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<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 770 ***</div>
    <h1>
      THE STORY OF THE TREASURE SEEKERS
    </h1>
    <p>
      <br >
    </p>
    <h2>
      by E. Nesbit
    </h2>
    <p>
      <br > <br >
    </p>
    <h3>
      Being the adventures of the Bastable children in search of a fortune
    </h3>
    <h4>
      TO OSWALD BARRON Without whom this book could never have been written
      <br > <br > The Treasure Seekers is dedicated in memory of childhoods
      <br > identical but for the accidents of time and space <br > <br >
    </h4>
    <hr >
    <p>
      <br > <br >
    </p>
    <blockquote>
      <p class="toc">
        <span style="font-size: larger"><b>CONTENTS</b></span>
      </p>
      <p>
        <br >
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER 1. THE COUNCIL OF WAYS AND MEANS </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER 2. DIGGING FOR TREASURE </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER 3. BEING DETECTIVES </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER 4. GOOD HUNTING </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER 5. THE POET AND THE EDITOR </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER 6. NOEL&rsquo;S PRINCESS </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER 7. BEING BANDITS </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER 8. BEING EDITORS </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER 9. THE G. B. </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER 10. LORD TOTTENHAM </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER 11. CASTILIAN AMOROSO </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER 12. THE NOBLENESS OF OSWALD </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER 13. THE ROBBER AND THE BURGLAR </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER 14. THE DIVINING-ROD </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER 15. &lsquo;LO, THE POOR INDIAN!&rsquo; </a>
      </p>
      <p class="toc">
        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER 16. THE END OF THE TREASURE-SEEKING
        </a>
      </p>
    </blockquote>
    <p>
      <br > <br >
    </p>
    <hr >
    <p>
      <br > <br > <a id="link2HCH0001">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 1. THE COUNCIL OF WAYS AND MEANS
    </h2>
    <p>
      This is the story of the different ways we looked for treasure, and I
      think when you have read it you will see that we were not lazy about the
      looking.
    </p>
    <p>
      There are some things I must tell before I begin to tell about the
      treasure-seeking, because I have read books myself, and I know how beastly
      it is when a story begins, &ldquo;&lsquo;Alas!&rdquo; said Hildegarde with a deep sigh, &ldquo;we
      must look our last on this ancestral home&rdquo;&rsquo;&mdash;and then some one else
      says something&mdash;and you don&rsquo;t know for pages and pages where the home
      is, or who Hildegarde is, or anything about it. Our ancestral home is in
      the Lewisham Road. It is semi-detached and has a garden, not a large one.
      We are the Bastables. There are six of us besides Father. Our Mother is
      dead, and if you think we don&rsquo;t care because I don&rsquo;t tell you much about
      her you only show that you do not understand people at all. Dora is the
      eldest. Then Oswald&mdash;and then Dicky. Oswald won the Latin prize at
      his preparatory school&mdash;and Dicky is good at sums. Alice and Noel are
      twins: they are ten, and Horace Octavius is my youngest brother. It is one
      of us that tells this story&mdash;but I shall not tell you which: only at
      the very end perhaps I will. While the story is going on you may be trying
      to guess, only I bet you don&rsquo;t. It was Oswald who first thought of looking
      for treasure. Oswald often thinks of very interesting things. And directly
      he thought of it he did not keep it to himself, as some boys would have
      done, but he told the others, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what, we must go and seek for treasure: it is always what
      you do to restore the fallen fortunes of your House.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora said it was all very well. She often says that. She was trying to
      mend a large hole in one of Noel&rsquo;s stockings. He tore it on a nail when we
      were playing shipwrecked mariners on top of the chicken-house the day H.
      O. fell off and cut his chin: he has the scar still. Dora is the only one
      of us who ever tries to mend anything. Alice tries to make things
      sometimes. Once she knitted a red scarf for Noel because his chest is
      delicate, but it was much wider at one end than the other, and he wouldn&rsquo;t
      wear it. So we used it as a pennon, and it did very well, because most of
      our things are black or grey since Mother died; and scarlet was a nice
      change. Father does not like you to ask for new things. That was one way
      we had of knowing that the fortunes of the ancient House of Bastable were
      really fallen. Another way was that there was no more pocket-money&mdash;except
      a penny now and then to the little ones, and people did not come to dinner
      any more, like they used to, with pretty dresses, driving up in cabs&mdash;and
      the carpets got holes in them&mdash;and when the legs came off things they
      were not sent to be mended, and we gave <i>up</i> having the gardener
      except for the front garden, and not that very often. And the silver in
      the big oak plate-chest that is lined with green baize all went away to
      the shop to have the dents and scratches taken out of it, and it never
      came back. We think Father hadn&rsquo;t enough money to pay the silver man for
      taking out the dents and scratches. The new spoons and forks were
      yellowy-white, and not so heavy as the old ones, and they never shone
      after the first day or two.
    </p>
    <p>
      Father was very ill after Mother died; and while he was ill his
      business-partner went to Spain&mdash;and there was never much money
      afterwards. I don&rsquo;t know why. Then the servants left and there was only
      one, a General. A great deal of your comfort and happiness depends on
      having a good General. The last but one was nice: she used to make jolly
      good currant puddings for us, and let us have the dish on the floor and
      pretend it was a wild boar we were killing with our forks. But the General
      we have now nearly always makes sago puddings, and they are the watery
      kind, and you cannot pretend anything with them, not even islands, like
      you do with porridge.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we left off going to school, and Father said we should go to a good
      school as soon as he could manage it. He said a holiday would do us all
      good. We thought he was right, but we wished he had told us he couldn&rsquo;t
      afford it. For of course we knew.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then a great many people used to come to the door with envelopes with no
      stamps on them, and sometimes they got very angry, and said they were
      calling for the last time before putting it in other hands. I asked Eliza
      what that meant, and she kindly explained to me, and I was so sorry for
      Father.
    </p>
    <p>
      And once a long, blue paper came; a policeman brought it, and we were so
      frightened. But Father said it was all right, only when he went up to kiss
      the girls after they were in bed they said he had been crying, though I&rsquo;m
      sure that&rsquo;s not true. Because only cowards and snivellers cry, and my
      Father is the bravest man in the world.
    </p>
    <p>
      So you see it was time we looked for treasure and Oswald said so, and Dora
      said it was all very well. But the others agreed with Oswald. So we held a
      council. Dora was in the chair&mdash;the big dining-room chair, that we
      let the fireworks off from, the Fifth of November when we had the measles
      and couldn&rsquo;t do it in the garden. The hole has never been mended, so now
      we have that chair in the nursery, and I think it was cheap at the
      blowing-up we boys got when the hole was burnt.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We must do something,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;because the exchequer is empty.&rsquo; She
      rattled the money-box as she spoke, and it really did rattle because we
      always keep the bad sixpence in it for luck.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes&mdash;but what shall we do?&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s so jolly easy to say
      let&rsquo;s do <i>something</i>.&rsquo; Dicky always wants everything settled exactly.
      Father calls him the Definite Article.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s read all the books again. We shall get lots of ideas out of them.&rsquo;
      It was Noel who suggested this, but we made him shut up, because we knew
      well enough he only wanted to get back to his old books. Noel is a poet.
      He sold some of his poetry once&mdash;and it was printed, but that does
      not come in this part of the story.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dicky said, &lsquo;Look here. We&rsquo;ll be quite quiet for ten minutes by the
      clock&mdash;and each think of some way to find treasure. And when we&rsquo;ve
      thought we&rsquo;ll try all the ways one after the other, beginning with the
      eldest.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I shan&rsquo;t be able to think in ten minutes, make it half an hour,&rsquo; said H.
      O. His real name is Horace Octavius, but we call him H. O. because of the
      advertisement, and it&rsquo;s not so very long ago he was afraid to pass the
      hoarding where it says &lsquo;Eat H. O.&rsquo; in big letters. He says it was when he
      was a little boy, but I remember last Christmas but one, he woke in the
      middle of the night crying and howling, and they said it was the pudding.
      But he told me afterwards he had been dreaming that they really <i>had</i>
      come to eat H. O., and it couldn&rsquo;t have been the pudding, when you come to
      think of it, because it was so very plain.
    </p>
    <p>
      Well, we made it half an hour&mdash;and we all sat quiet, and thought and
      thought. And I made up my mind before two minutes were over, and I saw the
      others had, all but Dora, who is always an awful time over everything. I
      got pins and needles in my leg from sitting still so long, and when it was
      seven minutes H. O. cried out&mdash;&lsquo;Oh, it must be more than half an
      hour!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. is eight years old, but he cannot tell the clock yet. Oswald could
      tell the clock when he was six.
    </p>
    <p>
      We all stretched ourselves and began to speak at once, but Dora put up her
      hands to her ears and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;One at a time, please. We aren&rsquo;t playing Babel.&rsquo; (It is a very good game.
      Did you ever play it?)
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dora made us all sit in a row on the floor, in ages, and then she
      pointed at us with the finger that had the brass thimble on. Her silver
      one got lost when the last General but two went away. We think she must
      have forgotten it was Dora&rsquo;s and put it in her box by mistake. She was a
      very forgetful girl. She used to forget what she had spent money on, so
      that the change was never quite right.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald spoke first. &lsquo;I think we might stop people on Blackheath&mdash;with
      crape masks and horse-pistols&mdash;and say &ldquo;Your money or your life!
      Resistance is useless, we are armed to the teeth&rdquo;&mdash;like Dick Turpin
      and Claude Duval. It wouldn&rsquo;t matter about not having horses, because
      coaches have gone out too.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora screwed up her nose the way she always does when she is going to talk
      like the good elder sister in books, and said, &lsquo;That would be very wrong:
      it&rsquo;s like pickpocketing or taking pennies out of Father&rsquo;s great-coat when
      it&rsquo;s hanging in the hall.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I must say I don&rsquo;t think she need have said that, especially before the
      little ones&mdash;for it was when I was only four.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Oswald was not going to let her see he cared, so he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, very well. I can think of lots of other ways. We could rescue an old
      gentleman from deadly Highwaymen.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There aren&rsquo;t any,&rsquo; said Dora.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, well, it&rsquo;s all the same&mdash;from deadly peril, then. There&rsquo;s plenty
      of that. Then he would turn out to be the Prince of Wales, and he would
      say, &ldquo;My noble, my cherished preserver! Here is a million pounds a year.
      Rise up, Sir Oswald Bastable.&rdquo;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But the others did not seem to think so, and it was Alice&rsquo;s turn to say.
    </p>
    <p>
      She said, &lsquo;I think we might try the divining-rod. I&rsquo;m sure I could do it.
      I&rsquo;ve often read about it. You hold a stick in your hands, and when you
      come to where there is gold underneath the stick kicks about. So you know.
      And you dig.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh,&rsquo; said Dora suddenly, &lsquo;I have an idea. But I&rsquo;ll say last. I hope the
      divining-rod isn&rsquo;t wrong. I believe it&rsquo;s wrong in the Bible.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So is eating pork and ducks,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t go by that.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Anyhow, we&rsquo;ll try the other ways first,&rsquo; said Dora. &lsquo;Now, H. O.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s be Bandits,&rsquo; said H. O. &lsquo;I dare say it&rsquo;s wrong but it would be fun
      pretending.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s wrong,&rsquo; said Dora.
    </p>
    <p>
      And Dicky said she thought everything wrong. She said she didn&rsquo;t, and
      Dicky was very disagreeable. So Oswald had to make peace, and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Dora needn&rsquo;t play if she doesn&rsquo;t want to. Nobody asked her. And, Dicky,
      don&rsquo;t be an idiot: do dry up and let&rsquo;s hear what Noel&rsquo;s idea is.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora and Dicky did not look pleased, but I kicked Noel under the table to
      make him hurry up, and then he said he didn&rsquo;t think he wanted to play any
      more. That&rsquo;s the worst of it. The others are so jolly ready to quarrel. I
      told Noel to be a man and not a snivelling pig, and at last he said he had
      not made up his mind whether he would print his poetry in a book and sell
      it, or find a princess and marry her.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Whichever it is,&rsquo; he added, &lsquo;none of you shall want for anything, though
      Oswald did kick me, and say I was a snivelling pig.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I didn&rsquo;t,&rsquo; said Oswald, &lsquo;I told you not to be.&rsquo; And Alice explained to
      him that that was quite the opposite of what he thought. So he agreed to
      drop it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dicky spoke.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You must all of you have noticed the advertisements in the papers,
      telling you that ladies and gentlemen can easily earn two pounds a week in
      their spare time, and to send two shillings for sample and instructions,
      carefully packed free from observation. Now that we don&rsquo;t go to school all
      our time is spare time. So I should think we could easily earn twenty
      pounds a week each. That would do us very well. We&rsquo;ll try some of the
      other things first, and directly we have any money we&rsquo;ll send for the
      sample and instructions. And I have another idea, but I must think about
      it before I say.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We all said, &lsquo;Out with it&mdash;what&rsquo;s the other idea?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Dicky said, &lsquo;No.&rsquo; That is Dicky all over. He never will show you
      anything he&rsquo;s making till it&rsquo;s quite finished, and the same with his
      inmost thoughts. But he is pleased if you seem to want to know, so Oswald
      said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Keep your silly old secret, then. Now, Dora, drive ahead. We&rsquo;ve all said
      except you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dora jumped up and dropped the stocking and the thimble (it rolled
      away, and we did not find it for days), and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s try my way <i>now</i>. Besides, I&rsquo;m the eldest, so it&rsquo;s only fair.
      Let&rsquo;s dig for treasure. Not any tiresome divining-rod&mdash;but just plain
      digging. People who dig for treasure always find it. And then we shall be
      rich and we needn&rsquo;t try your ways at all. Some of them are rather
      difficult: and I&rsquo;m certain some of them are wrong&mdash;and we must always
      remember that wrong things&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But we told her to shut up and come on, and she did.
    </p>
    <p>
      I couldn&rsquo;t help wondering as we went down to the garden, why Father had
      never thought of digging there for treasure instead of going to his
      beastly office every day.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0002">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 2. DIGGING FOR TREASURE
    </h2>
    <p>
      I am afraid the last chapter was rather dull. It is always dull in books
      when people talk and talk, and don&rsquo;t do anything, but I was obliged to put
      it in, or else you wouldn&rsquo;t have understood all the rest. The best part of
      books is when things are happening. That is the best part of real things
      too. This is why I shall not tell you in this story about all the days
      when nothing happened. You will not catch me saying, &lsquo;thus the sad days
      passed slowly by&rsquo;&mdash;or &lsquo;the years rolled on their weary course&rsquo;&mdash;or
      &lsquo;time went on&rsquo;&mdash;because it is silly; of course time goes on&mdash;whether
      you say so or not. So I shall just tell you the nice, interesting parts&mdash;and
      in between you will understand that we had our meals and got up and went
      to bed, and dull things like that. It would be sickening to write all that
      down, though of course it happens. I said so to Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle,
      who writes books, and he said, &lsquo;Quite right, that&rsquo;s what we call
      selection, a necessity of true art.&rsquo; And he is very clever indeed. So you
      see.
    </p>
    <p>
      I have often thought that if the people who write books for children knew
      a little more it would be better. I shall not tell you anything about us
      except what I should like to know about if I was reading the story and you
      were writing it. Albert&rsquo;s uncle says I ought to have put this in the
      preface, but I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things
      just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of
      this.
    </p>
    <p>
      Well, when we had agreed to dig for treasure we all went down into the
      cellar and lighted the gas. Oswald would have liked to dig there, but it
      is stone flags. We looked among the old boxes and broken chairs and
      fenders and empty bottles and things, and at last we found the spades we
      had to dig in the sand with when we went to the seaside three years ago.
      They are not silly, babyish, wooden spades, that split if you look at
      them, but good iron, with a blue mark across the top of the iron part, and
      yellow wooden handles. We wasted a little time getting them dusted,
      because the girls wouldn&rsquo;t dig with spades that had cobwebs on them. Girls
      would never do for African explorers or anything like that, they are too
      beastly particular.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was no use doing the thing by halves. We marked out a sort of square in
      the mouldy part of the garden, about three yards across, and began to dig.
      But we found nothing except worms and stones&mdash;and the ground was very
      hard.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we thought we&rsquo;d try another part of the garden, and we found a place in
      the big round flower bed, where the ground was much softer. We thought
      we&rsquo;d make a smaller hole to begin with, and it was much better. We dug and
      dug and dug, and it was jolly hard work! We got very hot digging, but we
      found nothing.
    </p>
    <p>
      Presently Albert-next-door looked over the wall. We do not like him very
      much, but we let him play with us sometimes, because his father is dead,
      and you must not be unkind to orphans, even if their mothers are alive.
      Albert is always very tidy. He wears frilly collars and velvet
      knickerbockers. I can&rsquo;t think how he can bear to.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we said, &lsquo;Hallo!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And he said, &lsquo;What are you up to?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We&rsquo;re digging for treasure,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;an ancient parchment revealed
      to us the place of concealment. Come over and help us. When we have dug
      deep enough we shall find a great pot of red clay, full of gold and
      precious jewels.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert-next-door only sniggered and said, &lsquo;What silly nonsense!&rsquo; He cannot
      play properly at all. It is very strange, because he has a very nice
      uncle. You see, Albert-next-door doesn&rsquo;t care for reading, and he has not
      read nearly so many books as we have, so he is very foolish and ignorant,
      but it cannot be helped, and you just have to put up with it when you want
      him to do anything. Besides, it is wrong to be angry with people for not
      being so clever as you are yourself. It is not always their faults.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald said, &lsquo;Come and dig! Then you shall share the treasure when
      we&rsquo;ve found it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But he said, &lsquo;I shan&rsquo;t&mdash;I don&rsquo;t like digging&mdash;and I&rsquo;m just going
      in to my tea.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Come along and dig, there&rsquo;s a good boy,&rsquo; Alice said. &lsquo;You can use my
      spade. It&rsquo;s much the best&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So he came along and dug, and when once he was over the wall we kept him
      at it, and we worked as well, of course, and the hole got deep. Pincher
      worked too&mdash;he is our dog and he is very good at digging. He digs for
      rats in the dustbin sometimes, and gets very dirty. But we love our dog,
      even when his face wants washing.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I expect we shall have to make a tunnel,&rsquo; Oswald said, &lsquo;to reach the rich
      treasure.&rsquo; So he jumped into the hole and began to dig at one side. After
      that we took it in turns to dig at the tunnel, and Pincher was most useful
      in scraping the earth out of the tunnel&mdash;he does it with his back
      feet when you say &lsquo;Rats!&rsquo; and he digs with his front ones, and burrows
      with his nose as well.
    </p>
    <p>
      At last the tunnel was nearly a yard long, and big enough to creep along
      to find the treasure, if only it had been a bit longer. Now it was
      Albert&rsquo;s turn to go in and dig, but he funked it.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Take your turn like a man,&rsquo; said Oswald&mdash;nobody can say that Oswald
      doesn&rsquo;t take his turn like a man. But Albert wouldn&rsquo;t. So we had to make
      him, because it was only fair.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s quite easy,&rsquo; Alice said. &lsquo;You just crawl in and dig with your hands.
      Then when you come out we can scrape out what you&rsquo;ve done, with the
      spades. Come&mdash;be a man. You won&rsquo;t notice it being dark in the tunnel
      if you shut your eyes tight. We&rsquo;ve all been in except Dora&mdash;and she
      doesn&rsquo;t like worms.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t like worms neither.&rsquo; Albert-next-door said this; but we
      remembered how he had picked a fat red and black worm up in his fingers
      and thrown it at Dora only the day before. So we put him in.
    </p>
    <p>
      But he would not go in head first, the proper way, and dig with his hands
      as we had done, and though Oswald was angry at the time, for he hates
      snivellers, yet afterwards he owned that perhaps it was just as well. You
      should never be afraid to own that perhaps you were mistaken&mdash;but it
      is cowardly to do it unless you are quite sure you are in the wrong.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let me go in feet first,&rsquo; said Albert-next-door. &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll dig with my boots&mdash;I
      will truly, honour bright.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we let him get in feet first&mdash;and he did it very slowly and at
      last he was in, and only his head sticking out into the hole; and all the
      rest of him in the tunnel.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Now dig with your boots,&rsquo; said Oswald; &lsquo;and, Alice, do catch hold of
      Pincher, he&rsquo;ll be digging again in another minute, and perhaps it would be
      uncomfortable for Albert if Pincher threw the mould into his eyes.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      You should always try to think of these little things. Thinking of other
      people&rsquo;s comfort makes them like you. Alice held Pincher, and we all
      shouted, &lsquo;Kick! dig with your feet, for all you&rsquo;re worth!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Albert-next-door began to dig with his feet, and we stood on the ground
      over him, waiting&mdash;and all in a minute the ground gave way, and we
      tumbled together in a heap: and when we got up there was a little shallow
      hollow where we had been standing, and Albert-next-door was underneath,
      stuck quite fast, because the roof of the tunnel had tumbled in on him. He
      is a horribly unlucky boy to have anything to do with.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was dreadful the way he cried and screamed, though he had to own it
      didn&rsquo;t hurt, only it was rather heavy and he couldn&rsquo;t move his legs. We
      would have dug him out all right enough, in time, but he screamed so we
      were afraid the police would come, so Dicky climbed over the wall, to tell
      the cook there to tell Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle he had been buried by
      mistake, and to come and help dig him out.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky was a long time gone. We wondered what had become of him, and all
      the while the screaming went on and on, for we had taken the loose earth
      off Albert&rsquo;s face so that he could scream quite easily and comfortably.
    </p>
    <p>
      Presently Dicky came back and Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle came with him. He
      has very long legs, and his hair is light and his face is brown. He has
      been to sea, but now he writes books. I like him.
    </p>
    <p>
      He told his nephew to stow it, so Albert did, and then he asked him if he
      was hurt&mdash;and Albert had to say he wasn&rsquo;t, for though he is a coward,
      and very unlucky, he is not a liar like some boys are.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;This promises to be a protracted if agreeable task,&rsquo; said
      Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle, rubbing his hands and looking at the hole with
      Albert&rsquo;s head in it. &lsquo;I will get another spade,&rsquo; so he fetched the big
      spade out of the next-door garden tool-shed, and began to dig his nephew
      out.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Mind you keep very still,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;or I might chunk a bit out of you
      with the spade.&rsquo; Then after a while he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I confess that I am not absolutely insensible to the dramatic interest of
      the situation. My curiosity is excited. I own that I should like to know
      how my nephew happened to be buried. But don&rsquo;t tell me if you&rsquo;d rather
      not. I suppose no force was used?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Only moral force,&rsquo; said Alice. They used to talk a lot about moral force
      at the High School where she went, and in case you don&rsquo;t know what it
      means I&rsquo;ll tell you that it is making people do what they don&rsquo;t want to,
      just by slanging them, or laughing at them, or promising them things if
      they&rsquo;re good.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Only moral force, eh?&rsquo; said Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle. &lsquo;Well?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; Dora said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m very sorry it happened to Albert&mdash;I&rsquo;d rather
      it had been one of us. It would have been my turn to go into the tunnel,
      only I don&rsquo;t like worms, so they let me off. You see we were digging for
      treasure.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;and I think we were just coming to the underground
      passage that leads to the secret hoard, when the tunnel fell in on Albert.
      He <i>is</i> so unlucky,&rsquo; and she sighed.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Albert-next-door began to scream again, and his uncle wiped his face&mdash;his
      own face, not Albert&rsquo;s&mdash;with his silk handkerchief, and then he put
      it in his trousers pocket. It seems a strange place to put a handkerchief,
      but he had his coat and waistcoat off and I suppose he wanted the
      handkerchief handy. Digging is warm work.
    </p>
    <p>
      He told Albert-next-door to drop it, or he wouldn&rsquo;t proceed further in the
      matter, so Albert stopped screaming, and presently his uncle finished
      digging him out. Albert did look so funny, with his hair all dusty and his
      velvet suit covered with mould and his face muddy with earth and crying.
    </p>
    <p>
      We all said how sorry we were, but he wouldn&rsquo;t say a word back to us. He
      was most awfully sick to think he&rsquo;d been the one buried, when it might
      just as well have been one of us. I felt myself that it was hard lines.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So you were digging for treasure,&rsquo; said Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle, wiping
      his face again with his handkerchief. &lsquo;Well, I fear that your chances of
      success are small. I have made a careful study of the whole subject. What
      I don&rsquo;t know about buried treasure is not worth knowing. And I never knew
      more than one coin buried in any one garden&mdash;and that is generally&mdash;Hullo&mdash;what&rsquo;s
      that?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He pointed to something shining in the hole he had just dragged Albert out
      of. Oswald picked it up. It was a half-crown. We looked at each other,
      speechless with surprise and delight, like in books.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, that&rsquo;s lucky, at all events,&rsquo; said Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s see, that&rsquo;s fivepence each for you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s fourpence&mdash;something; I can&rsquo;t do fractions,&rsquo; said Dicky; &lsquo;there
      are seven of us, you see.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, you count Albert as one of yourselves on this occasion, eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Of course,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;and I say, he was buried after all. Why
      shouldn&rsquo;t we let him have the odd somethings, and we&rsquo;ll have fourpence
      each.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We all agreed to do this, and told Albert-next-door we would bring his
      share as soon as we could get the half-crown changed. He cheered up a
      little at that, and his uncle wiped his face again&mdash;he did look hot&mdash;and
      began to put on his coat and waistcoat.
    </p>
    <p>
      When he had done it he stooped and picked up something. He held it up, and
      you will hardly believe it, but it is quite true&mdash;it was another
      half-crown!
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;To think that there should be two!&rsquo; he said; &lsquo;in all my experience of
      buried treasure I never heard of such a thing!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I wish Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle would come treasure-seeking with us
      regularly; he must have very sharp eyes: for Dora says she was looking
      just the minute before at the very place where the second half-crown was
      picked up from, and <i>she</i> never saw it.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0003">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 3. BEING DETECTIVES
    </h2>
    <p>
      The next thing that happened to us was very interesting. It was as real as
      the half-crowns&mdash;not just pretending. I shall try to write it as like
      a real book as I can. Of course we have read Mr Sherlock Holmes, as well
      as the yellow-covered books with pictures outside that are so badly
      printed; and you get them for fourpence-halfpenny at the bookstall when
      the corners of them are beginning to curl up and get dirty, with people
      looking to see how the story ends when they are waiting for trains. I
      think this is most unfair to the boy at the bookstall. The books are
      written by a gentleman named Gaboriau, and Albert&rsquo;s uncle says they are
      the worst translations in the world&mdash;and written in vile English. Of
      course they&rsquo;re not like Kipling, but they&rsquo;re jolly good stories. And we
      had just been reading a book by Dick Diddlington&mdash;that&rsquo;s not his
