i>very</i> +mad. If he were to see—see any strangers—I +mean, even aristocratic ones—I couldn't answer +for the consequences."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said the flower-hatted lady nervously, +"it would be better for us to try and +find a lodging ourselves?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't advise you to," said Gerald as +grimly as he knew how; "the police here arrest +<i>all</i> strangers. It's the new law the Liberals +have just made," he added convincingly, "and +you'd get the sort of lodging you wouldn't care +for—I couldn't bear to think of you in a prison +dungeon," he added tenderly.</p> + +<p>"I ah wi oo er papers," said the respectable +Ugly-Wugly, and added something that sounded +like "disgraceful state of things."</p> + +<p>However, they ranged themselves under the +iron balcony. Gerald gave one last look at +them and wondered, in his secret heart, why +he was not frightened, though in his outside +mind he was congratulating himself on his +bravery. For the things did look rather horrid.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +In that light it was hard to believe that +they were really only clothes and pillows +and sticks—with no insides. As he went up +the steps he heard them talking among themselves—in +that strange language of theirs, all +oo's and ah's; and he thought he distinguished +the voice of the respectable Ugly-Wugly saying, +"Most gentlemanly lad," and the wreathed-hatted +lady answering warmly: "Yes, indeed."</p> + +<p>The coloured-glass door closed behind him. +Behind him was the yard, peopled by seven +impossible creatures. Before him lay the silent +house, peopled, as he knew very well, by five +human beings as frightened as human beings +could be. You think, perhaps, that Ugly-Wuglies +are nothing to be frightened of. +That's only because you have never seen one +come alive. You just make one—any old suit +of your father's, and a hat that he isn't wearing, +a bolster or two, a painted paper face, a few +sticks and a pair of boots will do the trick; get +your father to lend you a wishing ring, give it +back to him when it has done its work, and see +how you feel then.</p> + +<p>Of course the reason why Gerald was not +afraid was that he had the ring; and, as you +have seen, the wearer of that is not frightened +by <i>anything</i> unless he touches that thing. But +Gerald knew well enough how the others must +be feeling. That was why he stopped for a +moment in the hall to try and imagine what +would have been most soothing to him if he +had been as terrified as he knew they were.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Cathy! I say! What ho, Jimmy! Mabel +ahoy!" he cried in a loud, cheerful voice that +sounded very unreal to himself.</p> + +<p>The dining-room door opened a cautious +inch.</p> + +<p>"I say—such larks!" Gerald went on, shoving +gently at the door with his shoulder. "Look +out! what are you keeping the door shut for?"</p> + +<p>"Are you—alone?" asked Kathleen in +hushed, breathless tones.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course. Don't be a duffer!"</p> + +<p>The door opened, revealing three scared faces +and the disarranged chairs where that odd +audience had sat.</p> + +<p>"Where are they? Have you unwished +them? We heard them talking. Horrible!"</p> + +<p>"They're in the yard," said Gerald with the +best imitation of joyous excitement that he +could manage. "It <i>is</i> such fun! They're just +like real people, quite kind and jolly. It's +the most ripping lark. Don't let on to +Mademoiselle and Eliza. I'll square <i>them</i>. +Then Kathleen and Jimmy must go to bed, +and I'll see Mabel home, and as soon as we +get outside I must find some sort of lodging +for the Ugly-Wuglies—they <i>are</i> such fun +though. I <i>do</i> wish you could all go with me."</p> + +<p>"Fun?" echoed Kathleen dismally and +doubting.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly killing," Gerald asserted resolutely. +"Now, you just listen to what I say to +Mademoiselle and Eliza, and back me up for +all you're worth."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But," said Mabel, "you can't mean that +you're going to leave me alone directly we get +out, and go off with those horrible creatures. +They look like fiends."</p> + +<p>"You wait till you've seen them close," Gerald +advised. "Why, they're just <i>ordinary</i>—the first +thing one of them did was to ask me to +recommend it to a good hotel! I couldn't +understand it at first, because it has no roof to +its mouth, of course."</p> + +<p>It was a mistake to say that, Gerald knew it +at once.</p> + +<p>Mabel and Kathleen were holding hands in +a way that plainly showed how a few moments +ago they had been clinging to each other in an +agony of terror. Now they clung again. And +Jimmy, who was sitting on the edge of what +had been the stage, kicking his boots against +the pink counterpane, shuddered visibly.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't <i>matter</i>," Gerald explained—"about +the roofs, I mean; you soon get to understand. +I heard them say I was a gentlemanly +lad as I was coming away. They wouldn't have +cared to notice a little thing like that if they'd +been fiends, you know."</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter how gentlemanly they +think you; if you don't see me home you +<i>aren't</i>, that's all. Are you going to?" Mabel +demanded.</p> + +<p>"Of course I am. We shall have no end of +a lark. Now for Mademoiselle."</p> + +<p>He had put on his coat as he spoke and now +ran up the stairs. The others, herding in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +hall, could hear his light-hearted there's-nothing-unusual-the-matter-whatever-did-you-bolt-like-that-for +knock at Mademoiselle's door, the +reassuring "It's only me—Gerald, you know," +the pause, the opening of the door, and the low-voiced +parley that followed; then Mademoiselle +and Gerald at Eliza's door, voices of reassurance; +Eliza's terror, bluntly voluble, tactfully soothed.</p> + +<p>"Wonder what lies he's telling them," Jimmy +grumbled.</p> + +<p>"Oh! not <i>lies</i>," said Mabel; "he's only telling +them as much of the truth as it's good for them +to know."</p> + +<p>"If you'd been a man," said Jimmy witheringly, +"you'd have been a beastly Jesuit, and hid +up chimneys."</p> + +<p>"If I were only just a boy," Mabel retorted, +"I shouldn't be scared out of my life by a pack +of old coats."</p> + +<p>"I'm <i>so</i> sorry you were frightened," Gerald's +honeyed tones floated down the staircase; "we +didn't think about you being frightened. And it +<i>was</i> a good trick, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"There!" whispered Jimmy, "he's been telling +her it was a trick of ours."</p> + +<p>"Well, so it was," said Mabel stoutly.</p> + +<p>"It was indeed a wonderful trick," said +Mademoiselle; "and how did you move the +mannikins?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we've often done it—with strings, you +know," Gerald explained.</p> + +<p>"That's true, too," Kathleen whispered.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 244px;"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a> +<img src="images/gs30.png" width="244" height="412" alt=""WONDER WHAT LIES HE'S TELLING THEM," JIMMY GRUMBLED." title="" /> +<span class="caption">"WONDER WHAT LIES HE'S TELLING THEM," JIMMY GRUMBLED.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Let us see you do once again this trick so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +remarkable," said Mademoiselle, arriving at the +bottom-stair mat.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've cleared them all out," said Gerald. +("So he has," from Kathleen aside to Jimmy.) +"We were so sorry you were startled; +we thought you wouldn't like to see them +again."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Mademoiselle brightly, as she +peeped into the untidy dining-room and saw +that the figures had indeed vanished, "if we +supped and discoursed of your beautiful piece +of theatre?"</p> + +<p>Gerald explained fully how much his brother +and sister would enjoy this. As for him—Mademoiselle +would see that it was his duty +to escort Mabel home, and kind as it was of +Mademoiselle to ask her to stay the night, it +could not be, on account of the frenzied and +anxious affection of Mabel's aunt. And it was +useless to suggest that Eliza should see Mabel +home, because Eliza was nervous at night unless +accompanied by her gentleman friend.</p> + +<p>So Mabel was hatted with her own hat and +cloaked with a cloak that was not hers; and +she and Gerald went out by the front door, +amid kind last words and appointments for the +morrow.</p> + +<p>The moment that front door was shut Gerald +caught Mabel by the arm and led her briskly to +the corner of the side street which led to the +yard. Just round the corner he stopped.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "what I want to know is—are +you an idiot or aren't you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Idiot yourself!" said Mabel, but mechanically, +for she saw that he was in earnest.</p> + +<p>"Because <i>I'm</i> not frightened of the Ugly-Wuglies. +They're as harmless as tame rabbits. +But an idiot might be frightened, and give the +whole show away. If you're an idiot, say so, +and I'll go back and tell them you're afraid to +walk home, and that I'll go and let your aunt +know you're stopping."</p> + +<p>"I'm not an idiot," said Mabel; "and," she +added, glaring round her with the wild gaze +of the truly terror-stricken, "I'm not afraid of +<i>anything</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to let you share my difficulties and +dangers," said Gerald; "at least, I'm inclined to +let you. I wouldn't do as much for my own +brother, I can tell you. And if you queer my +pitch I'll never speak to you again or let the +others either."</p> + +<p>"You're a beast, that's what you are! I don't +need to be threatened to make me brave. I <i>am</i>."</p> + +<p>"Mabel," said Gerald, in low, thrilling tones, +for he saw that the time had come to sound +another note, "I <i>know</i> you're brave. I <i>believe</i> +in you. That's why I've arranged it like this. +I'm certain you've got the heart of a lion under +that black-and-white exterior. Can I trust you? +To the death?"</p> + +<p>Mabel felt that to say anything but "Yes" +was to throw away a priceless reputation for +courage. So "Yes" was what she said.</p> + +<p>"Then wait here. You're close to the lamp. +And when you see me coming with <i>them</i> remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +they're as harmless as serpents—I mean +doves. Talk to them just like you would to any +one else. See?"</p> + +<p>He turned to leave her, but stopped at her +natural question:</p> + +<p>"What hotel did you say you were going to +take them to?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jimminy!" the harassed Gerald caught +at his hair with both hands. "There! you see, +Mabel, you're a help already"; he had, even at +that moment, some tact left. "I clean forgot! +I meant to ask you—isn't there any lodge or +anything in the Castle grounds where I could +put them for the night? The charm will break, +you know, some time, like being invisible did, +and they'll just be a pack of coats and things +that we can easily carry home any day. Is there +a lodge or anything?"</p> + +<p>"There's a secret passage," Mabel began—but +at that moment the yard-door opened and an +Ugly-Wugly put out its head and looked +anxiously down the street.</p> + +<p>"Righto!"—Gerald ran to meet it. It was all +Mabel could do not to run in an opposite direction +with an opposite motive. It was all she +could do, but she did it, and was proud of +herself as long as ever she remembered that +night.</p> + +<p>And now, with all the silent precaution +necessitated by the near presence of an extremely +insane uncle, the Ugly-Wuglies, a grisly +band, trooped out of the yard door.</p> + +<p>"Walk on your toes, dear," the bonneted Ugly-Wugly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +whispered to the one with a wreath; and +even at that thrilling crisis Gerald wondered +how she could, since the toes of one foot were +but the end of a golf club and of the other the +end of a hockey-stick.</p> + +<p>Mabel felt that there was no shame in retreating +to the lamp-post at the street corner, but, +once there, she made herself halt—and no one +but Mabel will ever know how much making +that took. Think of it—to stand there, firm and +quiet, and wait for those hollow, unbelievable +things to come up to her, clattering on the pavement +with their stumpy feet or borne along noiselessly, +as in the case of the flower-hatted lady, +by a skirt that touched the ground, and had, +Mabel knew very well, nothing at all inside it.</p> + +<p>She stood very still; the insides of her hands +grew cold and damp, but still she stood, saying +over and over again: "They're not true—they +can't be true. It's only a dream—they aren't +really true. They can't be." And then Gerald +was there, and all the Ugly-Wuglies crowding +round, and Gerald saying:—</p> + +<p>"This is one of our friends, Mabel—the Princess +in the play, you know. Be a man!" he added in +a whisper for her ear alone.</p> + +<p>Mabel, all her nerves stretched tight as banjo +strings, had an awful instant of not knowing +whether she would be able to be a man or +whether she would be merely a shrieking and +running little mad girl. For the respectable +Ugly-Wugly shook her limply by the hand ("He +<i>can't</i> be true," she told herself), and the rose-wreathed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +one took her arm with a soft-padded +glove at the end of an umbrella arm, and said:—</p> + +<p>"You dear, clever little thing! <i>Do</i> walk with +me!" in a gushing, girlish way, and in speech +almost wholly lacking in consonants.</p> + +<p>Then they all walked up the High Street as if, +as Gerald said, they were anybody else.</p> + +<p>It was a strange procession, but Liddlesby goes +early to bed, and the Liddlesby police, in common +with those of most other places, wear boots that +one can hear a mile off. If such boots had been +heard, Gerald would have had time to turn back +and head them off. He felt now that he could +not resist a flush of pride in Mabel's courage +as he heard her polite rejoinders to the still +more polite remarks of the amiable Ugly-Wuglies. +He did not know how near she was to +the scream that would throw away the whole +thing and bring the police and the residents out +to the ruin of everybody.</p> + +<p>They met no one, except one man, who +murmured, "Guy Fawkes, swelp me!" and +crossed the road hurriedly; and when, next day, +he told what he had seen, his wife disbelieved +him, and also said it was a judgment on him, +which was unreasonable.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a> +<img src="images/gs31.png" width="500" height="369" alt="IT WAS A STRANGE PROCESSION." title="" /> +<span class="caption">IT WAS A STRANGE PROCESSION.</span> +</div> + +<p>Mabel felt as though she were taking part in +a very completely arranged nightmare, but +Gerald was in it too, Gerald, who had asked +if she was an idiot. Well, she wasn't. But she +soon would be, she felt. Yet she went on +answering the courteous vowel-talk of these +impossible people. She had often heard her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +aunt speak of impossible people. Well, now she +knew what they were like.</p> + +<p>Summer twilight had melted into summer +moonlight. The shadows of the Ugly-Wuglies +on the white road were much more horrible +than their more solid selves. Mabel wished it +had been a dark night, and then corrected the +wish with a hasty shudder.</p> + +<p>Gerald, submitting to a searching interrogatory +from the tall-hatted Ugly-Wugly as +to his schools, his sports, pastimes, and ambitions, +wondered how long the spell would last. +The ring seemed to work in sevens. Would +these things have seven hours' life—or fourteen—or +twenty-one? His mind lost itself in the +intricacies of the seven-times table (a teaser at +the best of times) and only found itself with +a shock when the procession found <i>itself</i> at the +gates of the Castle grounds.</p> + +<p>Locked—of course.</p> + +<p>"You see," he explained, as the Ugly-Wuglies +vainly shook the iron gates with incredible +hands; "it's so very late. There <i>is</i> another +way. But you have to climb through a hole."</p> + +<p>"The ladies," the respectable Ugly-Wugly +began objecting; but the ladies with one voice +affirmed that they loved adventures. "So +frightfully thrilling," added the one who wore +roses.</p> + +<p>So they went round by the road, and coming +to the hole—it was a little difficult to find in the +moonlight, which always disguises the most +familiar things—Gerald went first with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +bicycle lantern which he had snatched as his +pilgrims came out of the yard; the shrinking +Mabel followed, and then the Ugly-Wuglies, +with hollow rattlings of their wooden limbs +against the stone, crept through, and with +strange vowel-sounds of general amazement, +manly courage, and feminine nervousness, +followed the light along the passage through +the fern-hung cutting and under the arch.</p> + +<p>When they emerged on the moonlit enchantment +of the Italian garden a quite intelligible +"Oh!" of surprised admiration broke from more +than one painted paper lip; and the respectable +Ugly-Wugly was understood to say that +it must be quite a show-place—by George, +sir! yes.</p> + +<p>Those marble terraces and artfully serpentining +gravel walks surely never had echoed +to steps so strange. No shadows so wildly +unbelievable had, for all its enchantments, ever +fallen on those smooth, gray, dewy lawns. +Gerald was thinking this, or something like +it (what he really thought was, "I bet there +never was such a go as this, even here!"), when +he saw the statue of Hermes leap from its +pedestal and run towards him and his company +with all the lively curiosity of a street boy +eager to be in at a street fight. He saw, too, +that he was the only one who perceived that +white advancing presence. And he knew that +it was the ring that let him see what by others +could not be seen. He slipped it from his finger. +Yes; Hermes was on his pedestal, still as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +snow man you make in the Christmas holidays. +He put the ring on again, and there was +Hermes, circling round the group and gazing +deep in each unconscious Ugly-Wugly face.</p> + +<p>"This seems a very superior hotel," the tall-hatted +Ugly-Wugly was saying; "the grounds +are laid out with what you might call taste."</p> + +<p>"We should have to go in by the back door," +said Mabel suddenly. "The front door's locked +at half-past nine."</p> + +<p>A short, stout Ugly-Wugly in a yellow and +blue cricket cap, who had hardly spoken, +muttered something about an escapade, and +about feeling quite young again.</p> + +<p>And now they had skirted the marble-edged +pool where the gold fish swam and glimmered, +and where the great prehistoric beast had come +down to bathe and drink. The water flashed +white diamonds in the moonlight, and Gerald +alone of them all saw that the scaly-plated vast +lizard was even now rolling and wallowing there +among the lily pads.</p> + +<p>They hastened up the steps of the Temple of +Flora. The back of it, where no elegant arch +opened to the air, was against one of those +sheer hills, almost cliffs, that diversified the +landscape of that garden. Mabel passed behind +the statue of the goddess, fumbled a little, and +then Gerald's lantern, flashing like a search-light, +showed a very high and very narrow +doorway: the stone that was the door, and that +had closed it, revolved slowly under the touch of +Mabel's fingers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This way," she said, and panted a little. The +back of her neck felt cold and goose-fleshy.</p> + +<p>"You lead the way, my lad, with the lantern," +said the suburban Ugly-Wugly in his bluff, +agreeable way.</p> + +<p>"I—I must, stay behind to close the door," said +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"The Princess can do that. <i>We'll</i> help her," +said the wreathed one with effusion; and Gerald +thought her horribly officious.</p> + +<p>He insisted gently that he would be the one +responsible for the safe shutting of that door.</p> + +<p>"You wouldn't like me to get into trouble, I'm +sure," he urged; and the Ugly-Wuglies, for the +last time kind and reasonable, agreed that this, +of all things, they would most deplore.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> take it," Gerald urged, pressing the +bicycle lamp on the elderly Ugly-Wugly; +"you're the natural leader. Go straight ahead. +Are there any steps?" he asked Mabel in a +whisper.</p> + +<p>"Not for ever so long," she whispered back. +"It goes on for ages, and then twists round."</p> + +<p>"Whispering," said the smallest Ugly-Wugly +suddenly, "ain't manners."</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> hasn't any, anyhow," whispered the lady +Ugly-Wugly; "don't mind him—quite a self-made +man," and squeezed Mabel's arm with +horrible confidential flabbiness.</p> + +<p>The respectable Ugly-Wugly leading with the +lamp, the others following trustfully, one and all +disappeared into that narrow doorway; and +Gerald and Mabel standing without, hardly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +daring to breathe lest a breath should retard +the procession, almost sobbed with relief. Prematurely, +as it turned out. For suddenly there +was a rush and a scuffle inside the passage, and +as they strove to close the door the Ugly-Wuglies +fiercely pressed to open it again. +Whether they saw something in the dark +passage that alarmed them, whether they took +it into their empty heads that this could not be +the back way to any really respectable hotel, or +whether a convincing sudden instinct warned +them that they were being tricked, Mabel and +Gerald never knew. But they knew that the +Ugly-Wuglies were no longer friendly and +commonplace, that a fierce change had come +over them. Cries of "No, No!" "We won't go +on!" "Make <i>him</i> lead!" broke the dreamy stillness +of the perfect night. There were screams from +ladies' voices, the hoarse, determined shouts of +strong Ugly-Wuglies roused to resistance, and, +worse than all, the steady pushing open of that +narrow stone door that had almost closed upon +the ghastly crew. Through the chink of it they +could be seen, a writhing black crowd against +the light of the bicycle lamp; a padded hand +reached round the door; stick-boned arms +stretched out angrily towards the world that +that door, if it closed, would shut them off from +for ever. And the tone of their consonantless +speech was no longer conciliatory and ordinary; +it was threatening, full of the menace of unbearable +horrors.</p> + +<p>The padded hand fell on Gerald's arm, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +instantly all the terrors that he had, so far, +only known in imagination became real to him, +and he saw, in the sort of flash that shows drowning +people their past lives, what it was that he +had asked of Mabel, and that she had given.</p> + +<p>"Push, push for your life!" he cried, and +setting his heel against the pedestal of Flora, +pushed manfully.</p> + +<p>"I can't any more—oh. I can't!" moaned +Mabel, and tried to use her heel likewise, but +her legs were too short.</p> + +<p>"They mustn't get out, they mustn't!" Gerald +panted.</p> + +<p>"You'll know it when we do," came from +inside the door in tones which fury and mouth-rooflessness +would have made unintelligible to +any ears but those sharpened by the wild fear +of that unspeakable moment.</p> + +<p>"What's up, there?" cried suddenly a new +voice—a voice with all its consonants comforting, +clean-cut, and ringing, and abruptly a +new shadow fell on the marble floor of Flora's +temple.</p> + +<p>"Come and help push!" Gerald's voice only +just reached the newcomer. "If they get out +they'll kill us all."</p> + +<p>A strong, velveteen-covered shoulder pushed +suddenly between the shoulders of Gerald and +Mabel; a stout man's heel sought the aid of the +goddess's pedestal; the heavy, narrow door +yielded slowly, it closed, its spring clicked, and +the furious, surging, threatening mass of Ugly-Wuglies +was shut in, and Gerald and Mabel—oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +incredible relief!—were shut out. Mabel +threw herself on the marble floor, sobbing slow, +heavy sobs of achievement and exhaustion. If +I had been there I should have looked the other +way, so as not to see whether Gerald yielded +himself to the same abandonment.</p> + +<p>The newcomer he appeared to be a gamekeeper, +Gerald decided later—looked down on—well, +certainly on Mabel, and said:</p> + +<p>"Come on, don't be a little duffer." (He may +have said, "a couple of little duffers.") "Who +is it, and what's it all about?"</p> + +<p>"I can't possibly tell you," Gerald panted.</p> + +<p>"We shall have to see about that, shan't we," +said the newcomer amiably. "Come out into +the moonlight and let's review the situation."</p> + +<p>Gerald, even in that topsy-turvy state of his +world, found time to think that a gamekeeper +who used such words as that had most likely +a romantic past. But at the same time he saw +that such a man would be far less easy to +"square" with an unconvincing tale than Eliza, +or Johnson, or even Mademoiselle. In fact, he +seemed, with the only tale that they had to tell, +practically unsquarable.</p> + +<p>Gerald got up—if he was not up already, or +still up—and pulled at the limp and now hot +hand of the sobbing Mabel; and as he did so the +unsquarable one took <i>his</i> hand, and thus led +both children out from under the shadow of +Flora's dome into the bright white moonlight +that carpeted Flora's steps. Here he sat down, +a child on each side of him, drew a hand of each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +through his velveteen arm, pressed them to his +velveteen sides in a friendly, reassuring way, +and said: "Now then! Go ahead!"</p> + +<p>Mabel merely sobbed. We must excuse her. +She had been very brave, and I have no doubt +that all heroines, from Joan of Arc to Grace +Darling, have had their sobbing moments.</p> + +<p>But Gerald said: "It's no use. If I made up +a story you'd see through it."</p> + +<p>"That's a compliment to my discernment, +anyhow," said the stranger. "What price +telling me the truth?"</p> + +<p>"If we told you the truth," said Gerald, "you +wouldn't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Try me," said the velveteen one. He was +clean-shaven, and had large eyes that sparkled +when the moonlight touched them.</p> + +<p>"I <i>can't</i>," said Gerald, and it was plain that he +spoke the truth. "You'd either think we were +mad, and get us shut up, or else—oh, it's no +good. Thank you for helping us, and do let us +go home."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said the stranger musingly, +"whether you have any imagination."</p> + +<p>"Considering that we invented them," Gerald +hotly began, and stopped with late prudence.</p> + +<p>"If by 'them' you mean the people whom +I helped you to imprison in yonder tomb," said +the stranger, loosing Mabel's hand to put his +arm round her, "remember that I saw and +heard them. And with all respect to your +imagination, I doubt whether any invention of +yours would be quite so convincing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gerald put his elbows on his knees and his +chin in his hands.