      right name, but I know all about libel actions, so I shall not say what
      his name is really, because his books are rot. Only they put it into our
      heads to do what I am going to narrate.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was in September, and we were not to go to the seaside because it is so
      expensive, even if you go to Sheerness, where it is all tin cans and old
      boots and no sand at all. But every one else went, even the people next
      door&mdash;not Albert&rsquo;s side, but the other. Their servant told Eliza they
      were all going to Scarborough, and next day sure enough all the blinds
      were down and the shutters up, and the milk was not left any more. There
      is a big horse-chestnut tree between their garden and ours, very useful
      for getting conkers out of and for making stuff to rub on your chilblains.
      This prevented our seeing whether the blinds were down at the back as
      well, but Dicky climbed to the top of the tree and looked, and they were.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was jolly hot weather, and very stuffy indoors&mdash;we used to play a
      good deal in the garden. We made a tent out of the kitchen clothes-horse
      and some blankets off our beds, and though it was quite as hot in the tent
      as in the house it was a very different sort of hotness. Albert&rsquo;s uncle
      called it the Turkish Bath. It is not nice to be kept from the seaside,
      but we know that we have much to be thankful for. We might be poor little
      children living in a crowded alley where even at summer noon hardly a ray
      of sunlight penetrates; clothed in rags and with bare feet&mdash;though I
      do not mind holes in my clothes myself, and bare feet would not be at all
      bad in this sort of weather. Indeed we do, sometimes, when we are playing
      at things which require it. It was shipwrecked mariners that day, I
      remember, and we were all in the blanket tent. We had just finished eating
      the things we had saved, at the peril of our lives, from the fast-sinking
      vessel. They were rather nice things. Two-pennyworth of coconut candy&mdash;it
      was got in Greenwich, where it is four ounces a penny&mdash;three apples,
      some macaroni&mdash;the straight sort that is so useful to suck things
      through&mdash;some raw rice, and a large piece of cold suet pudding that
      Alice nicked from the larder when she went to get the rice and macaroni.
      And when we had finished some one said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I should like to be a detective.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I wish to be quite fair, but I cannot remember exactly who said it. Oswald
      thinks he said it, and Dora says it was Dicky, but Oswald is too much of a
      man to quarrel about a little thing like that.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I should like to be a detective,&rsquo; said&mdash;perhaps it was Dicky, but I
      think not&mdash;&lsquo;and find out strange and hidden crimes.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You have to be much cleverer than you are,&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Not so very,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;because when you&rsquo;ve read the books you know
      what the things mean: the red hair on the handle of the knife, or the
      grains of white powder on the velvet collar of the villain&rsquo;s overcoat. I
      believe we could do it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t like to have anything to do with murders,&rsquo; said Dora;
      &lsquo;somehow it doesn&rsquo;t seem safe&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And it always ends in the poor murderer being hanged,&rsquo; said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      We explained to her why murderers have to be hanged, but she only said, &lsquo;I
      don&rsquo;t care. I&rsquo;m sure no one would ever do murdering <i>twice</i>. Think of
      the blood and things, and what you would see when you woke up in the
      night! I shouldn&rsquo;t mind being a detective to lie in wait for a gang of
      coiners, now, and spring upon them unawares, and secure them&mdash;single-handed,
      you know, or with only my faithful bloodhound.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      She stroked Pincher&rsquo;s ears, but he had gone to sleep because he knew well
      enough that all the suet pudding was finished. He is a very sensible dog.
      &lsquo;You always get hold of the wrong end of the stick,&rsquo; Oswald said. &lsquo;You
      can&rsquo;t choose what crimes you&rsquo;ll be a detective about. You just have to get
      a suspicious circumstance, and then you look for a clue and follow it up.
      Whether it turns out a murder or a missing will is just a fluke.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s one way,&rsquo; Dicky said. &lsquo;Another is to get a paper and find two
      advertisements or bits of news that fit. Like this: &ldquo;Young Lady Missing,&rdquo;
       and then it tells about all the clothes she had on, and the gold locket
      she wore, and the colour of her hair, and all that; and then in another
      piece of the paper you see, &ldquo;Gold locket found,&rdquo; and then it all comes
      out.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We sent H. O. for the paper at once, but we could not make any of the
      things fit in. The two best were about how some burglars broke into a
      place in Holloway where they made preserved tongues and invalid
      delicacies, and carried off a lot of them. And on another page there was,
      &lsquo;Mysterious deaths in Holloway.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald thought there was something in it, and so did Albert&rsquo;s uncle when
      we asked him, but the others thought not, so Oswald agreed to drop it.
      Besides, Holloway is a long way off. All the time we were talking about
      the paper Alice seemed to be thinking about something else, and when we
      had done she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I believe we might be detectives ourselves, but I should not like to get
      anybody into trouble.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Not murderers or robbers?&rsquo; Dicky asked.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It wouldn&rsquo;t be murderers,&rsquo; she said; &lsquo;but I <i>have</i> noticed something
      strange. Only I feel a little frightened. Let&rsquo;s ask Albert&rsquo;s uncle first.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice is a jolly sight too fond of asking grown-up people things. And we
      all said it was tommyrot, and she was to tell us.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, promise you won&rsquo;t do anything without me,&rsquo; Alice said, and we
      promised. Then she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;This is a dark secret, and any one who thinks it is better not to be
      involved in a career of crime-discovery had better go away ere yet it be
      too late.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dora said she had had enough of tents, and she was going to look at the
      shops. H. O. went with her because he had twopence to spend. They thought
      it was only a game of Alice&rsquo;s but Oswald knew by the way she spoke. He can
      nearly always tell. And when people are not telling the truth Oswald
      generally knows by the way they look with their eyes. Oswald is not proud
      of being able to do this. He knows it is through no merit of his own that
      he is much cleverer than some people.
    </p>
    <p>
      When they had gone, the rest of us got closer together and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Now then.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;you know the house next door? The people have gone to
      Scarborough. And the house is shut up. But last night <i>I saw a light in
      the windows</i>.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We asked her how and when, because her room is in the front, and she
      couldn&rsquo;t possibly have seen. And then she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you if you boys will promise not ever to go fishing again
      without me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we had to promise.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It was last night. I had forgotten to feed my rabbits and I woke up and
      remembered it. And I was afraid I should find them dead in the morning,
      like Oswald did.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It wasn&rsquo;t my fault,&rsquo; Oswald said; &lsquo;there was something the matter with
      the beasts. I fed them right enough.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice said she didn&rsquo;t mean that, and she went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I came down into the garden, and I saw a light in the house, and dark
      figures moving about. I thought perhaps it was burglars, but Father hadn&rsquo;t
      come home, and Eliza had gone to bed, so I couldn&rsquo;t do anything. Only I
      thought perhaps I would tell the rest of you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you tell us this morning?&rsquo; Noel asked. And Alice explained
      that she did not want to get any one into trouble, even burglars. &lsquo;But we
      might watch to-night,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;and see if we see the light again.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;They might have been burglars,&rsquo; Noel said. He was sucking the last bit of
      his macaroni. &lsquo;You know the people next door are very grand. They won&rsquo;t
      know us&mdash;and they go out in a real private carriage sometimes. And
      they have an &ldquo;At Home&rdquo; day, and people come in cabs. I daresay they have
      piles of plate and jewellery and rich brocades, and furs of price and
      things like that. Let us keep watch to-night.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s no use watching to-night,&rsquo; Dicky said; &lsquo;if it&rsquo;s only burglars they
      won&rsquo;t come again. But there are other things besides burglars that are
      discovered in empty houses where lights are seen moving.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You mean coiners,&rsquo; said Oswald at once. &lsquo;I wonder what the reward is for
      setting the police on their track?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky thought it ought to be something fat, because coiners are always a
      desperate gang; and the machinery they make the coins with is so heavy and
      handy for knocking down detectives.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then it was tea-time, and we went in; and Dora and H. O. had clubbed their
      money together and bought a melon; quite a big one, and only a little bit
      squashy at one end. It was very good, and then we washed the seeds and
      made things with them and with pins and cotton. And nobody said any more
      about watching the house next door.
    </p>
    <p>
      Only when we went to bed Dicky took off his coat and waistcoat, but he
      stopped at his braces, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What about the coiners?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald had taken off his collar and tie, and he was just going to say the
      same, so he said, &lsquo;Of course I meant to watch, only my collar&rsquo;s rather
      tight, so I thought I&rsquo;d take it off first.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky said he did not think the girls ought to be in it, because there
      might be danger, but Oswald reminded him that they had promised Alice, and
      that a promise is a sacred thing, even when you&rsquo;d much rather not. So
      Oswald got Alice alone under pretence of showing her a caterpillar&mdash;Dora
      does not like them, and she screamed and ran away when Oswald offered to
      show it her. Then Oswald explained, and Alice agreed to come and watch if
      she could. This made us later than we ought to have been, because Alice
      had to wait till Dora was quiet and then creep out very slowly, for fear
      of the boards creaking. The girls sleep with their room-door open for fear
      of burglars. Alice had kept on her clothes under her nightgown when Dora
      wasn&rsquo;t looking, and presently we got down, creeping past Father&rsquo;s study,
      and out at the glass door that leads on to the veranda and the iron steps
      into the garden. And we went down very quietly, and got into the
      chestnut-tree; and then I felt that we had only been playing what Albert&rsquo;s
      uncle calls our favourite instrument&mdash;I mean the Fool. For the house
      next door was as dark as dark. Then suddenly we heard a sound&mdash;it
      came from the gate at the end of the garden. All the gardens have gates;
      they lead into a kind of lane that runs behind them. It is a sort of back
      way, very convenient when you don&rsquo;t want to say exactly where you are
      going. We heard the gate at the end of the next garden click, and Dicky
      nudged Alice so that she would have fallen out of the tree if it had not
      been for Oswald&rsquo;s extraordinary presence of mind. Oswald squeezed Alice&rsquo;s
      arm tight, and we all looked; and the others were rather frightened
      because really we had not exactly expected anything to happen except
      perhaps a light. But now a muffled figure, shrouded in a dark cloak, came
      swiftly up the path of the next-door garden. And we could see that under
      its cloak the figure carried a mysterious burden. The figure was dressed
      to look like a woman in a sailor hat.
    </p>
    <p>
      We held our breath as it passed under the tree where we were, and then it
      tapped very gently on the back door and was let in, and then a light
      appeared in the window of the downstairs back breakfast-room. But the
      shutters were up.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky said, &lsquo;My eye!&rsquo; and wouldn&rsquo;t the others be sick to think they hadn&rsquo;t
      been in this! But Alice didn&rsquo;t half like it&mdash;and as she is a girl I
      do not blame her. Indeed, I thought myself at first that perhaps it would
      be better to retire for the present, and return later with a strongly
      armed force.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s not burglars,&rsquo; Alice whispered; &lsquo;the mysterious stranger was
      bringing things in, not taking them out. They must be coiners&mdash;and
      oh, Oswald!&mdash;don&rsquo;t let&rsquo;s! The things they coin with must hurt very
      much. Do let&rsquo;s go to bed!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Dicky said he was going to see; if there was a reward for finding out
      things like this he would like to have the reward.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;They locked the back door,&rsquo; he whispered, &lsquo;I heard it go. And I could
      look in quite well through the holes in the shutters and be back over the
      wall long before they&rsquo;d got the door open, even if they started to do it
      at once.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      There were holes at the top of the shutters the shape of hearts, and the
      yellow light came out through them as well as through the chinks of the
      shutters.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald said if Dicky went he should, because he was the eldest; and Alice
      said, &lsquo;If any one goes it ought to be me, because I thought of it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald said, &lsquo;Well, go then&rsquo;; and she said, &lsquo;Not for anything!&rsquo; And she
      begged us not to, and we talked about it in the tree till we were all
      quite hoarse with whispering.
    </p>
    <p>
      At last we decided on a plan of action.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice was to stay in the tree, and scream &lsquo;Murder!&rsquo; if anything happened.
      Dicky and I were to get down into the next garden and take it in turns to
      peep.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we got down as quietly as we could, but the tree made much more noise
      than it does in the day, and several times we paused, fearing that all was
      discovered. But nothing happened.
    </p>
    <p>
      There was a pile of red flower-pots under the window and one very large
      one was on the window-ledge. It seemed as if it was the hand of Destiny
      had placed it there, and the geranium in it was dead, and there was
      nothing to stop your standing on it&mdash;so Oswald did. He went first
      because he is the eldest, and though Dicky tried to stop him because he
      thought of it first it could not be, on account of not being able to say
      anything.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald stood on the flower-pot and tried to look through one of the
      holes. He did not really expect to see the coiners at their fell work,
      though he had pretended to when we were talking in the tree. But if he had
      seen them pouring the base molten metal into tin moulds the shape of
      half-crowns he would not have been half so astonished as he was at the
      spectacle now revealed.
    </p>
    <p>
      At first he could see little, because the hole had unfortunately been made
      a little too high, so that the eye of the detective could only see the
      Prodigal Son in a shiny frame on the opposite wall. But Oswald held on to
      the window-frame and stood on tiptoe and then he <i>saw</i>.
    </p>
    <p>
      There was no furnace, and no base metal, no bearded men in leathern aprons
      with tongs and things, but just a table with a table-cloth on it for
      supper, and a tin of salmon and a lettuce and some bottled beer. And there
      on a chair was the cloak and the hat of the mysterious stranger, and the
      two people sitting at the table were the two youngest grown-up daughters
      of the lady next door, and one of them was saying&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So I got the salmon three-halfpence cheaper, and the lettuces are only
      six a penny in the Broadway, just fancy! We must save as much as ever we
      can on our housekeeping money if we want to go away decent next year.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And the other said, &lsquo;I wish we could <i>all</i> go <i>every</i> year, or
      else&mdash;Really, I almost wish&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And all the time Oswald was looking Dicky was pulling at his jacket to
      make him get down and let Dicky have a squint. And just as she said &lsquo;I
      almost,&rsquo; Dicky pulled too hard and Oswald felt himself toppling on the
      giddy verge of the big flower-pots. Putting forth all his strength our
      hero strove to recover his equi-what&rsquo;s-its-name, but it was now lost
      beyond recall.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve done it this time!&rsquo; he said, then he fell heavily among the
      flower-pots piled below. He heard them crash and rattle and crack, and
      then his head struck against an iron pillar used for holding up the
      next-door veranda. His eyes closed and he knew no more.
    </p>
    <p>
      Now you will perhaps expect that at this moment Alice would have cried
      &lsquo;Murder!&rsquo; If you think so you little know what girls are. Directly she was
      left alone in that tree she made a bolt to tell Albert&rsquo;s uncle all about
      it and bring him to our rescue in case the coiner&rsquo;s gang was a very
      desperate one. And just when I fell, Albert&rsquo;s uncle was getting over the
      wall. Alice never screamed at all when Oswald fell, but Dicky thinks he
      heard Albert&rsquo;s uncle say, &lsquo;Confound those kids!&rsquo; which would not have been
      kind or polite, so I hope he did not say it.
    </p>
    <p>
      The people next door did not come out to see what the row was. Albert&rsquo;s
      uncle did not wait for them to come out. He picked up Oswald and carried
      the insensible body of the gallant young detective to the wall, laid it on
      the top, and then climbed over and bore his lifeless burden into our house
      and put it on the sofa in Father&rsquo;s study. Father was out, so we needn&rsquo;t
      have <i>crept</i> so when we were getting into the garden. Then Oswald was
      restored to consciousness, and his head tied up, and sent to bed, and next
      day there was a lump on his young brow as big as a turkey&rsquo;s egg, and very
      uncomfortable.
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert&rsquo;s uncle came in next day and talked to each of us separately. To
      Oswald he said many unpleasant things about ungentlemanly to spy on
      ladies, and about minding your own business; and when I began to tell him
      what I had heard he told me to shut up, and altogether he made me more
      uncomfortable than the bump did.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald did not say anything to any one, but next day, as the shadows of
      eve were falling, he crept away, and wrote on a piece of paper, &lsquo;I want to
      speak to you,&rsquo; and shoved it through the hole like a heart in the top of
      the next-door shutters. And the youngest young lady put an eye to the
      heart-shaped hole, and then opened the shutter and said &lsquo;Well?&rsquo; very
      crossly. Then Oswald said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am very sorry, and I beg your pardon. We wanted to be detectives, and
      we thought a gang of coiners infested your house, so we looked through
      your window last night. I saw the lettuce, and I heard what you said about
      the salmon being three-halfpence cheaper, and I know it is very
      dishonourable to pry into other people&rsquo;s secrets, especially ladies&rsquo;, and
      I never will again if you will forgive me this once.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the lady frowned and then she laughed, and then she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So it was you tumbling into the flower-pots last night? We thought it was
      burglars. It frightened us horribly. Why, what a bump on your poor head!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And then she talked to me a bit, and presently she said she and her sister
      had not wished people to know they were at home, because&mdash;And then
      she stopped short and grew very red, and I said, &lsquo;I thought you were all
      at Scarborough; your servant told Eliza so. Why didn&rsquo;t you want people to
      know you were at home?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The lady got redder still, and then she laughed and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Never mind the reason why. I hope your head doesn&rsquo;t hurt much. Thank you
      for your nice, manly little speech. <i>You&rsquo;ve</i> nothing to be ashamed
      of, at any rate.&rsquo; Then she kissed me, and I did not mind. And then she
      said, &lsquo;Run away now, dear. I&rsquo;m going to&mdash;I&rsquo;m going to pull up the
      blinds and open the shutters, and I want to do it at <i>once</i>, before
      it gets dark, so that every one can see we&rsquo;re at home, and not at
      Scarborough.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0004">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 4. GOOD HUNTING
    </h2>
    <p>
      When we had got that four shillings by digging for treasure we ought, by
      rights, to have tried Dicky&rsquo;s idea of answering the advertisement about
      ladies and gentlemen and spare time and two pounds a week, but there were
      several things we rather wanted.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora wanted a new pair of scissors, and she said she was going to get them
      with her eight-pence. But Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You ought to get her those, Oswald, because you know you broke the points
      off hers getting the marble out of the brass thimble.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      It was quite true, though I had almost forgotten it, but then it was H. O.
      who jammed the marble into the thimble first of all. So I said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s H. O.&lsquo;s fault as much as mine, anyhow. Why shouldn&rsquo;t he pay?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald didn&rsquo;t so much mind paying for the beastly scissors, but he hates
      injustice of every kind.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;He&rsquo;s such a little kid,&rsquo; said Dicky, and of course H. O. said he wasn&rsquo;t a
      little kid, and it very nearly came to being a row between them. But
      Oswald knows when to be generous; so he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Look here! I&rsquo;ll pay sixpence of the scissors, and H. O. shall pay the
      rest, to teach him to be careful.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. agreed: he is not at all a mean kid, but I found out afterwards that
      Alice paid his share out of her own money.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we wanted some new paints, and Noel wanted a pencil and a halfpenny
      account-book to write poetry with, and it does seem hard never to have any
      apples. So, somehow or other nearly all the money got spent, and we agreed
      that we must let the advertisement run loose a little longer.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I only hope,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;that they won&rsquo;t have got all the ladies and
      gentlemen they want before we have got the money to write for the sample
      and instructions.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I was a little afraid myself, because it seemed such a splendid
      chance; but we looked in the paper every day, and the advertisement was
      always there, so we thought it was all right.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we had the detective try-on&mdash;and it proved no go; and then, when
      all the money was gone, except a halfpenny of mine and twopence of Noel&rsquo;s
      and three-pence of Dicky&rsquo;s and a few pennies that the girls had left, we
      held another council.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora was sewing the buttons on H. O.&lsquo;s Sunday things. He got himself a
      knife with his money, and he cut every single one of his best buttons off.
      You&rsquo;ve no idea how many buttons there are on a suit. Dora counted them.
      There are twenty-four, counting the little ones on the sleeves that don&rsquo;t
      undo.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice was trying to teach Pincher to beg; but he has too much sense when
      he knows you&rsquo;ve got nothing in your hands, and the rest of us were
      roasting potatoes under the fire. We had made a fire on purpose, though it
      was rather warm. They are very good if you cut away the burnt parts&mdash;but
      you ought to wash them first, or you are a dirty boy.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, what can we do?&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;You are so fond of saying &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s do
      something!&rdquo; and never saying what.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We can&rsquo;t try the advertisement yet. Shall we try rescuing some one?&rsquo; said
      Oswald. It was his own idea, but he didn&rsquo;t insist on doing it, though he
      is next to the eldest, for he knows it is bad manners to make people do
      what you want, when they would rather not.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What was Noel&rsquo;s plan?&rsquo; Alice asked.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A Princess or a poetry book,&rsquo; said Noel sleepily. He was lying on his
      back on the sofa, kicking his legs. &lsquo;Only I shall look for the Princess
      all by myself. But I&rsquo;ll let you see her when we&rsquo;re married.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Have you got enough poetry to make a book?&rsquo; Dicky asked that, and it was
      rather sensible of him, because when Noel came to look there were only
      seven of his poems that any of us could understand. There was the &lsquo;Wreck
      of the Malabar&rsquo;, and the poem he wrote when Eliza took us to hear the
      Reviving Preacher, and everybody cried, and Father said it must have been
      the Preacher&rsquo;s Eloquence. So Noel wrote:
    </p>
<pre>
    O Eloquence and what art thou?
    Ay what art thou? because we cried
    And everybody cried inside
    When they came out their eyes were red&mdash;
    And it was your doing Father said.
</pre>
    <p>
      But Noel told Alice he got the first line and a half from a book a boy at
      school was going to write when he had time. Besides this there were the
      &lsquo;Lines on a Dead Black Beetle that was poisoned&rsquo;&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    O Beetle how I weep to see
       Thee lying on thy poor back!
    It is so very sad indeed.
       You were so shiny and black.
    I wish you were alive again
    But Eliza says wishing it is nonsense and a shame.
</pre>
    <p>
      It was very good beetle poison, and there were hundreds of them lying dead&mdash;but
      Noel only wrote a piece of poetry for one of them. He said he hadn&rsquo;t time
      to do them all, and the worst of it was he didn&rsquo;t know which one he&rsquo;d
      written it to&mdash;so Alice couldn&rsquo;t bury the beetle and put the lines on
      its grave, though she wanted to very much.
    </p>
    <p>
      Well, it was quite plain that there wasn&rsquo;t enough poetry for a book.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We might wait a year or two,&rsquo; said Noel. &lsquo;I shall be sure to make some
      more some time. I thought of a piece about a fly this morning that knew
      condensed milk was sticky.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But we want the money <i>now</i>,&rsquo; said Dicky, &lsquo;and you can go on writing
      just the same. It will come in some time or other.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There&rsquo;s poetry in newspapers,&rsquo; said Alice. &lsquo;Down, Pincher! you&rsquo;ll never
      be a clever dog, so it&rsquo;s no good trying.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Do they pay for it?&rsquo; Dicky thought of that; he often thinks of things
      that are really important, even if they are a little dull.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know. But I shouldn&rsquo;t think any one would let them print their
      poetry without. I wouldn&rsquo;t I know.&rsquo; That was Dora; but Noel said he
      wouldn&rsquo;t mind if he didn&rsquo;t get paid, so long as he saw his poetry printed
      and his name at the end.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We might try, anyway,&rsquo; said Oswald. He is always willing to give other
      people&rsquo;s ideas a fair trial.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we copied out &lsquo;The Wreck of the Malabar&rsquo; and the other six poems on
      drawing-paper&mdash;Dora did it, she writes best&mdash;and Oswald drew a
      picture of the Malabar going down with all hands. It was a full-rigged
      schooner, and all the ropes and sails were correct; because my cousin is
      in the Navy, and he showed me.
    </p>
    <p>
      We thought a long time whether we&rsquo;d write a letter and send it by post
      with the poetry&mdash;and Dora thought it would be best. But Noel said he
      couldn&rsquo;t bear not to know at once if the paper would print the poetry, So
      we decided to take it.
    </p>
    <p>
      I went with Noel, because I am the eldest, and he is not old enough to go
      to London by himself. Dicky said poetry was rot&mdash;and he was glad he
      hadn&rsquo;t got to make a fool of himself. That was because there was not
      enough money for him to go with us. H. O. couldn&rsquo;t come either, but he
      came to the station to see us off, and waved his cap and called out &lsquo;Good
      hunting!&rsquo; as the train started.
    </p>
    <p>
      There was a lady in spectacles in the corner. She was writing with a
      pencil on the edges of long strips of paper that had print all down them.
      When the train started she asked&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What was that he said?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald answered&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It was &ldquo;Good hunting&rdquo;&mdash;it&rsquo;s out of the Jungle Book!&rsquo; &lsquo;That&rsquo;s very
      pleasant to hear,&rsquo; the lady said; &lsquo;I am very pleased to meet people who
      know their Jungle Book. And where are you off to&mdash;the Zoological
      Gardens to look for Bagheera?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We were pleased, too, to meet some one who knew the Jungle Book.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We are going to restore the fallen fortunes of the House of Bastable&mdash;and
      we have all thought of different ways&mdash;and we&rsquo;re going to try them
      all. Noel&rsquo;s way is poetry. I suppose great poets get paid?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The lady laughed&mdash;she was awfully jolly&mdash;and said she was a sort
      of poet, too, and the long strips of paper were the proofs of her new book
      of stories. Because before a book is made into a real book with pages and
      a cover, they sometimes print it all on strips of paper, and the writer
      make marks on it with a pencil to show the printers what idiots they are
      not to understand what a writer means to have printed.
    </p>
    <p>
      We told her all about digging for treasure, and what we meant to do. Then
      she asked to see Noel&rsquo;s poetry&mdash;and he said he didn&rsquo;t like&mdash;so
      she said, &lsquo;Look here&mdash;if you&rsquo;ll show me yours I&rsquo;ll show you some of
      mine.&rsquo; So he agreed.
    </p>
    <p>
      The jolly lady read Noel&rsquo;s poetry, and she said she liked it very much.
      And she thought a great deal of the picture of the Malabar. And then she
      said, &lsquo;I write serious poetry like yours myself; too, but I have a piece
      here that I think you will like because it&rsquo;s about a boy.&rsquo; She gave it to
      us&mdash;and so I can copy it down, and I will, for it shows that some
      grown-up ladies are not so silly as others. I like it better than Noel&rsquo;s
      poetry, though I told him I did not, because he looked as if he was going
      to cry. This was very wrong, for you should always speak the truth,
      however unhappy it makes people. And I generally do. But I did not want
      him crying in the railway carriage. The lady&rsquo;s piece of poetry:
    </p>
<pre>
    Oh when I wake up in my bed
    And see the sun all fat and red,
    I&rsquo;m glad to have another day
    For all my different kinds of play.

    There are so many things to do&mdash;
    The things that make a man of you,
    If grown-ups did not get so vexed
    And wonder what you will do next.

    I often wonder whether they
    Ever made up our kinds of play&mdash;
    If they were always good as gold
    And only did what they were told.

    They like you best to play with tops
    And toys in boxes, bought in shops;
    They do not even know the names
    Of really interesting games.

    They will not let you play with fire
    Or trip your sister up with wire,
    They grudge the tea-tray for a drum,
    Or booby-traps when callers come.

    They don&rsquo;t like fishing, and it&rsquo;s true
    You sometimes soak a suit or two:
    They look on fireworks, though they&rsquo;re dry,
    With quite a disapproving eye.

    They do not understand the way
    To get the most out of your day:
    They do not know how hunger feels
    Nor what you need between your meals.

    And when you&rsquo;re sent to bed at night,
    They&rsquo;re happy, but they&rsquo;re not polite.
    For through the door you hear them say:
    &lsquo;<i>He&rsquo;s</i> done <i>his</i> mischief for the day!&rsquo;
</pre>
    <p>
      She told us a lot of other pieces but I cannot remember them, and she
      talked to us all the way up, and when we got nearly to Cannon Street she
      said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got two new shillings here! Do you think they would help to smooth
      the path to Fame?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel said, &lsquo;Thank you,&rsquo; and was going to take the shilling. But Oswald,
      who always remembers what he is told, said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Thank you very much, but Father told us we ought never to take anything
      from strangers.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s a nasty one,&rsquo; said the lady&mdash;she didn&rsquo;t talk a bit like a
      real lady, but more like a jolly sort of grown-up boy in a dress and hat&mdash;&lsquo;a
      very nasty one! But don&rsquo;t you think as Noel and I are both poets I might
      be considered a sort of relation? You&rsquo;ve heard of brother poets, haven&rsquo;t
      you? Don&rsquo;t you think Noel and I are aunt and nephew poets, or some
      relationship of that kind?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I didn&rsquo;t know what to say, and she went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s awfully straight of you to stick to what your Father tells you, but
      look here, you take the shillings, and here&rsquo;s my card. When you get home
      tell your Father all about it, and if he says No, you can just bring the
      shillings back to me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we took the shillings, and she shook hands with us and said, &lsquo;Good-bye,
      and good hunting!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We did tell Father about it, and he said it was all right, and when he
      looked at the card he told us we were highly honoured, for the lady wrote
      better poetry than any other lady alive now. We had never heard of her,
      and she seemed much too jolly for a poet. Good old Kipling! We owe him
      those two shillings, as well as the Jungle books!
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0005">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 5. THE POET AND THE EDITOR
    </h2>
    <p>
      It was not bad sport&mdash;being in London entirely on our own hook. We
      asked the way to Fleet Street, where Father says all the newspaper offices
      are. They said straight on down Ludgate Hill&mdash;but it turned out to be
      quite another way. At least <i>we</i> didn&rsquo;t go straight on.
    </p>
    <p>
      We got to St Paul&rsquo;s. Noel <i>would</i> go in, and we saw where Gordon was
      buried&mdash;at least the monument. It is very flat, considering what a
      man he was.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we came out we walked a long way, and when we asked a policeman he
      said we&rsquo;d better go back through Smithfield. So we did. They don&rsquo;t burn
      people any more there now, so it was rather dull, besides being a long
      way, and Noel got very tired. He&rsquo;s a peaky little chap; it comes of being
      a poet, I think. We had a bun or two at different shops&mdash;out of the
      shillings&mdash;and it was quite late in the afternoon when we got to
      Fleet Street. The gas was lighted and the electric lights. There is a
      jolly Bovril sign that comes off and on in different coloured lamps. We
      went to the Daily Recorder office, and asked to see the Editor. It is a
      big office, very bright, with brass and mahogany and electric lights.
    </p>
    <p>
      They told us the Editor wasn&rsquo;t there, but at another office. So we went
      down a dirty street, to a very dull-looking place. There was a man there
      inside, in a glass case, as if he was a museum, and he told us to write
      down our names and our business. So Oswald wrote&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
           OSWALD BASTABLE
            NOEL BASTABLE
      BUSINESS VERY PRIVATE INDEED
</pre>
    <p>
      Then we waited on the stone stairs; it was very draughty. And the man in
      the glass case looked at us as if we were the museum instead of him. We
      waited a long time, and then a boy came down and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The Editor can&rsquo;t see you. Will you please write your business?&rsquo; And he
      laughed. I wanted to punch his head.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Noel said, &lsquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ll write it if you&rsquo;ll give me a pen and ink, and a
      sheet of paper and an envelope.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The boy said he&rsquo;d better write by post. But Noel is a bit pig-headed; it&rsquo;s
      his worst fault. So he said&mdash;&lsquo;No, I&rsquo;ll write it <i>now</i>.&rsquo; So I
      backed him up by saying&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Look at the price penny stamps are since the coal strike!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So the boy grinned, and the man in the glass case gave us pen and paper,
      and Noel wrote. Oswald writes better than he does; but Noel would do it;
      and it took a very long time, and then it was inky.
    </p>
<pre>
    DEAR MR EDITOR, I want you to print my poetry and pay for it,
    and I am a friend of Mrs Leslie&rsquo;s; she is a poet too.