</p> + +<p>"Collect yourself," said the one in velveteen; +"and while you are collecting, let me just put +the thing from my point of view. I think you +hardly realise my position. I come down from +London to take care of a big estate."</p> + +<p>"I <i>thought</i> you were a gamekeeper," put in +Gerald.</p> + +<p>Mabel put her head on the stranger's shoulder. +"Hero in disguise, then, <i>I</i> know," she sniffed.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said he; "bailiff would be nearer +the mark. On the very first evening I go out +to take the moonlit air, and approaching a +white building, hear sounds of an agitated +scuffle, accompanied by frenzied appeals for +assistance. Carried away by the enthusiasm of +the moment, I <i>do</i> assist and shut up goodness +knows who behind a stone door. Now, is it +unreasonable that I should ask who it is that +I've shut up—helped to shut up, I mean, and +who it is that I've assisted?"</p> + +<p>"It's reasonable enough," Gerald admitted.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said Gerald, "the fact is—— No," +he added after a pause, "the fact is, I simply +can't tell you."</p> + +<p>"Then I must ask the other side," said Velveteens. +"Let me go—I'll undo that door and +find out for myself."</p> + +<p>"Tell him," said Mabel, speaking for the first +time. "Never mind if he believes or not. We +can't have them let out."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well," said Gerald, "I'll tell him. Now +look here, Mr. Bailiff, will you promise us on +an English gentleman's word of honour—because, +of course, I can see you're <i>that</i>, bailiff or +not—will you promise that you won't tell any +one what we tell you and that you won't have +us put in a lunatic asylum, however mad we +sound?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the stranger, "I think I can +promise that. But if you've been having a +sham fight or anything and shoved the other +side into that hole, don't you think you'd better +let them out? They'll be most awfully frightened, +you know. After all, I suppose they are +only children."</p> + +<p>"Wait till you hear," Gerald answered. +"They're not children—not much! Shall I just +tell about them or begin at the beginning?"</p> + +<p>"The beginning, of course," said the stranger.</p> + +<p>Mabel lifted her head from his velveteen +shoulder and said, "Let me begin, then. I found +a ring, and I said it would make me invisible. +I said it in play. And it <i>did</i>. I was invisible +twenty-one hours. Never mind where I got the +ring. Now, Gerald, you go on."</p> + +<p>Gerald went on; for quite a long time he +went on, for the story was a splendid one +to tell.</p> + +<p>"And so," he ended, "we got them in there; +and when seven hours are over, or fourteen, or +twenty-one, or something with a seven in it, +they'll just be old coats again. They came alive +at half-past nine. <i>I</i> think they'll stop being it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +in seven hours—that's half-past four. <i>Now</i> will +you let us go home?"</p> + +<p>"I'll see you home," said the stranger in a +quite new tone of exasperating gentleness. +"Come—let's be going."</p> + +<p>"You don't believe us," said Gerald. "Of +course you don't. Nobody could. But I could +make you believe if I chose."</p> + +<p>All three stood up, and the stranger stared in +Gerald's eyes till Gerald answered his thought.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't look mad, do I?"</p> + +<p>"No, you aren't. But, come, you're an extraordinarily +sensible boy; don't you think you +may be sickening for a fever or something?"</p> + +<p>"And Cathy and Jimmy and Mademoiselle +and Eliza, and the man who said 'Guy Fawkes, +swelp me!' and <i>you</i>, you saw them move—you +heard them call out. Are you sickening for +anything?"</p> + +<p>"No—or at least not for anything but information. +Come, and I'll see you home."</p> + +<p>"Mabel lives at the Towers," said Gerald, as +the stranger turned into the broad drive that +leads to the big gate.</p> + +<p>"No relation to Lord Yalding," said Mabel +hastily—"housekeeper's niece." She was holding +on to his hand all the way. At the servants' +entrance she put up her face to be kissed, and +went in.</p> + +<p>"Poor little thing!" said the bailiff, as they +went down the drive towards the gate.</p> + +<p>He went with Gerald to the door of the +school.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Look here," said Gerald at parting. "I +know what you're going to do. You're going +to try to undo that door."</p> + +<p>"Discerning!" said the stranger.</p> + +<p>"Well—don't. Or, any way, wait till daylight +and let us be there. We can get there +by ten."</p> + +<p>"All right—I'll meet you there by ten," +answered the stranger. "By George! you're the +rummest kids I ever met."</p> + +<p>"We are rum," Gerald owned, "but so would +you be if—— Good night."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>As the four children went over the smooth +lawn towards Flora's Temple they talked, as +they had talked all the morning, about the +adventures of last night and of Mabel's bravery. +It was not ten, but half-past twelve; for Eliza, +backed by Mademoiselle, had insisted on their +"clearing up," and clearing up very thoroughly, +the "litter" of last night.</p> + +<p>"You're a Victoria Cross heroine, dear," said +Cathy warmly. "You ought to have a statue +put up to you."</p> + +<p>"It would come alive if you put it here," said +Gerald grimly.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> shouldn't have been afraid," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"By daylight," Gerald assured him, "everything +looks so jolly different."</p> + +<p>"I do hope he'll be there," Mabel said; "he <i>was</i> +such a dear, Cathy—a perfect bailiff, with the +soul of a gentleman."</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 315px;"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a> +<img src="images/gs32.png" width="315" height="575" alt="A PAINTED POINTED PAPER FACE PEERED OUT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">A PAINTED POINTED PAPER FACE PEERED OUT.</span> +</div> + +<p>"He isn't there, though," said Jimmy. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +believe you just dreamed him, like you did the +statues coming alive."</p> + +<p>They went up the marble steps in the sunshine, +and it was difficult to believe that this +was the place where only in last night's moonlight +fear had laid such cold hands on the hearts +of Mabel and Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Shall we open the door," suggested Kathleen, +"and begin to carry home the coats?"</p> + +<p>"Let's listen first," said Gerald; "perhaps they +aren't only coats yet."</p> + +<p>They laid ears to the hinges of the stone door, +behind which last night the Ugly-Wuglies had +shrieked and threatened. All was still as the +sweet morning itself. It was as they turned +away that they saw the man they had come to +meet. He was on the other side of Flora's +pedestal. But he was not standing up. He lay +there, quite still, on his back, his arms flung wide.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look!" cried Cathy, and pointed. His +face was a queer greenish colour, and on his +forehead there was a cut; its edges were blue, +and a little blood had trickled from it on to the +white of the marble.</p> + +<p>At the same time Mabel pointed too—but she +did not cry out as Cathy had done. And what +she pointed at was a big glossy-leaved rhododendron +bush, from which a painted pointed paper +face peered out—very white, very red, in the +sunlight—and, as the children gazed, shrank +back into the cover of the shining leaves.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">It</span> was but too plain. The unfortunate bailiff +must have opened the door before the spell had +faded, while yet the Ugly-Wuglies were something +more than mere coats and hats and sticks. +They had rushed out upon him, and had done +this. He lay there insensible—was it a golf-club +or a hockey-stick that had made that horrible +cut on his forehead? Gerald wondered. The +girls had rushed to the sufferer; already his +head was in Mabel's lap. Kathleen had tried +to get it on to hers, but Mabel was too quick +for her.</div> + +<p>Jimmy and Gerald both knew what was the +first thing needed by the unconscious, even +before Mabel impatiently said: "Water! +water!"</p> + +<p>"What in?" Jimmy asked, looking doubtfully +at his hands, and then down the green slope +to the marble-bordered pool where the water-lilies +were.</p> + +<p>"Your hat—anything," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>The two boys turned away.</p> + +<p>"Suppose they come after us," said Jimmy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>What</i> come after us?" Gerald snapped +rather than asked.</p> + +<p>"The Ugly-Wuglies," Jimmy whispered.</p> + +<p>"Who's afraid?" Gerald inquired.</p> + +<p>But he looked to right and left very carefully, +and chose the way that did not lead near the +bushes. He scooped water up in his straw hat +and returned to Flora's Temple, carrying it +carefully in both hands. When he saw how +quickly it ran through the straw he pulled his +handkerchief from his breast pocket with his +teeth and dropped it into the hat. It was with +this that the girls wiped the blood from the +bailiff's brow.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have smelling salts," said Kathleen, +half in tears. "I know we ought."</p> + +<p>"They would be good," Mabel owned.</p> + +<p>"Hasn't your aunt any?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but——"</p> + +<p>"Don't be a coward," said Gerald; "think of +last night. <i>They</i> wouldn't hurt you. He must +have insulted them or something. Look here, +you run. We'll see that nothing runs after you."</p> + +<p>There was no choice but to relinquish the +head of the interesting invalid to Kathleen; so +Mabel did it, cast one glaring glance round the +rhododendron bordered slope, and fled towards +the castle.</p> + +<p>The other three bent over the still unconscious +bailiff.</p> + +<p>"He's not dead, is he?" asked Jimmy +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No," Kathleen reassured him, "his heart's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +beating. Mabel and I felt it in his wrist, where +doctors do. How frightfully good-looking he is!"</p> + +<p>"Not so dusty," Gerald admitted.</p> + +<p>"I never know what you mean by good-looking," +said Jimmy, and suddenly a shadow +fell on the marble beside them and a fourth +voice spoke—not Mabel's; her hurrying figure, +though still in sight, was far away.</p> + +<p>"Quite a personable young man," it said.</p> + +<p>The children looked up—into the face of the +eldest of the Ugly-Wuglies, the respectable one. +Jimmy and Kathleen screamed. I am sorry, +but they did.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" said Gerald savagely: he was still +wearing the ring. "Hold your tongues! I'll +get him away," he added in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Very sad affair this," said the respectable +Ugly-Wugly. He spoke with a curious accent; +there was something odd about his r's, and his +m's and n's were those of a person labouring +under an almost intolerable cold in the head. +But it was not the dreadful "oo" and "ah" voice +of the night before. Kathleen and Jimmy +stooped over the bailiff. Even that prostrate +form, being human, seemed some little protection. +But Gerald, strong in the fearlessness +that the ring gave to its wearer, looked full into +the face of the Ugly-Wugly—and started. For +though the face was almost the same as the face +he had himself painted on the school drawing-paper, +it was not the same. For it was no longer +paper. It was a real face, and the hands, lean +and almost transparent as they were, were real<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +hands. As it moved a little to get a better +view of the bailiff it was plain that it had +legs, arms—live legs and arms, and a self-supporting +backbone. It was alive indeed—with +a vengeance.</p> + +<p>"How did it happen?" Gerald asked with an +effort at calmness—a successful effort.</p> + +<p>"Most regrettable," said the Ugly-Wugly. +"The others must have missed the way last +night in the passage. They never found the +hotel."</p> + +<p>"Did <i>you?</i>" asked Gerald blankly.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said the Ugly-Wugly. "Most +respectable, exactly as you said. Then when +I came away—I didn't come the front way +because I wanted to revisit this sylvan scene +by daylight, and the hotel people didn't seem +to know how to direct me to it—I found the +others all at this door, very angry. They'd been +here all night, trying to get out. Then the door +opened—this gentleman must have opened it—and +before I could protect him, that underbred +man in the high hat—you remember——"</p> + +<p>Gerald remembered.</p> + +<p>"Hit him on the head, and he fell where +you see him. The others dispersed, and I +myself was just going for assistance when +I saw you."</p> + +<p>Here Jimmy was discovered to be in tears +and Kathleen white as any drawing-paper.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, my little man?" said the +respectable Ugly-Wugly kindly. Jimmy passed +instantly from tears to yells.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Here, take the ring!" said Gerald in a furious +whisper, and thrust it on to Jimmy's hot, damp, +resisting finger. Jimmy's voice stopped short +in the middle of a howl. And Gerald in a cold +flash realised what it was that Mabel had gone +through the night before. But it was daylight, +and Gerald was not a coward.</p> + +<p>"We must find the others," he said.</p> + +<p>"I imagine," said the elderly Ugly-Wugly, +"that they have gone to bathe. Their clothes +are in the wood."</p> + +<p>He pointed stiffly.</p> + +<p>"You two go and see," said Gerald. "I'll go +on dabbing this chap's head."</p> + +<p>In the wood Jimmy, now fearless as any lion, +discovered four heaps of clothing, with broomsticks, +hockey-sticks, and masks complete, all +that had gone to make up the gentlemen Ugly-Wuglies +of the night before. On a stone seat +well in the sun sat the two lady Ugly-Wuglies, +and Kathleen approached them gingerly. +Valour is easier in the sunshine than at night, +as we all know. When she and Jimmy came +close to the bench, they saw that the Ugly-Wuglies +were only Ugly-Wuglies such as they +had often made. There was no life in them. +Jimmy shook them to pieces, and a sigh of +relief burst from Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"The spell's broken, you see," she said; "and +that old gentleman, he's real. He only happens +to be like the Ugly-Wugly we made."</p> + +<p>"He's got the coat that hung in the hall on, +anyway," said Jimmy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/gs33.png" width="500" height="533" alt="JIMMY SHOOK THEM TO PIECES." title="" /> +<span class="caption">JIMMY SHOOK THEM TO PIECES.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, it's only like it. Let's get back to the +unconscious stranger."</p> + +<p>They did, and Gerald begged the elderly +Ugly-Wugly to retire among the bushes with +Jimmy; "because," said he, "I think the poor +bailiff's coming round, and it might upset him +to see strangers—and Jimmy'll keep you +company. He's the best one of us to go with +you," he added hastily.</p> + +<p>And this, since Jimmy had the ring, was +certainly true.</p> + +<p>So the two disappeared behind the rhododendrons. +Mabel came back with the salts +just as the bailiff opened his eyes.</p> + +<p>"It's just like life," she said; "I might just +as well not have gone. However——" She +knelt down at once and held the bottle +under the sufferer's nose till he sneezed and +feebly pushed her hand away with the faint +question:</p> + +<p>"What's up now?"</p> + +<p>"You've hurt your head," said Gerald. "Lie +still."</p> + +<p>"No—more—smelling-bottle," he said weakly, +and lay.</p> + +<p>Quite soon he sat up and looked round him. +There was an anxious silence. Here was a +grown-up who knew last night's secret, and +none of the children were at all sure what the +utmost rigour of the law might be in a case +where people, no matter how young, made +Ugly-Wuglies, and brought them to life—dangerous, +fighting, angry life. What would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +he say—what would he do? He said: "What +an odd thing! Have I been insensible long?"</p> + +<p>"Hours," said Mabel earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Not long," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"We don't know. We found you like it," said +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right now," said the bailiff, and his +eye fell on the blood-stained handkerchief. "I +say, I did give my head a bang. And you've +been giving me first aid. Thank you most +awfully. But it is rum."</p> + +<p>"What's rum?" politeness obliged Gerald +to ask.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose it isn't really rum—I expect I +saw you just before I fainted, or whatever it was—but +I've dreamed the most extraordinary dream +while I've been insensible, and you were in it."</p> + +<p>"Nothing but us?" asked Mabel breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, lots of things—impossible things—but +<i>you</i> were real enough."</p> + +<p>Every one breathed deeply in relief. It was +indeed, as they agreed later, a lucky let-off.</p> + +<p>"Are you <i>sure</i> you're all right?" they all +asked, as he got on his feet.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly, thank you." He glanced behind +Flora's statue as he spoke. "Do you know, +I dreamed there was a door there, but of +course there isn't. I don't know how to thank +you," he added, looking at them with what the +girls called his beautiful, kind eyes; "it's lucky +for me you came along. You come here whenever +you like, you know," he added. "I give +you the freedom of the place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're the new bailiff, aren't you?" said +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Yes. How did you know?" he asked +quickly; but they did not tell him how they +knew. Instead, they found out which way he +was going, and went the other way after warm +hand-shakes and hopes on both sides that they +would meet again soon.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what," said Gerald, as they +watched the tall, broad figure of the bailiff +grow smaller across the hot green of the grass +slope, "have you got any idea of how we're +going to spend the day? Because I have."</p> + +<p>The others hadn't.</p> + +<p>"We'll get rid of that Ugly-Wugly—oh, we'll +find a way right enough—and directly we've +done it we'll go home and seal up the ring in +an envelope so that its teeth'll be drawn and +it'll be powerless to have unforeseen larks with +us. Then we'll get out on the roof, and have +a quiet day—books and apples. I'm about +fed up with adventures, so I tell you."</p> + +<p>The others told him the same thing.</p> + +<p>"Now, <i>think</i>," said he—"think as you never +thought before—how to get rid of that Ugly-Wugly."</p> + +<p>Every one thought, but their brains were +tired with anxiety and distress, and the +thoughts they thought were, as Mabel said, +not worth thinking, let alone saying.</p> + +<p>"I suppose Jimmy's all right," said Kathleen +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>he's</i> all right: he's got the ring," said +Gerald.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I hope he won't go wishing anything rotten," +said Mabel, but Gerald urged her to shut up and +let him think.</p> + +<p>"I think I think best sitting down," he said, +and sat; "and sometimes you can think best +aloud. The Ugly-Wugly's <i>real</i>—don't make any +mistake about that. And he got made real +inside that passage. If we could get him back +there he might get changed again, and then +we could take the coats and things back."</p> + +<p>"Isn't there any other way?" Kathleen asked; +and Mabel, more candid, said bluntly: "I'm not +going into that passage, so there!"</p> + +<p>"Afraid! In broad daylight," Gerald sneered.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be broad daylight in there," said +Mabel, and Kathleen shivered.</p> + +<p>"If we went to him and suddenly tore his +coat off," said she—"he <i>is</i> only coats—he +couldn't go on being real then."</p> + +<p>"<i>Couldn't</i> he!" said Gerald. "You don't +know what he's like under the coat."</p> + +<p>Kathleen shivered again. And all this time +the sun was shining gaily and the white +statues and the green trees and the fountains +and terraces looked as cheerfully romantic as +a scene in a play.</p> + +<p>"Any way," said Gerald, "we'll try to get +him back, and shut the door. That's the most +we can hope for. And then apples, and 'Robinson +Crusoe' or the 'Swiss Family,' or any book +you like that's got no magic in it. Now, we've +just got to do it. And he's not horrid now; +<i>really</i> he isn't. He's real, you see."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I suppose that makes all the difference," said +Mabel, and tried to feel that perhaps it did.</p> + +<p>"And it's broad daylight—just look at the +sun," Gerald insisted. "Come on!"</p> + +<p>He took a hand of each, and they walked +resolutely towards the bank of rhododendrons +behind which Jimmy and the Ugly-Wugly +had been told to wait, and as they went Gerald +said: "He's real"—"The sun's shining"—"It'll +all be over in a minute." And he said these +things again and again, so that there should +be no mistake about them.</p> + +<p>As they neared the bushes the shining leaves +rustled, shivered, and parted, and before the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'girl'">girls</ins> +had time to begin to hang back Jimmy came +blinking out into the sunlight. The boughs +closed behind him, and they did not stir or +rustle for the appearance of any one else. +Jimmy was alone.</p> + +<p>"Where is it?" asked the girls in one +breath.</p> + +<p>"Walking up and down in a fir-walk," said +Jimmy, "doing sums in a book. He says he's +most frightfully rich, and he's got to get up +to town to the Stocks or something—where +they change papers into gold if you're clever, +he says. I should like to go to the Stocks-change, +wouldn't you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't seem to care very much about +changes," said Gerald. "I've had enough. +Show us where he is—we must get rid of +him."</p> + +<p>"He's got a motor-car," Jimmy went on,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +parting the warm varnished-looking rhododendron +leaves, "and a garden with a tennis-court +and a lake and a carriage and pair, and he goes +to Athens for his holiday sometimes, just like +other people go to Margate."</p> + +<p>"The best thing," said Gerald, following +through the bushes, "will be to tell him the +shortest way out is through that hotel that +he thinks he found last night. Then we get +him into the passage, give him a push, fly back, +and shut the door."</p> + +<p>"He'll starve to death in there," said Kathleen, +"if he's really real."</p> + +<p>"I expect it doesn't last long, the ring +magics don't—anyway, it's the only thing I +can think of."</p> + +<p>"He's frightfully rich," Jimmy went on unheeding +amid the cracking of the bushes; "he's +building a public library for the people where +he lives, and having his portrait painted to put +in it. He thinks they'll like that."</p> + +<p>The belt of rhododendrons was passed, and +the children had reached a smooth grass walk +bordered by tall pines and firs of strange +different kinds. "He's just round that corner," +said Jimmy. "He's simply rolling in money. +He doesn't know what to do with it. He's +been building a horse-trough and drinking +fountain with a bust of himself on top. Why +doesn't he build a private swimming-bath close +to his bed, so that he can just roll off into it of +a morning? I wish <i>I</i> was rich; I'd soon show +him——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's a sensible wish," said Gerald. "I +wonder we didn't think of doing that. Oh, +criky!" he added, and with reason. For there, +in the green shadows of the pine-walk, in the +woodland silence, broken only by rustling leaves +and the agitated breathing of the three unhappy +others, Jimmy got his wish. By quick but +perfectly plain-to-be-seen degrees Jimmy became +rich. And the horrible thing was that +though they could see it happening they did +not know what was happening, and could not +have stopped it if they had. All they could see +was Jimmy, their own Jimmy, whom they had +larked with and quarrelled with and made it up +with ever since they could remember, Jimmy +continuously and horribly growing old. The +whole thing was over in a few seconds. Yet +in those few seconds they saw him grow to a +youth, a young man, a middle-aged man; and +then, with a sort of shivering shock, unspeakably +horrible and definite, he seemed to settle +down into an elderly gentleman, handsomely +but rather dowdily dressed, who was looking +down at them through spectacles and asking +them the nearest way to the railway-station. +If they had not seen the change take place, in +all its awful details, they would never have +guessed that this stout, prosperous, elderly +gentleman with the high hat, the frock-coat, +and the large red seal dangling from the +curve of a portly waistcoat, was their own +Jimmy. But, as they <i>had</i> seen it, they knew +the dreadful truth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Jimmy, <i>don't!</i>" cried Mabel desperately.</p> + +<p>Gerald said: "This is perfectly beastly," and +Kathleen broke into wild weeping.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry, little girl!" said That-which-had-been-Jimmy; +"and you, boy, can't you give a +civil answer to a civil question?"</p> + +<p>"He doesn't know us!" wailed Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Who doesn't know you?" said That-which-had-been +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Y—y—<i>you</i> don't!" Kathleen sobbed.</p> + +<p>"I certainly don't," returned That-which—— +"but surely that need not distress you so +deeply."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!" Kathleen +sobbed louder than before.</p> + +<p>"He <i>doesn't</i> know us," Gerald owned, "or—look +here, Jimmy, y—you aren't kidding, are +you? Because if you are it's simply abject +rot——"</p> + +<p>"My name is Mr. ——," said That-which-had-been-Jimmy, +and gave the name correctly. +By the way, it will perhaps be shorter to call +this elderly stout person who was Jimmy grown +rich by some simpler name than I have just +used. Let us call him "That"—short for "That-which-had-been-Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"What <i>are</i> we to do?" whispered Mabel, awestruck; +and aloud she said: "Oh, Mr. James, +or whatever you call yourself, <i>do</i> give me the +ring." For on That's finger the fatal ring +showed plain.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," said That firmly. "You +appear to be a very grasping child."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But what are you going to <i>do?</i>" Gerald +asked in the flat tones of complete hopelessness.</p> + +<p>"Your interest is very flattering," said That. +"Will you tell me, or won't you, the way to the +nearest railway-station?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Gerald, "we won't."</p> + +<p>"Then," said That, still politely, though quite +plainly furious, "perhaps you'll tell me the way +to the nearest lunatic asylum?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, no!" cried Kathleen. "You're +not so bad as that."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not. But <i>you</i> are," That retorted; +"if you're not lunatics you're idiots. However, +I see a gentleman ahead who is perhaps sane. +In fact, I seem to recognise him." A gentleman, +indeed, was now to be seen approaching. It was +the elderly Ugly-Wugly.</p> + +<p>"Oh! don't you remember Jerry?" Kathleen +cried, "and Cathy, your own Cathy Puss Cat? +Dear, dear Jimmy, <i>don't</i> be so silly!"</p> + +<p>"Little girl," said That, looking at her crossly +through his spectacles, "I am sorry you have +not been better brought up." And he walked +stiffly towards the Ugly-Wugly. Two hats +were raised, a few words were exchanged, and +two elderly figures walked side by side down the +green pine-walk, followed by three miserable +children, horrified, bewildered, alarmed, and, +what is really worse than anything, quite at +their wits' end.</p> + +<p>"He wished to be rich, so of course he is," +said Gerald; "he'll have money for tickets and +everything."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 339px;"> +<img src="images/gs34.png" width="339" height="510" alt="TWO HATS WERE RAISED." title="" /> +<span class="caption">TWO HATS WERE RAISED.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And when the spell breaks—it's sure to +break, isn't it?—he'll find himself somewhere +awful—perhaps in a really good hotel—and +not know how he got there."</p> + +<p>"I wonder how long the Ugly-Wuglies +lasted," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Gerald answered, "that reminds me. +You two <i>must</i> collect the coats and things. +Hide them, anywhere you like, and we'll carry +them home to-morrow—if there <i>is</i> any to-morrow," +he added darkly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" said Kathleen, once more breathing +heavily on the verge of tears: "you +wouldn't think everything <i>could</i> be so awful, +and the sun shining like it does."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Gerald, "of course I must +stick to Jimmy. You two must go home to +Mademoiselle and tell her Jimmy and I have +gone off in the train with a gentleman—say he +looked like an uncle. He does—some kinds of +uncle. There'll be a beastly row afterwards, +but it's got to be done."</p> + +<p>"It all seems thick with lies," said Kathleen; +"you don't seem to be able to get a word of +truth in edgewise hardly."</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry," said her brother; "they +aren't lies—they're as true as anything else in +this magic rot we've got mixed up in. It's like +telling lies in a dream; you can't help it."</p> + +<p>"Well, all I know is I wish it would stop."</p> + +<p>"Lot of use your wishing <i>that</i> is," said Gerald, +exasperated. "So long. I've <i>got</i> to go, and +you've <i>got</i> to stay. If it's any comfort to you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +I don't believe <i>any</i> of it's real: it can't be; it's +too thick. Tell Mademoiselle Jimmy and I will +be back to tea. If we don't happen to be I can't +help it. I can't help <i>anything</i>, except perhaps +Jimmy." He started to run, for the girls had +lagged, and the Ugly-Wugly and That (late +Jimmy) had quickened their pace.</p> + +<p>The girls were left looking after them.</p> + +<p>"We've <i>got</i> to find these clothes," said Mabel, +"simply got to. I used to want to be a heroine. +It's different when it really comes to being, +isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very," said Kathleen. "Where shall +we hide the clothes when we've got them? +Not—not that passage?"</p> + +<p>"Never!" said Mabel firmly: "we'll hide them +inside the great stone dinosaurus. He's hollow."</p> + +<p>"He comes alive—in his stone," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Not in the sunshine he doesn't," Mabel told +her confidently, "and not without the ring."</p> + +<p>"There won't be any apples and books to-day," +said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"No, but we'll do the babiest thing we <i>can</i> do +the minute we get home. We'll have a dolls' +tea-party. That'll make us feel as if there +wasn't really any magic."</p> + +<p>"It'll have to be a very strong tea party, +then," said Kathleen doubtfully.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>And now we see Gerald, a small but quite +determined figure, paddling along in the soft +white dust of the sunny road, in the wake<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +of two elderly gentlemen. His hand, in his +trousers pocket, buries itself with a feeling of +satisfaction in the heavy mixed coinage that +is his share of the profits of his conjuring at +the fair. His noiseless tennis-shoes bear him +to the station, where, unobserved, he listens at +the ticket office to the voice of That-which-was-James. +"One first London," it says; and +Gerald, waiting till That and the Ugly-Wugly +have strolled on to the platform, politely conversing +of politics and the Kaffir market, takes +a third return to London. The train strides in, +squeaking and puffing. The watched take their +seats in a carriage blue-lined. The watcher +springs into a yellow wooden compartment. +A whistle sounds, a flag is waved. The train +pulls itself together, strains, jerks, and starts.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a> +<img src="images/gs35.png" width="500" height="336" alt="MABEL HANDS UP THE CLOTHES AND THE STICKS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MABEL HANDS UP THE CLOTHES AND THE STICKS.</span> +</div> + +<p>"I don't understand," says Gerald, alone in +his third-class carriage, "how railway trains +and magic <i>can</i> go on at the same time."</p> + +<p>And yet they do.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>Mabel and Kathleen, nervously peering among +the rhododendron bushes and the bracken and +the fancy fir-trees, find six several heaps of +coats, hats, skirts, gloves, golf-clubs, hockey-sticks, +broom-handles. They carry them, +panting and damp, for the mid-day sun is +pitiless, up the hill to where the stone dinosaurus +looms immense among a forest of +larches. The dinosaurus has a hole in his +stomach. Kathleen shows Mabel how to "make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +a back" and climbs up on it into the cold, stony +inside of the monster. Mabel hands up the +clothes and the sticks.</p> + +<p>"There's lots of room," says Kathleen; "its +tail goes down into the ground. It's like a +secret passage."</p> + +<p>"Suppose something comes out of it and +jumps out at you," says Mabel, and Kathleen +hurriedly descends.</p> + +<p>The explanations to Mademoiselle promise to +be difficult, but, as Kathleen said afterwards, +any little thing is enough to take a grown-up's +attention off. A figure passes the window just +as they are explaining that it really did look +exactly like an uncle that the boys have gone +to London with.</p> + +<p>"Who's that?" says Mademoiselle suddenly, +pointing, too, which every one knows is not +manners.</p> + +<p>It is the bailiff coming back from the +doctor's with antiseptic plaster on that nasty +cut that took so long a-bathing this morning. +They tell her it is the bailiff at Yalding +Towers, and she says, "Sky!" (<i>Ciel!</i>) and +asks no more awkward questions about the +boys. Lunch—very late—is a silent meal. +After lunch Mademoiselle goes out, in a hat +with many pink roses, carrying a rose-lined +parasol. The girls, in dead silence, organise a +dolls' tea-party, with real tea. At the second +cup Kathleen bursts into tears. Mabel, also +weeping, embraces her.</p> + +<p>"I wish," sobs Kathleen, "oh, I <i>do</i> wish I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +knew where the boys were! It <i>would</i> be such +a comfort."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>Gerald knew where the boys were, and it was +no comfort to him at all. If you come to think +of it, he was the only person who could know +where they were, because Jimmy didn't know +that he was a boy—and indeed he wasn't really—and +the Ugly-Wugly couldn't be expected to +know anything real, such as where boys were. +At the moment when the second cup of dolls' +tea—very strong, but not strong enough to +drown care in—was being poured out by +the trembling hand of Kathleen, Gerald was +lurking—there really is no other word for it—on +the staircase of Aldermanbury Buildings, +Old Broad Street. On the floor below him +was a door bearing the legend "Mr. U. W. +Ugli, Stock and Share Broker. And at the +Stock Exchange," and on the floor above was +another door, on which was the name of +Gerald's little brother, now grown suddenly +rich in so magic and tragic a way. There +were no explaining words under Jimmy's +name. Gerald could not guess what walk in +life it was to which That (which had been +Jimmy) owed its affluence. He had seen, when +the door opened to admit his brother, a tangle +of clerks and mahogany desks. Evidently That +had a large business.</p> + +<p>What was Gerald to do? What <i>could</i> he do?</p> + +<p>It is almost impossible, especially for one so +young as Gerald, to enter a large London office<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +and explain that the elderly and respected head +of it is not what he seems, but is really your +little brother, who has been suddenly advanced +to age and wealth by a tricky wishing ring. If +you think it's a possible thing, try it, that's all. +Nor could he knock at the door of Mr. U. W. +Ugli, Stock and Share Broker (and at the Stock +Exchange), and inform <i>his</i> clerks that their +chief was really nothing but old clothes that +had accidentally come alive, and by some magic, +which he couldn't attempt to explain, become +real during a night spent at a really good hotel +which had no existence.</p> + +<p>The situation bristled, as you see, with difficulties. +And it was so long past Gerald's +proper dinner-time that his increasing hunger +was rapidly growing to seem the most important +difficulty of all. It is quite possible +to starve to death on the staircase of a London +building if the people you are watching for only +stay long enough in their offices. The truth of +this came home to Gerald more and more +painfully.</p> + +<p>A boy with hair like a new front door mat +came whistling up the stairs. He had a dark +blue bag in his hands.</p> + +<p>"I'll give you a tanner for yourself if you'll +get me a tanner's worth of buns," said Gerald, +with that prompt decision common to all great +commanders.</p> + +<p>"Show us yer tanners," the boy rejoined with +at least equal promptness. Gerald showed them. +"All right; hand over."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Payment on delivery," said Gerald, using +words from the drapers which he had never +thought to use.</p> + +<p>The boy grinned admiringly.</p> + +<p>"Knows 'is wy abaht," he said; "ain't no flies +on 'im."</p> + +<p>"Not many," Gerald owned with modest +pride. "Cut along, there's a good chap. I've +<i>got</i> to wait here. I'll take care of your bag +if you like."</p> + +<p>"Nor yet there ain't no flies on me neither," +remarked the boy, shouldering it. "I been up +to the confidence trick for years—ever since +I was your age."</p> + +<p>With this parting shot he went, and returned +in due course bun-laden. Gerald gave +the sixpence and took the buns. When the boy, +a minute later, emerged from the door of Mr. +U. W. Ugli, Stock and Share Broker (and at the +Stock Exchange), Gerald stopped him.</p> + +<p>"What sort of chap's that?" he asked, pointing +the question with a jerk of an explaining +thumb.</p> + +<p>"Awful big pot," said the boy; "up to his +eyes in oof. Motor and all that."</p> + +<p>"Know anything about the one on the next +landing?"</p> + +<p>"He's bigger than what this one is. Very +old firm—special cellar in the Bank of England +to put his chink in—all in bins like against +the wall at the corn-chandler's. Jimminy, I +wouldn't mind 'alf an hour in there, and the +doors open and the police away at a beano.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +Not much! Neither. You'll bust if you eat +all them buns."</p> + +<p>"Have one?" Gerald responded, and held out +the bag.</p> + +<p>"They say in our office," said the boy, paying +for the bun honourably with unasked information, +"as these two is all for cutting each other's +throats—oh, only in the way of business—been +at it for years."</p> + +<p>Gerald wildly wondered what magic and +how much had been needed to give history +and a past to these two things of yesterday, +the rich Jimmy and the Ugly-Wugly. If he +could get them away would all memory of +them fade—in this boy's mind, for instance, +in the minds of all the people who did business +with them in the City? Would the mahogany-and-clerk-furnished +offices fade away? Were +the clerks real? Was the mahogany? Was +he himself real? Was the boy?</p> + +<p>"Can you keep a secret?" he asked the other +boy. "Are you on for a lark?"</p> + +<p>"I ought to be getting back to the office," +said the boy.</p> + +<p>"Get then!" said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Don't you get stuffy," said the boy. "I +was just agoing to say it didn't matter. I +know how to make my nose bleed if I'm a +bit late."</p> + +<p>Gerald congratulated him on this accomplishment, +at once so useful and so graceful, and +then said:—</p> + +<p>"Look here. I'll give you five bob—honest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What for?" was the boy's natural question.</p> + +<p>"If you'll help me."</p> + +<p>"Fire ahead."</p> + +<p>"I'm a private inquiry," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"'Tec? You don't look it."</p> + +<p>"What's the good of being one if you look +it?" Gerald asked impatiently, beginning on +another bun. "That old chap on the floor +above—he's <i>wanted</i>."</p> + +<p>"Police?" asked the boy with fine carelessness.</p> + +<p>"No—sorrowing relations."</p> + +<p>"'Return to,'" said the boy; "'all forgotten +and forgiven.' I see."</p> + +<p>"And I've got to get him to them, somehow. +Now, if you could go in and give him a message +from some one who wanted to meet him on +business——"</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" said the boy. "I know a trick +worth two of that. You go in and see old +Ugli. He'd give his ears to have the old boy +out of the way for a day or two. They were +saying so in our office only this morning."</p> + +<p>"Let me think," said Gerald, laying down +the last bun on his knee expressly to hold his +head in his hands.</p> + +<p>"Don't you forget to think about my five +bob," said the boy.</p> + +<p>Then there was a silence on the stairs, broken +only by the cough of a clerk in That's office, and +the clickety-clack of a typewriter in the office +of Mr. U. W. Ugli.</p> + +<p>Then Gerald rose up and finished the bun.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're right," he said. "I'll chance it. +Here's your five bob."</p> + +<p>He brushed the bun crumbs from his +front, cleared his throat, and knocked at +the door of Mr. U. W. Ugli. It opened and +he entered.</p> + +<p>The door-mat boy lingered, secure in his +power to account for his long absence by means +of his well-trained nose, and his waiting was +rewarded. He went down a few steps, round +the bend of the stairs, and heard the voice of +Mr. U. W. Ugli, so well known on that staircase +(and on the Stock Exchange) say in soft, +cautious accents:—</p> + +<p>"Then I'll ask him to let me look at the +ring—and I'll drop it. You pick it up. But +remember, it's a pure accident, and you don't +know me. I can't have my name mixed up in +a thing like this. You're <i>sure</i> he's really unhinged?"</p> + +<p>"Quite," said Gerald; "he's quite mad about +that ring. He'll follow it anywhere. I know +he will. And think of his sorrowing relations."</p> + +<p>"I do—I do," said Mr. Ugli kindly; "that's +all I <i>do</i> think of, of course."</p> + +<p>He went up the stairs to the other office, +and Gerald heard the voice of That telling +his clerks that he was going out to lunch. +Then the horrible Ugly-Wugly and Jimmy, +hardly less horrible in the eyes of Gerald, passed +down the stairs where, in the dusk of the lower +landing, two boys were making themselves as +undistinguishable as possible, and so out into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +street, talking of stocks and shares, bears and +bulls. The two boys followed.</p> + +<p>"I say," the door-mat-headed boy whispered +admiringly, "whatever are you up to?"</p> + +<p>"You'll see," said Gerald recklessly. "Come +on!"</p> + +<p>"You tell me. I must be getting back."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you, but you won't believe me. +That old gentleman's not really old at all—he's +my young brother suddenly turned into what +you see. The other's not real at all. He's +only just old clothes and nothing inside."</p> + +<p>"He looks it, I must say," the boy admitted; +"but I say—you do stick it on, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, my brother was turned like that by +a magic ring."</p> + +<p>"There ain't no such thing as magic," said +the boy. "I learnt that at school."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Gerald. "Goodbye."</p> + +<p>"Oh, go ahead!" said the boy; "you do stick +it on, though."</p> + +<p>"Well, that magic ring. If I can get hold +of it I shall just wish we were all in a certain +place. And we shall be. And then I can deal +with both of them."</p> + +<p>"Deal?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, the ring won't <i>unwish</i> anything +you've wished. That undoes itself with time, +like a spring uncoiling. But it'll give you a +brand-new wish—I'm almost certain of it. Anyhow, +I'm going to chance it."</p> + +<p>"You are a rotter, aren't you?" said the boy +respectfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You wait and see," Gerald repeated.</p> + +<p>"I say, you aren't going into this swell place! +you <i>can't?</i>"</p> + +<p>The boy paused, appalled at the majesty of +Pym's.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am—they can't turn us out as long +as we behave. You come along, too. I'll stand +lunch."</p> + +<p>I don't know why Gerald clung so to this +boy. He wasn't a very nice boy. Perhaps it +was because he was the only person Gerald +knew in London, to speak to—except That-which-had-been-Jimmy +and the Ugly-Wugly; +and he did not want to talk to either of them.</p> + +<p>What happened next happened so quickly +that, as Gerald said later, it was "just like +magic." The restaurant was crowded—busy +men were hastily bolting the food hurriedly +brought by busy waitresses. There was a clink +of forks and plates, the gurgle of beer from +bottles, the hum of talk, and the smell of many +good things to eat.</p> + +<p>"Two chops, please," Gerald had just said, +playing with a plainly shown handful of money, +so as to leave no doubt of his honourable +intentions. Then at the next table he heard +the words, "Ah, yes, curious old family heirloom," +the ring was drawn off the finger of +That, and Mr. U. W. Ugli, murmuring something +about a unique curio, reached his impossible +hand out for it. The door-mat-headed +boy was watching breathlessly.</p> + +<p>"There's a ring right enough," he owned.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +And then the ring slipped from the hand of +Mr. U. W. Ugli and skidded along the floor. +Gerald pounced on it like a greyhound on a hare. +He thrust the dull circlet on his finger and cried +out aloud in that crowded place:—</p> + +<p>"I wish Jimmy and I were inside that door +behind the statue of Flora."</p> + +<p>It was the only safe place he could think of.</p> + +<p>The lights and sounds and scents of the +restaurant died away as a wax-drop dies in +fire—a rain-drop in water. I don't know, and +Gerald never knew, what happened in that +restaurant. There was nothing about it in the +papers, though Gerald looked anxiously for +"Extraordinary Disappearance of well-known +City Man." What the door-mat-headed boy +did or thought I don't know either. No more +does Gerald. But he would like to know, +whereas I don't care tuppence. The world +went on all right, anyhow, whatever he thought +or did. The lights and the sounds and the +scents of Pym's died out. In place of the light +there was darkness; in place of the sounds there +was silence; and in place of the scent of beef, +pork, mutton, fish, veal, cabbage, onions, carrots, +beer, and tobacco there was the musty, damp +scent of a place underground that has been +long shut up.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 471px;"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a> +<img src="images/gs36.png" width="471" height="500" alt="HE CRIED OUT ALOUD IN THAT CROWDED PLACE: "I WISH JIMMY AND I WERE INSIDE THAT DOOR BEHIND THE STATUE OF FLORA."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">HE CRIED OUT ALOUD IN THAT CROWDED PLACE: "I WISH JIMMY AND I WERE INSIDE THAT DOOR BEHIND THE STATUE OF FLORA."</span> +</div> + +<p>Gerald felt sick and giddy, and there was +something at the back of his mind that he knew +would make him feel sicker and giddier as soon +as he should have the sense to remember what +it was. Meantime it was important to think of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +proper words to soothe the City man that had +once been Jimmy—to keep him quiet till Time, +like a spring uncoiling, should bring the reversal +of the spell—make all things as they were and +as they ought to be. But he fought in vain for +words. There were none. Nor were they needed. +For through the deep darkness came a voice—and +it was not the voice of that City man who +had been Jimmy, but the voice of that very +Jimmy who was Gerald's little brother, and who +had wished that unlucky wish for riches that +could only be answered by changing all that +was Jimmy, young and poor, to all that Jimmy, +rich and old, would have been. Another voice +said: "Jerry, Jerry! Are you awake?—I've had +such a rum dream."</p> + +<p>And then there was a moment when nothing +was said or done.</p> + +<p>Gerald felt through the thick darkness, and +the thick silence, and the thick scent of old +earth shut up, and he got hold of Jimmy's hand.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Jimmy, old chap," he said; +"it's not a dream now. It's that beastly ring +again. I had to wish us here, to get you back at +all out of your dream."</p> + +<p>"Wish us where?" Jimmy held on to the +hand in a way that in the daylight of life he +would have been the first to call babyish.</p> + +<p>"Inside the passage—behind the Flora statue," +said Gerald, adding, "it's all right, really."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I daresay it's all right," Jimmy answered +through the dark, with an irritation not strong +enough to make him loosen his hold of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +brother's hand. "<i>But how are we going to get +out?</i>"</p> + +<p>Then Gerald knew what it was that was waiting +to make him feel more giddy than the +lightning flight from Cheapside to Yalding +Towers had been able to make him. But he +said stoutly:</p> + +<p>"I'll wish us out, of course." Though all the +time he knew that the ring would not undo its +given wishes.</p> + +<p>It didn't.</p> + +<p>Gerald wished. He handed the ring carefully +to Jimmy, through the thick darkness. And +Jimmy wished.</p> + +<p>And there they still were, in that black +passage behind Flora, that had led—in the case +of one Ugly-Wugly at least—to "a good hotel." +And the stone door was shut. And they did not +know even which way to turn to it.</p> + +<p>"If I only had some matches!" said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you leave me in the dream?" +Jimmy almost whimpered. "It was light there, +and I was just going to have salmon and +cucumber."</p> + +<p>"I," rejoined Gerald in gloom, "was just +going to have steak and fried potatoes."</p> + +<p>The silence, and the darkness, and the earthy +scent were all they had now.</p> + +<p>"I always wondered what it would be like," +said Jimmy in low, even tones, "to be buried +alive. And now I know! Oh!" his voice suddenly +rose to a shriek, "it isn't true, it isn't! +It's a dream—that's what it is!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a pause while you could have +counted ten. Then—</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Gerald bravely, through the scent +and the silence and the darkness, "it's just a +dream, Jimmy, old chap. We'll just hold on, +and call out now and then just for the lark of +the thing. But it's really only a dream, of +course."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Jimmy in the silence and +the darkness and the scent of old earth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">There</span> is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as +glass, strong as iron, that hangs for ever between +the world of magic and the world that +seems to us to be real. And when once people +have found one of the little weak spots in that +curtain which are marked by magic rings, and +amulets, and the like, almost anything may +happen. Thus it is not surprising that Mabel +and Kathleen, conscientiously conducting one of +the dullest dolls' tea-parties at which either had +ever assisted, should suddenly, and both at once, +have felt a strange, unreasonable, but quite +irresistible desire to return instantly to the +Temple of Flora—even at the cost of leaving +the dolls' tea-service in an unwashed state, and +only half the raisins eaten. They went—as one +has to go when the magic impulse drives one—against +their better judgment, against their +wills almost.</div> + +<p>And the nearer they came to the Temple of +Flora, in the golden hush of the afternoon, the +more certain each was that they could not +possibly have done otherwise.</p> + +<p>And this explains exactly how it was that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +when Gerald and Jimmy, holding hands in the +darkness of the passage, uttered their first concerted +yell, "just for the lark of the thing," that +yell was instantly answered from outside.</p> + +<p>A crack of light showed in that part of the +passage where they had least expected the door +to be. The stone door itself swung slowly open, +and they were out of it, in the Temple of Flora, +blinking in the good daylight, an unresisting +prey to Kathleen's embraces and the questionings +of Mabel.</p> + +<p>"And you left that Ugly-Wugly loose in +London," Mabel pointed out; "you might have +wished it to be with you, too."</p> + +<p>"It's all right where it is," said Gerald. "I +couldn't think of everything. And besides, no, +thank you! Now we'll go home and seal up the +ring in an envelope."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> haven't done anything with the ring yet," +said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think you'd want to when you +see the sort of things it does with you," said +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't do things like that if <i>I</i> was +wishing with it," Kathleen protested.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Mabel, "let's just put it +back in the treasure-room and have done with +it. I oughtn't ever to have taken it away, really. +It's a sort of stealing. It's quite as bad, really, +as Eliza borrowing it to astonish her gentleman +friend with."</p> + +<p>"I don't mind putting it back if you like," +said Gerald, "only if any of us do think of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +sensible wish you'll let us have it out again, of +course?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course," Mabel agreed.</p> + +<p>So they trooped up to the castle, and Mabel +once more worked the spring that let down the +panelling and showed the jewels, and the ring +was put back among the odd dull ornaments +that Mabel had once said were magic.