    Your affectionate friend,

    NOEL BASTABLE.
</pre>
    <p>
      He licked the envelope a good deal, so that that boy shouldn&rsquo;t read it
      going upstairs; and he wrote &lsquo;Very private&rsquo; outside, and gave the letter
      to the boy. I thought it wasn&rsquo;t any good; but in a minute the grinning boy
      came back, and he was quite respectful, and said&mdash;&lsquo;The Editor says,
      please will you step up?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We stepped up. There were a lot of stairs and passages, and a queer sort
      of humming, hammering sound and a very funny smell. The boy was now very
      polite, and said it was the ink we smelt, and the noise was the printing
      machines.
    </p>
    <p>
      After going through a lot of cold passages we came to a door; the boy
      opened it, and let us go in. There was a large room, with a big, soft,
      blue-and-red carpet, and a roaring fire, though it was only October; and a
      large table with drawers, and littered with papers, just like the one in
      Father&rsquo;s study. A gentleman was sitting at one side of the table; he had a
      light moustache and light eyes, and he looked very young to be an editor&mdash;not
      nearly so old as Father. He looked very tired and sleepy, as if he had got
      up very early in the morning; but he was kind, and we liked him. Oswald
      thought he looked clever. Oswald is considered a judge of faces.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;so you are Mrs Leslie&rsquo;s friends?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I think so,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;at least she gave us each a shilling, and she
      wished us &ldquo;good hunting!&rdquo;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Good hunting, eh? Well, what about this poetry of yours? Which is the
      poet?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I can&rsquo;t think how he could have asked! Oswald is said to be a very
      manly-looking boy for his age. However, I thought it would look duffing to
      be offended, so I said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;This is my brother Noel. He is the poet.&rsquo; Noel had turned quite pale. He
      is disgustingly like a girl in some ways. The Editor told us to sit down,
      and he took the poems from Noel, and began to read them. Noel got paler
      and paler; I really thought he was going to faint, like he did when I held
      his hand under the cold-water tap, after I had accidentally cut him with
      my chisel. When the Editor had read the first poem&mdash;it was the one
      about the beetle&mdash;he got up and stood with his back to us. It was not
      manners; but Noel thinks he did it &lsquo;to conceal his emotion,&rsquo; as they do in
      books. He read all the poems, and then he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I like your poetry very much, young man. I&rsquo;ll give you&mdash;let me see;
      how much shall I give you for it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;As much as ever you can,&rsquo; said Noel. &lsquo;You see I want a good deal of money
      to restore the fallen fortunes of the house of Bastable.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The gentleman put on some eye-glasses and looked hard at us. Then he sat
      down.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s a good idea,&rsquo; said he. &lsquo;Tell me how you came to think of it. And,
      I say, have you had any tea? They&rsquo;ve just sent out for mine.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He rang a tingly bell, and the boy brought in a tray with a teapot and a
      thick cup and saucer and things, and he had to fetch another tray for us,
      when he was told to; and we had tea with the Editor of the Daily Recorder.
      I suppose it was a very proud moment for Noel, though I did not think of
      that till afterwards. The Editor asked us a lot of questions, and we told
      him a good deal, though of course I did not tell a stranger all our
      reasons for thinking that the family fortunes wanted restoring. We stayed
      about half an hour, and when we were going away he said again&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I shall print all your poems, my poet; and now what do you think they&rsquo;re
      worth?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rsquo; Noel said. &lsquo;You see I didn&rsquo;t write them to sell.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Why did you write them then?&rsquo; he asked.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel said he didn&rsquo;t know; he supposed because he wanted to.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Art for Art&rsquo;s sake, eh?&rsquo; said the Editor, and he seemed quite delighted,
      as though Noel had said something clever.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, would a guinea meet your views?&rsquo; he asked.
    </p>
    <p>
      I have read of people being at a loss for words, and dumb with emotion,
      and I&rsquo;ve read of people being turned to stone with astonishment, or joy,
      or something, but I never knew how silly it looked till I saw Noel
      standing staring at the Editor with his mouth open. He went red and he
      went white, and then he got crimson, as if you were rubbing more and more
      crimson lake on a palette. But he didn&rsquo;t say a word, so Oswald had to say&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I should jolly well think so.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So the Editor gave Noel a sovereign and a shilling, and he shook hands
      with us both, but he thumped Noel on the back and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Buck up, old man! It&rsquo;s your first guinea, but it won&rsquo;t be your last. Now
      go along home, and in about ten years you can bring me some more poetry.
      Not before&mdash;see? I&rsquo;m just taking this poetry of yours because I like
      it very much; but we don&rsquo;t put poetry in this paper at all. I shall have
      to put it in another paper I know of.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What <i>do</i> you put in your paper?&rsquo; I asked, for Father always takes
      the Daily Chronicle, and I didn&rsquo;t know what the Recorder was like. We
      chose it because it has such a glorious office, and a clock outside
      lighted up.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, news,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;and dull articles, and things about Celebrities. If
      you know any Celebrities, now?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel asked him what Celebrities were.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, the Queen and the Princes, and people with titles, and people who
      write, or sing, or act&mdash;or do something clever or wicked.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know anybody wicked,&rsquo; said Oswald, wishing he had known Dick
      Turpin, or Claude Duval, so as to be able to tell the Editor things about
      them. &lsquo;But I know some one with a title&mdash;Lord Tottenham.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The mad old Protectionist, eh? How did you come to know him?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t know him to speak to. But he goes over the Heath every day at
      three, and he strides along like a giant&mdash;with a black cloak like
      Lord Tennyson&rsquo;s flying behind him, and he talks to himself like one
      o&rsquo;clock.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What does he say?&rsquo; The Editor had sat down again, and he was fiddling
      with a blue pencil.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We only heard him once, close enough to understand, and then he said,
      &ldquo;The curse of the country, sir&mdash;ruin and desolation!&rdquo; And then he
      went striding along again, hitting at the furze-bushes as if they were the
      heads of his enemies.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Excellent descriptive touch,&rsquo; said the Editor. &lsquo;Well, go on.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s all I know about him, except that he stops in the middle of the
      Heath every day, and he looks all round to see if there&rsquo;s any one about,
      and if there isn&rsquo;t, he takes his collar off.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The Editor interrupted&mdash;which is considered rude&mdash;and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;re not romancing?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I beg your pardon?&rsquo; said Oswald. &lsquo;Drawing the long bow, I mean,&rsquo; said the
      Editor.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald drew himself up, and said he wasn&rsquo;t a liar.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Editor only laughed, and said romancing and lying were not at all the
      same; only it was important to know what you were playing at. So Oswald
      accepted his apology, and went on.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We were hiding among the furze-bushes one day, and we saw him do it. He
      took off his collar, and he put on a clean one, and he threw the other
      among the furze-bushes. We picked it up afterwards, and it was a beastly
      paper one!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Thank you,&rsquo; said the Editor, and he got up and put his hand in his
      pocket. &lsquo;That&rsquo;s well worth five shillings, and there they are. Would you
      like to see round the printing offices before you go home?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I pocketed my five bob, and thanked him, and I said we should like it very
      much. He called another gentleman and said something we couldn&rsquo;t hear.
      Then he said good-bye again; and all this time Noel hadn&rsquo;t said a word.
      But now he said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve made a poem about you. It is called &ldquo;Lines to a
      Noble Editor.&rdquo; Shall I write it down?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The Editor gave him the blue pencil, and he sat down at the Editor&rsquo;s table
      and wrote. It was this, he told me afterwards as well as he could remember&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    May Life&rsquo;s choicest blessings be your lot
    I think you ought to be very blest
    For you are going to print my poems&mdash;
    And you may have this one as well as the rest.
</pre>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Thank you,&rsquo; said the Editor. &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think I ever had a poem addressed
      to me before. I shall treasure it, I assure you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the other gentleman said something about Maecenas, and we went off to
      see the printing office with at least one pound seven in our pockets.
    </p>
    <p>
      It <i>was</i> good hunting, and no mistake!
    </p>
    <p>
      But he never put Noel&rsquo;s poetry in the Daily Recorder. It was quite a long
      time afterwards we saw a sort of story thing in a magazine, on the station
      bookstall, and that kind, sleepy-looking Editor had written it, I suppose.
      It was not at all amusing. It said a lot about Noel and me, describing us
      all wrong, and saying how we had tea with the Editor; and all Noel&rsquo;s poems
      were in the story thing. I think myself the Editor seemed to make game of
      them, but Noel was quite pleased to see them printed&mdash;so that&rsquo;s all
      right. It wasn&rsquo;t my poetry anyhow, I am glad to say.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0006">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 6. NOEL&rsquo;S PRINCESS
    </h2>
    <p>
      She happened quite accidentally. We were not looking for a Princess at all
      just then; but Noel had said he was going to find a Princess all by
      himself; and marry her&mdash;and he really did. Which was rather odd,
      because when people say things are going to befall, very often they don&rsquo;t.
      It was different, of course, with the prophets of old.
    </p>
    <p>
      We did not get any treasure by it, except twelve chocolate drops; but we
      might have done, and it was an adventure, anyhow.
    </p>
    <p>
      Greenwich Park is a jolly good place to play in, especially the parts that
      aren&rsquo;t near Greenwich. The parts near the Heath are first-rate. I often
      wish the Park was nearer our house; but I suppose a Park is a difficult
      thing to move.
    </p>
    <p>
      Sometimes we get Eliza to put lunch in a basket, and we go up to the Park.
      She likes that&mdash;it saves cooking dinner for us; and sometimes she
      says of her own accord, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve made some pasties for you, and you might as
      well go into the Park as not. It&rsquo;s a lovely day.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      She always tells us to rinse out the cup at the drinking-fountain, and the
      girls do; but I always put my head under the tap and drink. Then you are
      an intrepid hunter at a mountain stream&mdash;and besides, you&rsquo;re sure
      it&rsquo;s clean. Dicky does the same, and so does H. O. But Noel always drinks
      out of the cup. He says it is a golden goblet wrought by enchanted gnomes.
    </p>
    <p>
      The day the Princess happened was a fine, hot day, last October, and we
      were quite tired with the walk up to the Park.
    </p>
    <p>
      We always go in by the little gate at the top of Croom&rsquo;s Hill. It is the
      postern gate that things always happen at in stories. It was dusty
      walking, but when we got in the Park it was ripping, so we rested a bit,
      and lay on our backs, and looked up at the trees, and wished we could play
      monkeys. I have done it before now, but the Park-keeper makes a row if he
      catches you.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we&rsquo;d rested a little, Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It was a long way to the enchanted wood, but it is very nice now we are
      there. I wonder what we shall find in it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We shall find deer,&rsquo; said Dicky, &lsquo;if we go to look; but they go on the
      other side of the Park because of the people with buns.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Saying buns made us think of lunch, so we had it; and when we had done we
      scratched a hole under a tree and buried the papers, because we know it
      spoils pretty places to leave beastly, greasy papers lying about. I
      remember Mother teaching me and Dora that, when we were quite little. I
      wish everybody&rsquo;s parents would teach them this useful lesson, and the same
      about orange peel.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we&rsquo;d eaten everything there was, Alice whispered&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I see the white witch bear yonder among the trees! Let&rsquo;s track it and
      slay it in its lair.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am the bear,&rsquo; said Noel; so he crept away, and we followed him among
      the trees. Often the witch bear was out of sight, and then you didn&rsquo;t know
      where it would jump out from; but sometimes we saw it, and just followed.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;When we catch it there&rsquo;ll be a great fight,&rsquo; said Oswald; &lsquo;and I shall be
      Count Folko of Mont Faucon.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll be Gabrielle,&rsquo; said Dora. She is the only one of us who likes doing
      girl&rsquo;s parts.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll be Sintram,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;and H. O. can be the Little Master.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What about Dicky?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, I can be the Pilgrim with the bones.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Hist!&rsquo; whispered Alice. &lsquo;See his white fairy fur gleaming amid yonder
      covert!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I saw a bit of white too. It was Noel&rsquo;s collar, and it had come undone
      at the back.
    </p>
    <p>
      We hunted the bear in and out of the trees, and then we lost him
      altogether; and suddenly we found the wall of the Park&mdash;in a place
      where I&rsquo;m sure there wasn&rsquo;t a wall before. Noel wasn&rsquo;t anywhere about, and
      there was a door in the wall. And it was open; so we went through.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The bear has hidden himself in these mountain fastnesses,&rsquo; Oswald said.
      &lsquo;I will draw my good sword and after him.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So I drew the umbrella, which Dora always will bring in case it rains,
      because Noel gets a cold on the chest at the least thing&mdash;and we went
      on.
    </p>
    <p>
      The other side of the wall it was a stable yard, all cobble-stones.
    </p>
    <p>
      There was nobody about&mdash;but we could hear a man rubbing down a horse
      and hissing in the stable; so we crept very quietly past, and Alice
      whispered&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;&rsquo;Tis the lair of the Monster Serpent; I hear his deadly hiss! Beware!
      Courage and despatch!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We went over the stones on tiptoe, and we found another wall with another
      door in it on the other side. We went through that too, on tiptoe. It
      really was an adventure. And there we were in a shrubbery, and we saw
      something white through the trees. Dora said it was the white bear. That
      is so like Dora. She always begins to take part in a play just when the
      rest of us are getting tired of it. I don&rsquo;t mean this unkindly, because I
      am very fond of Dora. I cannot forget how kind she was when I had
      bronchitis; and ingratitude is a dreadful vice. But it is quite true.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It is not a bear,&rsquo; said Oswald; and we all went on, still on tiptoe,
      round a twisty path and on to a lawn, and there was Noel. His collar had
      come undone, as I said, and he had an inky mark on his face that he made
      just before we left the house, and he wouldn&rsquo;t let Dora wash it off, and
      one of his bootlaces was coming down. He was standing looking at a little
      girl; she was the funniest little girl you ever saw.
    </p>
    <p>
      She was like a china doll&mdash;the sixpenny kind; she had a white face,
      and long yellow hair, done up very tight in two pigtails; her forehead was
      very big and lumpy, and her cheeks came high up, like little shelves under
      her eyes. Her eyes were small and blue. She had on a funny black frock,
      with curly braid on it, and button boots that went almost up to her knees.
      Her legs were very thin. She was sitting in a hammock chair nursing a blue
      kitten&mdash;not a sky-blue one, of course, but the colour of a new slate
      pencil. As we came up we heard her say to Noel&mdash;&lsquo;Who are you?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel had forgotten about the bear, and he was taking his favourite part,
      so he said&mdash;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m Prince Camaralzaman.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The funny little girl looked pleased&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I thought at first you were a common boy,&rsquo; she said. Then she saw the
      rest of us and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Are you all Princesses and Princes too?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course we said &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; and she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am a Princess also.&rsquo; She said it very well too, exactly as if it were
      true. We were very glad, because it is so seldom you meet any children who
      can begin to play right off without having everything explained to them.
      And even then they will say they are going to &lsquo;pretend to be&rsquo; a lion, or a
      witch, or a king. Now this little girl just said &lsquo;I <i>am</i> a Princess.&rsquo;
      Then she looked at Oswald and said, &lsquo;I fancy I&rsquo;ve seen you at Baden.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course Oswald said, &lsquo;Very likely.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The little girl had a funny voice, and all her words were quite plain,
      each word by itself; she didn&rsquo;t talk at all like we do.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. asked her what the cat&rsquo;s name was, and she said &lsquo;Katinka.&rsquo; Then
      Dicky said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s get away from the windows; if you play near windows some one inside
      generally knocks at them and says &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t&rdquo;.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The Princess put down the cat very carefully and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am forbidden to walk off the grass.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s a pity,&rsquo; said Dora.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But I will if you like,&rsquo; said the Princess.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You mustn&rsquo;t do things you are forbidden to do,&rsquo; Dora said; but Dicky
      showed us that there was some more grass beyond the shrubs with only a
      gravel path between. So I lifted the Princess over the gravel, so that she
      should be able to say she hadn&rsquo;t walked off the grass. When we got to the
      other grass we all sat down, and the Princess asked us if we liked
      &lsquo;dragees&rsquo; (I know that&rsquo;s how you spell it, for I asked Albert-next-door&rsquo;s
      uncle).
    </p>
    <p>
      We said we thought not, but she pulled a real silver box out of her pocket
      and showed us; they were just flat, round chocolates. We had two each.
      Then we asked her her name, and she began, and when she began she went on,
      and on, and on, till I thought she was never going to stop. H. O. said she
      had fifty names, but Dicky is very good at figures, and he says there were
      only eighteen. The first were Pauline, Alexandra, Alice, and Mary was one,
      and Victoria, for we all heard that, and it ended up with Hildegarde
      Cunigonde something or other, Princess of something else.
    </p>
    <p>
      When she&rsquo;d done, H. O. said, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s jolly good! Say it again!&rsquo; and she
      did, but even then we couldn&rsquo;t remember it. We told her our names, but she
      thought they were too short, so when it was Noel&rsquo;s turn he said he was
      Prince Noel Camaralzaman Ivan Constantine Charlemagne James John Edward
      Biggs Maximilian Bastable Prince of Lewisham, but when she asked him to
      say it again of course he could only get the first two names right,
      because he&rsquo;d made it up as he went on.
    </p>
    <p>
      So the Princess said, &lsquo;You are quite old enough to know your own name.&rsquo;
      She was very grave and serious.
    </p>
    <p>
      She told us that she was the fifth cousin of Queen Victoria. We asked who
      the other cousins were, but she did not seem to understand. She went on
      and said she was seven times removed. She couldn&rsquo;t tell us what that meant
      either, but Oswald thinks it means that the Queen&rsquo;s cousins are so fond of
      her that they will keep coming bothering, so the Queen&rsquo;s servants have
      orders to remove them. This little girl must have been very fond of the
      Queen to try so often to see her, and to have been seven times removed. We
      could see that it is considered something to be proud of; but we thought
      it was hard on the Queen that her cousins wouldn&rsquo;t let her alone.
    </p>
    <p>
      Presently the little girl asked us where our maids and governesses were.
    </p>
    <p>
      We told her we hadn&rsquo;t any just now. And she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;How pleasant! And did you come here alone?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; said Dora; &lsquo;we came across the Heath.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You are very fortunate,&rsquo; said the little girl. She sat very upright on
      the grass, with her fat little hands in her lap. &lsquo;I should like to go on
      the Heath. There are donkeys there, with white saddle covers. I should
      like to ride them, but my governess will not permit.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m glad we haven&rsquo;t a governess,&rsquo; H. O. said. &lsquo;We ride the donkeys
      whenever we have any pennies, and once I gave the man another penny to
      make it gallop.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You are indeed fortunate!&rsquo; said the Princess again, and when she looked
      sad the shelves on her cheeks showed more than ever. You could have laid a
      sixpence on them quite safely if you had had one.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Never mind,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve got a lot of money. Come out and have a
      ride now.&rsquo; But the little girl shook her head and said she was afraid it
      would not be correct.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora said she was quite right; then all of a sudden came one of those
      uncomfortable times when nobody can think of anything to say, so we sat
      and looked at each other. But at last Alice said we ought to be going.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Do not go yet,&rsquo; the little girl said. &lsquo;At what time did they order your
      carriage?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Our carriage is a fairy one, drawn by griffins, and it comes when we wish
      for it,&rsquo; said Noel.
    </p>
    <p>
      The little girl looked at him very queerly, and said, &lsquo;That is out of a
      picture-book.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Noel said he thought it was about time he was married if we were to
      be home in time for tea. The little girl was rather stupid over it, but
      she did what we told her, and we married them with Dora&rsquo;s
      pocket-handkerchief for a veil, and the ring off the back of one of the
      buttons on H. O.&lsquo;s blouse just went on her little finger.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we showed her how to play cross-touch, and puss in the corner, and
      tag. It was funny, she didn&rsquo;t know any games but battledore and
      shuttlecock and les graces. But she really began to laugh at last and not
      to look quite so like a doll.
    </p>
    <p>
      She was Puss and was running after Dicky when suddenly she stopped short
      and looked as if she was going to cry. And we looked too, and there were
      two prim ladies with little mouths and tight hair. One of them said in
      quite an awful voice, &lsquo;Pauline, who are these children?&rsquo; and her voice was
      gruff; with very curly R&rsquo;s.
    </p>
    <p>
      The little girl said we were Princes and Princesses&mdash;which was silly,
      to a grown-up person that is not a great friend of yours.
    </p>
    <p>
      The gruff lady gave a short, horrid laugh, like a husky bark, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Princes, indeed! They&rsquo;re only common children!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora turned very red and began to speak, but the little girl cried out
      &lsquo;Common children! Oh, I am so glad! When I am grown up I&rsquo;ll always play
      with common children.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And she ran at us, and began to kiss us one by one, beginning with Alice;
      she had got to H. O. when the horrid lady said&mdash;&lsquo;Your Highness&mdash;go
      indoors at once!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The little girl answered, &lsquo;I won&rsquo;t!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the prim lady said&mdash;&lsquo;Wilson, carry her Highness indoors.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And the little girl was carried away screaming, and kicking with her
      little thin legs and her buttoned boots, and between her screams she
      shrieked:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Common children! I am glad, glad, glad! Common children! Common
      children!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The nasty lady then remarked&mdash;&lsquo;Go at once, or I will send for the
      police!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we went. H. O. made a face at her and so did Alice, but Oswald took off
      his cap and said he was sorry if she was annoyed about anything; for
      Oswald has always been taught to be polite to ladies, however nasty. Dicky
      took his off, too, when he saw me do it; he says he did it first, but that
      is a mistake. If I were really a common boy I should say it was a lie.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we all came away, and when we got outside Dora said, &lsquo;So she was
      really a Princess. Fancy a Princess living <i>there</i>!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Even Princesses have to live somewhere,&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And I thought it was play. And it was real. I wish I&rsquo;d known! I should
      have liked to ask her lots of things,&rsquo; said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. said he would have liked to ask her what she had for dinner and
      whether she had a crown.
    </p>
    <p>
      I felt, myself, we had lost a chance of finding out a great deal about
      kings and queens. I might have known such a stupid-looking little girl
      would never have been able to pretend, as well as that.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we all went home across the Heath, and made dripping toast for tea.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we were eating it Noel said, &lsquo;I wish I could give <i>her</i> some! It
      is very good.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He sighed as he said it, and his mouth was very full, so we knew he was
      thinking of his Princess. He says now that she was as beautiful as the
      day, but we remember her quite well, and she was nothing of the kind.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0007">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 7. BEING BANDITS
    </h2>
    <p>
      Noel was quite tiresome for ever so long after we found the Princess. He
      would keep on wanting to go to the Park when the rest of us didn&rsquo;t, and
      though we went several times to please him, we never found that door open
      again, and all of us except him knew from the first that it would be no
      go.
    </p>
    <p>
      So now we thought it was time to do something to rouse him from the stupor
      of despair, which is always done to heroes when anything baffling has
      occurred. Besides, we were getting very short of money again&mdash;the
      fortunes of your house cannot be restored (not so that they will last,
      that is), even by the one pound eight we got when we had the &lsquo;good
      hunting.&rsquo; We spent a good deal of that on presents for Father&rsquo;s birthday.
      We got him a paper-weight, like a glass bun, with a picture of Lewisham
      Church at the bottom; and a blotting-pad, and a box of preserved fruits,
      and an ivory penholder with a view of Greenwich Park in the little hole
      where you look through at the top. He was most awfully pleased and
      surprised, and when he heard how Noel and Oswald had earned the money to
      buy the things he was more surprised still. Nearly all the rest of our
      money went to get fireworks for the Fifth of November. We got six
      Catherine wheels and four rockets; two hand-lights, one red and one green;
      a sixpenny maroon; two Roman-candles&mdash;they cost a shilling; some
      Italian streamers, a fairy fountain, and a tourbillon that cost
      eighteen-pence and was very nearly worth it.
    </p>
    <p>
      But I think crackers and squibs are a mistake. It&rsquo;s true you get a lot of
      them for the money, and they are not bad fun for the first two or three
      dozen, but you get jolly sick of them before you&rsquo;ve let off your
      sixpenn&rsquo;orth. And the only amusing way is not allowed: it is putting them
      in the fire.
    </p>
    <p>
      It always seems a long time till the evening when you have got fireworks
      in the house, and I think as it was a rather foggy day we should have
      decided to let them off directly after breakfast, only Father had said he
      would help us to let them off at eight o&rsquo;clock after he had had his
      dinner, and you ought never to disappoint your father if you can help it.
    </p>
    <p>
      You see we had three good reasons for trying H. O.&lsquo;s idea of restoring the
      fallen fortunes of our house by becoming bandits on the Fifth of November.
      We had a fourth reason as well, and that was the best reason of the lot.
      You remember Dora thought it would be wrong to be bandits. And the Fifth
      of November came while Dora was away at Stroud staying with her godmother.
      Stroud is in Gloucestershire. We were determined to do it while she was
      out of the way, because we did not think it wrong, and besides we meant to
      do it anyhow.
    </p>
    <p>
      We held a Council, of course, and laid our plans very carefully. We let H.
      O. be Captain, because it was his idea. Oswald was Lieutenant. Oswald was
      quite fair, because he let H. O. call himself Captain; but Oswald is the
      eldest next to Dora, after all.
    </p>
    <p>
      Our plan was this. We were all to go up on to the Heath. Our house is in
      the Lewisham Road, but it&rsquo;s quite close to the Heath if you cut up the
      short way opposite the confectioner&rsquo;s, past the nursery gardens and the
      cottage hospital, and turn to the left again and afterwards to the right.
      You come out then at the top of the hill, where the big guns are with the
      iron fence round them, and where the bands play on Thursday evenings in
      the summer.
    </p>
    <p>
      We were to lurk in ambush there, and waylay an unwary traveller. We were
      to call upon him to surrender his arms, and then bring him home and put
      him in the deepest dungeon below the castle moat; then we were to load him
      with chains and send to his friends for ransom.
    </p>
    <p>
      You may think we had no chains, but you are wrong, because we used to keep
      two other dogs once, besides Pincher, before the fall of the fortunes of
      the ancient House of Bastable. And they were quite big dogs.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was latish in the afternoon before we started. We thought we could lurk
      better if it was nearly dark. It was rather foggy, and we waited a good
      while beside the railings, but all the belated travellers were either
      grown up or else they were Board School children. We weren&rsquo;t going to get
      into a row with grown-up people&mdash;especially strangers&mdash;and no
      true bandit would ever stoop to ask a ransom from the relations of the
      poor and needy. So we thought it better to wait.
    </p>
    <p>
      As I said, it was Guy Fawkes Day, and if it had not been we should never
      have been able to be bandits at all, for the unwary traveller we did catch
      had been forbidden to go out because he had a cold in his head. But he
      would run out to follow a guy, without even putting on a coat or a
      comforter, and it was a very damp, foggy afternoon and nearly dark, so you
      see it was his own fault entirely, and served him jolly well right.
    </p>
    <p>
      We saw him coming over the Heath just as we were deciding to go home to
      tea. He had followed that guy right across to the village (we call
      Blackheath the village; I don&rsquo;t know why), and he was coming back dragging
      his feet and sniffing.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Hist, an unwary traveller approaches!&rsquo; whispered Oswald.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Muffle your horses&rsquo; heads and see to the priming of your pistols,&rsquo;
      muttered Alice. She always will play boys&rsquo; parts, and she makes Ellis cut
      her hair short on purpose. Ellis is a very obliging hairdresser.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Steal softly upon him,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;for lo! &lsquo;tis dusk, and no human eyes
      can mark our deeds.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we ran out and surrounded the unwary traveller. It turned out to be
      Albert-next-door, and he was very frightened indeed until he saw who we
      were.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Surrender!&rsquo; hissed Oswald, in a desperate-sounding voice, as he caught
      the arm of the Unwary. And Albert-next-door said, &lsquo;All right! I&rsquo;m
      surrendering as hard as I can. You needn&rsquo;t pull my arm off.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We explained to him that resistance was useless, and I think he saw that
      from the first. We held him tight by both arms, and we marched him home
      down the hill in a hollow square of five.
    </p>
    <p>
      He wanted to tell us about the guy, but we made him see that it was not
      proper for prisoners to talk to the guard, especially about guys that the
      prisoner had been told not to go after because of his cold.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we got to where we live he said, &lsquo;All right, I don&rsquo;t want to tell
      you. You&rsquo;ll wish I had afterwards. You never saw such a guy.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I can see <i>you</i>!&rsquo; said H. O. It was very rude, and Oswald told him
      so at once, because it is his duty as an elder brother. But H. O. is very
      young and does not know better yet, and besides it wasn&rsquo;t bad for H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert-next-door said, &lsquo;You haven&rsquo;t any manners, and I want to go in to my
      tea. Let go of me!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Alice told him, quite kindly, that he was not going in to his tea, but
      coming with us.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not,&rsquo; said Albert-next-door; &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going home. Leave go! I&rsquo;ve got a
      bad cold. You&rsquo;re making it worse.&rsquo; Then he tried to cough, which was very
      silly, because we&rsquo;d seen him in the morning, and he&rsquo;d told us where the
      cold was that he wasn&rsquo;t to go out with. When he had tried to cough, he
      said, &lsquo;Leave go of me! You see my cold&rsquo;s getting worse.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You should have thought of that before,&rsquo; said Dicky; &lsquo;you&rsquo;re coming in
      with us.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be a silly,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;you know we told you at the very beginning
      that resistance was useless. There is no disgrace in yielding. We are five
      to your one.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      By this time Eliza had opened the door, and we thought it best to take him
      in without any more parlaying. To parley with a prisoner is not done by
      bandits.
    </p>
    <p>
      Directly we got him safe into the nursery, H. O. began to jump about and
      say, &lsquo;Now you&rsquo;re a prisoner really and truly!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Albert-next-door began to cry. He always does. I wonder he didn&rsquo;t
      begin long before&mdash;but Alice fetched him one of the dried fruits we
      gave Father for his birthday. It was a green walnut. I have noticed the
      walnuts and the plums always get left till the last in the box; the
      apricots go first, and then the figs and pears; and the cherries, if there
      are any.
    </p>
    <p>
      So he ate it and shut up. Then we explained his position to him, so that
      there should be no mistake, and he couldn&rsquo;t say afterwards that he had not
      understood.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There will be no violence,&rsquo; said Oswald&mdash;he was now Captain of the
      Bandits, because we all know H. O. likes to be Chaplain when we play
      prisoners&mdash;&lsquo;no violence. But you will be confined in a dark,
      subterranean dungeon where toads and snakes crawl, and but little of the
      light of day filters through the heavily mullioned windows. You will be
      loaded with chains. Now don&rsquo;t begin again, Baby, there&rsquo;s nothing to cry
      about; straw will be your pallet; beside you the gaoler will set a ewer&mdash;a
      ewer is only a jug, stupid; it won&rsquo;t eat you&mdash;a ewer with water; and
      a mouldering crust will be your food.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Albert-next-door never enters into the spirit of a thing. He mumbled
      something about tea-time.
    </p>
    <p>
      Now Oswald, though stern, is always just, and besides we were all rather
      hungry, and tea was ready. So we had it at once, Albert-next-door and all&mdash;and
      we gave him what was left of the four-pound jar of apricot jam we got with
      the money Noel got for his poetry. And we saved our crusts for the
      prisoner.
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert-next-door was very tiresome. Nobody could have had a nicer prison
      than he had. We fenced him into a corner with the old wire nursery fender
      and all the chairs, instead of putting him in the coal-cellar as we had
      first intended. And when he said the dog-chains were cold the girls were
      kind enough to warm his fetters thoroughly at the fire before we put them
      on him.
    </p>
    <p>
      We got the straw cases of some bottles of wine someone sent Father one
      Christmas&mdash;it is some years ago, but the cases are quite good. We
      unpacked them very carefully and pulled them to pieces and scattered the
      straw about. It made a lovely straw pallet, and took ever so long to make&mdash;but
      Albert-next-door has yet to learn what gratitude really is. We got the
      bread trencher for the wooden platter where the prisoner&rsquo;s crusts were put&mdash;they
      were not mouldy, but we could not wait till they got so, and for the ewer
      we got the toilet jug out of the spare-room where nobody ever sleeps. And
      even then Albert-next-door couldn&rsquo;t be happy like the rest of us. He
      howled and cried and tried to get out, and he knocked the ewer over and
      stamped on the mouldering crusts. Luckily there was no water in the ewer
      because we had forgotten it, only dust and spiders. So we tied him up with
      the clothes-line from the back kitchen, and we had to hurry up, which was
      a pity for him. We might have had him rescued by a devoted page if he
      hadn&rsquo;t been so tiresome. In fact Noel was actually dressing up for the
      page when Albert-next-door kicked over the prison ewer.
    </p>
    <p>
      We got a sheet of paper out of an old exercise-book, and we made H. O.
      prick his own thumb, because he is our little brother and it is our duty
      to teach him to be brave. We none of us mind pricking ourselves; we&rsquo;ve
      done it heaps of times. H. O. didn&rsquo;t like it, but he agreed to do it, and
      I helped him a little because he was so slow, and when he saw the red bead
      of blood getting fatter and bigger as I squeezed his thumb he was very
      pleased, just as I had told him he would be.
    </p>
    <p>
      This is what we wrote with H. O.&lsquo;s blood, only the blood gave out when we
      got to &lsquo;Restored&rsquo;, and we had to write the rest with crimson lake, which
      is not the same colour, though I always use it, myself, for painting
      wounds.
    </p>
    <p>
      While Oswald was writing it he heard Alice whispering to the prisoner that
      it would soon be over, and it was only play. The prisoner left off
      howling, so I pretended not to hear what she said. A Bandit Captain has to
      overlook things sometimes. This was the letter&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    &lsquo;Albert Morrison is held a prisoner by Bandits.
    On payment of three thousand pounds he will be
    restored to his sorrowing relatives, and all
    will be forgotten and forgiven.&rsquo;
</pre>
    <p>
      I was not sure about the last part, but Dicky was certain he had seen it
      in the paper, so I suppose it must have been all right.
    </p>
    <p>
      We let H. O. take the letter; it was only fair, as it was his blood it was
      written with, and told him to leave it next door for Mrs Morrison.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. came back quite quickly, and Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle came with him.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What is all this, Albert?&rsquo; he cried. &lsquo;Alas, alas, my nephew! Do I find
      you the prisoner of a desperate band of brigands?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Bandits,&rsquo; said H. O; &lsquo;you know it says bandits.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I beg your pardon, gentlemen,&rsquo; said Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle, &lsquo;bandits it
      is, of course. This, Albert, is the direct result of the pursuit of the
      guy on an occasion when your doting mother had expressly warned you to
      forgo the pleasures of the chase.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert said it wasn&rsquo;t his fault, and he hadn&rsquo;t wanted to play.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So ho!&rsquo; said his uncle, &lsquo;impenitent too! Where&rsquo;s the dungeon?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We explained the dungeon, and showed him the straw pallet and the ewer and
      the mouldering crusts and other things.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Very pretty and complete,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;Albert, you are more highly
      privileged than ever I was. No one ever made me a nice dungeon when I was
      your age. I think I had better leave you where you are.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert began to cry again and said he was sorry, and he would be a good
      boy.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And on this old familiar basis you expect me to ransom you, do you?
      Honestly, my nephew, I doubt whether you are worth it. Besides, the sum
      mentioned in this document strikes me as excessive: Albert really is <i>not</i>
      worth three thousand pounds. Also by a strange and unfortunate chance I
      haven&rsquo;t the money about me. Couldn&rsquo;t you take less?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We said perhaps we could.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Say eightpence,&rsquo; suggested Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle, &lsquo;which is all the
      small change I happen to have on my person.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Thank you very much,&rsquo; said Alice as he held it out; &lsquo;but are you sure you
      can spare it? Because really it was only play.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Quite sure. Now, Albert, the game is over. You had better run home to
      your mother and tell her how much you&rsquo;ve enjoyed yourself.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      When Albert-next-door had gone his uncle sat in the Guy Fawkes armchair
      and took Alice on his knee, and we sat round the fire waiting till it
      would be time to let off our fireworks. We roasted the chestnuts he sent
      Dicky out for, and he told us stories till it was nearly seven. His
      stories are first-rate&mdash;he does all the parts in different voices. At
      last he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Look here, young-uns. I like to see you play and enjoy yourselves, and I
      don&rsquo;t think it hurts Albert to enjoy himself too.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think he did much,&rsquo; said H. O. But I knew what Albert-next-door&rsquo;s
      uncle meant because I am much older than H. O. He went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But what about Albert&rsquo;s mother? Didn&rsquo;t you think how anxious she would be
      at his not coming home? As it happens I saw him come in with you, so we
      knew it was all right. But if I hadn&rsquo;t, eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He only talks like that when he is very serious, or even angry. Other
      times he talks like people in books&mdash;to us, I mean.
    </p>
    <p>
      We none of us said anything. But I was thinking. Then Alice spoke.
    </p>
    <p>
      Girls seem not to mind saying things that we don&rsquo;t say. She put her arms
      round Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle&rsquo;s neck and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We&rsquo;re very, very sorry. We didn&rsquo;t think about his mother. You see we try
      very hard not to think about other people&rsquo;s mothers because&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Just then we heard Father&rsquo;s key in the door and Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle
      kissed Alice and put her down, and we all went down to meet Father. As we
      went I thought I heard Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle say something that sounded
      like &lsquo;Poor little beggars!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He couldn&rsquo;t have meant us, when we&rsquo;d been having such a jolly time, and
      chestnuts, and fireworks to look forward to after dinner and everything!
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0008">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 8. BEING EDITORS
    </h2>
    <p>
      It was Albert&rsquo;s uncle who thought of our trying a newspaper. He said he
      thought we should not find the bandit business a paying industry, as a
      permanency, and that journalism might be.
    </p>
    <p>
      We had sold Noel&rsquo;s poetry and that piece of information about Lord
      Tottenham to the good editor, so we thought it would not be a bad idea to
      have a newspaper of our own. We saw plainly that editors must be very rich
      and powerful, because of the grand office and the man in the glass case,
      like a museum, and the soft carpets and big writing-table. Besides our
      having seen a whole handful of money that the editor pulled out quite
      carelessly from his trousers pocket when he gave me my five bob.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora wanted to be editor and so did Oswald, but he gave way to her because
      she is a girl, and afterwards he knew that it is true what it says in the
      copy-books about Virtue being its own Reward. Because you&rsquo;ve no idea what
      a bother it is. Everybody wanted to put in everything just as they liked,
      no matter how much room there was on the page. It was simply awful! Dora
      put up with it as long as she could and then she said if she wasn&rsquo;t let
      alone she wouldn&rsquo;t go on being editor; they could be the paper&rsquo;s editors
      themselves, so there.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Oswald said, like a good brother: &lsquo;I will help you if you like,
      Dora,&rsquo; and she said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re more trouble than all the rest of them! Come
      and be editor and see how you like it. I give it up to you.&rsquo; But she
      didn&rsquo;t, and we did it together. We let Albert-next-door be sub-editor,
      because he had hurt his foot with a nail in his boot that gathered.
    </p>
    <p>
      When it was done Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle had it copied for us in
      typewriting, and we sent copies to all our friends, and then of course
      there was no one left that we could ask to buy it. We did not think of
      that until too late. We called the paper the Lewisham Recorder; Lewisham
      because we live there, and Recorder in memory of the good editor. I could
      write a better paper on my head, but an editor is not allowed to write all
      the paper. It is very hard, but he is not. You just have to fill up with
      what you can get from other writers. If I ever have time I will write a
      paper all by myself. It won&rsquo;t be patchy. We had no time to make it an
      illustrated paper, but I drew the ship going down with all hands for the
      first copy. But the typewriter can&rsquo;t draw ships, so it was left out in the
      other copies. The time the first paper took to write out no one would
      believe! This was the Newspaper:
    </p>
<pre>
          THE LEWISHAM RECORDER

    EDITORS:  DORA AND OSWALD BASTABLE

             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             EDITORIAL NOTE
</pre>
    <p>
      Every paper is written for some reason. Ours is because we want to sell it
      and get money. If what we have written brings happiness to any sad heart
      we shall not have laboured in vain. But we want the money too. Many papers
      are content with the sad heart and the happiness, but we are not like
      that, and it is best not to be deceitful. EDITORS.
    </p>
    <p>
      There will be two serial stories; One by Dicky and one by all of us. In a
      serial story you only put in one chapter at a time. But we shall put all
      our serial story at once, if Dora has time to copy it. Dicky&rsquo;s will come
      later on.
    </p>
<pre>
            SERIAL STORY
             BY US ALL