</p> + +<p>"How innocent it looks!" said Gerald. "You +wouldn't think there was any magic about it. +It's just like an old silly ring. I wonder if what +Mabel said about the other things is true! +Suppose we try."</p> + +<p>"<i>Don't!</i>" said Kathleen. "<i>I</i> think magic things +are spiteful. They just enjoy getting you into +tight places."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to try," said Mabel, "only—well, +everything's been rather upsetting, and I've +forgotten what I said anything was."</p> + +<p>So had the others. Perhaps that was why, +when Gerald said that a bronze buckle laid on +the foot would have the effect of seven-league +boots, it didn't; when Jimmy, a little of the City +man he had been clinging to him still, said that +the steel collar would ensure your always having +money in your pockets, his own remained +empty; and when Mabel and Kathleen invented +qualities of the most delightful nature for +various rings and chains and brooches, nothing +at all happened.</p> + +<p>"It's only the ring that's magic," said Mabel +at last; "and, I say!" she added, in quite a +different voice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Suppose even the ring isn't!"</p> + +<p>"But we know it is."</p> + +<p>"I don't," said Mabel. "I believe it's not to-day +at all. I believe it's the other day—we've +just dreamed all these things. It's the day I +made up that nonsense about the ring."</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't," said Gerald; "you were in your +Princess-clothes then."</p> + +<p>"What Princess-clothes?" said Mabel, opening +her dark eyes very wide.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be silly," said Gerald wearily.</p> + +<p>"I'm not silly," said Mabel; "and I think it's +time you went. I'm sure Jimmy wants his tea."</p> + +<p>"Of course I do," said Jimmy. "But you had +got the Princess-clothes that day. Come along; +let's shut up the shutters and leave the ring in +its long home."</p> + +<p>"What ring?" said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Don't take any notice of her," said Gerald. +"She's only trying to be funny."</p> + +<p>"No, I'm not," said Mabel; "but I'm inspired +like a Python or a Sibylline lady. What ring?"</p> + +<p>"The wishing-ring," said Kathleen; "the invisibility +ring."</p> + +<p>"Don't you see <i>now</i>," said Mabel, her eyes +wider than ever, "the ring's what you <i>say</i> it +is? That's how it came to make us invisible—I +just said it. Oh, we can't leave it here, if +that's what it is. It isn't stealing, really, when +it's as valuable as that, you see. Say what +it is."</p> + +<p>"It's a wishing-ring," said Jimmy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We've had that before—and you had your +silly wish," said Mabel, more and more excited. +"I say it isn't a wishing-ring. I say it's a ring +that makes the wearer four yards high."</p> + +<p>She had caught up the ring as she spoke, and +even as she spoke the ring showed high above +the children's heads on the finger of an impossible +Mabel, who was, indeed, twelve feet +high.</p> + +<p>"Now you've done it!" said Gerald—and he +was right. It was in vain that Mabel asserted +that the ring was a wishing-ring. It quite +clearly wasn't; it was what she had said it was.</p> + +<p>"And you can't tell at all how long the effect +will last," said Gerald. "Look at the invisibleness." +This is difficult to do, but the others +understood him.</p> + +<p>"It may last for days," said Kathleen. "Oh, +Mabel, it <i>was</i> silly of you!"</p> + +<p>"That's right, rub it in," said Mabel bitterly; +"you should have believed me when I said it +was what I said it was. Then I shouldn't have +had to show you, and I shouldn't be this silly +size. What am I to do now, I should like to +know?"</p> + +<p>"We must conceal you till you get your right +size again—that's all," said Gerald practically.</p> + +<p>"Yes—but <i>where?</i>" said Mabel, stamping a +foot twenty-four inches long.</p> + +<p>"In one of the empty rooms. You wouldn't +be afraid?"</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Mabel. "Oh, I do wish +we'd just put the ring back and left it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, it wasn't us that didn't," said Jimmy, +with more truth than grammar.</p> + +<p>"I shall put it back now," said Mabel, tugging +at it.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't if I were you," said Gerald +thoughtfully. "You don't want to stay that +length, do you? And unless the ring's on your +finger when the time's up, I dare say it wouldn't +act."</p> + +<p>The exalted Mabel sullenly touched the spring. +The panels slowly slid into place, and all the +bright jewels were hidden. Once more the room +was merely eight-sided, panelled, sunlit, and +unfurnished.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Mabel, "where am I to hide? +It's a good thing auntie gave me leave to stay +the night with you. As it is, one of you will +have to stay the night with me. I'm not going +to be left alone, the silly height I am."</p> + +<p>Height was the right word; Mabel had said +"four yards high"—and she <i>was</i> four yards +high. But she was hardly any thicker than +when her height was four feet seven, and the +effect was, as Gerald remarked, "wonderfully +worm-like." Her clothes had, of course, grown +with her, and she looked like a little girl reflected +in one of those long bent mirrors at +Rosherville Gardens, that make stout people +look so happily slender, and slender people so +sadly scraggy. She sat down suddenly on the +floor, and it was like a four-fold foot-rule folding +itself up.</p> + +<p>"It's no use sitting there, girl," said Gerald.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 510px;"> +<img src="images/gs37.png" width="510" height="393" alt="SHE SAT DOWN SUDDENLY ON THE FLOOR, AND IT WAS LIKE A FOUR-FOLD FOOT-RULE FOLDING ITSELF UP." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SHE SAT DOWN SUDDENLY ON THE FLOOR, AND IT WAS LIKE A FOUR-FOLD FOOT-RULE FOLDING ITSELF UP.</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm not sitting here," retorted Mabel; "I +only got down so as to be able to get through +the door. It'll have to be hands and knees +through most places for me now, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you hungry?" Jimmy asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Mabel desolately; "it's—it's +such a long way off!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll scout," said Gerald; "if the coast's +clear——"</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Mabel, "I think I'd rather +be out of doors till it gets dark."</p> + +<p>"You <i>can't</i>. Some one's certain to see you."</p> + +<p>"Not if I go through the yew-hedge," said +Mabel. "There's a yew-hedge with a passage +along its inside like the box-hedge in 'The Luck +of the Vails.'"</p> + +<p>"In <i>what?</i>"</p> + +<p>"'The Luck of the Vails.' It's a ripping book. +It was that book first set me on to hunt for +hidden doors in panels and things. If I crept +along that on my front, like a serpent—it comes +out amongst the rhododendrons, close by the +dinosaurus—we could camp there."</p> + +<p>"There's tea," said Gerald, who had had no +dinner.</p> + +<p>"That's just what there isn't," said Jimmy, +who had had none either.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you <i>won't</i> desert me!" said Mabel. +"Look here—I'll write to auntie. She'll give +you the things for a picnic, if she's there and +awake. If she isn't, one of the maids will."</p> + +<p>So she wrote on a leaf of Gerald's invaluable +pocket-book:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dearest Auntie</span>,—</p> + +<p>"Please may we have some things for a +picnic? Gerald will bring them. I would come +myself, but I am a little tired. I think I have +been growing rather fast.—Your loving niece,</p> + +<div class='sig'> +"<span class="smcap">Mabel</span>."<br /> +</div> + +<p>"P.S.—Lots, please, because some of us are +very hungry."</p></div> + +<p>It was found difficult, but possible, for Mabel +to creep along the tunnel in the yew-hedge. +Possible, but slow, so that the three had hardly +had time to settle themselves among the rhododendrons +and to wonder bitterly what on earth +Gerald was up to, to be such a time gone, when +he returned, panting under the weight of a +covered basket. He dumped it down on the fine +grass carpet, groaned, and added, "But it's worth +it. Where's our Mabel?"</p> + +<p>The long, pale face of Mabel peered out from +rhododendron leaves, very near the ground.</p> + +<p>"I look just like anybody else like this, don't +I?" she asked anxiously; "all the rest of me's +miles away, under different bushes."</p> + +<p>"We've covered up the bits between the +bushes with bracken and leaves," said Kathleen, +avoiding the question; "don't wriggle, Mabel, +or you'll waggle them off."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was eagerly unpacking the basket. It +was a generous tea. A long loaf, butter in a +cabbage-leaf, a bottle of milk, a bottle of water, +cake, and large, smooth, yellow gooseberries in +a box that had once held an extra-sized bottle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +of somebody's matchless something for the hair +and moustache. Mabel cautiously advanced her +incredible arms from the rhododendron and +leaned on one of her spindly elbows, Gerald cut +bread and butter, while Kathleen obligingly ran +round, at Mabel's request, to see that the green +coverings had not dropped from any of the +remoter parts of Mabel's person. Then there +was a happy, hungry silence, broken only by +those brief, impassioned suggestions natural to +such an occasion:—</p> + +<p>"More cake, please."</p> + +<p>"Milk ahoy, there."</p> + +<p>"Chuck us the goosegogs."</p> + +<p>Everyone grew calmer—more contented with +their lot. A pleasant feeling, half tiredness and +half restfulness, crept to the extremities of the +party. Even the unfortunate Mabel was conscious +of it in her remote feet, that lay crossed +under the third rhododendron to the north-north-west +of the tea-party. Gerald did but +voice the feelings of the others when he said, +not without regret:—</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm a new man, but I couldn't eat so +much as another goosegog if you paid me."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> could," said Mabel: "yes, I know they're +all gone, and I've had my share. But I <i>could</i>. +It's me being so long, I suppose."</p> + +<p>A delicious after-food peace filled the summer +air. At a little distance the green-lichened grey +of the vast stone dinosaurus showed through +the shrubs. He, too, seemed peaceful and +happy. Gerald caught his stone eye through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +a gap in the foliage. His glance seemed somehow +sympathetic.</p> + +<p>"I dare say he liked a good meal in his day," +said Gerald, stretching luxuriously.</p> + +<p>"Who did?"</p> + +<p>"The dino what's-his-name," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"He had a meal to-day," said Kathleen, and +giggled.</p> + +<p>"Yes—didn't he?" said Mabel, giggling also.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't laugh lower than your chest," +said Kathleen anxiously, "or your green stuff +will joggle off."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean—a meal?" Jimmy +asked suspiciously. "What are you sniggering +about?"</p> + +<p>"He had a meal. Things to put in his inside," +said Kathleen, still giggling.</p> + +<p>"Oh, be funny if you want to," said Jimmy, +suddenly cross. "We don't want to know—do +we, Jerry?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said Gerald witheringly; "I'm <i>dying</i> +to know. Wake me, you girls, when you've +finished pretending you're not going to tell."</p> + +<p>He tilted his hat over his eyes, and lay back +in the attitude of slumber.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be stupid!" said Kathleen hastily. +"It's only that we fed the dinosaurus through +the hole in his stomach with the clothes the +Ugly-Wuglies were made of!"</p> + +<p>"We can take them home with us, then," said +Gerald, chewing the white end of a grass stalk, +"so that's all right."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Kathleen suddenly; "I've<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +got an idea. Let me have the ring a bit. I +won't say what the idea is, in case it doesn't +come off, and then you'd say I was silly. I'll +give it back before we go."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but you aren't going yet!" said Mabel, +pleading. She pulled off the ring. "Of course," +she added earnestly, "I'm only too glad for you +to try any idea, however silly it is."</p> + +<p>Now, Kathleen's idea was quite simple. It +was only that perhaps the ring would change +its powers if some one else renamed it—some +one who was not under the power of its enchantment. +So the moment it had passed from +the long, pale hand of Mabel to one of her own +fat, warm, red paws, she jumped up, crying, +"Let's go and empty the dinosaurus <i>now</i>," and +started to run swiftly towards that prehistoric +monster. She had a good start. She wanted +to say aloud, yet so that the others could not +hear her, "This is a wishing-ring. It gives you +any wish you choose." And she did say it. +And no one heard her, except the birds and +a squirrel or two, and perhaps a stone faun, +whose pretty face seemed to turn a laughing +look on her as she raced past its pedestal.</p> + +<p>The way was uphill; it was sunny, and Kathleen +had run her hardest, though her brothers +caught her up before she reached the great +black shadow of the dinosaurus. So that when +she did reach that shadow she was very hot +indeed and not in any state to decide calmly on +the best wish to ask for.</p> + +<p>"I'll get up and move the things down,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +because I know exactly where I put them," she +said.</p> + +<p>Gerald made a back, Jimmy assisted her to +climb up, and she disappeared through the hole +into the dark inside of the monster. In a +moment a shower began to descend from the +opening—a shower of empty waistcoats, trousers +with wildly waving legs, and coats with sleeves +uncontrolled.</p> + +<p>"Heads below!" called Kathleen, and down +came walking-sticks and golf-sticks and hockey-sticks +and broom-sticks, rattling and chattering +to each other as they came.</p> + +<p>"Come on," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Hold on a bit," said Gerald. "I'm coming up." +He caught the edge of the hole above in his +hands and jumped. Just as he got his shoulders +through the opening and his knees on the edge +he heard Kathleen's boots on the floor of the +dinosaurus's inside, and Kathleen's voice saying:</p> + +<p>"Isn't it jolly cool in here? I suppose statues +are always cool. I do wish I was a statue. +Oh!"</p> + +<p>The "oh" was a cry of horror and anguish. +And it seemed to be cut off very short by a +dreadful stony silence.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" Gerald asked. But in his heart +he knew. He climbed up into the great hollow. +In the little light that came up through the hole +he could see something white against the grey +of the creature's sides. He felt in his pockets, +still kneeling, struck a match, and when the +blue of its flame changed to clear yellow he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +looked up to see what he had known he would +see—the face of Kathleen, white, stony, and lifeless. +Her hair was white, too, and her hands, +clothes, shoes—everything was white, with the +hard, cold whiteness of marble. Kathleen had +her wish: she was a statue. There was a long +moment of perfect stillness in the inside of the +dinosaurus. Gerald could not speak. It was +too sudden, too terrible. It was worse than +anything that had happened yet. Then he +turned and spoke down out of that cold, stony +silence to Jimmy, in the green, sunny, rustling, +live world outside.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," he said, in tones perfectly ordinary +and matter of fact, "Kathleen's gone and said +that ring was a wishing-ring. And so it was, +of course. I see now what she was up to, +running like that. And then the young duffer +went and wished she was a statue."</p> + +<p>"And is she?" asked Jimmy, below.</p> + +<p>"Come up and have a look," said Gerald. +And Jimmy came, partly with a pull from +Gerald and partly with a jump of his own.</p> + +<p>"She's a statue, right enough," he said, in +awestruck tones. "Isn't it awful!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said Gerald firmly. "Come on—let's +go and tell Mabel."</p> + +<p>To Mabel, therefore, who had discreetly remained +with her long length screened by +rhododendrons, the two boys returned and +broke the news. They broke it as one breaks +a bottle with a pistol-shot.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 336px;"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"></a> +<img src="images/gs38.png" width="336" height="550" alt="KATHLEEN HAD HER WISH: SHE WAS A STATUE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">KATHLEEN HAD HER WISH: SHE WAS A STATUE.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, my goodness!" said Mabel, and writhed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +through her long length so that the leaves and +fern tumbled off in little showers, and she felt +the sun suddenly hot on the backs of her legs. +"What next? Oh, my goodness!"</p> + +<p>"She'll come all right," said Gerald, with +outward calm.</p> + +<p>"Yes; but what about <i>me?</i>" Mabel urged. +"I haven't got the ring. And my time will be +up before hers is. Couldn't you get it back? +Can't you get it off her hand? I'd put it back +on her hand the very minute I was my right +size again—faithfully I would."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's nothing to blub about," said +Jimmy, answering the sniffs that had served +her in this speech for commas and full-stops; +"not for you, anyway."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you don't know," said Mabel; "you +don't know what it is to be as long as I am. +Do—do try and get the ring. After all, it is +my ring more than any of the rest of yours, +anyhow, because I did find it, and I did say it +was magic."</p> + +<p>The sense of justice always present in the +breast of Gerald awoke to this appeal.</p> + +<p>"I expect the ring's turned to stone—her +boots have, and all her clothes. But I'll go +and see. Only if I can't, I can't, and it's no use +your making a silly fuss."</p> + +<p>The first match lighted inside the dinosaurus +showed the ring dark on the white hand of the +statuesque Kathleen.</p> + +<p>The fingers were stretched straight out. +Gerald took hold of the ring, and, to his surprise,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +it slipped easily off the cold, smooth +marble finger.</p> + +<p>"I say, Cathy, old girl, I am sorry," he said, +and gave the marble hand a squeeze. Then it +came to him that perhaps she could hear him. +So he told the statue exactly what he and the +others meant to do. This helped to clear up +his ideas as to what he and the others did +mean to do. So that when, after thumping the +statue hearteningly on its marble back, he returned +to the rhododendrons, he was able to +give his orders with the clear precision of a +born leader, as he later said. And since the +others had, neither of them, thought of any +plan, his plan was accepted, as the plans of born +leaders are apt to be.</p> + +<p>"Here's your precious ring," he said to Mabel. +"Now you're not frightened of anything, are +you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mabel, in surprise. "I'd forgotten +that. Look here, I'll stay here or farther up +in the wood if you'll leave me all the coats, +so that I sha'n't be cold in the night. Then I +shall be here when Kathleen comes out of the +stone again."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Gerald, "that was exactly the +born leader's idea."</p> + +<p>"You two go home and tell Mademoiselle +that Kathleen's staying at the Towers. She is."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy, "she certainly is."</p> + +<p>"The magic goes in seven-hour lots," said +Gerald; "your invisibility was twenty-one +hours, mine fourteen, Eliza's seven. When it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +was a wishing-ring it began with seven. But +there's no knowing what number it will be +really. So there's no knowing which of you +will come right first. Anyhow, we'll sneak out +by the cistern window and come down the +trellis, after we've said good-night to Mademoiselle, +and come and have a look at you before +we go to bed. I think you'd better come close +up to the dinosaurus and we'll leaf you over +before we go."</p> + +<p>Mabel crawled into cover of the taller trees, +and there stood up looking as slender as a +poplar and as unreal as the wrong answer to +a sum in long division. It was to her an easy +matter to crouch beneath the dinosaurus, to +put her head up through the opening, and +thus to behold the white form of Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, dear,"' she told the stone +image; "I shall be quite close to you. You +call me as soon as you feel you're coming +right again."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"></a> +<img src="images/gs39.png" width="468" height="475" alt="MABEL LAY DOWN, WAS COVERED UP, AND LEFT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MABEL LAY DOWN, WAS COVERED UP, AND LEFT.</span> +</div> + +<p>The statue remained motionless, as statues +usually do, and Mabel withdrew her head, lay +down, was covered up, and left. The boys went +home. It was the only reasonable thing to do. +It would never have done for Mademoiselle +to become anxious and set the police on their +track. Every one felt that. The shock of +discovering the missing Kathleen, not only in +a dinosaurus's stomach, but, further, in a stone +statue of herself, might well have unhinged +the mind of any constable, to say nothing of +the mind of Mademoiselle, which, being foreign,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +would necessarily be a mind more light and easy +to upset. While as for Mabel——</p> + +<p>"Well, to look at her as she is now," said +Gerald, "why, it would send any one off their +chump—except us."</p> + +<p>"We're different," said Jimmy; "our chumps +have had to jolly well get used to things. It would +take a lot to upset us now."</p> + +<p>"Poor old Cathy! all the same," said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course," said Jimmy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>The sun had died away behind the black +trees and the moon was rising. Mabel, her preposterous +length covered with coats, waistcoats, +and trousers laid along it, slept peacefully in +the chill of the evening. Inside the dinosaurus +Kathleen, alive in her marble, slept too. She +had heard Gerald's words—had seen the lighted +matches. She was Kathleen just the same as +ever, only she was Kathleen in a case of marble +that would not let her move. It would not +have let her cry, even if she wanted to. +But she had not wanted to cry. Inside, the +marble was not cold or hard. It seemed, somehow, +to be softly lined with warmth and +pleasantness and safety. Her back did not +ache with stooping. Her limbs were not stiff +with the hours that they had stayed moveless. +Everything was well—better than well. One +had only to wait quietly and quite comfortably +and one would come out of this stone case, +and once more be the Kathleen one had always +been used to being. So she waited happily and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +calmly, and presently waiting changed to not +waiting—to not anything; and, close held in +the soft inwardness of the marble, she slept +as peacefully and calmly as though she had +been lying in her own bed.</p> + +<p>She was awakened by the fact that she was +not lying in her own bed—was not, indeed, +lying at all—by the fact that she was standing +and that her feet had pins and needles in them. +Her arms, too, held out in that odd way, were +stiff and tired. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, +and remembered. She had been a statue, a +statue inside the stone dinosaurus.</p> + +<p>"Now I'm alive again," was her instant conclusion, +"and I'll get out of it."</p> + +<p>She sat down, put her feet through the hole +that showed faintly grey in the stone beast's +underside, and as she did so a long, slow lurch +threw her sideways on the stone where she sat. +<i>The dinosaurus was moving!</i></p> + +<p>"<i>Oh!</i>" said Kathleen inside it, "how dreadful! +It must be moonlight, and it's come alive, like +Gerald said."</p> + +<p>It was indeed moving. She could see through +the hole the changing surface of grass and +bracken and moss as it waddled heavily along. +She dared not drop through the hole while +it moved, for fear it should crush her to death +with its gigantic feet. And with that thought +came another: where was Mabel? Somewhere—somewhere +<i>near?</i> Suppose one of the great +feet planted itself on some part of Mabel's +inconvenient length? Mabel being the size<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +she was now it would be quite difficult not +to step on some part or other of her, if she +should happen to be in one's way—quite +difficult, however much one tried. And the +dinosaurus would not try. Why should it? +Kathleen hung in an agony over the round +opening. The huge beast swung from side +to side. It was going faster; it was no +good, she dared not jump out. Anyhow, +they must be quite away from Mabel by now. +Faster and faster went the dinosaurus. The +floor of its stomach sloped. They were going +downhill. Twigs cracked and broke as it pushed +through a belt of evergreen oaks; gravel +crunched, ground beneath its stony feet. Then +stone met stone. There was a pause. A +splash! They were close to water—the lake +where by moonlight Hermes fluttered and Janus +and the dinosaurus swam together. Kathleen +dropped swiftly through the hole on to the +flat marble that edged the basin, rushed sideways, +and stood panting in the shadow of a +statue's pedestal. Not a moment too soon, for +even as she crouched the monster lizard slipped +heavily into the water, drowning a thousand +smooth, shining lily pads, and swam away +towards the central island.</p> + +<p>"Be still, little lady. I leap!" The voice +came from the pedestal, and next moment +Phœbus had jumped from the pedestal in his +little temple, clearing the steps, and landing +a couple of yards away.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 468px;"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"></a> +<img src="images/gs40.png" width="468" height="500" alt="MABEL LAY DOWN, WAS COVERED UP, AND LEFT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">MABEL LAY DOWN, WAS COVERED UP, AND LEFT.</span> +</div> + +<p>"You are new," said Phœbus over his graceful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +shoulder. "I should not have forgotten you +if once I had seen you."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Kathleen, "quite, quite new. +And I didn't know you could talk."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" Phœbus laughed. "You can +talk."</p> + +<p>"But I'm alive."</p> + +<p>"Am not I?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I suppose so," said Kathleen, distracted, +but not afraid; "only I thought you +had to have the ring on before one could even +see you move."</p> + +<p>Phœbus seemed to understand her, which was +rather to his credit, for she had certainly not +expressed herself with clearness.</p> + +<p>"Ah! that's for mortals," he said. "<i>We</i> can +hear and see each other in the few moments +when life is ours. That is a part of the beautiful +enchantment."</p> + +<p>"But I am a mortal," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"You are as modest as you are charming," +said Phœbus Apollo absently; "the white water +calls me! I go," and the next moment rings of +liquid silver spread across the lake, widening +and widening, from the spot where the white +joined hands of the Sun-god had struck the +water as he dived.</p> + +<p>Kathleen turned and went up the hill towards +the rhododendron bushes. She must find Mabel, +and they must go home at once. If only Mabel +was of a size that one could conveniently take +home with one! Most likely, at this hour of +enchantments, she was. Kathleen, heartened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +by the thought, hurried on. She passed through +the rhododendron bushes, remembered the pointed +painted paper face that had looked out from the +glossy leaves, expected to be frightened—and +wasn't. She found Mabel easily enough, and +much more easily than she would have done +had Mabel been as she wished to find her. For +quite a long way off, in the moonlight, she could +see that long and worm-like form, extended to +its full twelve feet—and covered with coats and +trousers and waistcoats. Mabel looked like a +drain-pipe that has been covered in sacks in +frosty weather. Kathleen touched her long +cheek gently, and she woke.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" she said sleepily.</p> + +<p>"It's only me," Kathleen explained.</p> + +<p>"How cold your hands are!" said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Wake up," said Kathleen, "and let's talk."</p> + +<p>"Can't we go home now? I'm awfully tired, +and it's so long since tea-time."</p> + +<p>"<i>You're</i> too long to go home yet," said +Kathleen sadly, and then Mabel remembered.</p> + +<p>She lay with closed eyes—then suddenly she +stirred and cried out:—</p> + +<p>"Oh! Cathy, I feel so funny—like one of those +horn snakes when you make it go short to get it +into its box. I am—yes—I know I am——"</p> + +<p>She was; and Kathleen, watching her, agreed +that it was exactly like the shortening of a horn +spiral snake between the closing hands of a +child. Mabel's distant feet drew near—Mabel's +long, lean arms grew shorter—Mabel's face was +no longer half a yard long.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You're coming right—you are! Oh, I am so +glad!" cried Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I know <i>I</i> am," said Mabel; and as she said it +she became once more Mabel, not only in herself, +which, of course, she had been all the time, but +in her outward appearance.</p> + +<p>"You are all right. Oh, hooray! hooray! I +<i>am</i> so glad!" said Kathleen kindly; "and now +we'll go home at once, dear."</p> + +<p>"Go home?" said Mabel, slowly sitting up and +staring at Kathleen with her big dark eyes. +"Go home—like that?"</p> + +<p>"Like what?" Kathleen asked impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Why, <i>you</i>," was Mabel's odd reply.</p> + +<p>"I'm all right," said Kathleen. "Come on."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say you don't know?" said +Mabel. "Look at yourself—your hands—your +dress—everything."</p> + +<p>Kathleen looked at her hands. They were of +marble whiteness. Her dress, too—her shoes, +her stockings, even the ends of her hair. She +was white as new-fallen snow.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" she asked, beginning to tremble. +"What am I all this horrid colour for?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you see? Oh, Cathy, don't you see? +You've <i>not</i> come right. You're a statue still."</p> + +<p>"I'm not—I'm alive—I'm talking to you."</p> + +<p>"I know you are, darling," said Mabel, soothing +her as one soothes a fractious child. "That's +because it's moonlight."</p> + +<p>"But you can see I'm alive."</p> + +<p>"Of course I can. I've got the ring."</p> + +<p>"But I'm all right; I <i>know</i> I am."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 381px;"> +<img src="images/gs41.png" width="381" height="550" alt=""WHAT IS IT?" SHE ASKED, BEGINNING TO TREMBLE. "WHAT AM I ALL THIS HORRID COLOUR FOR?"" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"WHAT IS IT?" SHE ASKED, BEGINNING TO TREMBLE. "WHAT AM I ALL THIS HORRID COLOUR FOR?"</span> +</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't you see," said Mabel gently, taking her +white marble hand, "you're not all right? It's +moonlight, and you're a statue, and you've just +come alive with all the other statues. And when +the moon goes down you'll just be a statue +again. <i>That's</i> the difficulty, dear, about our +going home again. You're just a statue still, +only you've come alive with the other marble +things. Where's the dinosaurus?"</p> + +<p>"In his bath," said Kathleen, "and so are all +the other stone beasts."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mabel, trying to look on the +bright side of things, "then we've got one thing, +at any rate, to be thankful for!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'>"<span class="smcap">If</span>," said Kathleen, sitting disconsolate in her +marble, "if I am really a statue come alive, I +wonder you're not afraid of me."</div> + +<p>"I've got the ring," said Mabel with decision. +"Cheer up, dear! you will soon be better. Try +not to think about it."</p> + +<p>She spoke as you speak to a child that has cut +its finger, or fallen down on the garden path, +and rises up with grazed knees to which gravel +sticks intimately.</p> + +<p>"I know," Kathleen absently answered.</p> + +<p>"And I've been thinking," said Mabel brightly, +"we might find out a lot about this magic +place, if the other statues aren't too proud to +talk to us."</p> + +<p>"They aren't," Kathleen assured her; "at +least, Phœbus wasn't, he was most awfully +polite and nice."</p> + +<p>"Where is he?" Mabel asked.</p> + +<p>"In the lake—he was," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Then let's go down there," said Mabel. "Oh, +Cathy! it is jolly being your own proper +thickness again." She jumped up, and the +withered ferns and branches that had covered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +her long length and had been gathered closely +upon her as she shrank to her proper size +fell as forest leaves do when sudden storms +tear them. But the white Kathleen did not +move.</p> + +<p>The two sat on the grey moonlit grass with +the quiet of the night all about them. The +great park was still as a painted picture; only +the splash of the fountains and the far-off +whistle of the Western express broke the silence, +which, at the same time, they deepened.</p> + +<p>"What cheer, little sister!" said a voice behind +them—a golden voice. They turned quick, +startled heads, as birds, surprised, might turn. +There in the moonlight stood Phœbus, dripping +still from the lake, and smiling at them, very +gentle, very friendly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's you!" said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"None other," said Phœbus cheerfully. "Who +is your friend, the earth-child?"</p> + +<p>"This is Mabel," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>Mabel got up and bowed, hesitated, and held +out a hand.</p> + +<p>"I am your slave, little lady," said Phœbus, +enclosing it in marble fingers. "But I fail to +understand how you can see us, and why you +do not fear."</p> + +<p>Mabel held up the hand that wore the ring.</p> + +<p>"Quite sufficient explanation," said Phœbus; +"but since you have that, why retain your +mottled earthy appearance? Become a statue, +and swim with us in the lake."</p> + +<p>"I can't swim," said Mabel evasively.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nor yet me," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> can," said Phœbus. "All statues that +come to life are proficient in all athletic exercises. +And you, child of the dark eyes and hair like +night, wish yourself a statue and join our +revels."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not, if you will excuse me," said +Mabel cautiously. "You see ... this ring ... +you wish for things, and you never know how +long they're going to last. It would be jolly +and all that to be a statue <i>now</i>, but in the +morning I should wish I hadn't."</p> + +<p>"Earth-folk often do, they say," mused +Phœbus. "But, child, you seem ignorant of +the powers of your ring. Wish exactly, and +the ring will exactly perform. If you give no +limit of time, strange enchantments woven by +Arithmos the outcast god of numbers will +creep in and spoil the spell. Say thus: 'I +wish that till the dawn I may be a statue of +living marble, even as my child friend, and +that after that time I may be as before, Mabel +of the dark eyes and night-coloured hair."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, do, it would be so jolly!" cried +Kathleen. "Do, Mabel! And if we're both +statues, shall we be afraid of the dinosaurus?"</p> + +<p>"In the world of living marble fear is not," +said Phœbus. "Are we not brothers, we and +the dinosaurus, brethren alike wrought of +stone and life?"</p> + +<p>"And could I swim if I did?"</p> + +<p>"Swim, and float, and dive—and with the +ladies of Olympus spread the nightly feast, eat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +of the food of the gods, drink their cup, listen +to the song that is undying, and catch the +laughter of immortal lips."</p> + +<p>"A feast!" said Kathleen. "Oh, Mabel, do! +You would if you were as hungry as I am."</p> + +<p>"But it won't be real food," urged Mabel.</p> + +<p>"It will be real to you, as to us," said Phœbus; +"there is no other realness even in your many-coloured +world."</p> + +<p>Still Mabel hesitated. Then she looked at +Kathleen's legs and suddenly said:—</p> + +<p>"Very well, I will. But first I'll take off my +shoes and stockings. Marble boots look simply +awful—especially the laces. And a marble, +stocking that's coming down—and mine <i>do!</i>"</p> + +<p>She had pulled off shoes and stockings and +pinafore.</p> + +<p>"Mabel has the sense of beauty," said Phœbus +approvingly. "Speak the spell, child, and I will +lead you to the ladies of Olympus."</p> + +<p>Mabel, trembling a little, spoke it, and there +were two little live statues in the moonlit glade. +Tall Phœbus took a hand of each.</p> + +<p>"Come—run!" he cried. And they ran.</p> + +<p>"Oh—it is jolly!" Mabel panted. "Look at my +white feet in the grass! I thought it would feel +stiff to be a statue, but it doesn't."</p> + +<p>"There is no stiffness about the immortals," +laughed the Sun-god. "For to-night you are +one of us."</p> + +<p>And with that they ran down the slope to the +lake.</p> + +<p>"Jump!" he cried, and they jumped, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +water splashed up round three white, gleaming +shapes.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I <i>can</i> swim!" breathed Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"So can I," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Of course you can," said Phœbus. "Now +three times round the lake, and then make for +the island."</p> + +<p>Side by side the three swam, Phœbus swimming +gently to keep pace with the children. +Their marble clothes did not seem to interfere +at all with their swimming, as your clothes +would if you suddenly jumped into the basin +of the Trafalgar Square fountains and tried to +swim there. And they swam most beautifully, +with that perfect ease and absence of effort or +tiredness which you must have noticed about +your own swimming—in dreams. And it was +the most lovely place to swim in; the water-lilies, +whose long, snaky stalks are so inconvenient +to ordinary swimmers, did not in the +least interfere with the movements of marble +arms and legs. The moon was high in the clear +sky-dome. The weeping willows, cypresses, +temples, terraces, banks of trees and shrubs, +and the wonderful old house, all added to the +romantic charm of the scene.</p> + +<p>"This is the nicest thing the ring has brought +us yet," said Mabel, through a languid but perfect +side-stroke.</p> + +<p>"I thought you'd enjoy it," said Phœbus +kindly; "now once more round, and then the +island."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 510px;"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"></a> +<img src="images/gs42.png" width="510" height="189" alt="SIDE BY SIDE THE THREE SWAM." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SIDE BY SIDE THE THREE SWAM.</span> +</div> + +<p>They landed on the island amid a fringe of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +rushes, yarrow, willow-herb, loose-strife, and a +few late, scented, powdery, creamy heads of +meadow-sweet. The island was bigger than it +looked from the bank, and it seemed covered +with trees and shrubs. But when, Phœbus +leading the way, they went into the shadow of +these, they perceived that beyond the trees lay +a light, much nearer to them than the other +side of the island could possibly be. And almost +at once they were through the belt of trees, and +could see where the light came from. The trees +they had just passed among made a dark circle +round a big cleared space, standing up thick and +dark, like a crowd round a football field, as +Kathleen remarked.</p> + +<p>First came a wide, smooth ring of lawn, then +marble steps going down to a round pool, +where there were no water-lilies, only gold and +silver fish that darted here and there like flashes +of quicksilver and dark flames. And the enclosed +space of water and marble and grass was +lighted with a clear, white, radiant light, seven +times stronger than the whitest moonlight, and +in the still waters of the pool seven moons lay +reflected. One could see that they were only +reflections by the way their shape broke and +changed as the gold and silver fish rippled +the water with moving fin and tail that +steered.</p> + +<p>The girls looked up at the sky, almost expecting +to see seven moons there. But no, the old +moon shone alone, as she had always shone on +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There are seven moons," said Mabel blankly, +and pointed, which is not manners.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Phœbus kindly; "everything +in our world is seven times as much so as in +yours."</p> + +<p>"But there aren't seven of you," said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"No, but I am seven times as much," said the +Sun God. "You see, there's numbers, and there's +quantity, to say nothing of quality. You see +that, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"Not quite," said Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"Explanations always weary me," Phœbus +interrupted. "Shall we join the ladies?"</p> + +<p>On the further side of the pool was a large +group, so white, that it seemed to make a great +white hole in the trees. Some twenty or thirty +figures there were in the group—all statues and +all alive. Some were dipping their white feet +among the gold and silver fish, and sending +ripples across the faces of the seven moons. +Some were pelting each other with roses—roses +so sweet that the girls could smell them even +across the pool. Others were holding hands +and dancing in a ring, and two were sitting on +the steps playing cat's-cradle—which is a very +ancient game indeed—with a thread of white +marble.</p> + +<p>As the new-comers advanced a shout of greeting +and gay laughter went up.</p> + +<p>"Late again, Phœbus!" some one called out. +And another: "Did one of your horses cast a +shoe?" And yet another called out something +about laurels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I bring two guests," said Phœbus, and +instantly the statues crowded round, stroking +the girls' hair, patting their cheeks, and calling +them the prettiest love-names.</p> + +<p>"Are the wreaths ready, Hebe?" the tallest +and most splendid of the ladies called out. +"Make two more!"</p> + +<p>And almost directly Hebe came down the +steps, her round arms hung thick with rose-wreaths. +There was one for each marble +head.</p> + +<p>Every one now looked seven times more +beautiful than before, which, in the case of the +gods and goddesses, is saying a good deal. The +children remembered how at the raspberry +vinegar feast Mademoiselle had said that gods +and goddesses always wore wreaths for meals.</p> + +<p>Hebe herself arranged the roses on the girls' +heads—and Aphrodite Urania, the dearest lady +in the world, with a voice like mother's at those +moments when you love her most, took them +by the hands and said:—</p> + +<p>"Come, we must get the feast ready. Eros—Psyche—Hebe—Ganymede—all +you young +people can arrange the fruit."</p> + +<p>"I don't see any fruit," said Kathleen, as four +slender forms disengaged themselves from the +white crowd and came toward them.</p> + +<p>"You will though," said Eros, a really nice +boy, as the girls instantly agreed; "you've only +got to pick it."</p> + +<p>"Like this," said Psyche, lifting her marble +arms to a willow branch. She reached out her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +hand to the children—it held a ripe pomegranate.</p> + +<p>"I see," said Mabel. "You just——" She laid +her fingers to the willow branch and the firm +softness of a big peach was within them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, just that," laughed Psyche, who was a +darling, as any one could see.</p> + +<p>After this Hebe gathered a few silver baskets +from a convenient alder, and the four picked +fruit industriously. Meanwhile the elder +statues were busy plucking golden goblets +and jugs and dishes from the branches of +ash-trees and young oaks and filling them +with everything nice to eat and drink that +any one could possibly want, and these were +spread on the steps. It was a celestial picnic. +Then everyone sat or lay down and the feast +began. And oh! the taste of the food served +on those dishes, the sweet wonder of the drink +that melted from those gold cups on the white +lips of the company! And the fruit—there is +no fruit like it grown on earth, just as there +is no laughter like the laughter of those lips, +no songs like the songs that stirred the silence +of that night of wonder.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Kathleen, and through her +fingers the juice of her third peach fell like +tears on the marble steps. "I do wish the boys +were here!"</p> + +<p>"I do wonder what they're doing," said +Mabel.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 380px;"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"></a> +<img src="images/gs43.png" width="380" height="600" alt="IT WAS A CELESTIAL PICNIC." title="" /> +<span class="caption">IT WAS A CELESTIAL PICNIC.</span> +</div> + +<p>"At this moment," said Hermes, who had just +made a wide ring of flight, as a pigeon does,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +and come back into the circle—"at this moment +they are wandering desolately near the home +of the dinosaurus, having escaped from their +home by a window, in search of you. They +fear that you have perished, and they would +weep if they did not know that tears do not +become a man, however youthful."</p> + +<p>Kathleen stood up and brushed the crumbs +of ambrosia from her marble lap.</p> + +<p>"Thank you all very much," she said. "It was +very kind of you to have us, and we've enjoyed +ourselves very much, but I think we ought to +go now, please."</p> + +<p>"If it is anxiety about your brothers," said +Phœbus obligingly, "it is the easiest thing in +the world for them to join you. Lend me +your ring a moment."</p> + +<p>He took it from Kathleen's half-reluctant +hand, dipped it in the reflection of one of the +seven moons, and gave it back. She clutched it. +"Now," said the Sun-god, "wish for them that +which Mabel wished for herself. Say——"</p> + +<p>"I know," Kathleen interrupted. "I wish that +the boys may be statues of living marble like +Mabel and me till dawn, and afterwards be like +they are now."</p> + +<p>"If you hadn't interrupted," said Phœbus—"but +there, we can't expect old heads on +shoulders of young marble. You should have +wished them <i>here</i>—and—but no matter. +Hermes, old chap, cut across and fetch them, +and explain things as you come."</p> + +<p>He dipped the ring again in one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +reflected moons before he gave it back to +Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"There," he said, "now it's washed clean +ready for the next magic."</p> + +<p>"It is not our custom to question guests," said +Hera the queen, turning her great eyes on the +children; "but that ring excites, I am sure, the +interest of us all."</p> + +<p>"It is <i>the</i> ring," said Phœbus.</p> + +<p>"That, of course," said Hera; "but if it were +not inhospitable to ask questions I should ask, +How came it into the hands of these earth-children?"</p> + +<p>"That," said Phœbus, "is a long tale. After +the feast the story, and after the story the song."</p> + +<p>Hermes seemed to have "explained everything" +quite fully; for when Gerald and Jimmy +in marble whiteness arrived, each clinging to +one of the god's winged feet, and so borne +through the air, they were certainly quite at +ease. They made their best bows to the goddesses +and took their places as unembarrassed +as though they had had Olympian suppers every +night of their lives. Hebe had woven wreaths +of roses ready for them, and as Kathleen +watched them eating and drinking, perfectly +at home in their marble, she was very glad +that amid the welling springs of immortal +peach-juice she had not forgotten her brothers.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Hera, when the boys had +been supplied with everything they could +possibly desire, and more than they could eat—"now +for the story."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mabel intensely; and Kathleen +said, "Oh <i>yes;</i> now for the story. How +splendid!"</p> + +<p>"The story," said Phœbus unexpectedly, "will +be told by our guests."</p> + +<p>"Oh <i>no!</i>" said Kathleen, shrinking.</p> + +<p>"The lads, maybe, are bolder," said Zeus the +king, taking off his rose-wreath, which was +a little tight, and rubbing his compressed +ears.</p> + +<p>"I really can't," said Gerald; "besides, I don't +know any stories."</p> + +<p>"Nor yet me," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It's the story of how we got the ring that +they want," said Mabel in a hurry. "I'll tell it +if you like. Once upon a time there was a little +girl called Mabel," she added yet more hastily, +and went on with the tale—all the tale of the +enchanted castle, or almost all, that you have +read in these pages. The marble Olympians +listened enchanted—almost as enchanted as the +castle itself, and the soft moonlit moments fell +past like pearls dropping into a deep pool.</p> + +<p>"And so," Mabel ended abruptly, "Kathleen +wished for the boys and the Lord Hermes +fetched them and here we all are."</p> + +<p>A burst of interested comment and question +blossomed out round the end of the story, +suddenly broken off short by Mabel.</p> + +<p>"But," said she, brushing it aside, as it grew +thinner, "now we want <i>you</i> to tell <i>us</i>."</p> + +<p>"To tell you——?"</p> + +<p>"How you come to be alive, and how you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +know about the ring—and everything you <i>do</i> +know."</p> + +<p>"Everything I know?" Phœbus laughed—it +was to him that she had spoken—and not his +lips only but all the white lips curled in laughter. +"The span of your life, my earth-child, would +not contain the words I should speak, to tell you +all I know."</p> + +<p>"Well, about the ring anyhow, and how you +come alive," said Gerald; "you see, it's very +puzzling to us."</p> + +<p>"Tell them, Phœbus," said the dearest lady in +the world; "don't tease the children."</p> + +<p>So Phœbus, leaning back against a heap of +leopard-skins that Dionysus had lavishly +plucked from a spruce fir, told.</p> + +<p>"All statues," he said, "can come alive when +the moon shines, if they so choose. But statues +that are placed in ugly cities do not choose. +Why should they weary themselves with the +contemplation of the hideous?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so," said Gerald politely, to fill the +pause.</p> + +<p>"In your beautiful temples," the Sun-god +went on, "the images of your priests and of +your warriors who lie cross-legged on their +tombs come alive and walk in their marble +about their temples, and through the woods +and fields. But only on one night in all the +year can any see them. You have beheld us +because you held the ring, and are of one +brotherhood with us in your marble, but on +that one night all may behold us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And when is that?" Gerald asked, again +polite, in a pause.</p> + +<p>"At the festival of the harvest," said Phœbus. +"On that night as the moon rises it strikes one +beam of perfect light on to the altar in certain +temples. One of these temples is in Hellas, +buried under the fall of a mountain which Zeus, +being angry, hurled down upon it. One is in +this land; it is in this great garden."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Gerald, much interested, "if we +were to come up to that temple on that night, +we could see you, even without being statues or +having the ring?"</p> + +<p>"Even so," said Phœbus. "More, any question +asked by a mortal we are on that night +bound to answer."</p> + +<p>"And the night is—when?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Phœbus, and laughed. "Wouldn't +you like to know!"</p> + +<p>Then the great marble King of the Gods +yawned, stroked his long beard, and said: +"Enough of stories, Phœbus. Tune your lyre."</p> + +<p>"But the ring," said Mabel in a whisper, as +the Sun-god tuned the white strings of a sort +of marble harp that lay at his feet—"about how +you know all about the ring?"</p> + +<p>"Presently," the Sun-god whispered back. +"Zeus must be obeyed; but ask me again before +dawn, and I will tell you all I know of it." Mabel +drew back, and leaned against the comfortable +knees of one Demeter—Kathleen and Psyche sat +holding hands. Gerald and Jimmy lay at full +length, chins on elbows, gazing at the Sun-god;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +and even as he held the lyre, before ever his +fingers began to sweep the strings, the spirit of +music hung in the air, enchanting, enslaving, +silencing all thought but the thought of itself, +all desire but the desire to listen to it.</p> + +<p>Then Phœbus struck the strings and softly +plucked melody from them, and all the beautiful +dreams of all the world came fluttering close +with wings like doves' wings; and all the lovely +thoughts that sometimes hover near, but not so +near that you can catch them, now came home +as to their nests in the hearts of those who +listened. And those who listened forgot time and +space, and how to be sad, and how to be +naughty, and it seemed that the whole world +lay like a magic apple in the hand of each +listener, and that the whole world was good +and beautiful.</p> + +<p>And then, suddenly, the spell was shattered. +Phœbus struck a broken chord, followed by +an instant of silence; then he sprang up, crying, +"The dawn! the dawn! To your pedestals, +O gods!"</p> + +<p>In an instant the whole crowd of beautiful +marble people had leaped to its feet, had rushed +through the belt of wood that cracked and +rustled as they went, and the children heard +them splash in the water beyond. They heard, +too, the gurgling breathing of a great beast, and +knew that the dinosaurus, too, was returning to +his own place.