         CHAPTER I&mdash;by Dora
</pre>
    <p>
      The sun was setting behind a romantic-looking tower when two strangers
      might have been observed descending the crest of the hill. The eldest, a
      man in the prime of life; the other a handsome youth who reminded
      everybody of Quentin Durward. They approached the Castle, in which the
      fair Lady Alicia awaited her deliverers. She leaned from the castellated
      window and waved her lily hand as they approached. They returned her
      signal, and retired to seek rest and refreshment at a neighbouring
      hostelry.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER II&mdash;by Alice
</pre>
    <p>
      The Princess was very uncomfortable in the tower, because her fairy
      godmother had told her all sorts of horrid things would happen if she
      didn&rsquo;t catch a mouse every day, and she had caught so many mice that now
      there were hardly any left to catch. So she sent her carrier pigeon to ask
      the noble Strangers if they could send her a few mice&mdash;because she
      would be of age in a few days and then it wouldn&rsquo;t matter. So the fairy
      godmother&mdash;- (I&rsquo;m very sorry, but there&rsquo;s no room to make the
      chapters any longer.-ED.)
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER III&mdash;by the Sub-Editor
</pre>
    <p>
      (I can&rsquo;t&mdash;I&rsquo;d much rather not&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know how.)
    </p>
<pre>
            &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER IV&mdash;by Dicky
</pre>
    <p>
      I must now retrace my steps and tell you something about our hero. You
      must know he had been to an awfully jolly school, where they had turkey
      and goose every day for dinner, and never any mutton, and as many helps of
      pudding as a fellow cared to send up his plate for&mdash;so of course they
      had all grown up very strong, and before he left school he challenged the
      Head to have it out man to man, and he gave it him, I tell you. That was
      the education that made him able to fight Red Indians, and to be the
      stranger who might have been observed in the first chapter.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER V&mdash;by Noel
</pre>
    <p>
      I think it&rsquo;s time something happened in this story. So then the dragon he
      came out, blowing fire out of his nose, and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Come on, you valiant man and true, I&rsquo;d like to have a set-to along of
      you!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      (That&rsquo;s bad English.&mdash;ED. I don&rsquo;t care; it&rsquo;s what the dragon said.
      Who told you dragons didn&rsquo;t talk bad English?&mdash;Noel.)
    </p>
<pre>
So the hero, whose name was Noeloninuris, replied&mdash;

     &lsquo;My blade is sharp, my axe is keen,
     You&rsquo;re not nearly as big
     As a good many dragons I&rsquo;ve seen.&rsquo;
</pre>
    <p>
      (Don&rsquo;t put in so much poetry, Noel. It&rsquo;s not fair, because none of the
      others can do it.&mdash;ED.)
    </p>
    <p>
      And then they went at it, and he beat the dragon, just as he did the Head
      in Dicky&rsquo;s part of the Story, and so he married the Princess, and they
      lived&mdash;- (No they didn&rsquo;t&mdash;not till the last chapter.&mdash;ED.)
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER VI&mdash;by H. O.
</pre>
    <p>
      I think it&rsquo;s a very nice Story&mdash;but what about the mice? I don&rsquo;t want
      to say any more. Dora can have what&rsquo;s left of my chapter.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER VII&mdash;by the Editors
</pre>
    <p>
      And so when the dragon was dead there were lots of mice, because he used
      to kill them for his tea but now they rapidly multiplied and ravaged the
      country, so the fair lady Alicia, sometimes called the Princess, had to
      say she would not marry any one unless they could rid the country of this
      plague of mice. Then the Prince, whose real name didn&rsquo;t begin with N, but
      was Osrawalddo, waved his magic sword, and the dragon stood before them,
      bowing gracefully. They made him promise to be good, and then they forgave
      him; and when the wedding breakfast came, all the bones were saved for
      him. And so they were married and lived happy ever after.
    </p>
    <p>
      (What became of the other stranger?&mdash;NOEL. The dragon ate him because
      he asked too many questions.&mdash;EDITORS.)
    </p>
    <p>
      This is the end of the story.
    </p>
<pre>
            INSTRUCTIVE
</pre>
    <p>
      It only takes four hours and a quarter now to get from London to
      Manchester; but I should not think any one would if they could help it.
    </p>
    <p>
      A DREADFUL WARNING. A wicked boy told me a very instructive thing about
      ginger. They had opened one of the large jars, and he happened to take out
      quite a lot, and he made it all right by dropping marbles in, till there
      was as much ginger as before. But he told me that on the Sunday, when it
      was coming near the part where there is only juice generally, I had no
      idea what his feelings were. I don&rsquo;t see what he could have said when they
      asked him. I should be sorry to act like it.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             SCIENTIFIC
</pre>
    <p>
      Experiments should always be made out of doors. And don&rsquo;t use benzoline.&mdash;DICKY.
      (That was when he burnt his eyebrows off.&mdash;ED.)
    </p>
    <p>
      The earth is 2,400 miles round, and 800 through&mdash;at least I think so,
      but perhaps it&rsquo;s the other way.&mdash;DICKY. (You ought to have been sure
      before you began.&mdash;ED.)
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;            SCIENTIFIC COLUMN
</pre>
    <p>
      In this so-called Nineteenth Century Science is but too little considered
      in the nurseries of the rich and proud. But we are not like that.
    </p>
    <p>
      It is not generally known that if you put bits of camphor in luke-warm
      water it will move about. If you drop sweet oil in, the camphor will dart
      away and then stop moving. But don&rsquo;t drop any till you are tired of it,
      because the camphor won&rsquo;t any more afterwards. Much amusement and
      instruction is lost by not knowing things like this.
    </p>
    <p>
      If you put a sixpence under a shilling in a wine-glass, and blow hard down
      the side of the glass, the sixpence will jump up and sit on the top of the
      shilling. At least I can&rsquo;t do it myself, but my cousin can. He is in the
      Navy.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS
</pre>
    <p>
      Noel. You are very poetical, but I am sorry to say it will not do.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice. Nothing will ever make your hair curl, so it&rsquo;s no use. Some people
      say it&rsquo;s more important to tidy up as you go along. I don&rsquo;t mean you in
      particular, but every one.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. We never said you were tubby, but the Editor does not know any cure.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel. If there is any of the paper over when this newspaper is finished, I
      will exchange it for your shut-up inkstand, or the knife that has the
      useful thing in it for taking stones out of horses&rsquo; feet, but you can&rsquo;t
      have it without.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. There are many ways how your steam engine might stop working. You
      might ask Dicky. He knows one of them. I think it is the way yours
      stopped.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel. If you think that by filling the garden with sand you can make crabs
      build their nests there you are not at all sensible.
    </p>
    <p>
      You have altered your poem about the battle of Waterloo so often, that we
      cannot read it except where the Duke waves his sword and says some thing
      we can&rsquo;t read either. Why did you write it on blotting-paper with purple
      chalk?&mdash;ED. (Because YOU KNOW WHO sneaked my pencil.&mdash;NOEL.)
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             POETRY

    The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,
    And the way he came down was awful, I&rsquo;m told;
    But it&rsquo;s nothing to the way one of the Editors comes down on me,
    If I crumble my bread-and-butter or spill my tea.
                                               NOEL.
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             CURIOUS FACTS
</pre>
    <p>
      If you hold a guinea-pig up by his tail his eyes drop out.
    </p>
    <p>
      You can&rsquo;t do half the things yourself that children in books do, making
      models or soon. I wonder why?&mdash;ALICE.
    </p>
    <p>
      If you take a date&rsquo;s stone out and put in an almond and eat them together,
      it is prime. I found this out.&mdash;SUB-EDITOR.
    </p>
    <p>
      If you put your wet hand into boiling lead it will not hurt you if you
      draw it out quickly enough. I have never tried this.&mdash;DORA.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;           THE PURRING CLASS

         (Instructive Article)
</pre>
    <p>
      If I ever keep a school everything shall be quite different. Nobody shall
      learn anything they don&rsquo;t want to. And sometimes instead of having masters
      and mistresses we will have cats, and we will dress up in cat skins and
      learn purring. &lsquo;Now, my dears,&rsquo; the old cat will say, &lsquo;one, two, three all
      purr together,&rsquo; and we shall purr like anything.
    </p>
    <p>
      She won&rsquo;t teach us to mew, but we shall know how without teaching.
      Children do know some things without being taught.&mdash;ALICE.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             POETRY
      (Translated into French by Dora)

     Quand j&rsquo;etais jeune et j&rsquo;etais fou
     J&rsquo;achetai un violon pour dix-huit sous
     Et tous les airs que je jouai
     Etait over the hills and far away.

              Another piece of it

     Mercie jolie vache qui fait
     Bon lait pour mon dejeuner
     Tous les matins tous les soirs
     Mon pain je mange, ton lait je boire.

             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             RECREATIONS
</pre>
    <p>
      It is a mistake to think that cats are playful. I often try to get a cat
      to play with me, and she never seems to care about the game, no matter how
      little it hurts.&mdash;H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      Making pots and pans with clay is fun, but do not tell the grown-ups. It
      is better to surprise them; and then you must say at once how easily it
      washes off&mdash;much easier than ink.&mdash;DICKY.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;    SAM REDFERN, OR THE BUSH RANGER&rsquo;S BURIAL

             By Dicky
</pre>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, Annie, I have bad news for you,&rsquo; said Mr Ridgway, as he entered the
      comfortable dining-room of his cabin in the Bush. &lsquo;Sam Redfern the
      Bushranger is about this part of the Bush just now. I hope he will not
      attack us with his gang.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I hope not,&rsquo; responded Annie, a gentle maiden of some sixteen summers.
    </p>
    <p>
      Just then came a knock at the door of the hut, and a gruff voice asked
      them to open the door.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It is Sam Redfern the Bushranger, father,&rsquo; said the girl.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The same,&rsquo; responded the voice, and the next moment the hall door was
      smashed in, and Sam Redfern sprang in, followed by his gang.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             CHAPTER II
</pre>
    <p>
      Annie&rsquo;s Father was at once overpowered, and Annie herself lay bound with
      cords on the drawing-room sofa. Sam Redfern set a guard round the lonely
      hut, and all human aid was despaired of. But you never know. Far away in
      the Bush a different scene was being enacted.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Must be Injuns,&rsquo; said a tall man to himself as he pushed his way through
      the brushwood. It was Jim Carlton, the celebrated detective. &lsquo;I know
      them,&rsquo; he added; &lsquo;they are Apaches.&rsquo; just then ten Indians in full
      war-paint appeared. Carlton raised his rifle and fired, and slinging their
      scalps on his arm he hastened towards the humble log hut where resided his
      affianced bride, Annie Ridgway, sometimes known as the Flower of the Bush.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             CHAPTER III
</pre>
    <p>
      The moon was low on the horizon, and Sam Redfern was seated at a drinking
      bout with some of his boon companions.
    </p>
    <p>
      They had rifled the cellars of the hut, and the rich wines flowed like
      water in the golden goblets of Mr Ridgway.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Annie had made friends with one of the gang, a noble, good-hearted man
      who had joined Sam Redfern by mistake, and she had told him to go and get
      the police as quickly as possible.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Ha! ha!&rsquo; cried Redfern, &lsquo;now I am enjoying myself!&rsquo; He little knew that
      his doom was near upon him.
    </p>
    <p>
      Just then Annie gave a piercing scream, and Sam Redfern got up, seizing
      his revolver. &lsquo;Who are you?&rsquo; he cried, as a man entered.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am Jim Carlton, the celebrated detective,&rsquo; said the new arrival.
    </p>
    <p>
      Sam Redfern&rsquo;s revolver dropped from his nerveless fingers, but the next
      moment he had sprung upon the detective with the well-known activity of
      the mountain sheep, and Annie shrieked, for she had grown to love the
      rough Bushranger.
    </p>
    <p>
      (To be continued at the end of the paper if there is room.)
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;             SCHOLASTIC
</pre>
    <p>
      A new slate is horrid till it is washed in milk. I like the green spots on
      them to draw patterns round. I know a good way to make a slate-pencil
      squeak, but I won&rsquo;t put it in because I don&rsquo;t want to make it common.&mdash;SUB-EDITOR.
    </p>
    <p>
      Peppermint is a great help with arithmetic. The boy who was second in the
      Oxford Local always did it. He gave me two. The examiner said to him, &lsquo;Are
      you eating peppermints?&rsquo; And he said, &lsquo;No, Sir.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He told me afterwards it was quite true, because he was only sucking one.
      I&rsquo;m glad I wasn&rsquo;t asked. I should never have thought of that, and I could
      have had to say &lsquo;Yes.&rsquo;&mdash;OSWALD.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;        THE WRECK OF THE &lsquo;MALABAR&rsquo;

             By Noel
</pre>
    <p>
      (Author of &lsquo;A Dream of Ancient Ancestors.&rsquo;) He isn&rsquo;t really&mdash;but he
      put it in to make it seem more real.
    </p>
<pre>
    Hark! what is that noise of rolling
       Waves and thunder in the air?
    &lsquo;Tis the death-knell of the sailors
       And officers and passengers of the good ship Malabar.

    It was a fair and lovely noon
       When the good ship put out of port
    And people said &lsquo;ah little we think
       How soon she will be the elements&rsquo; sport.&rsquo;

    She was indeed a lovely sight
       Upon the billows with sails spread.
    But the captain folded his gloomy arms,
       Ah&mdash;if she had been a life-boat instead!

    See the captain stern yet gloomy
       Flings his son upon a rock,
    Hoping that there his darling boy
       May escape the wreck.

    Alas in vain the loud winds roared
       And nobody was saved.
    That was the wreck of the Malabar,
       Then let us toll for the brave.
                                    NOEL.

             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;            GARDENING NOTES
</pre>
    <p>
      It is useless to plant cherry-stones in the hope of eating the fruit,
      because they don&rsquo;t!
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice won&rsquo;t lend her gardening tools again, because the last time Noel
      left them out in the rain, and I don&rsquo;t like it. He said he didn&rsquo;t.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;            SEEDS AND BULBS
</pre>
    <p>
      These are useful to play at shop with, until you are ready. Not at
      dinner-parties, for they will not grow unless uncooked. Potatoes are not
      grown with seed, but with chopped-up potatoes. Apple trees are grown from
      twigs, which is less wasteful.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oak trees come from acorns. Every one knows this. When Noel says he could
      grow one from a peach stone wrapped up in oak leaves, he shows that he
      knows nothing about gardening but marigolds, and when I passed by his
      garden I thought they seemed just like weeds now the flowers have been
      picked.
    </p>
    <p>
      A boy once dared me to eat a bulb.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dogs are very industrious and fond of gardening. Pincher is always
      planting bones, but they never grow up. There couldn&rsquo;t be a bone tree. I
      think this is what makes him bark so unhappily at night. He has never
      tried planting dog-biscuit, but he is fonder of bones, and perhaps he
      wants to be quite sure about them first.
    </p>
<pre>
             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;     SAM REDFERN, OR THE BUSHRANGER&rsquo;S BURIAL

                By Dicky

             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;         CHAPTER IV AND LAST
</pre>
    <p>
      This would have been a jolly good story if they had let me finish it at
      the beginning of the paper as I wanted to. But now I have forgotten how I
      meant it to end, and I have lost my book about Red Indians, and all my
      Boys of England have been sneaked. The girls say &lsquo;Good riddance!&rsquo; so I
      expect they did it. They want me just to put in which Annie married, but I
      shan&rsquo;t, so they will never know.
    </p>
    <p>
      We have now put everything we can think of into the paper. It takes a lot
      of thinking about. I don&rsquo;t know how grown-ups manage to write all they do.
      It must make their heads ache, especially lesson books.
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert-next-door only wrote one chapter of the serial story, but he could
      have done some more if he had wanted to. He could not write out any of the
      things because he cannot spell. He says he can, but it takes him such a
      long time he might just as well not be able. There are one or two things
      more. I am sick of it, but Dora says she will write them in.
    </p>
    <p>
      LEGAL ANSWER WANTED. A quantity of excellent string is offered if you know
      whether there really is a law passed about not buying gunpowder under
      thirteen.&mdash;DICKY.
    </p>
    <p>
      The price of this paper is one shilling each, and sixpence extra for the
      picture of the Malabar going down with all hands. If we sell one hundred
      copies we will write another paper.
    </p>
<pre>
                  *   *   *
</pre>
    <p>
      And so we would have done, but we never did. Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle gave
      us two shillings, that was all. You can&rsquo;t restore fallen fortunes with two
      shillings!
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0009">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 9. THE G. B.
    </h2>
    <p>
      Being editors is not the best way to wealth. We all feel this now, and
      highwaymen are not respected any more like they used to be.
    </p>
    <p>
      I am sure we had tried our best to restore our fallen fortunes. We felt
      their fall very much, because we knew the Bastables had been rich once.
      Dora and Oswald can remember when Father was always bringing nice things
      home from London, and there used to be turkeys and geese and wine and
      cigars come by the carrier at Christmas-time, and boxes of candied fruit
      and French plums in ornamental boxes with silk and velvet and gilding on
      them. They were called prunes, but the prunes you buy at the grocer&rsquo;s are
      quite different. But now there is seldom anything nice brought from
      London, and the turkey and the prune people have forgotten Father&rsquo;s
      address.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;How <i>can</i> we restore those beastly fallen fortunes?&rsquo; said Oswald.
      &lsquo;We&rsquo;ve tried digging and writing and princesses and being editors.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And being bandits,&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;When did you try that?&rsquo; asked Dora quickly. &lsquo;You know I told you it was
      wrong.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It wasn&rsquo;t wrong the way we did it,&rsquo; said Alice, quicker still, before
      Oswald could say, &lsquo;Who asked you to tell us anything about it?&rsquo; which
      would have been rude, and he is glad he didn&rsquo;t. &lsquo;We only caught
      Albert-next-door.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, Albert-next-door!&rsquo; said Dora contemptuously, and I felt more
      comfortable; for even after I didn&rsquo;t say, &lsquo;Who asked you, and cetera,&rsquo; I
      was afraid Dora was going to come the good elder sister over us. She does
      that a jolly sight too often.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky looked up from the paper he was reading and said, &lsquo;This sounds
      likely,&rsquo; and he read out&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    &lsquo;L100 secures partnership in lucrative business for sale of
    useful patent.  L10 weekly.  No personal attendance necessary.
    Jobbins, 300, Old Street Road.&rsquo;
</pre>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I wish we could secure that partnership,&rsquo; said Oswald. He is twelve, and
      a very thoughtful boy for his age.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice looked up from her painting. She was trying to paint a fairy queen&rsquo;s
      frock with green bice, and it wouldn&rsquo;t rub. There is something funny about
      green bice. It never will rub off; no matter how expensive your paintbox
      is&mdash;and even boiling water is very little use.
    </p>
    <p>
      She said, &lsquo;Bother the bice! And, Oswald, it&rsquo;s no use thinking about that.
      Where are we to get a hundred pounds?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Ten pounds a week is five pounds to us,&rsquo; Oswald went on&mdash;he had done
      the sum in his head while Alice was talking&mdash;&lsquo;because partnership
      means halves. It would be A1.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel sat sucking his pencil&mdash;he had been writing poetry as usual. I
      saw the first two lines&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
     I wonder why Green Bice
     Is never very nice.
</pre>
    <p>
      Suddenly he said, &lsquo;I wish a fairy would come down the chimney and drop a
      jewel on the table&mdash;a jewel worth just a hundred pounds.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;She might as well give you the hundred pounds while she was about it,&rsquo;
      said Dora.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Or while she was about it she might as well give us five pounds a week,&rsquo;
      said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Or fifty,&rsquo; said I.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Or five hundred,&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      I saw H. O. open his mouth, and I knew he was going to say, &lsquo;Or five
      thousand,&rsquo; so I said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, she won&rsquo;t give us fivepence, but if you&rsquo;d only do as I am always
      saying, and rescue a wealthy old gentleman from deadly peril he would give
      us a pot of money, and we could have the partnership and five pounds a
      week. Five pounds a week would buy a great many things.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dicky said, &lsquo;Why shouldn&rsquo;t we borrow it?&rsquo; So we said, &lsquo;Who from?&rsquo; and
      then he read this out of the paper&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
     MONEY PRIVATELY WITHOUT FEES
     THE BOND STREET BANK
     Manager, Z. Rosenbaum.