</p> + +<p>Only Hermes had time, since one flies more +swiftly than one swims, to hover above them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +for one moment, and to whisper with a mischievous +laugh:—</p> + +<p>"In fourteen days from now, at the Temple of +Strange Stones."</p> + +<p>"What's the secret of the ring?" gasped +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"The ring is the heart of the magic," said +Hermes. "Ask at the moonrise on the fourteenth +day, and you shall know all."</p> + +<p>With that he waved the snowy caduceus and +rose in the air supported by his winged feet. +And as he went the seven reflected moons +died out and a chill wind began to blow, a +grey light grew and grew, the birds stirred and +twittered, and the marble slipped away from +the children like a skin that shrivels in fire, and +they were statues no more, but flesh and blood +children as they used to be, standing knee-deep +in brambles and long coarse grass. There was +no smooth lawn, no marble steps, no seven-mooned +fish-pond. The dew lay thick on the grass and +the brambles, and it was very cold.</p> + +<p>"We ought to have gone with them," said +Mabel with chattering teeth. "We can't swim +now we're not marble. And I suppose this <i>is</i> +the island?"</p> + +<p>It was—and they couldn't swim.</p> + +<p>They knew it. One always knows those sort +of things somehow without trying. For instance, +you know perfectly that you can't fly. There +are some things that there is no mistake about.</p> + +<p>The dawn grew brighter and the outlook more +black every moment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There isn't a boat, I suppose?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"No," said Mabel, "not on this side of the +lake; there's one in the boat-house, of course—if +you could swim there."</p> + +<p>"You know I can't," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Can't any one think of anything?" Gerald +asked, shivering.</p> + +<p>"When they find we've disappeared they'll drag +all the water for miles round," said Jimmy hopefully, +"in case we've fallen in and sunk to the +bottom. When they come to drag this we can +yell and be rescued."</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, that <i>will</i> be nice," was Gerald's +bitter comment.</p> + +<p>"Don't be so disagreeable," said Mabel with a +tone so strangely cheerful that the rest stared at +her in amazement.</p> + +<p>"The ring," she said. "Of course we've only +got to wish ourselves home with it. Phœbus +washed it in the moon ready for the next wish."</p> + +<p>"You didn't tell <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'as'">us</ins> about that," said Gerald in +accents of perfect good temper. "Never mind. +Where <i>is</i> the ring?"</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> had it," Mabel reminded Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I know I had," said that child in stricken +tones, "but I gave it to Psyche to look at—and—and +she's got it on her finger!"</p> + +<p>Every one tried not to be angry with +Kathleen. All partly succeeded.</p> + +<p>"If we ever get off this beastly island," said +Gerald, "I suppose you can find Psyche's statue +and get it off again?"</p> + +<p>"No I can't," Mabel moaned. "I don't know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +where the statue is. I've never seen it. It may +be in Hellas, wherever that is—or anywhere, +for anything <i>I</i> know."</p> + +<p>No one had anything kind to say, and it is +pleasant to record that nobody said anything. +And now it was grey daylight, and the sky to +the north was flushing in pale pink and +lavender.</p> + +<p>The boys stood moodily, hands in pockets. +Mabel and Kathleen seemed to find it impossible +not to cling together, and all about their legs +the long grass was icy with dew.</p> + +<p>A faint sniff and a caught breath broke the +silence.</p> + +<p>"Now, look here," said Gerald briskly, "I +won't have it. Do you hear? Snivelling's no +good at all. No, I'm not a pig. It's for your +own good. Lets make a tour of the island. +Perhaps there's a boat hidden somewhere +among the overhanging boughs."</p> + +<p>"How could there be?" Mabel asked.</p> + +<p>"Some one might have left it there, I suppose," +said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"But how would they have got off the +island?"</p> + +<p>"In another boat, of course," said Gerald; +"come on."</p> + +<p>Downheartedly, and quite sure that there +wasn't and couldn't be any boat, the four +children started to explore the island. How +often each one of them had dreamed of islands, +how often wished to be stranded on one! Well, +now they were. Reality is sometimes quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +different from dreams, and not half so nice. It +was worst of all for Mabel, whose shoes and +stockings were far away on the mainland. The +coarse grass and brambles were very cruel to +bare legs and feet.</p> + +<p>They stumbled through the wood to the edge +of the water, but it was impossible to keep close +to the edge of the island, the branches grew +too thickly. There was a narrow, grassy path +that wound in and out among the trees, and +this they followed, dejected and mournful. +Every moment made it less possible for them to +hope to get back to the school-house unnoticed. +And if they were missed and beds found in their +present unslept-in state—well, there would be a +row of some sort, and, as Gerald said, "Farewell +to liberty!"</p> + +<p>"Of course we can get off all right," said +Gerald. "Just all shout when we see a gardener +or a keeper on the mainland. But if we do, +concealment is at an end and all is absolutely +up!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said everyone gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Come, buck up!" said Gerald, the spirit of the +born general beginning to reawaken in him. +"We shall get out of this scrape all right, as +we've got out of others; you know we shall. +See, the sun's coming out. You feel all right +and jolly now, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, oh yes!" said everyone, in tones of +unmixed misery.</p> + +<p>The sun was now risen, and through a deep +cleft in the hills it sent a strong shaft of light<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +straight at the island. The yellow light, almost +level, struck through the stems of the trees and +dazzled the children's eyes. This, with the fact +that he was not looking where he was going, +as Jimmy did not fail to point out later, was +enough to account for what now happened to +Gerald, who was leading the melancholy little +procession. He stumbled, clutched at a tree-trunk, +missed his clutch, and disappeared, with +a yell and a clatter; and Mabel, who came next, +only pulled herself up just in time not to fall +down a steep flight of moss-grown steps that +seemed to open suddenly in the ground at her +feet.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Gerald!" she called down the steps: "are +you hurt?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Gerald, out of sight and crossly, +for he <i>was</i> hurt, rather severely; "it's steps, and +there's a passage."</p> + +<p>"There always is," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I knew there was a passage," said Mabel; +"it goes under the water and comes out at the +Temple of Flora. Even the gardeners know +that, but they won't go down, for fear of +snakes."</p> + +<p>"Then we can get out that way—I do think +you might have said so," Gerald's voice came up +to say.</p> + +<p>"I didn't think of it," said Mabel. "At least—— And +I suppose it goes past the place where +the Ugly-Wugly found its good hotel."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going," said Kathleen positively, "not +in the dark, I'm not. So I tell you!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well, baby," said Gerald sternly, and +his head appeared from below very suddenly +through interlacing brambles. "No one asked +you to go in the dark. We'll leave you here if +you like, and return and rescue you with a boat. +Jimmy, the bicycle lamp!" He reached up a +hand for it.</p> + +<p>Jimmy produced from his bosom, the place +where lamps are always kept in fairy stories—see +Aladdin and others—a bicycle lamp.</p> + +<p>"We brought it," he explained, "so as not to +break our shins over bits of long Mabel among +the rhododendrons."</p> + +<p>"Now," said Gerald very firmly, striking a +match and opening the thick, rounded glass +front of the bicycle lamp, "I don't know what +the rest of you are going to do, but I'm going +down these steps and along this passage. If we +find the good hotel—well, a good hotel never +hurt any one yet."</p> + +<p>"It's no good, you know," said Jimmy weakly; +"you know jolly well you can't get out of that +Temple of Flora door, even if you get to it."</p> + +<p>"I <i>don't</i> know," said Gerald, still brisk and +commander-like; "there's a secret spring inside +that door most likely. We hadn't a lamp last +time to look for it, remember."</p> + +<p>"If there's one thing I do hate it's under-groundness," +said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"<i>You're</i> not a coward," said Gerald, with what +is known as diplomacy. "<i>You're</i> brave, Mabel. +Don't I know it! You hold Jimmy's hand and +I'll hold Cathy's. Now then."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I won't have <i>my</i> hand held," said Jimmy, of +course. "I'm not a kid."</p> + +<p>"Well, Cathy will. Poor little Cathy! Nice +brother Jerry'll hold poor Cathy's hand."</p> + +<p>Gerald's bitter sarcasm missed fire here, for +Cathy gratefully caught the hand he held out in +mockery. She was too miserable to read his +mood, as she mostly did. "Oh, thank you, Jerry +dear," she said gratefully; "you <i>are</i> a dear, and I +<i>will</i> try not to be frightened." And for quite a +minute Gerald shamedly felt that he had not +been quite, quite kind.</p> + +<p>So now, leaving the growing goldness of the +sunrise, the four went down the stone steps +that led to the underground and underwater +passage, and everything seemed to grow dark +and then to grow into a poor pretence of light +again, as the splendour of dawn gave place to +the small dogged lighting of the bicycle lamp. +The steps did indeed lead to a passage, the +beginnings of it choked with the drifted dead +leaves of many old autumns. But presently the +passage took a turn, there were more steps, +down, down, and then the passage was empty +and straight—lined above and below and on +each side with slabs of marble, very clear and +clean. Gerald held Cathy's hand with more of +kindness and less of exasperation than he had +supposed possible.</p> + +<p>And Cathy, on her part, was surprised to find +it possible to be so much less frightened than +she expected.</p> + +<p>The flame of the bull'seye threw ahead a soft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +circle of misty light—the children followed it +silently. Till, silently and suddenly, the light +of the bull's-eye behaved as the flame of a candle +does when you take it out into the sunlight to +light a bonfire, or explode a train of gunpowder, +or what not. Because now, with feelings mixed +indeed, of wonder, and interest, and awe, but no +fear, the children found themselves in a great +hall, whose arched roof was held up by two +rows of round pillars, and whose every corner +was filled with a soft, searching, lovely light, +filling every cranny, as water fills the rocky +secrecies of hidden sea-caves.</p> + +<p>"How beautiful!" Kathleen whispered, +breathing hard into the tickled ear of her +brother, and Mabel caught the hand of Jimmy +and whispered, "I must hold your hand—I +must hold on to something silly, or I shan't +believe it's real."</p> + +<p>For this hall in which the children found themselves +was the most beautiful place in the world. +I won't describe it, because it does not look the +same to any two people, and you wouldn't +understand me if I tried to tell you how it +looked to any one of these four. But to each +it seemed the most perfect thing possible. I +will only say that all round it were great +arches. Kathleen saw them as Moorish, Mabel +as Tudor, Gerald as Norman, and Jimmy as +Churchwarden Gothic. (If you don't know +what these are, ask your uncle who collects +brasses, and he will explain, or perhaps Mr. +Millar will draw the different kinds of arches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +for you.) And through these arches one could +see many things—oh! but many things. +Through one appeared an olive garden, and +in it two lovers who held each other's hands, +under an Italian moon; through another a wild +sea, and a ship to whom the wild, racing sea +was slave. A third showed a king on his +throne, his courtiers obsequious about him; +and yet a fourth showed a really good hotel, +with the respectable Ugly-Wugly sunning +himself on the front doorsteps. There was a +mother, bending over a wooden cradle. There +was an artist gazing entranced on the picture +his wet brush seemed to have that moment +completed, a general dying on a field where +Victory had planted the standard he loved, and +these things were not pictures, but the truest +truths, alive, and, as anyone could see, immortal.</p> + +<p>Many other pictures there were that these +arches framed. And all showed some moment +when life had sprung to fire and flower—the +best that the soul of man could ask or man's +destiny grant. And the really good hotel had +its place here too, because there are some souls +that ask no higher thing of life than "a really +good hotel."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am glad we came; I am, I am!" Kathleen +murmured, and held fast to her brother's +hand.</p> + +<p>They went slowly up the hall, the ineffectual +bull'seye, held by Jimmy, very crooked indeed, +showing almost as a shadow in this big, +glorious light.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then, when the hall's end was almost +reached, the children saw where the light came +from. It glowed and spread itself from one +place, and in that place stood the one statue +that Mabel "did not know where to find"—the +statue of Psyche. They went on, slowly, quite +happy, quite bewildered. And when they came +close to Psyche they saw that on her raised +hand the ring showed dark.</p> + +<p>Gerald let go Kathleen's hand, put his foot +on the pediment, his knee on the pedestal. He +stood up, dark and human, beside the white girl +with the butterfly wings.</p> + +<p>"I do hope you don't mind," he said, and +drew the ring off very gently. Then, as he +dropped to the ground, "Not here," he said. +"I don't know why, but not here."</p> + +<p>And they all passed behind the white Psyche, +and once more the bicycle lamp seemed suddenly +to come to life again as Gerald held it in front +of him, to be the pioneer in the dark passage +that led from the Hall of ——, but they did not +know, then, what it was the Hall of.</p> + +<p>Then, as the twisting passage shut in on them +with a darkness that pressed close against the +little light of the bicycle lamp, Kathleen said, +"Give me the ring. I know exactly what to +say."</p> + +<p>Gerald gave it with not extreme readiness.</p> + +<p>"I wish," said Kathleen slowly, "that no one +at home may know that we've been out to-night, +and I wish we were safe in our own beds, undressed, +and in our nightgowns, and asleep."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> + +<p>And the next thing any of them knew, it was +good, strong, ordinary daylight—not just sunrise, +but the kind of daylight you are used to +being called in, and all were in their own beds. +Kathleen had framed the wish most sensibly. +The only mistake had been in saying "in our +own beds," because, of course, Mabel's own bed +was at Yalding Towers, and to this day Mabel's +drab-haired aunt cannot understand how Mabel, +who was staying the night with that child in the +town she was so taken up with, hadn't come home +at eleven, when the aunt locked up, and yet +she was in her bed in the morning. For though +not a clever woman, she was not stupid enough +to be able to believe any one of the eleven fancy +explanations which the distracted Mabel offered +in the course of the morning. The first (which +makes twelve) of these explanations was The +Truth, and of course the aunt was far too +clever to believe That!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">It</span> was show-day at Yalding Castle, and it +seemed good to the children to go and visit +Mabel, and, as Gerald put it, to mingle unsuspected +with the crowd; to gloat over all +the things which they knew and which the +crowd didn't know about the castle and the +sliding panels, the magic ring and the statues +that came alive. Perhaps one of the pleasantest +things about magic happenings is the feeling +which they give you of knowing what other +people not only don't know but wouldn't, so to +speak, believe if they did.</div> + +<p>On the white road outside the gates of the +castle was a dark spattering of breaks and +wagonettes and dog-carts. Three or four waiting +motor-cars puffed fatly where they stood, and +bicycles sprawled in heaps along the grassy +hollow by the red brick wall. And the people +who had been brought to the castle by the +breaks and wagonettes, and dog-carts and bicycles +and motors, as well as those who had walked +there on their own unaided feet, were scattered +about the grounds, or being shown over +those parts of the castle which were, on this +one day of the week, thrown open to visitors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p> + +<p>There were more visitors than usual to-day +because it had somehow been whispered about +that Lord Yalding was down, and that the +holland covers were to be taken off the state +furniture, so that a rich American who wished +to rent the castle, to live in, might see the +place in all its glory.</p> + +<p>It certainly did look very splendid. The +embroidered satin, gilded leather and tapestry +of the chairs, which had been hidden by +brown holland, gave to the rooms a pleasant +air of being lived in. There were flowering +plants and pots of roses here and there on +tables or window-ledges. Mabel's aunt prided +herself on her tasteful touch in the home, and +had studied the arrangement of flowers in a +series of articles in <i>Home Drivel</i> called "How to +Make Home High-class on Ninepence a Week."</p> + +<p>The great crystal chandeliers, released from +the bags that at ordinary times shrouded +them, gleamed with grey and purple splendour. +The brown linen sheets had been taken off the +state beds, and the red ropes that usually kept +the low crowd in its proper place had been +rolled up and hidden away.</p> + +<p>"It's exactly as if we were calling on the +family," said the grocer's daughter from Salisbury +to her friend who was in the millinery.</p> + +<p>"If the Yankee doesn't take it, what do you +say to you and me setting up here when we get +spliced?" the draper's assistant asked his sweetheart. +And she said: "Oh, Reggie, how can +you! you are <i>too</i> funny."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span></p> + +<p>All the afternoon the crowd in its smart +holiday clothes, pink blouses, and light-coloured +suits, flowery hats, and scarves beyond +description passed through and through the +dark hall, the magnificent drawing-rooms and +boudoirs and picture-galleries. The chattering +crowd was awed into something like quiet by +the calm, stately bedchambers, where men had +been born, and died; where royal guests had +lain in long-ago summer nights, with big bow-pots +of elder-flowers set on the hearth to ward +off fever and evil spells. The terrace, where in +old days dames in ruffs had sniffed the sweetbrier +and southernwood of the borders below, +and ladies, bright with rouge and powder and +brocade, had walked in the swing of their hooped +skirts—the terrace now echoed to the sound of +brown boots, and the tap-tap of high-heeled +shoes at two and eleven three, and high +laughter and chattering voices that said nothing +that the children wanted to hear. These spoiled +for them the quiet of the enchanted castle, +and outraged the peace of the garden of +enchantments.</p> + +<p>"It isn't such a lark after all," Gerald admitted, +as from the window of the stone +summer-house at the end of the terrace they +watched the loud colours and heard the loud +laughter. "I do hate to see all these people in +<i>our</i> garden."</p> + +<p>"I said that to that nice bailiff-man this +morning," said Mabel, setting herself on the +stone floor, "and he said it wasn't much to let<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +them come once a week. He said Lord Yalding +ought to let them come when they liked—said +he would if he lived there."</p> + +<p>"That's all he knows!" said Jimmy. "Did he +say anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Lots," said Mabel. "I do like him! I told +him——"</p> + +<p>"You didn't!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I told him lots about our adventures. +The humble bailiff is a beautiful listener."</p> + +<p>"We shall be locked up for beautiful lunatics +if you let your jaw get the better of you, my +Mabel child."</p> + +<p>"Not us!" said Mabel. "I told it—you know +the way—every word true, and yet so that +nobody believes any of it. When I'd quite +done he said I'd got a real littery talent, and I +promised to put his name on the beginning +of the first book I write when I grow up."</p> + +<p>"You don't know his name," said Kathleen. +"Let's do something with the ring."</p> + +<p>"Imposs!" said Gerald. "I forgot to tell you, +but I met Mademoiselle when I went back for +my garters—and she's coming to meet us and +walk back with us."</p> + +<p>"What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"I said," said Gerald deliberately, "that it was +very kind of her. And so it was. Us not +wanting her doesn't make it not kind her +coming——"</p> + +<p>"It may be kind, but it's sickening too," said +Mabel, "because now I suppose we shall have +to stick here and wait for her; and I promised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +we'd meet the bailiff-man. He's going to bring +things in a basket and have a picnic-tea +with us."</p> + +<p>"Where?"</p> + +<p>"Beyond the dinosaurus. He said he'd tell +me all about the anteddy-something animals—it +means before Noah's Ark; there are lots +besides the dinosaurus—in return for me telling +him my agreeable fictions. Yes, he called them +that."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as the gates shut. That's five."</p> + +<p>"We might take Mademoiselle along," suggested +Gerald.</p> + +<p>"She'd be too proud to have tea with a bailiff, +I expect; you never know how grown-ups will +take the simplest things." It was Kathleen who +said this.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll tell you what," said Gerald, lazily +turning on the stone bench. "You all go along, +and meet your bailiff. A picnic's a picnic. And +I'll wait for Mademoiselle."</p> + +<p>Mabel remarked joyously that this was jolly +decent of Gerald, to which he modestly replied: +"Oh, rot!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy added that Gerald rather liked sucking-up +to people.</p> + +<p>"Little boys don't understand diplomacy," said +Gerald calmly; "sucking-up is simply silly. +But it's better to be good than pretty and——"</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"And," his brother went on, "you never know +when a grown-up may come in useful. Besides,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +they <i>like</i> it. You must give them <i>some</i> little +pleasures. Think how awful it must be to be +old. My hat!"</p> + +<p>"I hope <i>I</i> shan't be an old maid," said +Kathleen.</p> + +<p>"I don't <i>mean</i> to be," said Mabel briskly. +"I'd rather marry a travelling tinker."</p> + +<p>"It would be rather nice," Kathleen mused, +"to marry the Gipsy King and go about in a +caravan telling fortunes and hung round with +baskets and brooms."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could choose," said Mabel, "of course, +I'd marry a brigand, and live in his mountain +fastnesses, and be kind to his captives and help +them to escape and——"</p> + +<p>"You'll be a real treasure to your husband," +said Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Kathleen, "or a sailor would be +nice. You'd watch for his ship coming home +and set the lamp in the dormer window to light +him home through the storm; and when he was +drowned at sea you'd be most frightfully sorry, +and go every day to lay flowers on his daisied +grave."</p> + +<p>"Yes," Mabel hastened to say, "or a soldier, +and then you'd go to the wars with short petticoats +and a cocked hat and a barrel round your +neck like a St. Bernard dog. There's a picture +of a soldier's wife on a song auntie's got. It's +called 'The Veevandyear.'"</p> + +<p>"When I marry——" Kathleen quickly said.</p> + +<p>"When <i>I</i> marry," said Gerald, "I'll marry a +dumb girl, or else get the ring to make her so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +that she can't speak unless she's spoken to. Let's +have a squint."</p> + +<p>He applied his eye to the stone lattice.</p> + +<p>"They're moving off," he said. "Those pink +and purple hats are nodding off in the distant +prospect; and the funny little man with the +beard like a goat is going a different way from +every one else—the gardeners will have to head +him off. I don't see Mademoiselle, though. +The rest of you had better bunk. It doesn't do +to run any risks with picnics. The deserted +hero of our tale, alone and unsupported, urged +on his brave followers to pursue the commissariat +waggons, he himself remaining at the post of +danger and difficulty, because he was born to +stand on burning decks whence all but he had +fled, and to lead forlorn hopes when despaired +of by the human race!"</p> + +<p>"I think I'll marry a dumb husband," said +Mabel, "and there shan't be any heroes in my +books when I write them, only a heroine. +Come on, Cathy."</p> + +<p>Coming out of that cool, shadowy summer-house +into the sunshine was like stepping into +an oven, and the stone of the terrace was burning +to the children's feet.</p> + +<p>"I know now what a cat on hot bricks feels +like," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>The antediluvian animals are set in a beech-wood +on a slope at least half a mile across the +park from the castle. The grandfather of the +present Lord Yalding had them set there in the +middle of last century, in the great days of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +late Prince Consort, the Exhibition of 1851, Sir +Joseph Paxton, and the Crystal Palace. Their +stone flanks, their wide, ungainly wings, their +lozenged crocodile-like backs show grey through +the trees a long way off.</p> + +<p>Most people think that noon is the hottest +time of the day. They are wrong. A cloudless +sky gets hotter and hotter all the afternoon, +and reaches its very hottest at five. I am sure +you must all have noticed this when you are +going out to tea anywhere in your best clothes, +especially if your clothes are starched and you +happen to have a rather long and shadeless +walk.</p> + +<p>Kathleen, Mabel, and Jimmy got hotter and +hotter, and went more and more slowly. They +had almost reached that stage of resentment +and discomfort when one "wishes one hadn't +come" before they saw, below the edge of the +beech-wood, the white waved handkerchief of +the bailiff.</p> + +<p>That banner, eloquent of tea, shade, and being +able to sit down, put new heart into them. They +mended their pace, and a final desperate run +landed them among the drifted coppery leaves +and bare grey and green roots of the beech-wood.</p> + +<p>"Oh, glory!" said Jimmy, throwing himself +down. "How do you do?"</p> + +<p>The bailiff looked very nice, the girls thought. +He was not wearing his velveteens, but a grey +flannel suit that an Earl need not have scorned; +and his straw hat would have done no discredit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +to a Duke; and a Prince could not have worn a +prettier green tie. He welcomed the children +warmly. And there were two baskets dumped +heavy and promising among the beech-leaves.</p> + +<p>He was a man of tact. The hot, instructive +tour of the stone antediluvians, which had +loomed with ever-lessening charm before the +children, was not even mentioned.</p> + +<p>"You must be desert-dry," he said, "and you'll +be hungry, too, when you've done being thirsty. +I put on the kettle as soon as I discerned the +form of my fair romancer in the extreme +offing."</p> + +<p>The kettle introduced itself with puffings and +bubblings from the hollow between two grey +roots where it sat on a spirit-lamp.</p> + +<p>"Take off your shoes and stockings, won't +you?" said the bailiff in matter-of-course tones, +just as old ladies ask each other to take off their +bonnets; "there's a little baby canal just over +the ridge."</p> + +<p>The joys of dipping one's feet in cool running +water after a hot walk have yet to be described. +I could write pages about them. There was a +mill-stream when I was young with little fishes +in it, and dropped leaves that spun round, and +willows and alders that leaned over it and kept +it cool, and—but this is not the story of <i>my</i> +life.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 430px;"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"></a> +<img src="images/gs44.png" width="430" height="500" alt="THE JOYS OF DIPPING ONE'S FEET IN COOL RUNNING WATER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE JOYS OF DIPPING ONE'S FEET IN COOL RUNNING WATER.</span> +</div> + +<p>When they came back, on rested, damp, pink +feet, tea was made and poured out, delicious tea, +with as much milk as ever you wanted, out of a +beer bottle with a screw top, and cakes, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +gingerbread, and plums, and a big melon with a +lump of ice in its heart—a tea for the gods!</p> + +<p>This thought must have come to Jimmy, for +he said suddenly, removing his face from inside +a wide-bitten crescent of melon-rind:—</p> + +<p>"Your feast's as good as the feast of the +Immortals, almost."</p> + +<p>"Explain your recondite allusion," said the +grey-flanneled host; and Jimmy, understanding +him to say, "What do you mean?" replied +with the whole tale of that wonderful night +when the statues came alive, and a banquet of +unearthly splendour and deliciousness was +plucked by marble hands from the trees of +the lake island.</p> + +<p>When he had done the bailiff said:—</p> + +<p>"Did you get all this out of a book?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, "it happened."</p> + +<p>"You are an imaginative set of young +dreamers, aren't you?" the bailiff asked, handing +the plums to Kathleen, who smiled, friendly +but embarrassed. Why couldn't Jimmy have +held his tongue?</p> + +<p>"No, we're not," said that indiscreet one +obstinately; "everything I've told you <i>did</i> +happen, and so did the things Mabel told +you."</p> + +<p>The bailiff looked a little uncomfortable. "All +right, old chap," he said. And there was a short, +uneasy silence.</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Jimmy, who seemed for +once to have got the bit between his teeth, "do +you believe me or not?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't be silly, Jimmy!" Kathleen whispered.</p> + +<p>"Because, if you don't I'll <i>make</i> you believe."</p> + +<p>"Don't!" said Mabel and Kathleen together.</p> + +<p>"Do you or don't you?" Jimmy insisted, lying +on his front with his chin on his hands, his +elbows on a moss-cushion, and his bare legs +kicking among the beech-leaves.</p> + +<p>"I think you tell adventures awfully well," +said the bailiff cautiously.</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Jimmy, abruptly sitting up, +"you don't believe me. Nonsense, Cathy! he's a +gentleman, even if he is a bailiff."</p> + +<p>"Thank you!" said the bailiff with eyes that +twinkled.</p> + +<p>"You won't tell, will you?" Jimmy urged.</p> + +<p>"Tell what?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Anything.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not. I am, as you say, the soul of +honour."</p> + +<p>"Then—Cathy, give me the ring."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>no!</i>" said the girls together.</p> + +<p>Kathleen did not mean to give up the ring; +Mabel did not mean that she should; Jimmy +certainly used no force. Yet presently he held +it in his hand. It was his hour. There are +times like that for all of us, when what we say +shall be done <i>is</i> done.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Jimmy, "this is the ring Mabel +told you about. I say it is a wishing-ring. And +if you will put it on your hand and wish, whatever +you wish will happen."</p> + +<p>"Must I wish out loud?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—I think so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't wish for anything silly," said Kathleen, +making the best of the situation, "like its being +fine on Tuesday or its being your favourite pudding +for dinner to-morrow. Wish for something +you really want."</p> + +<p>"I will," said the bailiff. "I'll wish for the +only thing I really want. I wish my—I wish +my friend were here."</p> + +<p>The three who knew the power of the ring +looked round to see the bailiff's friend appear; +a surprised man that friend would be, they +thought, and perhaps a frightened one. They +had all risen, and stood ready to soothe and +reassure the new-comer. But no startled gentleman +appeared in the wood, only, coming +quietly through the dappled sun and shadow +under the beech-trees, Mademoiselle and Gerald, +Mademoiselle in a white gown, looking quite +nice and like a picture, Gerald hot and polite.</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon," said that dauntless leader +of forlorn hopes. "I persuaded Mademoiselle——"</p> + +<p>That sentence was never finished, for the +bailiff and the French governess were looking +at each other with the eyes of tired travellers +who find, quite without expecting it, the desired +end of a very long journey. And the children +saw that even if they spoke it would not make +any difference.</p> + +<p>"<i>You!</i>" said the bailiff.</p> + +<p>"Mais . . . c'est donc vous," said Mademoiselle, +in a funny choky voice.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 525px;"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"></a> +<img src="images/gs45.png" width="525" height="461" alt="THEY STOOD STILL AND LOOKED AT EACH OTHER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THEY STOOD STILL AND LOOKED AT EACH OTHER.</span> +</div> + +<p>And they stood still and looked at each other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +a long time.</p> + +<p>"Is <i>she</i> your friend?" Jimmy asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes—oh yes," said this bailiff. "You are my +friend, are you not?"</p> + +<p>"But yes," Mademoiselle said softly. "I am +your friend."</p> + +<p>"There! you see," said Jimmy, "the ring <i>does</i> +do what I said."</p> + +<p>"We won't quarrel about that," said the +bailiff. "You can say it's the ring. For +me—it's a coincidence—the happiest, the +dearest——"</p> + +<p>"Then you——?" said the French governess.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said the bailiff. "Jimmy, give +your brother some tea. Mademoiselle, come +and walk in the woods: there are a thousand +things to say."</p> + +<p>"Eat then, my Gerald," said Mademoiselle, +now grown young, and astonishingly like a +fairy princess. "I return all at the hour, and +we re-enter together. It is that we must speak +each other. It is long time that we have not +seen us, me and Lord Yalding!"</p> + +<p>"So he was Lord Yalding all the time," said +Jimmy, breaking a stupefied silence as the white +gown and the grey flannels disappeared among +the beech-trunks. "Landscape painter sort of +dodge—silly, I call it. And fancy her being a +friend of his, and his wishing she was here! +Different from us, eh? Good old ring!"</p> + +<p>"His friend!" said Mabel with strong scorn: +"don't you see she's his lover? Don't you see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +she's the lady that was bricked up in the convent, +because he was so poor, and he couldn't +find her. And now the ring's made them live +happy ever after. I <i>am</i> glad! Aren't you, +Cathy?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" said Kathleen; "it's as good as +marrying a sailor or a bandit."</p> + +<p>"It's the ring did it," said Jimmy. "If the +American takes the house he'll pay lots of rent, +and they can live on that."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if they'll be married to-morrow!" +said Mabel.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be fun if we were bridesmaids," +said Cathy.</p> + +<p>"May I trouble you for the melon," said +Gerald. "Thanks! Why didn't we know he +was Lord Yalding? Apes and moles that we +were!"</p> + +<p>"<i>I've</i> known since last night," said Mabel +calmly; "only I promised not to tell. I <i>can</i> +keep a secret, can't I?"</p> + +<p>"Too jolly well," said Kathleen, a little +aggrieved.</p> + +<p>"He was disguised as a bailiff," said Jimmy; +"that's why we didn't know."</p> + +<p>"Disguised as a fiddle-stick-end," said Gerald. +"Ha, ha! I see something old Sherlock Holmes +never saw, nor that idiot Watson, either. If +you want a really impenetrable disguise, you +ought to disguise yourself as what you really +are. I'll remember that."</p> + +<p>"It's like Mabel, telling things so that you +can't believe them," said Cathy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think Mademoiselle's jolly lucky," said +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"She's not so bad. He might have done +worse," said Gerald. "Plums, please!"</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>There was quite plainly magic at work. +Mademoiselle next morning was a changed +governess. Her cheeks were pink, her lips +were red, her eyes were larger and brighter, +and she had done her hair in an entirely new +way, rather frivolous and very becoming.</p> + +<p>"Mamselle's coming out!" Eliza remarked.</p> + +<p>Immediately after breakfast Lord Yalding +called with a wagonette that wore a smart +blue cloth coat, and was drawn by two horses +whose coats were brown and shining and fitted +them even better than the blue cloth coat fitted +the wagonette, and the whole party drove in +state and splendour to Yalding Towers.</p> + +<p>Arrived there, the children clamoured for permission +to explore the castle thoroughly, a thing +that had never yet been possible. Lord Yalding, +a little absent in manner, but yet quite cordial, +consented. Mabel showed the others all the +secret doors and unlikely passages and stairs +that she had discovered. It was a glorious +morning. Lord Yalding and Mademoiselle went +through the house, it is true, but in a rather +half-hearted way. Quite soon they were tired, +and went out through the French windows of +the drawing-room and through the rose garden, +to sit on the curved stone seat in the middle +of the maze, where once, at the beginning of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +things, Gerald, Kathleen, and Jimmy had found +the sleeping Princess who wore pink silk and +diamonds.</p> + +<p>The children felt that their going left to the +castle a more spacious freedom, and explored +with more than Arctic enthusiasm. It was as +they emerged from the little rickety secret +staircase that led from the powdering-room of +the state suite to the gallery of the hall that +they came suddenly face to face with the odd +little man who had a beard like a goat and had +taken the wrong turning yesterday.</p> + +<p>"This part of the castle is private," said Mabel, +with great presence of mind, and shut the door +behind her.</p> + +<p>"I am aware of it," said the goat-faced +stranger, "but I have the permission of the +Earl of Yalding to examine the house <i>at</i> my +leisure."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mabel. "I beg your pardon. We +all do. We didn't know."</p> + +<p>"You are relatives of his lordship, I should +surmise?" asked the goat-faced.</p> + +<p>"Not exactly," said Gerald. "Friends."</p> + +<p>The gentleman was thin and very neatly +dressed; he had small, merry eyes and a face +that was brown and dry-looking.</p> + +<p>"You are playing some game, I should suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir," said Gerald, "only exploring."</p> + +<p>"May a stranger propose himself as a member +of your Exploring Expedition?" asked the +gentleman, smiling a tight but kind smile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span></p> + +<p>The children looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"You see," said Gerald, "it's rather difficult +to explain—but—you see what I mean, don't +you?"</p> + +<p>"He means," said Jimmy, "that we can't take +you into an exploring party without we know +what you want to go for."</p> + +<p>"Are you a photographer?" asked Mabel, "or +is it some newspaper's sent you to write about +the Towers?"</p> + +<p>"I understand your position," said the gentleman. +"I am not a photographer, nor am I +engaged by any journal. I am a man of independent +means, travelling in this country +with the intention of renting a residence. My +name is Jefferson D. Conway."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Mabel; "then you're the American +millionaire."</p> + +<p>"I do not like the description, young lady," +said Mr. Jefferson D. Conway. "I am an +American citizen, and I am not without means. +This is a fine property—a very fine property. If +it were for sale——"</p> + +<p>"It isn't, it can't be," Mabel hastened to +explain. "The lawyers have put it in a tale, so +Lord Yalding can't sell it. But you could take +it to live in, and pay Lord Yalding a good +millionairish rent, and then he could marry the +French governess——"</p> + +<p>"Shish!" said Kathleen and Mr. Jefferson D. +Conway together, and he added:—</p> + +<p>"Lead the way, please; and I should suggest +that the exploration be complete and exhaustive."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, Mabel led the millionaire +through all the castle. He seemed pleased, yet +disappointed too.</p> + +<p>"It is a fine mansion," he said at last when +they had come back to the point from which +they had started; "but I should suppose, in a +house this size, there would mostly be a secret +stairway, or a priests' hiding place, or a ghost?"</p> + +<p>"There are," said Mabel briefly, "but I thought +Americans didn't believe in anything but +machinery and newspapers." She touched the +spring of the panel behind her, and displayed +the little tottery staircase to the American. +The sight of it worked a wonderful transformation +in him. He became eager, alert, very keen.</p> + +<p>"Say!" he cried, over and over again, standing +in the door that led from the powdering-room +to the state bed-chamber. "But this is great—great!"</p> + +<p>The hopes of every one ran high. It seemed +almost certain that the castle would be let for +a millionairish rent and Lord Yalding be made +affluent to the point of marriage.</p> + +<p>"If there were a ghost located in this +ancestral pile, I'd close with the Earl of Yalding +to-day, now, on the nail," Mr. Jefferson D. +Conway went on.</p> + +<p>"If you were to stay till to-morrow, and sleep +in this room, I expect you'd see the ghost," said +Mabel.</p> + +<p>"There <i>is</i> a ghost located here then?" he said +joyously.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 320px;"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></a> +<img src="images/gs46.png" width="320" height="510" alt="HE BECAME EAGER, ALERT, VERY KEEN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HE BECAME EAGER, ALERT, VERY KEEN.</span> +</div> + +<p>"They say," Mabel answered, "that old Sir<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +Rupert, who lost his head in Henry the Eighth's +time, walks of a night here, with his head under +his arm. But we've not seen that. What we +have seen is the lady in a pink dress with +diamonds in her hair. She carries a lighted +taper," Mabel hastily added. The others, now +suddenly aware of Mabel's plan, hastened to +assure the American in accents of earnest +truth that they had all seen the lady with the +pink gown.</p> + +<p>He looked at them with half-closed eyes that +twinkled.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I calculate to ask the Earl +of Yalding to permit me to pass a night in his +ancestral best bed-chamber. And if I hear so +much as a phantom footstep, or hear so much +as a ghostly sigh, I'll take the place."</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> glad!" said Cathy.</p> + +<p>"You appear to be very certain of your +ghost," said the American, still fixing them with +little eyes that shone. "Let me tell you, young +gentlemen, that I carry a gun, and when I see a +ghost, I shoot."</p> + +<p>He pulled a pistol out of his hip-pocket, and +looked at it lovingly.</p> + +<p>"And I am a fair average shot," he went on, +walking across the shiny floor of the state bed-chamber +to the open window. "See that big +red rose, like a tea-saucer?"</p> + +<p>They saw.</p> + +<p>The next moment a loud report broke the +stillness, and the red petals of the shattered rose +strewed balustrade and terrace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p> + +<p>The American looked from one child to +another. Every face was perfectly white.</p> + +<p>"Jefferson D. Conway made his little pile by +strict attention to business, and keeping his eyes +skinned," he added. "Thank you for all your +kindness."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"Suppose you'd done it, and he'd shot you!" +said Jimmy cheerfully. "That <i>would</i> have been +an adventure, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to do it still," said Mabel, pale and +defiant. "Let's find Lord Yalding and get the +ring back."</p> + +<p>Lord Yalding had had an interview with +Mabel's aunt, and lunch for six was laid in the +great dark hall, among the armour and the oak +furniture—a beautiful lunch served on silver +dishes. Mademoiselle, becoming every moment +younger and more like a Princess, was moved to +tears when Gerald rose, lemonade-glass in hand, +and proposed the health of "Lord and Lady +Yalding."</p> + +<p>When Lord Yalding had returned thanks in +a speech full of agreeable jokes the moment +seemed to Gerald propitious, and he said:—</p> + +<p>"The ring, you know—you don't believe in it, +but we do. May we have it back?"</p> + +<p>And got it.</p> + +<p>Then, after a hasty council, held in the +panelled jewel-room, Mabel said: "This is a +wishing-ring, and I wish all the American's +weapons of all sorts were here."</p> + +<p>Instantly the room was full—six feet up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +wall—of a tangle and mass of weapons, swords, +spears, arrows, tomahawks, fowling pieces, +blunderbusses, pistols, revolvers, scimitars, +kreeses—every kind of weapon you can think +of—and the four children wedged in among all +these weapons of death hardly dared to breathe.</p> + +<p>"He collects arms, I expect," said Gerald, "and +the arrows are poisoned, I shouldn't wonder. +Wish them back where they came from, +Mabel, for goodness' sake, and try again."</p> + +<p>Mabel wished the weapons away, and at once +the four children stood safe in a bare panelled +room. But—</p> + +<p>"No," Mabel said, "I can't stand it. We'll +work the ghost another way. I wish the +American may think he sees a ghost when he +goes to bed. Sir Rupert with his head under his +arm will do."</p> + +<p>"Is it to-night he sleeps there?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. I wish he may see Sir Rupert +every night—that'll make it all serene."</p> + +<p>"It's rather dull," said Gerald; "we shan't +know whether he's seen Sir Rupert or not."</p> + +<p>"We shall know in the morning, when he +takes the house."</p> + +<p>This being settled, Mabel's aunt was found to +be desirous of Mabel's company, so the others +went home.</p> + +<p>It was when they were at supper that Lord +Yalding suddenly appeared, and said:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jefferson Conway wants you boys to +spend the night with him in the state chamber. +I've had beds put up. You don't mind, do you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +He seems to think you've got some idea of +playing ghost-tricks on him."</p> + +<p>It was difficult to refuse, so difficult that it +proved impossible.</p> + +<p>Ten o'clock found the boys each in a narrow +white bed that looked quite absurdly small in +that high, dark chamber, and in face of that +tall gaunt four-poster hung with tapestry and +ornamented with funereal-looking plumes.</p> + +<p>"I hope to goodness there isn't a <i>real</i> ghost," +Jimmy whispered.</p> + +<p>"Not likely," Gerald whispered back.</p> + +<p>"But I don't want to see Sir Rupert's ghost +with its head under its arm," Jimmy insisted.</p> + +<p>"You won't. The most you'll see'll be the +millionaire seeing it. Mabel said he was to see +it, not us. Very likely you'll sleep all night and +not see anything. Shut your eyes and count up +to a million and don't be a goat!"</p> + +<p>But he was reckoning without Mabel and the +ring. As soon as Mabel had learned from her +drab-haired aunt that this was indeed the night +when Mr. Jefferson D. Conway would sleep at +the castle she had hastened to add a wish, "that +Sir Rupert and his head may appear to-night in +the state bedroom."</p> + +<p>Jimmy shut his eyes and began to count a +million. Before he had counted it he fell asleep. +So did his brother.</p> + +<p>They were awakened by the loud echoing +bang of a pistol shot. Each thought of the shot +that had been fired that morning, and opened +eyes that expected to see a sunshiny terrace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +and red-rose petals strewn upon warm white +stone.</p> + +<p>Instead, there was the dark, lofty state +chamber, lighted but little by six tall candles; +there was the American in shirt and trousers, +a smoking pistol in his hand; and there, advancing +from the door of the powdering-room, +a figure in doublet and hose, a ruff round its +neck—and no head! The head, sure enough, +was there; but it was under the right arm, held +close in the slashed-velvet sleeve of the doublet. +The face looking from under the arm wore a +pleasant smile. Both boys, I am sorry to say, +screamed. The American fired again. The +bullet passed through Sir Rupert, who advanced +without appearing to notice it.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, the lights went out. The +next thing the boys knew it was morning. A +grey daylight shone blankly through the tall +windows—and wild rain was beating upon the +glass, and the American was gone.</p> + +<p>"Where are we?" said Jimmy, sitting up with +tangled hair and looking round him. "Oh, I +remember. Ugh! it was horrid. I'm about fed +up with that ring, so I don't mind telling you."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 491px;"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"></a> +<img src="images/gs47.png" width="491" height="600" alt="THE AMERICAN FIRED AGAIN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE AMERICAN FIRED AGAIN.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Nonsense!" said Gerald. "I enjoyed it. I +wasn't a bit frightened, were you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, "of course I wasn't."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"We've done the trick," said Gerald later +when they learned that the American had +breakfasted early with Lord Yalding and taken +the first train to London; "he's gone to get rid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +of his other house, and take this one. The old +ring's beginning to do really useful things."</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll believe in the ring now," said +Jimmy to Lord Yalding, whom he met later on +in the picture-gallery; "it's all our doing that +Mr. Jefferson saw the ghost. He told us he'd +take the house if he saw a ghost, so of course +we took care he did see one."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you did, did you?" said Lord Yalding in +rather an odd voice. "I'm very much obliged, +I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"Don't mention it," said Jimmy kindly. "I +thought you'd be pleased and him too."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll be interested to learn," said +Lord Yalding, putting his hands in his pockets +and staring down at Jimmy, "that Mr. Jefferson +D. Conway was so pleased with your ghost that +he got me out of bed at six o'clock this morning +to talk about it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ripping!" said Jimmy. "What did he +say?"</p> + +<p>"He said, as far as I can remember," said +Lord Yalding, still in the same strange voice—"he +said: 'My lord, your ancestral pile is A1. +It is, in fact, The Limit. Its luxury is palatial, +its grounds are nothing short of Edenesque. No +expense has been spared, I should surmise. Your +ancestors were whole-hoggers. They have done +the thing as it should be done—every detail +attended to. I like your tapestry, and I like +your oak, and I like your secret stairs. But I +think your ancestors should have left well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +enough alone, and stopped at that.' So I said +they had, as far as I knew, and he shook his +head and said:—</p> + +<p>"'No, sir. Your ancestors take the air of +a night with their heads under their arms. A +ghost that sighed or glided or rustled I could +have stood, and thanked you for it, and considered +it in the rent. But a ghost that bullets +go through while it stands grinning with a bare +neck and its head loose under its own arm and +little boys screaming and fainting in their beds—no! +What I say is, If this is a British +hereditary high-toned family ghost, excuse Me!' +And he went off by the early train."</p> + +<p>"I say," the stricken Jimmy remarked, "I <i>am</i> +sorry, and I don't think we did faint, really I +don't—but we thought it would be just what +you wanted. And perhaps some one else will +take the house."</p> + +<p>"I don't know any one else rich enough," said +Lord Yalding. "Mr. Conway came the day +before he said he would, or you'd never have got +hold of him. And I don't know how you did it, +and I don't want to know. It was a rather silly +trick."</p> + +<p>There was a gloomy pause. The rain beat +against the long windows.</p> + +<p>"I say"—Jimmy looked up at Lord Yalding +with the light of a new idea in his round face. +"I say, if you're hard up, why don't you sell +your jewels?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't any jewels, you meddlesome young +duffer," said Lord Yalding quite crossly; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +taking his hands out of his pockets, he began to +walk away.</p> + +<p>"I mean the ones in the panelled room with +the stars in the ceiling," Jimmy insisted, +following him.</p> + +<p>"There aren't any," said Lord Yalding shortly; +"and if this is some more ring-nonsense I advise +you to be careful, young man. I've had about +as much as I care for."</p> + +<p>"It's <i>not</i> ring-nonsense," said Jimmy: "there +are shelves and shelves of beautiful family +jewels. You can sell them and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>no!