     Advances cash from L20 to L10,000 on ladies&rsquo; or gentlemen&rsquo;s
     note of hand alone, without security.  No fees.  No inquiries.
     Absolute privacy guaranteed.
</pre>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What does it all mean?&rsquo; asked H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It means that there is a kind gentleman who has a lot of money, and he
      doesn&rsquo;t know enough poor people to help, so he puts it in the paper that
      he will help them, by lending them his money&mdash;that&rsquo;s it, isn&rsquo;t it,
      Dicky?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora explained this and Dicky said, &lsquo;Yes.&rsquo; And H. O. said he was a
      Generous Benefactor, like in Miss Edgeworth. Then Noel wanted to know what
      a note of hand was, and Dicky knew that, because he had read it in a book,
      and it was just a letter saying you will pay the money when you can, and
      signed with your name.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No inquiries!&rsquo; said Alice. &lsquo;Oh&mdash;Dicky&mdash;do you think he would?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes, I think so,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;I wonder Father doesn&rsquo;t go to this kind
      gentleman. I&rsquo;ve seen his name before on a circular in Father&rsquo;s study.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Perhaps he has.&rsquo; said Dora.
    </p>
    <p>
      But the rest of us were sure he hadn&rsquo;t, because, of course, if he had,
      there would have been more money to buy nice things. Just then Pincher
      jumped up and knocked over the painting-water. He is a very careless dog.
      I wonder why painting-water is always such an ugly colour? Dora ran for a
      duster to wipe it up, and H. O. dropped drops of the water on his hands
      and said he had got the plague. So we played at the plague for a bit, and
      I was an Arab physician with a bath-towel turban, and cured the plague
      with magic acid-drops. After that it was time for dinner, and after dinner
      we talked it all over and settled that we would go and see the Generous
      Benefactor the very next day. But we thought perhaps the G. B.&mdash;it is
      short for Generous Benefactor&mdash;would not like it if there were so
      many of us. I have often noticed that it is the worst of our being six&mdash;people
      think six a great many, when it&rsquo;s children. That sentence looks wrong
      somehow. I mean they don&rsquo;t mind six pairs of boots, or six pounds of
      apples, or six oranges, especially in equations, but they seem to think
      you ought not to have five brothers and sisters. Of course Dicky was to
      go, because it was his idea. Dora had to go to Blackheath to see an old
      lady, a friend of Father&rsquo;s, so she couldn&rsquo;t go. Alice said <i>she</i>
      ought to go, because it said, &lsquo;Ladies <i>and</i> gentlemen,&rsquo; and perhaps
      the G. B. wouldn&rsquo;t let us have the money unless there were both kinds of
      us.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. said Alice wasn&rsquo;t a lady; and she said <i>he</i> wasn&rsquo;t going,
      anyway. Then he called her a disagreeable cat, and she began to cry.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Oswald always tries to make up quarrels, so he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;re little sillies, both of you!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Dora said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t cry, Alice; he only meant you weren&rsquo;t a grown-up
      lady.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then H. O. said, &lsquo;What else did you think I meant, Disagreeable?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dicky said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be disagreeable yourself, H. O. Let her alone and
      say you&rsquo;re sorry, or I&rsquo;ll jolly well make you!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So H. O. said he was sorry. Then Alice kissed him and said she was sorry
      too; and after that H. O. gave her a hug, and said, &lsquo;Now I&rsquo;m <i>really and
      truly</i> sorry,&rsquo; So it was all right.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel went the last time any of us went to London, so he was out of it, and
      Dora said she would take him to Blackheath if we&rsquo;d take H. O. So as
      there&rsquo;d been a little disagreeableness we thought it was better to take
      him, and we did. At first we thought we&rsquo;d tear our oldest things a bit
      more, and put some patches of different colours on them, to show the G. B.
      how much we wanted money. But Dora said that would be a sort of cheating,
      pretending we were poorer than we are. And Dora is right sometimes, though
      she is our elder sister. Then we thought we&rsquo;d better wear our best things,
      so that the G. B. might see we weren&rsquo;t so very poor that he couldn&rsquo;t trust
      us to pay his money back when we had it. But Dora said that would be wrong
      too. So it came to our being quite honest, as Dora said, and going just as
      we were, without even washing our faces and hands; but when I looked at H.
      O. in the train I wished we had not been quite so particularly honest.
    </p>
    <p>
      Every one who reads this knows what it is like to go in the train, so I
      shall not tell about it&mdash;though it was rather fun, especially the
      part where the guard came for the tickets at Waterloo, and H. O. was under
      the seat and pretended to be a dog without a ticket. We went to Charing
      Cross, and we just went round to Whitehall to see the soldiers and then by
      St James&rsquo;s for the same reason&mdash;and when we&rsquo;d looked in the shops a
      bit we got to Brook Street, Bond Street. It was a brass plate on a door
      next to a shop&mdash;a very grand place, where they sold bonnets and hats&mdash;all
      very bright and smart, and no tickets on them to tell you the price. We
      rang a bell and a boy opened the door and we asked for Mr Rosenbaum. The
      boy was not polite; he did not ask us in. So then Dicky gave him his
      visiting card; it was one of Father&rsquo;s really, but the name is the same, Mr
      Richard Bastable, and we others wrote our names underneath. I happened to
      have a piece of pink chalk in my pocket and we wrote them with that.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the boy shut the door in our faces and we waited on the step. But
      presently he came down and asked our business. So Dicky said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Money advanced, young shaver! and don&rsquo;t be all day about it!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And then he made us wait again, till I was quite stiff in my legs, but
      Alice liked it because of looking at the hats and bonnets, and at last the
      door opened, and the boy said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Mr Rosenbaum will see you,&rsquo; so we wiped our feet on the mat, which said
      so, and we went up stairs with soft carpets and into a room. It was a
      beautiful room. I wished then we had put on our best things, or at least
      washed a little. But it was too late now.
    </p>
    <p>
      The room had velvet curtains and a soft, soft carpet, and it was full of
      the most splendid things. Black and gold cabinets, and china, and statues,
      and pictures. There was a picture of a cabbage and a pheasant and a dead
      hare that was just like life, and I would have given worlds to have it for
      my own. The fur was so natural I should never have been tired of looking
      at it; but Alice liked the one of the girl with the broken jug best. Then
      besides the pictures there were clocks and candlesticks and vases, and
      gilt looking-glasses, and boxes of cigars and scent and things littered
      all over the chairs and tables. It was a wonderful place, and in the
      middle of all the splendour was a little old gentleman with a very long
      black coat and a very long white beard and a hookey nose&mdash;like a
      falcon. And he put on a pair of gold spectacles and looked at us as if he
      knew exactly how much our clothes were worth.
    </p>
    <p>
      And then, while we elder ones were thinking how to begin, for we had all
      said &lsquo;Good morning&rsquo; as we came in, of course, H. O. began before we could
      stop him. He said:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Are you the G. B.?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The <i>what</i>?&rsquo; said the little old gentleman.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The G. B.,&rsquo; said H. O., and I winked at him to shut up, but he didn&rsquo;t see
      me, and the G. B. did. He waved his hand at <i>me</i> to shut up, so I had
      to, and H. O. went on&mdash;&lsquo;It stands for Generous Benefactor.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The old gentleman frowned. Then he said, &lsquo;Your Father sent you here, I
      suppose?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No he didn&rsquo;t,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;Why did you think so?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The old gentleman held out the card, and I explained that we took that
      because Father&rsquo;s name happens to be the same as Dicky&rsquo;s.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Doesn&rsquo;t he know you&rsquo;ve come?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;we shan&rsquo;t tell him till we&rsquo;ve got the partnership,
      because his own business worries him a good deal and we don&rsquo;t want to
      bother him with ours till it&rsquo;s settled, and then we shall give him half
      our share.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The old gentleman took off his spectacles and rumpled his hair with his
      hands, then he said, &lsquo;Then what <i>did</i> you come for?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We saw your advertisement,&rsquo; Dicky said, &lsquo;and we want a hundred pounds on
      our note of hand, and my sister came so that there should be both kinds of
      us; and we want it to buy a partnership with in the lucrative business for
      sale of useful patent. No personal attendance necessary.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think I quite follow you,&rsquo; said the G. B. &lsquo;But one thing I should
      like settled before entering more fully into the matter: why did you call
      me Generous Benefactor?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, you see,&rsquo; said Alice, smiling at him to show she wasn&rsquo;t frightened,
      though I know really she was, awfully, &lsquo;we thought it was so <i>very</i>
      kind of you to try to find out the poor people who want money and to help
      them and lend them your money.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Hum!&rsquo; said the G. B. &lsquo;Sit down.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He cleared the clocks and vases and candlesticks off some of the chairs,
      and we sat down. The chairs were velvety, with gilt legs. It was like a
      king&rsquo;s palace.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Now,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;you ought to be at school, instead of thinking about
      money. Why aren&rsquo;t you?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We told him that we should go to school again when Father could manage it,
      but meantime we wanted to do something to restore the fallen fortunes of
      the House of Bastable. And we said we thought the lucrative patent would
      be a very good thing. He asked a lot of questions, and we told him
      everything we didn&rsquo;t think Father would mind our telling, and at last he
      said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You wish to borrow money. When will you repay it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;As soon as we&rsquo;ve got it, of course,&rsquo; Dicky said.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the G. B. said to Oswald, &lsquo;You seem the eldest,&rsquo; but I explained to
      him that it was Dicky&rsquo;s idea, so my being eldest didn&rsquo;t matter. Then he
      said to Dicky&mdash;&lsquo;You are a minor, I presume?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky said he wasn&rsquo;t yet, but he had thought of being a mining engineer
      some day, and going to Klondike.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Minor, not miner,&rsquo; said the G. B. &lsquo;I mean you&rsquo;re not of age?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I shall be in ten years, though,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;Then you might repudiate
      the loan,&rsquo; said the G. B., and Dicky said &lsquo;What?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course he ought to have said &lsquo;I beg your pardon. I didn&rsquo;t quite catch
      what you said&rsquo;&mdash;that is what Oswald would have said. It is more
      polite than &lsquo;What.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Repudiate the loan,&rsquo; the G. B repeated. &lsquo;I mean you might say you would
      not pay me back the money, and the law could not compel you to do so.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, well, if you think we&rsquo;re such sneaks,&rsquo; said Dicky, and he got up off
      his chair. But the G. B. said, &lsquo;Sit down, sit down; I was only joking.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he talked some more, and at last he said&mdash;&lsquo;I don&rsquo;t advise you to
      enter into that partnership. It&rsquo;s a swindle. Many advertisements are. And
      I have not a hundred pounds by me to-day to lend you. But I will lend you
      a pound, and you can spend it as you like. And when you are twenty-one you
      shall pay me back.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I shall pay you back long before that,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;Thanks, awfully! And
      what about the note of hand?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh,&rsquo; said the G. B., &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll trust to your honour. Between gentlemen, you
      know&mdash;and ladies&rsquo;&mdash;he made a beautiful bow to Alice&mdash;&lsquo;a
      word is as good as a bond.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he took out a sovereign, and held it in his hand while he talked to
      us. He gave us a lot of good advice about not going into business too
      young, and about doing our lessons&mdash;just swatting a bit, on our own
      hook, so as not to be put in a low form when we went back to school. And
      all the time he was stroking the sovereign and looking at it as if he
      thought it very beautiful. And so it was, for it was a new one. Then at
      last he held it out to Dicky, and when Dicky put out his hand for it the
      G. B. suddenly put the sovereign back in his pocket.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;I won&rsquo;t give you the sovereign. I&rsquo;ll give you fifteen
      shillings, and this nice bottle of scent. It&rsquo;s worth far more than the
      five shillings I&rsquo;m charging you for it. And, when you can, you shall pay
      me back the pound, and sixty per cent interest&mdash;sixty per cent, sixty
      per cent.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      The G. B. said he&rsquo;d tell us that when we paid back the sovereign, but
      sixty per cent was nothing to be afraid of. He gave Dicky the money. And
      the boy was made to call a cab, and the G. B. put us in and shook hands
      with us all, and asked Alice to give him a kiss, so she did, and H. O.
      would do it too, though his face was dirtier than ever. The G. B. paid the
      cabman and told him what station to go to, and so we went home.
    </p>
    <p>
      That evening Father had a letter by the seven-o&rsquo;clock post. And when he
      had read it he came up into the nursery. He did not look quite so unhappy
      as usual, but he looked grave.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve been to Mr Rosenbaum&rsquo;s,&rsquo; he said.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we told him all about it. It took a long time, and Father sat in the
      armchair. It was jolly. He doesn&rsquo;t often come and talk to us now. He has
      to spend all his time thinking about his business. And when we&rsquo;d told him
      all about it he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You haven&rsquo;t done any harm this time, children; rather good than harm,
      indeed. Mr Rosenbaum has written me a very kind letter.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Is he a friend of yours, Father?&rsquo; Oswald asked. &lsquo;He is an acquaintance,&rsquo;
      said my father, frowning a little, &lsquo;we have done some business together.
      And this letter&mdash;&rsquo; he stopped and then said: &lsquo;No; you didn&rsquo;t do any
      harm to-day; but I want you for the future not to do anything so serious
      as to try to buy a partnership without consulting me, that&rsquo;s all. I don&rsquo;t
      want to interfere with your plays and pleasures; but you will consult me
      about business matters, won&rsquo;t you?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course we said we should be delighted, but then Alice, who was sitting
      on his knee, said, &lsquo;We didn&rsquo;t like to bother you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Father said, &lsquo;I haven&rsquo;t much time to be with you, for my business takes
      most of my time. It is an anxious business&mdash;but I can&rsquo;t bear to think
      of your being left all alone like this.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He looked so sad we all said we liked being alone. And then he looked
      sadder than ever.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice said, &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t mean that exactly, Father. It is rather lonely
      sometimes, since Mother died.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we were all quiet a little while. Father stayed with us till we went
      to bed, and when he said good night he looked quite cheerful. So we told
      him so, and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, the fact is, that letter took a weight off my mind.&rsquo; I can&rsquo;t think
      what he meant&mdash;but I am sure the G. B. would be pleased if he could
      know he had taken a weight off somebody&rsquo;s mind. He is that sort of man, I
      think.
    </p>
    <p>
      We gave the scent to Dora. It is not quite such good scent as we thought
      it would be, but we had fifteen shillings&mdash;and they were all good, so
      is the G. B.
    </p>
    <p>
      And until those fifteen shillings were spent we felt almost as jolly as
      though our fortunes had been properly restored. You do not notice your
      general fortune so much, as long as you have money in your pocket. This is
      why so many children with regular pocket-money have never felt it their
      duty to seek for treasure. So, perhaps, our not having pocket-money was a
      blessing in disguise. But the disguise was quite impenetrable, like the
      villains&rsquo; in the books; and it seemed still more so when the fifteen
      shillings were all spent. Then at last the others agreed to let Oswald try
      his way of seeking for treasure, but they were not at all keen about it,
      and many a boy less firm than Oswald would have chucked the whole thing.
      But Oswald knew that a hero must rely on himself alone. So he stuck to it,
      and presently the others saw their duty, and backed him up.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0010">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 10. LORD TOTTENHAM
    </h2>
    <p>
      Oswald is a boy of firm and unswerving character, and he had never wavered
      from his first idea. He felt quite certain that the books were right, and
      that the best way to restore fallen fortunes was to rescue an old
      gentleman in distress. Then he brings you up as his own son: but if you
      preferred to go on being your own father&rsquo;s son I expect the old gentleman
      would make it up to you some other way. In the books the least thing does
      it&mdash;you put up the railway carriage window&mdash;or you pick up his
      purse when he drops it&mdash;or you say a hymn when he suddenly asks you
      to, and then your fortune is made.
    </p>
    <p>
      The others, as I said, were very slack about it, and did not seem to care
      much about trying the rescue. They said there wasn&rsquo;t any deadly peril, and
      we should have to make one before we could rescue the old gentleman from
      it, but Oswald didn&rsquo;t see that that mattered. However, he thought he would
      try some of the easier ways first, by himself.
    </p>
    <p>
      So he waited about the station, pulling up railway carriage windows for
      old gentlemen who looked likely&mdash;but nothing happened, and at last
      the porters said he was a nuisance. So that was no go. No one ever asked
      him to say a hymn, though he had learned a nice short one, beginning &lsquo;New
      every morning&rsquo;&mdash;and when an old gentleman did drop a two-shilling
      piece just by Ellis&rsquo;s the hairdresser&rsquo;s, and Oswald picked it up, and was
      just thinking what he should say when he returned it, the old gentleman
      caught him by the collar and called him a young thief. It would have been
      very unpleasant for Oswald if he hadn&rsquo;t happened to be a very brave boy,
      and knew the policeman on that beat very well indeed. So the policeman
      backed him up, and the old gentleman said he was sorry, and offered Oswald
      sixpence. Oswald refused it with polite disdain, and nothing more happened
      at all.
    </p>
    <p>
      When Oswald had tried by himself and it had not come off, he said to the
      others, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re wasting our time, not trying to rescue the old gentleman in
      deadly peril. Come&mdash;buck up! Do let&rsquo;s do something!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      It was dinner-time, and Pincher was going round getting the bits off the
      plates. There were plenty because it was cold-mutton day. And Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s only fair to try Oswald&rsquo;s way&mdash;he has tried all the things the
      others thought of. Why couldn&rsquo;t we rescue Lord Tottenham?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham is the old gentleman who walks over the Heath every day in
      a paper collar at three o&rsquo;clock&mdash;and when he gets halfway, if there
      is no one about, he changes his collar and throws the dirty one into the
      furze-bushes.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky said, &lsquo;Lord Tottenham&rsquo;s all right&mdash;but where&rsquo;s the deadly
      peril?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we couldn&rsquo;t think of any. There are no highwaymen on Blackheath now, I
      am sorry to say. And though Oswald said half of us could be highwaymen and
      the other half rescue party, Dora kept on saying it would be wrong to be a
      highwayman&mdash;and so we had to give that up.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice said, &lsquo;What about Pincher?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we all saw at once that it could be done.
    </p>
    <p>
      Pincher is very well bred, and he does know one or two things, though we
      never could teach him to beg. But if you tell him to hold on&mdash;he will
      do it, even if you only say &lsquo;Seize him!&rsquo; in a whisper.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we arranged it all. Dora said she wouldn&rsquo;t play; she said she thought
      it was wrong, and she knew it was silly&mdash;so we left her out, and she
      went and sat in the dining-room with a goody-book, so as to be able to say
      she didn&rsquo;t have anything to do with it, if we got into a row over it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice and H. O. were to hide in the furze-bushes just by where Lord
      Tottenham changes his collar, and they were to whisper, &lsquo;Seize him!&rsquo; to
      Pincher; and then when Pincher had seized Lord Tottenham we were to go and
      rescue him from his deadly peril. And he would say, &lsquo;How can I reward you,
      my noble young preservers?&rsquo; and it would be all right.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we went up to the Heath. We were afraid of being late. Oswald told the
      others what Procrastination was&mdash;so they got to the furze-bushes a
      little after two o&rsquo;clock, and it was rather cold. Alice and H. O. and
      Pincher hid, but Pincher did not like it any more than they did, and as we
      three walked up and down we heard him whining. And Alice kept saying, &lsquo;I
      <i>am</i> so cold! Isn&rsquo;t he coming yet?&rsquo; And H. O. wanted to come out and
      jump about to warm himself. But we told him he must learn to be a Spartan
      boy, and that he ought to be very thankful he hadn&rsquo;t got a beastly fox
      eating his inside all the time. H. O. is our little brother, and we are
      not going to let it be our fault if he grows up a milksop. Besides, it was
      not really cold. It was his knees&mdash;he wears socks. So they stayed
      where they were. And at last, when even the other three who were walking
      about were beginning to feel rather chilly, we saw Lord Tottenham&rsquo;s big
      black cloak coming along, flapping in the wind like a great bird. So we
      said to Alice&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Hist! he approaches. You&rsquo;ll know when to set Pincher on by hearing Lord
      Tottenham talking to himself&mdash;he always does while he is taking off
      his collar.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we three walked slowly away whistling to show we were not thinking of
      anything. Our lips were rather cold, but we managed to do it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham came striding along, talking to himself. People call him
      the mad Protectionist. I don&rsquo;t know what it means&mdash;but I don&rsquo;t think
      people ought to call a Lord such names.
    </p>
    <p>
      As he passed us he said, &lsquo;Ruin of the country, sir! Fatal error, fatal
      error!&rsquo; And then we looked back and saw he was getting quite near where
      Pincher was, and Alice and H. O. We walked on&mdash;so that he shouldn&rsquo;t
      think we were looking&mdash;and in a minute we heard Pincher&rsquo;s bark, and
      then nothing for a bit; and then we looked round, and sure enough good old
      Pincher had got Lord Tottenham by the trouser leg and was holding on like
      billy-ho, so we started to run.
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham had got his collar half off&mdash;it was sticking out
      sideways under his ear&mdash;and he was shouting, &lsquo;Help, help, murder!&rsquo;
      exactly as if some one had explained to him beforehand what he was to do.
      Pincher was growling and snarling and holding on. When we got to him I
      stopped and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Dicky, we must rescue this good old man.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham roared in his fury, &lsquo;Good old man be&mdash;&rsquo; something or
      othered. &lsquo;Call the dog off.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald said, &lsquo;It is a dangerous task&mdash;but who would hesitate to do
      an act of true bravery?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And all the while Pincher was worrying and snarling, and Lord Tottenham
      shouting to us to get the dog away. He was dancing about in the road with
      Pincher hanging on like grim death; and his collar flapping about, where
      it was undone.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Noel said, &lsquo;Haste, ere yet it be too late.&rsquo; So I said to Lord
      Tottenham&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Stand still, aged sir, and I will endeavour to alleviate your distress.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He stood still, and I stooped down and caught hold of Pincher and
      whispered, &lsquo;Drop it, sir; drop it!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So then Pincher dropped it, and Lord Tottenham fastened his collar again&mdash;he
      never does change it if there&rsquo;s any one looking&mdash;and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m much obliged, I&rsquo;m sure. Nasty vicious brute! Here&rsquo;s something to
      drink my health.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Dicky explained that we are teetotallers, and do not drink people&rsquo;s
      healths. So Lord Tottenham said, &lsquo;Well, I&rsquo;m much obliged any way. And now
      I come to look at you&mdash;of course, you&rsquo;re not young ruffians, but
      gentlemen&rsquo;s sons, eh? Still, you won&rsquo;t be above taking a tip from an old
      boy&mdash;I wasn&rsquo;t when I was your age,&rsquo; and he pulled out half a
      sovereign.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was very silly; but now we&rsquo;d done it I felt it would be beastly mean to
      take the old boy&rsquo;s chink after putting him in such a funk. He didn&rsquo;t say
      anything about bringing us up as his own sons&mdash;so I didn&rsquo;t know what
      to do. I let Pincher go, and was just going to say he was very welcome,
      and we&rsquo;d rather not have the money, which seemed the best way out of it,
      when that beastly dog spoiled the whole show. Directly I let him go he
      began to jump about at us and bark for joy, and try to lick our faces. He
      was so proud of what he&rsquo;d done. Lord Tottenham opened his eyes and he just
      said, &lsquo;The dog seems to know you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And then Oswald saw it was all up, and he said, &lsquo;Good morning,&rsquo; and tried
      to get away. But Lord Tottenham said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Not so fast!&rsquo; And he caught Noel by the collar. Noel gave a howl, and
      Alice ran out from the bushes. Noel is her favourite. I&rsquo;m sure I don&rsquo;t
      know why. Lord Tottenham looked at her, and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;So there are more of you!&rsquo; And then H. O. came out.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Do you complete the party?&rsquo; Lord Tottenham asked him. And H. O. said
      there were only five of us this time.
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham turned sharp off and began to walk away, holding Noel by
      the collar. We caught up with him, and asked him where he was going, and
      he said, &lsquo;To the Police Station.&rsquo; So then I said quite politely, &lsquo;Well,
      don&rsquo;t take Noel; he&rsquo;s not strong, and he easily gets upset. Besides, it
      wasn&rsquo;t his doing. If you want to take any one take me&mdash;it was my very
      own idea.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky behaved very well. He said, &lsquo;If you take Oswald I&rsquo;ll go too, but
      don&rsquo;t take Noel; he&rsquo;s such a delicate little chap.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham stopped, and he said, &lsquo;You should have thought of that
      before.&rsquo; Noel was howling all the time, and his face was very white, and
      Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, do let Noel go, dear, good, kind Lord Tottenham; he&rsquo;ll faint if you
      don&rsquo;t, I know he will, he does sometimes. Oh, I wish we&rsquo;d never done it!
      Dora said it was wrong.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Dora displayed considerable common sense,&rsquo; said Lord Tottenham, and he
      let Noel go. And Alice put her arm round Noel and tried to cheer him up,
      but he was all trembly, and as white as paper.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Lord Tottenham said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Will you give me your word of honour not to try to escape?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we said we would.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Then follow me,&rsquo; he said, and led the way to a bench. We all followed,
      and Pincher too, with his tail between his legs&mdash;he knew something
      was wrong. Then Lord Tottenham sat down, and he made Oswald and Dicky and
      H. O. stand in front of him, but he let Alice and Noel sit down. And he
      said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You set your dog on me, and you tried to make me believe you were saving
      me from it. And you would have taken my half-sovereign. Such conduct is
      most&mdash;No&mdash;you shall tell me what it is, sir, and speak the
      truth.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So I had to say it was most ungentlemanly, but I said I hadn&rsquo;t been going
      to take the half-sovereign.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Then what did you do it for?&rsquo; he asked. &lsquo;The truth, mind.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So I said, &lsquo;I see now it was very silly, and Dora said it was wrong, but
      it didn&rsquo;t seem so till we did it. We wanted to restore the fallen fortunes
      of our house, and in the books if you rescue an old gentleman from deadly
      peril, he brings you up as his own son&mdash;or if you prefer to be your
      father&rsquo;s son, he starts you in business, so that you end in wealthy
      affluence; and there wasn&rsquo;t any deadly peril, so we made Pincher into one&mdash;and
      so&mdash;&rsquo; I was so ashamed I couldn&rsquo;t go on, for it did seem an awfully
      mean thing. Lord Tottenham said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A very nice way to make your fortune&mdash;by deceit and trickery. I have
      a horror of dogs. If I&rsquo;d been a weak man the shock might have killed me.
      What do you think of yourselves, eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We were all crying except Oswald, and the others say he was; and Lord
      Tottenham went on&mdash;&lsquo;Well, well, I see you&rsquo;re sorry. Let this be a
      lesson to you; and we&rsquo;ll say no more about it. I&rsquo;m an old man now, but I
      was young once.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice slid along the bench close to him, and put her hand on his arm:
      her fingers were pink through the holes in her woolly gloves, and said, &lsquo;I
      think you&rsquo;re very good to forgive us, and we are really very, very sorry.
      But we wanted to be like the children in the books&mdash;only we never
      have the chances they have. Everything they do turns out all right. But we
      <i>are</i> sorry, very, very. And I know Oswald wasn&rsquo;t going to take the
      half-sovereign. Directly you said that about a tip from an old boy I began
      to feel bad inside, and I whispered to H. O. that I wished we hadn&rsquo;t.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Lord Tottenham stood up, and he looked like the Death of Nelson, for
      he is clean shaved and it is a good face, and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Always remember never to do a dishonourable thing, for money or for
      anything else in the world.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we promised we would remember. Then he took off his hat, and we took
      off ours, and he went away, and we went home. I never felt so cheap in all
      my life! Dora said, &lsquo;I told you so,&rsquo; but we didn&rsquo;t mind even that so much,
      though it was indeed hard to bear. It was what Lord Tottenham had said
      about ungentlemanly. We didn&rsquo;t go on to the Heath for a week after that;
      but at last we all went, and we waited for him by the bench. When he came
      along Alice said, &lsquo;Please, Lord Tottenham, we have not been on the Heath
      for a week, to be a punishment because you let us off. And we have brought
      you a present each if you will take them to show you are willing to make
      it up.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He sat down on the bench, and we gave him our presents. Oswald gave him a
      sixpenny compass&mdash;he bought it with my own money on purpose to give
      him. Oswald always buys useful presents. The needle would not move after
      I&rsquo;d had it a day or two, but Lord Tottenham used to be an admiral, so he
      will be able to make that go all right. Alice had made him a shaving-case,
      with a rose worked on it. And H. O. gave him his knife&mdash;the same one
      he once cut all the buttons off his best suit with. Dicky gave him his
      prize, Naval Heroes, because it was the best thing he had, and Noel gave
      him a piece of poetry he had made himself&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    When sin and shame bow down the brow
    Then people feel just like we do now.
    We are so sorry with grief and pain
    We never will be so ungentlemanly again.
</pre>
    <p>
      Lord Tottenham seemed very pleased. He thanked us, and talked to us for a
      bit, and when he said good-bye he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;All&rsquo;s fair weather now, mates,&rsquo; and shook hands.
    </p>
    <p>
      And whenever we meet him he nods to us, and if the girls are with us he
      takes off his hat, so he can&rsquo;t really be going on thinking us
      ungentlemanly now.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0011">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 11. CASTILIAN AMOROSO
    </h2>
    <p>
      One day when we suddenly found that we had half a crown we decided that we
      really ought to try Dicky&rsquo;s way of restoring our fallen fortunes while yet
      the deed was in our power. Because it might easily have happened to us
      never to have half a crown again. So we decided to dally no longer with
      being journalists and bandits and things like them, but to send for sample
      and instructions how to earn two pounds a week each in our spare time. We
      had seen the advertisement in the paper, and we had always wanted to do
      it, but we had never had the money to spare before, somehow. The
      advertisement says: &lsquo;Any lady or gentleman can easily earn two pounds a
      week in their spare time. Sample and instructions, two shillings. Packed
      free from observation.&rsquo; A good deal of the half-crown was Dora&rsquo;s. It came
      from her godmother; but she said she would not mind letting Dicky have it
      if he would pay her back before Christmas, and if we were sure it was
      right to try to make our fortune that way. Of course that was quite easy,
      because out of two pounds a week in your spare time you can easily pay all
      your debts, and have almost as much left as you began with; and as to the
      right we told her to dry up.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky had always thought that this was really the best way to restore our
      fallen fortunes, and we were glad that now he had a chance of trying
      because of course we wanted the two pounds a week each, and besides, we
      were rather tired of Dicky&rsquo;s always saying, when our ways didn&rsquo;t turn out
      well, &lsquo;Why don&rsquo;t you try the sample and instructions about our spare
      time?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      When we found out about our half-crown we got the paper. Noel was playing
      admirals in it, but he had made the cocked hat without tearing the paper,
      and we found the advertisement, and it said just the same as ever. So we
      got a two-shilling postal order and a stamp, and what was left of the
      money it was agreed we would spend in ginger-beer to drink success to
      trade.
    </p>
    <p>
      We got some nice paper out of Father&rsquo;s study, and Dicky wrote the letter,
      and we put in the money and put on the stamp, and made H. O. post it. Then
      we drank the ginger-beer, and then we waited for the sample and
      instructions. It seemed a long time coming, and the postman got quite
      tired of us running out and stopping him in the street to ask if it had
      come.
    </p>
    <p>
      But on the third morning it came. It was quite a large parcel, and it was
      packed, as the advertisement said it would be, &lsquo;free from observation.&rsquo;
      That means it was in a box; and inside the box was some stiff browny
      cardboard, crinkled like the galvanized iron on the tops of
      chicken-houses, and inside that was a lot of paper, some of it printed and
      some scrappy, and in the very middle of it all a bottle, not very large,
      and black, and sealed on the top of the cork with yellow sealing-wax.
    </p>
    <p>
      We looked at it as it lay on the nursery table, and while all the others
      grabbed at the papers to see what the printing said, Oswald went to look
      for the corkscrew, so as to see what was inside the bottle. He found the
      corkscrew in the dresser drawer&mdash;it always gets there, though it is
      supposed to be in the sideboard drawer in the dining-room&mdash;and when
      he got back the others had read most of the printed papers.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s much good, and I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s quite nice to sell
      wine,&rsquo; Dora said &lsquo;and besides, it&rsquo;s not easy to suddenly begin to sell
      things when you aren&rsquo;t used to it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;I believe I could.&rsquo; They all looked rather
      down in the mouth, though, and Oswald asked how you were to make your two
      pounds a week.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Why, you&rsquo;ve got to get people to taste that stuff in the bottle. It&rsquo;s
      sherry&mdash;Castilian Amoroso its name is&mdash;and then you get them to
      buy it, and then you write to the people and tell them the other people
      want the wine, and then for every dozen you sell you get two shillings
      from the wine people, so if you sell twenty dozen a week you get your two
      pounds. I don&rsquo;t think we shall sell as much as that,&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We might not the first week,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;but when people found out how
      nice it was, they would want more and more. And if we only got ten
      shillings a week it would be something to begin with, wouldn&rsquo;t it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald said he should jolly well think it would, and then Dicky took the
      cork out with the corkscrew. The cork broke a good deal, and some of the
      bits went into the bottle. Dora got the medicine glass that has the
      teaspoons and tablespoons marked on it, and we agreed to have a
      teaspoonful each, to see what it was like.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No one must have more than that,&rsquo; Dora said, &lsquo;however nice it is.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora behaved rather as if it were her bottle. I suppose it was, because
      she had lent the money for it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then she measured out the teaspoonful, and she had first go, because of
      being the eldest. We asked at once what it was like, but Dora could not
      speak just then.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then she said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s like the tonic Noel had in the spring; but perhaps
      sherry ought to be like that.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then it was Oswald&rsquo;s turn. He thought it was very burny; but he said
      nothing. He wanted to see first what the others would say.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky said his was simply beastly, and Alice said Noel could taste next if
      he liked.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel said it was the golden wine of the gods, but he had to put his
      handkerchief up to his mouth all the same, and I saw the face he made.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then H. O. had his, and he spat it out in the fire, which was very rude
      and nasty, and we told him so.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then it was Alice&rsquo;s turn. She said, &lsquo;Only half a teaspoonful for me, Dora.
      We mustn&rsquo;t use it all up.&rsquo; And she tasted it and said nothing.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dicky said: &lsquo;Look here, I chuck this. I&rsquo;m not going to hawk round
      such beastly stuff. Any one who likes can have the bottle. Quis?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice got out &lsquo;Ego&rsquo; before the rest of us. Then she said, &lsquo;I know
      what&rsquo;s the matter with it. It wants sugar.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And at once we all saw that that was all there was the matter with the
      stuff. So we got two lumps of sugar and crushed it on the floor with one
      of the big wooden bricks till it was powdery, and mixed it with some of
      the wine up to the tablespoon mark, and it was quite different, and not
      nearly so nasty.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You see it&rsquo;s all right when you get used to it,&rsquo; Dicky said. I think he
      was sorry he had said &lsquo;Quis?&rsquo; in such a hurry.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Of course,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;it&rsquo;s rather dusty. We must crush the sugar
      carefully in clean paper before we put it in the bottle.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora said she was afraid it would be cheating to make one bottle nicer
      than what people would get when they ordered a dozen bottles, but Alice
      said Dora always made a fuss about everything, and really it would be
      quite honest.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You see,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;I shall just tell them, quite truthfully, what we
      have done to it, and when their dozens come they can do it for
      themselves.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So then we crushed eight more lumps, very cleanly and carefully between
      newspapers, and shook it up well in the bottle, and corked it up with a
      screw of paper, brown and not news, for fear of the poisonous printing ink
      getting wet and dripping down into the wine and killing people. We made
      Pincher have a taste, and he sneezed for ever so long, and after that he
      used to go under the sofa whenever we showed him the bottle.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we asked Alice who she would try and sell it to. She said: &lsquo;I shall
      ask everybody who comes to the house. And while we are doing that, we can
      be thinking of outside people to take it to. We must be careful: there&rsquo;s
      not much more than half of it left, even counting the sugar.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We did not wish to tell Eliza&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know why. And she opened the
      door very quickly that day, so that the Taxes and a man who came to our
      house by mistake for next door got away before Alice had a chance to try
      them with the Castilian Amoroso. But about five Eliza slipped out for half
      an hour to see a friend who was making her a hat for Sunday, and while she
      was gone there was a knock. Alice went, and we looked over the banisters.
      When she opened the door, she said at once, &lsquo;Will you walk in, please?&rsquo;
      The person at the door said, &lsquo;I called to see your Pa, miss. Is he at
      home?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice said again, &lsquo;Will you walk in, please?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the person&mdash;it sounded like a man&mdash;said, &lsquo;He is in, then?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Alice only kept on saying, &lsquo;Will you walk in, please?&rsquo; so at last the
      man did, rubbing his boots very loudly on the mat.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice shut the front door, and we saw that it was the butcher, with
      an envelope in his hand. He was not dressed in blue, like when he is
      cutting up the sheep and things in the shop, and he wore knickerbockers.
      Alice says he came on a bicycle. She led the way into the dining-room,
      where the Castilian Amoroso bottle and the medicine glass were standing on
      the table all ready.
    </p>
    <p>
      The others stayed on the stairs, but Oswald crept down and looked through
      the door-crack.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Please sit down,&rsquo; said Alice quite calmly, though she told me afterwards
      I had no idea how silly she felt. And the butcher sat down. Then Alice
      stood quite still and said nothing, but she fiddled with the medicine
      glass and put the screw of brown paper straight in the Castilian bottle.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Will you tell your Pa I&rsquo;d like a word with him?&rsquo; the butcher said, when
      he got tired of saying nothing.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;He&rsquo;ll be in very soon, I think,&rsquo; Alice said.
    </p>
    <p>
      And then she stood still again and said nothing. It was beginning to look
      very idiotic of her, and H. O. laughed. I went back and cuffed him for it
      quite quietly, and I don&rsquo;t think the butcher heard.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Alice did, and it roused her from her stupor. She spoke suddenly, very
      fast indeed&mdash;so fast that I knew she had made up what she was going
      to say before. She had got most of it out of the circular.
    </p>
    <p>
      She said, &lsquo;I want to call your attention to a sample of sherry wine I have
      here. It is called Castilian something or other, and at the price it is
      unequalled for flavour and bouquet.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The butcher said, &lsquo;Well&mdash;I never!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice went on, &lsquo;Would you like to taste it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Thank you very much, I&rsquo;m sure, miss,&rsquo; said the butcher.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice poured some out.
    </p>
    <p>
      The butcher tasted a very little. He licked his lips, and we thought he
      was going to say how good it was. But he did not. He put down the medicine
      glass with nearly all the stuff left in it (we put it back in the bottle
      afterwards to save waste) and said, &lsquo;Excuse me, miss, but isn&rsquo;t it a
      little sweet?&mdash;for sherry I mean?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The <i>Real</i> isn&rsquo;t,&rsquo; said Alice. &lsquo;If you order a dozen it will come
      quite different to that&mdash;we like it best with sugar. I wish you <i>would</i>
      order some.&rsquo; The butcher asked why.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice did not speak for a minute, and then she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t mind telling <i>you</i>: you are in business yourself, aren&rsquo;t
      you? We are trying to get people to buy it, because we shall have two
      shillings for every dozen we can make any one buy. It&rsquo;s called a purr
      something.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A percentage. Yes, I see,&rsquo; said the butcher, looking at the hole in the
      carpet.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You see there are reasons,&rsquo; Alice went on, &lsquo;why we want to make our
      fortunes as quickly as we can.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Quite so,&rsquo; said the butcher, and he looked at the place where the paper
      is coming off the wall.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And this seems a good way,&rsquo; Alice went on. &lsquo;We paid two shillings for the
      sample and instructions, and it says you can make two pounds a week easily
      in your leisure time.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure I hope you may, miss,&rsquo; said the butcher. And Alice said again
      would he buy some?
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Sherry is my favourite wine,&rsquo; he said. Alice asked him to have some more
      to drink.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No, thank you, miss,&rsquo; he said; &lsquo;it&rsquo;s my favourite wine, but it doesn&rsquo;t
      agree with me; not the least bit. But I&rsquo;ve an uncle drinks it. Suppose I
      ordered him half a dozen for a Christmas present? Well, miss, here&rsquo;s the
      shilling commission, anyway,&rsquo; and he pulled out a handful of money and
      gave her the shilling.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But I thought the wine people paid that,&rsquo; Alice said.
    </p>
    <p>
      But the butcher said not on half-dozens they didn&rsquo;t. Then he said he
      didn&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;d wait any longer for Father&mdash;but would Alice ask
      Father to write him?
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice offered him the sherry again, but he said something about &lsquo;Not for
      worlds!&rsquo;&mdash;and then she let him out and came back to us with the
      shilling, and said, &lsquo;How&rsquo;s that?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we said &lsquo;A1.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And all the evening we talked of our fortune that we had begun to make.
    </p>
    <p>
      Nobody came next day, but the day after a lady came to ask for money to
      build an orphanage for the children of dead sailors. And we saw her. I
      went in with Alice. And when we had explained to her that we had only a
      shilling and we wanted it for something else, Alice suddenly said, &lsquo;Would
      you like some wine?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And the lady said, &lsquo;Thank you very much,&rsquo; but she looked surprised.
    </p>
    <p>
      She was not a young lady, and she had a mantle with beads, and the beads
      had come off in places&mdash;leaving a browny braid showing, and she had
      printed papers about the dead sailors in a sealskin bag, and the seal had
      come off in places, leaving the skin bare. We gave her a tablespoonful of
      the wine in a proper wine-glass out of the sideboard, because she was a
      lady. And when she had tasted it she got up in a very great hurry, and
      shook out her dress and snapped her bag shut, and said, &lsquo;You naughty,
      wicked children! What do you mean by playing a trick like this? You ought
      to be ashamed of yourselves! I shall write to your Mamma about it. You
      dreadful little girl!&mdash;you might have poisoned me. But your Mamma...&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m very sorry; the butcher liked it, only he said it
      was sweet. And please don&rsquo;t write to Mother. It makes Father so unhappy
      when letters come for her!&rsquo;&mdash;and Alice was very near crying.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What do you mean, you silly child?&rsquo; said the lady, looking quite bright
      and interested. &lsquo;Why doesn&rsquo;t your Father like your Mother to have letters&mdash;eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice said, &lsquo;OH, you...!&rsquo; and began to cry, and bolted out of the
      room.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then I said, &lsquo;Our Mother is dead, and will you please go away now?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The lady looked at me a minute, and then she looked quite different, and
      she said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m very sorry. I didn&rsquo;t know. Never mind about the wine. I
      daresay your little sister meant it kindly.&rsquo; And she looked round the room
      just like the butcher had done. Then she said again, &lsquo;I didn&rsquo;t know&mdash;I&rsquo;m
      very sorry...&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So I said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t mention it,&rsquo; and shook hands with her, and let her out.
      Of course we couldn&rsquo;t have asked her to buy the wine after what she&rsquo;d
      said. But I think she was not a bad sort of person. I do like a person to
      say they&rsquo;re sorry when they ought to be&mdash;especially a grown-up. They
      do it so seldom. I suppose that&rsquo;s why we think so much of it.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Alice and I didn&rsquo;t feel jolly for ever so long afterwards. And when I
      went back into the dining-room I saw how different it was from when Mother
      was here, and we are different, and Father is different, and nothing is
      like it was. I am glad I am not made to think about it every day.
    </p>
    <p>
      I went and found Alice, and told her what the lady had said, and when she
      had finished crying we put away the bottle and said we would not try to
      sell any more to people who came. And we did not tell the others&mdash;we
      only said the lady did not buy any&mdash;but we went up on the Heath, and
      some soldiers went by and there was a Punch-and-judy show, and when we
      came back we were better.
    </p>
    <p>
      The bottle got quite dusty where we had put it, and perhaps the dust of
      ages would have laid thick and heavy on it, only a clergyman called when
      we were all out. He was not our own clergyman&mdash;Mr Bristow is our own
      clergyman, and we all love him, and we would not try to sell sherry to
      people we like, and make two pounds a week out of them in our spare time.
      It was another clergyman, just a stray one; and he asked Eliza if the dear
      children would not like to come to his little Sunday school. We always
      spend Sunday afternoons with Father. But as he had left the name of his
      vicarage with Eliza, and asked her to tell us to come, we thought we would
      go and call on him, just to explain about Sunday afternoons, and we
      thought we might as well take the sherry with us.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I won&rsquo;t go unless you all go too,&rsquo; Alice said, &lsquo;and I won&rsquo;t do the
      talking.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora said she thought we had much better not go; but we said &lsquo;Rot!&rsquo; and it
      ended in her coming with us, and I am glad she did.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald said he would do the talking if the others liked, and he learned up
      what to say from the printed papers.
    </p>
    <p>
      We went to the Vicarage early on Saturday afternoon, and rang at the bell.
      It is a new red house with no trees in the garden, only very yellow mould
      and gravel. It was all very neat and dry. Just before we rang the bell we
      heard some one inside call &lsquo;Jane! Jane!&rsquo; and we thought we would not be
      Jane for anything. It was the sound of the voice that called that made us
      sorry for her.
    </p>
    <p>
      The door was opened by a very neat servant in black, with a white apron;
      we saw her tying the strings as she came along the hall, through the
      different-coloured glass in the door. Her face was red, and I think she
      was Jane.
    </p>
    <p>
      We asked if we could see Mr Mallow.
    </p>
    <p>
      The servant said Mr Mallow was very busy with his sermon just then, but
      she would see.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Oswald said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s all right. He asked us to come.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So she let us all in and shut the front door, and showed us into a very
      tidy room with a bookcase full of a lot of books covered in black cotton
      with white labels, and some dull pictures, and a harmonium. And Mr Mallow
      was writing at a desk with drawers, copying something out of a book. He
      was stout and short, and wore spectacles.
    </p>
    <p>
      He covered his writing up when we went in&mdash;I didn&rsquo;t know why. He
      looked rather cross, and we heard Jane or somebody being scolded outside
      by the voice. I hope it wasn&rsquo;t for letting us in, but I have had doubts.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; said the clergyman, &lsquo;what is all this about?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You asked us to call,&rsquo; Dora said, &lsquo;about your little Sunday school. We
      are the Bastables of Lewisham Road.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh&mdash;ah, yes,&rsquo; he said; &lsquo;and shall I expect you all to-morrow?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He took up his pen and fiddled with it, and he did not ask us to sit down.
      But some of us did.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We always spend Sunday afternoon with Father,&rsquo; said Dora; &lsquo;but we wished
      to thank you for being so kind as to ask us.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And we wished to ask you something else!&rsquo; said Oswald; and he made a sign
      to Alice to get the sherry ready in the glass. She did&mdash;behind
      Oswald&rsquo;s back while he was speaking.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;My time is limited,&rsquo; said Mr Mallow, looking at his watch; &lsquo;but still&mdash;&rsquo;
      Then he muttered something about the fold, and went on: &lsquo;Tell me what is
      troubling you, my little man, and I will try to give you any help in my
      power. What is it you want?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Oswald quickly took the glass from Alice, and held it out to him, and
      said, &lsquo;I want your opinion on that.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;On <i>that</i>,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;What is it?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It is a shipment,&rsquo; Oswald said; &lsquo;but it&rsquo;s quite enough for you to taste.&rsquo;
      Alice had filled the glass half-full; I suppose she was too excited to
      measure properly.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A shipment?&rsquo; said the clergyman, taking the glass in his hand.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; Oswald went On; &lsquo;an exceptional opportunity. Full-bodied and
      nutty.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It really does taste rather like one kind of Brazil-nut.&rsquo; Alice put her
      oar in as usual.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Vicar looked from Alice to Oswald, and back again, and Oswald went on
      with what he had learned from the printing. The clergyman held the glass
      at half-arm&rsquo;s-length, stiffly, as if he had caught cold.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It is of a quality never before offered at the price. Old Delicate Amoro&mdash;what&rsquo;s
      its name&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Amorolio,&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Amoroso,&rsquo; said Oswald. &lsquo;H. O., you just shut up&mdash;Castilian Amoroso&mdash;it&rsquo;s
      a true after-dinner wine, stimulating and yet...&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;<i>Wine</i>?&rsquo; said Mr Mallow, holding the glass further off. &lsquo;Do you <i>know</i>,&rsquo;
      he went on, making his voice very thick and strong (I expect he does it
      like that in church), &lsquo;have you never been <i>taught</i> that it is the
      drinking of <i>wine</i> and <i>spirits</i>&mdash;yes, and <i>beer</i>,
      which makes half the homes in England full of <i>wretched</i> little
      children, and <i>degraded</i>, <i>miserable</i> parents?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Not if you put sugar in it,&rsquo; said Alice firmly; &lsquo;eight lumps and shake
      the bottle. We have each had more than a teaspoonful of it, and we were
      not ill at all. It was something else that upset H. O. Most likely all
      those acorns he got out of the Park.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The clergyman seemed to be speechless with conflicting emotions, and just
      then the door opened and a lady came in. She had a white cap with lace,
      and an ugly violet flower in it, and she was tall, and looked very strong,
      though thin. And I do believe she had been listening at the door.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But why,&rsquo; the Vicar was saying, &lsquo;why did you bring this dreadful fluid,
      this curse of our country, to <i>me</i> to taste?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Because we thought you might buy some,&rsquo; said Dora, who never sees when a
      game is up. &lsquo;In books the parson loves his bottle of old port; and new
      sherry is just as good&mdash;with sugar&mdash;for people who like sherry.
      And if you would order a dozen of the wine, then we should get two
      shillings.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The lady said (and it <i>was</i> the voice), &lsquo;Good gracious! Nasty, sordid
      little things! Haven&rsquo;t they any one to teach them better?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Dora got up and said, &lsquo;No, we are not those things you say; but we are
      sorry we came here to be called names. We want to make our fortune just as
      much as Mr Mallow does&mdash;only no one would listen to us if we
      preached, so it&rsquo;s no use our copying out sermons like him.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I think that was smart of Dora, even if it was rather rude.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then I said perhaps we had better go, and the lady said, &lsquo;I should think
      so!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But when we were going to wrap up the bottle and glass the clergyman said,
      &lsquo;No; you can leave that,&rsquo; and we were so upset we did, though it wasn&rsquo;t
      his after all.
    </p>
    <p>
      We walked home very fast and not saying much, and the girls went up to
      their rooms. When I went to tell them tea was ready, and there was a
      teacake, Dora was crying like anything and Alice hugging her. I am afraid
      there is a great deal of crying in this chapter, but I can&rsquo;t help it.
      Girls will sometimes; I suppose it is their nature, and we ought to be
      sorry for their affliction.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s no good,&rsquo; Dora was saying, &lsquo;you all hate me, and you think I&rsquo;m a
      prig and a busybody, but I do try to do right&mdash;oh, I do! Oswald, go
      away; don&rsquo;t come here making fun of me!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So I said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not making fun, Sissy; don&rsquo;t cry, old girl.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Mother taught me to call her Sissy when we were very little and before the
      others came, but I don&rsquo;t often somehow, now we are old. I patted her on
      the back, and she put her head against my sleeve, holding on to Alice all
      the time, and she went on. She was in that laughy-cryey state when people
      say things they wouldn&rsquo;t say at other times.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh dear, oh dear&mdash;I do try, I do. And when Mother died she said,
      &ldquo;Dora, take care of the others, and teach them to be good, and keep them
      out of trouble and make them happy.&rdquo; She said, &ldquo;Take care of them for me,
      Dora dear.&rdquo; And I have tried, and all of you hate me for it; and to-day I
      let you do this, though I knew all the time it was silly.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I hope you will not think I was a muff but I kissed Dora for some time.
      Because girls like it. And I will never say again that she comes the good
      elder sister too much. And I have put all this in though I do hate telling
      about it, because I own I have been hard on Dora, but I never will be
      again. She is a good old sort; of course we never knew before about what
      Mother told her, or we wouldn&rsquo;t have ragged her as we did. We did not tell
      the little ones, but I got Alice to speak to Dicky, and we three can sit
      on the others if requisite.
    </p>
    <p>
      This made us forget all about the sherry; but about eight o&rsquo;clock there
      was a knock, and Eliza went, and we saw it was poor Jane, if her name was
      Jane, from the Vicarage. She handed in a brown-paper parcel and a letter.
      And three minutes later Father called us into his study.
    </p>
    <p>
      On the table was the brown-paper parcel, open, with our bottle and glass
      on it, and Father had a letter in his hand. He Pointed to the bottle and
      sighed, and said, &lsquo;What have you been doing now?&rsquo; The letter in his hand
      was covered with little black writing, all over the four large pages.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dicky spoke up, and he told Father the whole thing, as far as he knew
      it, for Alice and I had not told about the dead sailors&rsquo; lady.
    </p>
    <p>
      And when he had done, Alice said, &lsquo;Has Mr Mallow written to you to say he
      will buy a dozen of the sherry after all? It is really not half bad with
      sugar in it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Father said no, he didn&rsquo;t think clergymen could afford such expensive
      wine; and he said <i>he</i> would like to taste it. So we gave him what
      there was left, for we had decided coming home that we would give up
      trying for the two pounds a week in our spare time.
    </p>
    <p>
      Father tasted it, and then he acted just as H. O. had done when he had his
      teaspoonful, but of course we did not say anything. Then he laughed till I
      thought he would never stop.
    </p>
    <p>
      I think it was the sherry, because I am sure I have read somewhere about
      &lsquo;wine that maketh glad the heart of man&rsquo;. He had only a very little, which
      shows that it was a good after-dinner wine, stimulating, and yet ...I
      forget the rest.
    </p>
    <p>
      But when he had done laughing he said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s all right, kids. Only don&rsquo;t
      do it again. The wine trade is overcrowded; and besides, I thought you
      promised to consult me before going into business?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Before buying one I thought you meant,&rsquo; said Dicky. &lsquo;This was only on
      commission.&rsquo; And Father laughed again. I am glad we got the Castilian
      Amoroso, because it did really cheer Father up, and you cannot always do
      that, however hard you try, even if you make jokes, or give him a comic
      paper.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0012">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 12. THE NOBLENESS OF OSWALD
    </h2>
    <p>
      The part about his nobleness only comes at the end, but you would not
      understand it unless you knew how it began. It began, like nearly
      everything about that time, with treasure-seeking.
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course as soon as we had promised to consult my Father about business
      matters we all gave up wanting to go into business. I don&rsquo;t know how it
      is, but having to consult about a thing with grown-up people, even the
      bravest and the best, seems to make the thing not worth doing afterwards.
    </p>
    <p>
      We don&rsquo;t mind Albert&rsquo;s uncle chipping in sometimes when the thing&rsquo;s going
      on, but we are glad he never asked us to promise to consult him about
      anything. Yet Oswald saw that my Father was quite right; and I daresay if
      we had had that hundred pounds we should have spent it on the share in
      that lucrative business for the sale of useful patent, and then found out
      afterwards that we should have done better to spend the money in some
      other way. My Father says so, and he ought to know. We had several ideas
      about that time, but having so little chink always stood in the way.
    </p>
    <p>
      This was the case with H. O.&lsquo;s idea of setting up a coconut-shy on this
      side of the Heath, where there are none generally. We had no sticks or
      wooden balls, and the greengrocer said he could not book so many as twelve
      dozen coconuts without Mr Bastable&rsquo;s written order. And as we did not wish
      to consult my Father it was decided to drop it. And when Alice dressed up
      Pincher in some of the dolls&rsquo; clothes and we made up our minds to take him
      round with an organ as soon as we had taught him to dance, we were stopped
      at once by Dicky&rsquo;s remembering how he had once heard that an organ cost
      seven hundred pounds. Of course this was the big church kind, but even the
      ones on three legs can&rsquo;t be got for one-and-sevenpence, which was all we
      had when we first thought of it. So we gave that up too.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was a wet day, I remember, and mutton hash for dinner&mdash;very tough
      with pale gravy with lumps in it. I think the others would have left a
      good deal on the sides of their plates, although they know better, only
      Oswald said it was a savoury stew made of the red deer that Edward shot.
      So then we were the Children of the New Forest, and the mutton tasted much
      better. No one in the New Forest minds venison being tough and the gravy
      pale.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then after dinner we let the girls have a dolls&rsquo; tea-party, on condition
      they didn&rsquo;t expect us boys to wash up; and it was when we were drinking
      the last of the liquorice water out of the little cups that Dicky said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;This reminds me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we said, &lsquo;What of?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky answered us at once, though his mouth was full of bread with
      liquorice stuck in it to look like cake. You should not speak with your
      mouth full, even to your own relations, and you shouldn&rsquo;t wipe your mouth
      on the back of your hand, but on your handkerchief, if you have one. Dicky
      did not do this. He said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Why, you remember when we first began about treasure-seeking, I said I
      had thought of something, only I could not tell you because I hadn&rsquo;t
      finished thinking about it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We said &lsquo;Yes.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, this liquorice water&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Tea,&rsquo; said Alice softly.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, tea then&mdash;made me think.&rsquo; He was going on to say what it made
      him think, but Noel interrupted and cried out, &lsquo;I say; let&rsquo;s finish off
      this old tea-party and have a council of war.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we got out the flags and the wooden sword and the drum, and Oswald beat
      it while the girls washed up, till Eliza came up to say she had the
      jumping toothache, and the noise went through her like a knife. So of
      course Oswald left off at once. When you are polite to Oswald he never
      refuses to grant your requests.
    </p>
    <p>
      When we were all dressed up we sat down round the camp fire, and Dicky
      began again.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Every one in the world wants money. Some people get it. The people who
      get it are the ones who see things. I have seen one thing.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dicky stopped and smoked the pipe of peace. It is the pipe we did bubbles
      with in the summer, and somehow it has not got broken yet. We put
      tea-leaves in it for the pipe of peace, but the girls are not allowed to
      have any. It is not right to let girls smoke. They get to think too much
      of themselves if you let them do everything the same as men. Oswald said,
      &lsquo;Out with it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I see that glass bottles only cost a penny. H. O., if you dare to snigger
      I&rsquo;ll send you round selling old bottles, and you shan&rsquo;t have any sweets
      except out of the money you get for them. And the same with you, Noel.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Noel wasn&rsquo;t sniggering,&rsquo; said Alice in a hurry; &lsquo;it is only his taking so
      much interest in what you were saying makes him look like that. Be quiet,
      H. O., and don&rsquo;t you make faces, either. Do go on, Dicky dear.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dicky went on.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There must be hundreds of millions of bottles of medicines sold every
      year. Because all the different medicines say, &ldquo;Thousands of cures daily,&rdquo;
       and if you only take that as two thousand, which it must be, at least, it
      mounts up. And the people who sell them must make a great deal of money by
      them because they are nearly always two-and-ninepence the bottle, and
      three-and-six for one nearly double the size. Now the bottles, as I was
      saying, don&rsquo;t cost anything like that.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s the medicine costs the money,&rsquo; said Dora; &lsquo;look how expensive
      jujubes are at the chemist&rsquo;s, and peppermints too.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That&rsquo;s only because they&rsquo;re nice,&rsquo; Dicky explained; &lsquo;nasty things are not
      so dear. Look what a lot of brimstone you get for a penny, and the same
      with alum. We would not put the nice kinds of chemist&rsquo;s things in our
      medicine.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he went on to tell us that when we had invented our medicine we would
      write and tell the editor about it, and he would put it in the paper, and
      then people would send their two-and-ninepence and three-and-six for the
      bottle nearly double the size, and then when the medicine had cured them
      they would write to the paper and their letters would be printed, saying
      how they had been suffering for years, and never thought to get about
      again, but thanks to the blessing of our ointment&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora interrupted and said, &lsquo;Not ointment&mdash;it&rsquo;s so messy.&rsquo; And Alice
      thought so too. And Dicky said he did not mean it, he was quite decided to
      let it be in bottles. So now it was all settled, and we did not see at the
      time that this would be a sort of going into business, but afterwards when
      Albert&rsquo;s uncle showed us we saw it, and we were sorry. We only had to
      invent the medicine. You might think that was easy, because of the number
      of them you see every day in the paper, but it is much harder than you
      think. First we had to decide what sort of illness we should like to cure,
      and a &lsquo;heated discussion ensued&rsquo;, like in Parliament.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora wanted it to be something to make the complexion of dazzling
      fairness, but we remembered how her face came all red and rough when she
      used the Rosabella soap that was advertised to make the darkest complexion
      fair as the lily, and she agreed that perhaps it was better not. Noel
      wanted to make the medicine first and then find out what it would cure,
      but Dicky thought not, because there are so many more medicines than there
      are things the matter with us, so it would be easier to choose the disease
      first. Oswald would have liked wounds. I still think it was a good idea,
      but Dicky said, &lsquo;Who has wounds, especially now there aren&rsquo;t any wars? We
      shouldn&rsquo;t sell a bottle a day!&rsquo; So Oswald gave in because he knows what
      manners are, and it was Dicky&rsquo;s idea. H. O. wanted a cure for the
      uncomfortable feeling that they give you powders for, but we explained to
      him that grown-up people do not have this feeling, however much they eat,
      and he agreed. Dicky said he did not care a straw what the loathsome
      disease was, as long as we hurried up and settled on something. Then Alice
      said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It ought to be something very common, and only one thing. Not the pains
      in the back and all the hundreds of things the people have in somebody&rsquo;s
      syrup. What&rsquo;s the commonest thing of all?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And at once we said, &lsquo;Colds.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So that was settled.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we wrote a label to go on the bottle. When it was written it would
      not go on the vinegar bottle that we had got, but we knew it would go
      small when it was printed. It was like this:
    </p>
<pre>
                 BASTABLE&rsquo;S
           CERTAIN CURE FOR COLDS
Coughs, Asthma, Shortness of Breath, and all infections of the Chest