</i>" cried Mademoiselle, appearing like +an oleograph of a duchess in the door of the +picture-gallery; "don't sell the family +jewels——"</p> + +<p>"There aren't any, my lady," said Lord +Yalding, going towards her. "I thought you +were never coming."</p> + +<p>"Oh, aren't there!" said Mabel, who had +followed Mademoiselle. "You just come and +see."</p> + +<p>"Let us see what they will to show us," cried +Mademoiselle, for Lord Yalding did not move; +"it should at least be amusing."</p> + +<p>"It is," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>So they went, Mabel and Jimmy leading, while +Mademoiselle and Lord Yalding followed, hand +in hand.</p> + +<p>"It's much safer to walk hand in hand," said +Lord Yalding; "with these children at large one +never knows what may happen next."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + +<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">It</span> would be interesting, no doubt, to describe +the feelings of Lord Yalding as he followed +Mabel and Jimmy through his ancestral halls, +but I have no means of knowing at all what he +felt. Yet one must suppose that he felt something: +bewilderment, perhaps, mixed with a +faint wonder, and a desire to pinch himself to +see if he were dreaming. Or he may have +pondered the rival questions, "Am I mad?" +"Are they mad?" without being at all able to +decide which he ought to try to answer, let alone +deciding what, in either case, the answer ought +to be. You see, the children did seem to believe +in the odd stories they told—and the wish <i>had</i> +come true, and the ghost <i>had</i> appeared. He must +have thought—but all this is vain; I don't <i>really</i> +know what he thought any more than you do.</div> + +<p>Nor can I give you any clue to the thoughts +and feelings of Mademoiselle. I only know that +she was very happy, but any one would have +known that if they had seen her face. Perhaps +this is as good a moment as any to explain that +when her guardian had put her in a convent so +that she should not sacrifice her fortune by +marrying a poor lord, her guardian had secured +that fortune (to himself) by going off with it to +South America. Then, having no money left, +Mademoiselle had to work for it. So she went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +out as governess, and took the situation she did +take because it was near Lord Yalding's home. +She wanted to see him, even though she thought +he had forsaken her and did not love her any +more. And now she had seen him. I daresay +she thought about some of these things as she +went along through his house, her hand held in +his. But of course I can't be sure.</p> + +<p>Jimmy's thoughts, of course, I can read like +any old book. He thought, "Now he'll <i>have</i> to +believe me." That Lord Yalding should believe +him had become, quite unreasonably, the most +important thing in the world to Jimmy. He +wished that Gerald and Kathleen were there to +share his triumph, but they were helping Mabel's +aunt to cover the grand furniture up, and so +were out of what followed. Not that they +missed much, for when Mabel proudly said, +"Now you'll see," and the others came close +round her in the little panelled room, there was +a pause, and then—nothing happened at all!</p> + +<p>"There's a secret spring here somewhere," +said Mabel, fumbling with fingers that had +suddenly grown hot and damp.</p> + +<p>"Where?" said Lord Yalding.</p> + +<p>"<i>Here</i>," said Mabel impatiently, "only I can't +find it."</p> + +<p>And she couldn't. She found the spring of +the secret panel under the window all right, but +that seemed to every one dull compared with +the jewels that every one had pictured and two +at least had seen. But the spring that made +the oak panelling slide away and displayed +jewels plainly to any eye worth a king's ransom—this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +could not be found. More, it was simply +not there. There could be no doubt of that. +Every inch of the panelling was felt by careful +fingers. The earnest protests of Mabel and +Jimmy died away presently in a silence made +painful by the hotness of one's ears, the discomfort +of not liking to meet any one's eyes, and +the resentful feeling that the spring was not +behaving in at all a sportsmanlike way, and +that, in a word, this was not cricket.</p> + +<p>"You see!" said Lord Yalding severely. +"Now you've had your joke, if you call it a joke, +and I've had enough of the whole silly business. +Give me the ring—it's mine, I suppose, since you +say you found it somewhere here—and don't +let's hear another word about all this rubbish +of magic and enchantment."</p> + +<p>"Gerald's got the ring," said Mabel miserably.</p> + +<p>"Then go and fetch him," said Lord Yalding—"both +of you."</p> + +<p>The melancholy pair retired, and Lord Yalding +spent the time of their absence in explaining to +Mademoiselle how very unimportant jewels were +compared with other things.</p> + +<p>The four children came back together.</p> + +<p>"We've had enough of this ring business," said +Lord Yalding. "Give it to me, and we'll say no +more about it."</p> + +<p>"I—I can't get it off," said Gerald. "It—it +always did have a will of its own."</p> + +<p>"I'll soon get it off," said Lord Yalding. But +he didn't. "We'll try soap," he said firmly. Four +out of his five hearers knew just exactly how +much use soap would be.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They won't believe about the jewels," wailed +Mabel, suddenly dissolved in tears, "and I can't +find the spring. I've felt all over—we all have—it +was just here, and——"</p> + +<p>Her fingers felt it just as she spoke; and as she +ceased to speak the carved panels slid away, and +the blue velvet shelves laden with jewels were +disclosed to the unbelieving eyes of Lord Yalding +and the lady who was to be his wife.</p> + +<p>"Jove!" said Lord Yalding.</p> + +<p>"<i>Miséricorde!</i>" said the lady.</p> + +<p>"But why <i>now?</i>" gasped Mabel. "Why not +before?"</p> + +<p>"I expect it's magic," said Gerald. "There's +no real spring here, and it couldn't act because +the ring wasn't here. You know Phœbus told +us the ring was the heart of all the magic."</p> + +<p>"Shut it up and take the ring away and see."</p> + +<p>They did, and Gerald was (as usual, he himself +pointed out) proved to be right. When the ring +was away there was no spring; when the ring +was in the room there (as Mabel urged) was the +spring all right enough.</p> + +<p>"So you see," said Mabel to Lord Yalding.</p> + +<p>"I see that the spring's very artfully concealed," +said that dense peer. "I think it was +very clever indeed of you to find it. And if +those jewels are real——"</p> + +<p>"Of course they're real," said Mabel indignantly.</p> + +<p>"Well, anyway," said Lord Yalding, "thank +you all very much. I think it's clearing up. I'll +send the wagonette home with you after lunch. +And if you don't mind, I'll have the ring."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span></p> + +<p>Half an hour of soap and water produced no +effect whatever, except to make the finger of +Gerald very red and very sore. Then Lord +Yalding said something very impatient indeed, +and then Gerald suddenly became angry and +said: "Well, I'm sure I wish it would come off," +and of course instantly, "slick as butter," as he +later pointed out, off it came.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Lord Yalding.</p> + +<p>"And I believe now he thinks I kept it on on +purpose," said Gerald afterwards when, at ease +on the leads at home, they talked the whole +thing out over a tin of preserved pineapple +and a bottle of gingerbeer apiece. "There's no +pleasing some people. He wasn't in such a fiery +hurry to order that wagonette after he found +that Mademoiselle meant to go when we did. +But I liked him better when he was a humble +bailiff. Take him for all in all, he does not look +as if we should like him again."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't know what's the matter with +him," said Kathleen, leaning back against the +tiled roof; "it's really the magic—it's like +sickening with measles. Don't you remember +how cross Mabel was at first about the invisibleness?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It's partly that," said Gerald, trying to be +fair, "and partly it's the being in love. It +always makes people like idiots—a chap at +school told me. His sister was like that—quite +rotten, you know. And she used to be quite +a decent sort before she was engaged."</p> + +<p>At tea and at supper Mademoiselle was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +radiant—as attractive as a lady on a Christmas +card, as merry as a marmoset, and as kind as +you would always be yourself if you could take +the trouble. At breakfast, an equal radiance, +kindness, attraction, merriment. Then Lord +Yalding came to see her. The meeting took +place in the drawing-room: the children with +deep discreetness remained shut in the +schoolroom till Gerald, going up to his room for a +pencil, surprised Eliza with her ear glued to +the drawing-room key-hole.</p> + +<p>After that Gerald sat on the top stair with a +book. He could not hear any of the conversation +in the drawing-room, but he could command +a view of the door, and in this way be certain +that no one else heard any of it. Thus it was +that when the drawing-room door opened Gerald +was in a position to see Lord Yalding come out. +"Our young hero," as he said later, "coughed +with infinite tact to show that he was there," +but Lord Yalding did not seem to notice. +He walked in a blind sort of way to the +hat-stand, fumbled clumsily with the umbrellas +and mackintoshes, found his straw hat and +looked at it gloomily, crammed it on his head +and went out, banging the door behind him in +the most reckless way.</p> + +<p>He left the drawing-room door open, and +Gerald, though he had purposely put himself in +a position where one could hear nothing from +the drawing-room when the door was shut, +could hear something quite plainly now that +the door was open. That something, he noticed +with deep distress and disgust, was the sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +of sobs and sniffs. Mademoiselle was quite +certainly crying.</p> + +<p>"Jimminy!" he remarked to himself, "they +haven't lost much time. Fancy their beginning +to quarrel <i>already!</i> I hope I'll never have to be +anybody's lover."</p> + +<p>But this was no time to brood on the terrors +of his own future. Eliza might at any time +occur. She would not for a moment hesitate to +go through that open door, and push herself +into the very secret sacred heart of Mademoiselle's +grief. It seemed to Gerald better +that he should be the one to do this. So he +went softly down the worn green Dutch carpet +of the stairs and into the drawing-room, shutting +the door softly and securely behind him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>"It is all over," Mademoiselle was saying, her +face buried in the beady arum-lilies on a red +ground worked for a cushion cover by a former +pupil: "he will not marry me!"</p> + +<p>Do not ask me how Gerald had gained the +lady's confidence. He had, as I think I said +almost at the beginning, very pretty ways with +grown-ups, when he chose. Anyway, he was +holding her hand, almost as affectionately as if +she had been his mother with a headache, and +saying "Don't!" and "Don't cry!" and "It'll be +all right, you see if it isn't" in the most comforting +way you can imagine, varying the treatment +with gentle thumps on the back and entreaties +to her to tell him all about it.</p> + +<p>This wasn't mere curiosity, as you might +think. The entreaties were prompted by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +Gerald's growing certainty that whatever was +the matter was somehow the fault of that ring. +And in this Gerald was ("once more," as he told +himself) right.</p> + +<p>The tale, as told by Mademoiselle, was certainly +an unusual one. Lord Yalding, last night after +dinner, had walked in the park "to think of——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know," said Gerald; "and he had the +ring on. And he saw——"</p> + +<p>"He saw the monuments become alive," sobbed +Mademoiselle: "his brain was troubled by the +ridiculous accounts of fairies that you tell him. +He sees Apollon and Aphrodité alive on their +marble. He remembers him of your story. He +wish himself a statue. Then he becomes mad—imagines +to himself that your story of the +island is true, plunges in the lake, swims among +the beasts of the Ark of Noé, feeds with gods on +an island. At dawn the madness become less. +He think the Panthéon vanish. But him, no—he +thinks himself statue, hiding from gardeners +in his garden till nine less a quarter. Then he +thinks to wish himself no more a statue and +perceives that he is flesh and blood. A bad +dream, but he has lost the head with the tales +you tell. He say it is no dream but he is fool—mad—how +you say? And a mad man must not +marry. There is no hope. I am at despair! +And the life is vain!"</p> + +<p>"There <i>is</i>," said Gerald earnestly. "I assure +you there is—hope, I mean. And life's as right +as rain really. And there's nothing to despair +about. He's <i>not</i> mad, and it's <i>not</i> a dream. It's +magic. It really and truly is."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The magic exists not," Mademoiselle moaned; +"it is that he is mad. It is the joy to re-see me +after so many days. Oh, la-la-la-la-la!"</p> + +<p>"Did he talk to the gods?" Gerald asked +gently.</p> + +<p>"It is there the most mad of all his ideas. He +say that Mercure give him rendezvous at some +temple to-morrow when the moon raise herself."</p> + +<p>"Right," cried Gerald, "righto! Dear nice, +kind, pretty Mademoiselle Rapunzel, don't be +a silly little duffer"—he lost himself for a +moment among the consoling endearments he +was accustomed to offer to Kathleen in moments +of grief and emotion, but hastily added: "I +mean, do not be a lady who weeps causelessly. +To-morrow he will go to that temple. I will go. +Thou shalt go—he will go. We will go—you will +go—let 'em all go! And, you see, it's going to be +absolutely all right. He'll see he isn't mad, and +you'll understand all about everything. Take +my handkerchief, its quite a clean one as it +happens; I haven't even unfolded it. Oh! do +stop crying, there's a dear, darling, long-lost +lover."</p> + +<p>This flood of eloquence was not without effect. +She took his handkerchief, sobbed, half smiled, +dabbed at her eyes, and said: "Oh, naughty! Is +it some trick you play him, like the ghost?"</p> + +<p>"I can't explain," said Gerald, "but I give you +my word of honour—you know what an Englishman's +word of honour is, don't you? even if you +<i>are</i> French—that everything is going to be +exactly what you wish. I've never told you a +lie. Believe me!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is curious," said she, drying her eyes, "but +I do." And once again, so suddenly that he +could not have resisted, she kissed him. I +think, however, that in this her hour of sorrow +he would have thought it mean to resist.</p> + +<p>"It pleases her and it doesn't hurt me—much," +would have been his thought.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>And now it is near moonrise. The French +governess, half-doubting, half hoping, but wholly +longing to be near Lord Yalding even if he be +as mad as a March hare, and the four children—they +have collected Mabel by an urgent letter-card +posted the day before—are going over +the dewy grass. The moon has not yet risen, +but her light is in the sky mixed with the +pink and purple of the sunset. The west is heavy +with ink-clouds and rich colour, but the east, +where the moon rises, is clear as a rock-pool.</p> + +<p>They go across the lawn and through the +beech-wood and come at last, through a tangle +of underwood and bramble, to a little level +tableland that rises out of the flat hill-top—one +tableland out of another. Here is the ring of +vast rugged stones, one pierced with a curious +round hole, worn smooth at its edges. In the +middle of the circle is a great flat stone, alone, +desolate, full of meaning—a stone that is covered +thick with the memory of old faiths and creeds +long since forgotten. Something dark moves +in the circle. The French girl breaks from the +children, goes to it, clings to its arm. It is +Lord Yalding, and he is telling her to go.</p> + +<p>"Never of the life!" she cries. "If you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +mad I am mad too, for I believe the tale these +children tell. And I am here to be with thee +and see with thee—whatever the rising moon +shall show us."</p> + +<p>The children, holding hands by the flat stone, +more moved by the magic in the girl's voice +than by any magic of enchanted rings, listen, +trying not to listen.</p> + +<p>"Are you not afraid?" Lord Yalding is +saying.</p> + +<p>"Afraid? With you?" she laughs. He put +his arm round her. The children hear her sigh.</p> + +<p>"Are you afraid," he says, "my darling?"</p> + +<p>Gerald goes across the wide turf ring expressly +to say:—</p> + +<p>"You can't be afraid if you are wearing the +ring. And I'm sorry, but we can hear every +word you say."</p> + +<p>She laughs again. "It makes nothing," she +says; "you know already if we love each other."</p> + +<p>Then he puts the ring on her finger, and they +stand together. The white of his flannel coat +sleeve marks no line on the white of her dress; +they stand as though cut out of one block of +marble.</p> + +<p>Then a faint greyness touches the top of that +round hole, creeps up the side. Then the hole +is a disc of light—a moonbeam strikes straight +through it across the grey green of the circle +that the stones mark, and as the moon rises +the moonbeam slants downward. The children +have drawn back till they stand close to the +lovers. The moonbeam slants more and more; +now it touches the far end of the stone, now it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +draws nearer and nearer to the middle of it, now +at last it touches the very heart and centre of +that central stone. And then it is as though +a spring were touched, a fountain of light +released. Everything changes. Or, rather, +everything is revealed. There are no more +secrets. The plan of the world seems plain, +like an easy sum that one writes in big figures +on a child's slate. One wonders how one can +ever have wondered about anything. Space +is not; every place that one has seen or +dreamed of is here. Time is not; into this +instant is crowded all that one has ever done +or dreamed of doing. It is a moment, and it is +eternity. It is the centre of the universe and it +is the universe itself. The eternal light rests +on and illuminates the eternal heart of things.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>None of the six human beings who saw that +moon-rising were ever able to think about +it as having anything to do with time. Only +for one instant could that moonray have rested +full on the centre of that stone. And yet there +was time for many happenings.</p> + +<p>From that height one could see far out over +the quiet park and sleeping gardens, and +through the grey green of them shapes moved, +approaching.</p> + +<p>The great beasts came first, strange forms +that were when the world was new—gigantic +lizards with wings—dragons they lived as in +men's memories—mammoths, strange vast +birds, they crawled up the hill and ranged +themselves outside the circle. Then, not from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +the garden but from very far away, came the +stone gods of Egypt and Assyria—bull-bodied, +bird-winged, hawk-headed, cat-headed, all in +stone, and all alive and alert; strange, grotesque +figures from the towers of cathedrals—figures +of angels with folded wings, figures of beasts +with wings wide spread; sphinxes; uncouth +idols from Southern palm-fringed islands; and, +last of all, the beautiful marble shapes of the +gods and goddesses who had held their festival +on the lake-island, and bidden Lord Yalding and +the children to this meeting.</p> + +<p>Not a word was spoken. Each stone shape +came gladly and quietly into the circle of light +and understanding, as children, tired with a long +ramble, creep quietly through the open door +into the firelit welcome of home.</p> + +<p>The children had thought to ask many questions. +And it had been promised that the +questions should be answered. Yet now no +one spoke a word, because all had come into +the circle of the real magic where all things +are understood without speech.</p> + +<p>Afterwards none of them could ever remember +at all what had happened. But they never +forgot that they had been somewhere where +everything was easy and beautiful. And people +who can remember even that much are never +quite the same again. And when they came +to talk of it next day they found that to each +some little part of that night's great enlightenment +was left.</p> + +<p>All the stone creatures drew closer round the +stone—the light where the moonbeam struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +it seemed to break away in spray such as water +makes when it falls from a height. All the +crowd was bathed in whiteness. A deep hush +lay over the vast assembly.</p> + +<p>Then a wave of intention swept over the +mighty crowd. All the faces, bird, beast, +Greek statue, Babylonian monster, human +child and human lover, turned upward, the +radiant light illumined them and one word +broke from all.</p> + +<p>"The light!" they cried, and the sound of +their voice was like the sound of a great wave; +"the light! the light——"</p> + +<p>And then the light was not any more, and, +soft as floating thistle-down, sleep was laid +on the eyes of all but the immortals.</p> + +<div class='center'><b>* * * * *</b></div> + +<p>The grass was chill and dewy and the clouds +had veiled the moon. The lovers and the children +were standing together, all clinging close, +not for fear, but for love.</p> + +<p>"I want," said the French girl softly, "to go +to the cave on the island."</p> + +<p>Very quietly through the gentle brooding +night they went down to the boat-house, loosed +the clanking chain, and dipped oars among +the drowned stars and lilies. They came to the +island, and found the steps.</p> + +<p>"I brought candles," said Gerald, "in case."</p> + +<p>So, lighted by Gerald's candles, they went +down into the Hall of Psyche! and there glowed +the light spread from her statue, and all was +as the children had seen it before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is the Hall of Granted Wishes.</p> + +<p>"The ring," said Lord Yalding.</p> + +<p>"The ring," said his lover, "is the magic ring +given long ago to a mortal, and it is what you +say it is. It was given to your ancestor by a +lady of my house that he might build her a +garden and a house like her own palace and +garden in her own land. So that this place +is built partly by his love and partly by that +magic. She never lived to see it; that was +the price of the magic."</p> + +<p>It must have been English that she spoke, +for otherwise how could the children have +understood her? Yet the words were not like +Mademoiselle's way of speaking.</p> + +<p>"Except from children," her voice went on, +"the ring exacts a payment. You paid for me, +when I came by your wish, by this terror of +madness that you have since known. Only one +wish is free."</p> + +<p>"And that wish is——?"</p> + +<p>"The last," she said. "Shall I wish?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—wish," they said, all of them.</p> + +<p>"I wish, then," said Lord Yalding's lover, +"that all the magic this ring has wrought may +be undone, and that the ring itself may be no +more and no less than a charm to bind thee and +me together for evermore."</p> + +<p>She ceased. And as she ceased the enchanted +light died away, the windows of granted wishes +went out, like magic-lantern pictures. Gerald's +candle faintly lighted a rudely arched cave, and +where Psyche's statue had been was a stone +with something carved on it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gerald held the light low.</p> + +<p>"It is her grave," the girl said.</p> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<p>Next day no one could remember anything +at all exactly. But a good many things were +changed. There was no ring but the plain gold +ring that Mademoiselle found clasped in her hand +when she woke in her own bed in the morning. +More than half the jewels in the panelled +room were gone, and those that remained had +no panelling to cover them; they just lay bare +on the velvet-covered shelves. There was no +passage at the back of the Temple of Flora. +Quite a lot of the secret passages and hidden +rooms had disappeared. And there were not +nearly so many statues in the garden as everyone +had supposed. And large pieces of the +castle were missing and had to be replaced at +great expense. From which we may conclude +that Lord Yalding's ancestor had used the ring +a good deal to help him in his building.</p> + +<p>However, the jewels that were left were quite +enough to pay for everything.</p> + +<p>The suddenness with which all the ring-magic +was undone was such a shock to everyone concerned +that they now almost doubt that any +magic ever happened.</p> + +<p>But it is certain that Lord Yalding married +the French governess and that a plain gold ring +was used in the ceremony, and this, if you come +to think of it, could be no other than the magic +ring, turned, by that last wish, into a charm to +keep him and his wife together for ever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span></p> + +<p>Also, if all this story is nonsense and a make-up—if +Gerald and Jimmy and Kathleen and +Mabel have merely imposed on my trusting +nature by a pack of unlikely inventions, how +do you account for the paragraph which appeared +in the evening papers the day after the +magic of the moon-rising?</p> + +<div class='center'> +"MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A WELL-KNOWN<br /> +CITY MAN,"<br /> +</div> + +<div class='unindent'>it said, and then went on to say how a gentleman, +well known and much respected in +financial circles, had vanished, leaving no trace.</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mr. U. W. Ugli," the papers continued, "had remained late, +working at his office as was his occasional habit. The office door +was found locked, and on its being broken open the clothes of the +unfortunate gentleman were found in a heap on the floor, together +with an umbrella, a walking stick, a golf club, and, curiously +enough, a feather brush, such as housemaids use for dusting. Of +his body, however, there was no trace. The police are stated to +have a clue."</p></div> + +<p>If they have, they have kept it to themselves. +But I do not think they can have a clue, because, +of course, that respected gentleman was the +Ugly-Wugly who became real when, in search +of a really good hotel, he got into the Hall of +Granted Wishes. And if none of this story ever +happened, how is it that those four children are +such friends with Lord and Lady Yalding, and +stay at The Towers almost every holidays?</p> + +<p>It is all very well for all of them to pretend +that the whole of this story is my own invention: +facts are facts, and you can't explain +them away.</p> + + +<div class='copyright'>——————————<br /> +UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.<br /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> +<p>Varied hyphenation was retained, for example: hearthrug and hearth-rug.</p> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Enchanted Castle, by E. 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