     One dose gives immediate relief
   It will cure your cold in one bottle
     Especially the larger size at 3s. 6d.
       Order at once of the Makers
       To prevent disappointment

               Makers:

     D., O., R., A., N., and H. O. BASTABLE
             150, Lewisham Road, S.E.

    (A halfpenny for all bottles returned)

             &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;
</pre>
    <p>
      Of course the next thing was for one of us to catch a cold and try what
      cured it; we all wanted to be the one, but it was Dicky&rsquo;s idea, and he
      said he was not going to be done out of it, so we let him. It was only
      fair. He left off his undershirt that very day, and next morning he stood
      in a draught in his nightgown for quite a long time. And we damped his
      day-shirt with the nail-brush before he put it on. But all was vain. They
      always tell you that these things will give you cold, but we found it was
      not so.
    </p>
    <p>
      So then we all went over to the Park, and Dicky went right into the water
      with his boots on, and stood there as long as he could bear it, for it was
      rather cold, and we stood and cheered him on. He walked home in his wet
      clothes, which they say is a sure thing, but it was no go, though his
      boots were quite spoiled. And three days after Noel began to cough and
      sneeze.
    </p>
    <p>
      So then Dicky said it was not fair.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I can&rsquo;t help it,&rsquo; Noel said. &lsquo;You should have caught it yourself, then it
      wouldn&rsquo;t have come to me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice said she had known all along Noel oughtn&rsquo;t to have stood about
      on the bank cheering in the cold.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel had to go to bed, and then we began to make the medicines; we were
      sorry he was out of it, but he had the fun of taking the things.
    </p>
    <p>
      We made a great many medicines. Alice made herb tea. She got sage and
      thyme and savory and marjoram and boiled them all up together with salt
      and water, but she <i>would</i> put parsley in too. Oswald is sure parsley
      is not a herb. It is only put on the cold meat and you are not supposed to
      eat it. It kills parrots to eat parsley, I believe. I expect it was the
      parsley that disagreed so with Noel. The medicine did not seem to do the
      cough any good.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald got a pennyworth of alum, because it is so cheap, and some
      turpentine which every one knows is good for colds, and a little sugar and
      an aniseed ball. These were mixed in a bottle with water, but Eliza threw
      it away and said it was nasty rubbish, and I hadn&rsquo;t any money to get more
      things with.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora made him some gruel, and he said it did his chest good; but of course
      that was no use, because you cannot put gruel in bottles and say it is
      medicine. It would not be honest, and besides nobody would believe you.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dick mixed up lemon-juice and sugar and a little of the juice of the red
      flannel that Noel&rsquo;s throat was done up in. It comes out beautifully in hot
      water. Noel took this and he liked it. Noel&rsquo;s own idea was
      liquorice-water, and we let him have it, but it is too plain and black to
      sell in bottles at the proper price.
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel liked H. O.&lsquo;s medicine the best, which was silly of him, because it
      was only peppermints melted in hot water, and a little cobalt to make it
      look blue. It was all right, because H. O.&lsquo;s paint-box is the French kind,
      with Couleurs non Veneneuses on it. This means you may suck your brushes
      if you want to, or even your paints if you are a very little boy.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was rather jolly while Noel had that cold. He had a fire in his bedroom
      which opens out of Dicky&rsquo;s and Oswald&rsquo;s, and the girls used to read aloud
      to Noel all day; they will not read aloud to you when you are well. Father
      was away at Liverpool on business, and Albert&rsquo;s uncle was at Hastings. We
      were rather glad of this, because we wished to give all the medicines a
      fair trial, and grown-ups are but too fond of interfering. As if we should
      have given him anything poisonous!
    </p>
    <p>
      His cold went on&mdash;it was bad in his head, but it was not one of the
      kind when he has to have poultices and can&rsquo;t sit up in bed. But when it
      had been in his head nearly a week, Oswald happened to tumble over Alice
      on the stairs. When we got up she was crying.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t cry silly!&rsquo; said Oswald; &lsquo;you know I didn&rsquo;t hurt you.&rsquo; I was very
      sorry if I had hurt her, but you ought not to sit on the stairs in the
      dark and let other people tumble over you. You ought to remember how
      beastly it is for them if they do hurt you.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s not that, Oswald,&rsquo; Alice said. &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be a pig! I am so
      miserable. Do be kind to me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald thumped her on the back and told her to shut up.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s about Noel,&rsquo; she said. &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s very ill; and playing about
      with medicines is all very well, but I know he&rsquo;s ill, and Eliza won&rsquo;t send
      for the doctor: she says it&rsquo;s only a cold. And I know the doctor&rsquo;s bills
      are awful. I heard Father telling Aunt Emily so in the summer. But he <i>is</i>
      ill, and perhaps he&rsquo;ll die or something.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then she began to cry again. Oswald thumped her again, because he knows
      how a good brother ought to behave, and said, &lsquo;Cheer up.&rsquo; If we had been
      in a book Oswald would have embraced his little sister tenderly, and
      mingled his tears with hers.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Oswald said, &lsquo;Why not write to Father?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And she cried more and said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;ve lost the paper with the address. H. O.
      had it to draw on the back of, and I can&rsquo;t find it now; I&rsquo;ve looked
      everywhere. I&rsquo;ll tell you what I&rsquo;m going to do. No I won&rsquo;t. But I&rsquo;m going
      out. Don&rsquo;t tell the others. And I say, Oswald, do pretend I&rsquo;m in if Eliza
      asks. Promise.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Tell me what you&rsquo;re going to do,&rsquo; I said. But she said &lsquo;No&rsquo;; and there
      was a good reason why not. So I said I wouldn&rsquo;t promise if it came to
      that. Of course I meant to all right. But it did seem mean of her not to
      tell me.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Alice went out by the side door while Eliza was setting tea, and she
      was a long time gone; she was not in to tea. When Eliza asked Oswald where
      she was he said he did not know, but perhaps she was tidying her corner
      drawer. Girls often do this, and it takes a long time. Noel coughed a good
      bit after tea, and asked for Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald told him she was doing something and it was a secret. Oswald did
      not tell any lies even to save his sister. When Alice came back she was
      very quiet, but she whispered to Oswald that it was all right. When it was
      rather late Eliza said she was going out to post a letter. This always
      takes her an hour, because she <i>will</i> go to the post-office across
      the Heath instead of the pillar-box, because once a boy dropped fusees in
      our pillar-box and burnt the letters. It was not any of us; Eliza told us
      about it. And when there was a knock at the door a long time after we
      thought it was Eliza come back, and that she had forgotten the back-door
      key. We made H. O. go down to open the door, because it is his place to
      run about: his legs are younger than ours. And we heard boots on the
      stairs besides H. O.&lsquo;s, and we listened spellbound till the door opened,
      and it was Albert&rsquo;s uncle. He looked very tired.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am glad you&rsquo;ve come,&rsquo; Oswald said. &lsquo;Alice began to think Noel&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice stopped me, and her face was very red, her nose was shiny too, with
      having cried so much before tea.
    </p>
    <p>
      She said, &lsquo;I only said I thought Noel ought to have the doctor. Don&rsquo;t you
      think he ought?&rsquo; She got hold of Albert&rsquo;s uncle and held on to him.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s have a look at you, young man,&rsquo; said Albert&rsquo;s uncle, and he sat
      down on the edge of the bed. It is a rather shaky bed, the bar that keeps
      it steady underneath got broken when we were playing burglars last winter.
      It was our crowbar. He began to feel Noel&rsquo;s pulse, and went on talking.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It was revealed to the Arab physician as he made merry in his tents on
      the wild plains of Hastings that the Presence had a cold in its head. So
      he immediately seated himself on the magic carpet, and bade it bear him
      hither, only pausing in the flight to purchase a few sweetmeats in the
      bazaar.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He pulled out a jolly lot of chocolate and some butterscotch, and grapes
      for Noel. When we had all said thank you, he went on.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The physician&rsquo;s are the words of wisdom: it&rsquo;s high time this kid was
      asleep. I have spoken. Ye have my leave to depart.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we bunked, and Dora and Albert&rsquo;s uncle made Noel comfortable for the
      night.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then they came to the nursery which we had gone down to, and he sat down
      in the Guy Fawkes chair and said, &lsquo;Now then.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice said, &lsquo;You may tell them what I did. I daresay they&rsquo;ll all be in a
      wax, but I don&rsquo;t care.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I think you were very wise,&rsquo; said Albert&rsquo;s uncle, pulling her close to
      him to sit on his knee. &lsquo;I am very glad you telegraphed.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So then Oswald understood what Alice&rsquo;s secret was. She had gone out and
      sent a telegram to Albert&rsquo;s uncle at Hastings. But Oswald thought she
      might have told him. Afterwards she told me what she had put in the
      telegram. It was, &lsquo;Come home. We have given Noel a cold, and I think we
      are killing him.&rsquo; With the address it came to tenpence-halfpenny.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Albert&rsquo;s uncle began to ask questions, and it all came out, how Dicky
      had tried to catch the cold, but the cold had gone to Noel instead, and
      about the medicines and all. Albert&rsquo;s uncle looked very serious.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Look here,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re old enough not to play the fool like this.
      Health is the best thing you&rsquo;ve got; you ought to know better than to risk
      it. You might have killed your little brother with your precious
      medicines. You&rsquo;ve had a lucky escape, certainly. But poor Noel!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, do you think he&rsquo;s going to die?&rsquo; Alice asked that, and she was crying
      again.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No, no,&rsquo; said Albert&rsquo;s uncle; &lsquo;but look here. Do you see how silly you&rsquo;ve
      been? And I thought you promised your Father&mdash;&rsquo; And then he gave us a
      long talking-to. He can make you feel most awfully small. At last he
      stopped, and we said we were very sorry, and he said, &lsquo;You know I promised
      to take you all to the pantomime?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we said, &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; and knew but too well that now he wasn&rsquo;t going to. Then
      he went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, I will take you if you like, or I will take Noel to the sea for a
      week to cure his cold. Which is it to be?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course he knew we should say, &lsquo;Take Noel&rsquo; and we did; but Dicky told me
      afterwards he thought it was hard on H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert&rsquo;s uncle stayed till Eliza came in, and then he said good night in a
      way that showed us that all was forgiven and forgotten.
    </p>
    <p>
      And we went to bed. It must have been the middle of the night when Oswald
      woke up suddenly, and there was Alice with her teeth chattering, shaking
      him to wake him.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, Oswald!&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;I am so unhappy. Suppose I should die in the
      night!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald told her to go to bed and not gas. But she said, &lsquo;I must tell you;
      I wish I&rsquo;d told Albert&rsquo;s uncle. I&rsquo;m a thief, and if I die to-night I know
      where thieves go to.&rsquo; So Oswald saw it was no good and he sat up in bed
      and said&mdash;&lsquo;Go ahead.&rsquo; So Alice stood shivering and said&mdash;&lsquo;I
      hadn&rsquo;t enough money for the telegram, so I took the bad sixpence out of
      the exchequer. And I paid for it with that and the fivepence I had. And I
      wouldn&rsquo;t tell you, because if you&rsquo;d stopped me doing it I couldn&rsquo;t have
      borne it; and if you&rsquo;d helped me you&rsquo;d have been a thief too. Oh, what
      shall I do?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald thought a minute, and then he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;d better have told me. But I think it will be all right if we pay it
      back. Go to bed. Cross with you? No, stupid! Only another time you&rsquo;d
      better not keep secrets.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So she kissed Oswald, and he let her, and she went back to bed.
    </p>
    <p>
      The next day Albert&rsquo;s uncle took Noel away, before Oswald had time to
      persuade Alice that we ought to tell him about the sixpence. Alice was
      very unhappy, but not so much as in the night: you can be very miserable
      in the night if you have done anything wrong and you happen to be awake. I
      know this for a fact.
    </p>
    <p>
      None of us had any money except Eliza, and she wouldn&rsquo;t give us any unless
      we said what for; and of course we could not do that because of the honour
      of the family. And Oswald was anxious to get the sixpence to give to the
      telegraph people because he feared that the badness of that sixpence might
      have been found out, and that the police might come for Alice at any
      moment. I don&rsquo;t think I ever had such an unhappy day. Of course we could
      have written to Albert&rsquo;s uncle, but it would have taken a long time, and
      every moment of delay added to Alice&rsquo;s danger. We thought and thought, but
      we couldn&rsquo;t think of any way to get that sixpence. It seems a small sum,
      but you see Alice&rsquo;s liberty depended on it. It was quite late in the
      afternoon when I met Mrs Leslie on the Parade. She had a brown fur coat
      and a lot of yellow flowers in her hands. She stopped to speak to me, and
      asked me how the Poet was. I told her he had a cold, and I wondered
      whether she would lend me sixpence if I asked her, but I could not make up
      my mind how to begin to say it. It is a hard thing to say&mdash;much
      harder than you would think. She talked to me for a bit, and then she
      suddenly got into a cab, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;d no idea it was so late,&rsquo; and told the man where to go. And just as
      she started she shoved the yellow flowers through the window and said,
      &lsquo;For the sick poet, with my love,&rsquo; and was driven off.
    </p>
    <p>
      Gentle reader, I will not conceal from you what Oswald did. He knew all
      about not disgracing the family, and he did not like doing what I am going
      to say: and they were really Noel&rsquo;s flowers, only he could not have sent
      them to Hastings, and Oswald knew he would say &lsquo;Yes&rsquo; if Oswald asked him.
      Oswald sacrificed his family pride because of his little sister&rsquo;s danger.
      I do not say he was a noble boy&mdash;I just tell you what he did, and you
      can decide for yourself about the nobleness.
    </p>
    <p>
      He put on his oldest clothes&mdash;they&rsquo;re much older than any you would
      think he had if you saw him when he was tidy&mdash;and he took those
      yellow chrysanthemums and he walked with them to Greenwich Station and
      waited for the trains bringing people from London. He sold those flowers
      in penny bunches and got tenpence. Then he went to the telegraph office at
      Lewisham, and said to the lady there:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A little girl gave you a bad sixpence yesterday. Here are six good
      pennies.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The lady said she had not noticed it, and never mind, but Oswald knew that
      &lsquo;Honesty is the best Policy&rsquo;, and he refused to take back the pennies. So
      at last she said she should put them in the plate on Sunday. She is a very
      nice lady. I like the way she does her hair.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Oswald went home to Alice and told her, and she hugged him, and said
      he was a dear, good, kind boy, and he said &lsquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all right.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We bought peppermint bullseyes with the fourpence I had over, and the
      others wanted to know where we got the money, but we would not tell.
    </p>
    <p>
      Only afterwards when Noel came home we told him, because they were his
      flowers, and he said it was quite right. He made some poetry about it. I
      only remember one bit of it.
    </p>
<pre>
    The noble youth of high degree
    Consents to play a menial part,
    All for his sister Alice&rsquo;s sake,
    Who was so dear to his faithful heart.
</pre>
    <p>
      But Oswald himself has never bragged about it. We got no treasure out of
      this, unless you count the peppermint bullseyes.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0013">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 13. THE ROBBER AND THE BURGLAR
    </h2>
    <p>
      A day or two after Noel came back from Hastings there was snow; it was
      jolly. And we cleared it off the path. A man to do it is sixpence at
      least, and you should always save when you can. A penny saved is a penny
      earned. And then we thought it would be nice to clear it off the top of
      the portico, where it lies so thick, and the edges as if they had been cut
      with a knife. And just as we had got out of the landing-window on to the
      portico, the Water Rates came up the path with his book that he tears the
      thing out of that says how much you have got to pay, and the little
      ink-bottle hung on to his buttonhole in case you should pay him. Father
      says the Water Rates is a sensible man, and knows it is always well to be
      prepared for whatever happens, however unlikely. Alice said afterwards
      that she rather liked the Water Rates, really, and Noel said he had a face
      like a good vizier, or the man who rewards the honest boy for restoring
      the purse, but we did not think about these things at the time, and as the
      Water Rates came up the steps, we shovelled down a great square slab of
      snow like an avalanche&mdash;and it fell right on his head. Two of us
      thought of it at the same moment, so it was quite a large avalanche. And
      when the Water Rates had shaken himself he rang the bell. It was Saturday,
      and Father was at home. We know now that it is very wrong and
      ungentlemanly to shovel snow off porticoes on to the Water Rates, or any
      other person, and we hope he did not catch a cold, and we are very sorry.
      We apologized to the Water Rates when Father told us to. We were all sent
      to bed for it.
    </p>
    <p>
      We all deserved the punishment, because the others would have shovelled
      down snow just as we did if they&rsquo;d thought of it&mdash;only they are not
      so quick at thinking of things as we are. And even quite wrong things
      sometimes lead to adventures; as every one knows who has ever read about
      pirates or highwaymen.
    </p>
    <p>
      Eliza hates us to be sent to bed early, because it means her having to
      bring meals up, and it means lighting the fire in Noel&rsquo;s room ever so much
      earlier than usual. He had to have a fire because he still had a bit of a
      cold. But this particular day we got Eliza into a good temper by giving
      her a horrid brooch with pretending amethysts in it, that an aunt once
      gave to Alice, so Eliza brought up an extra scuttle of coals, and when the
      greengrocer came with the potatoes (he is always late on Saturdays) she
      got some chestnuts from him. So that when we heard Father go out after his
      dinner, there was a jolly fire in Noel&rsquo;s room, and we were able to go in
      and be Red Indians in blankets most comfortably. Eliza had gone out; she
      says she gets things cheaper on Saturday nights. She has a great friend,
      who sells fish at a shop, and he is very generous, and lets her have
      herrings for less than half the natural price.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we were all alone in the house; Pincher was out with Eliza, and we
      talked about robbers. And Dora thought it would be a dreadful trade, but
      Dicky said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I think it would be very interesting. And you would only rob rich people,
      and be very generous to the poor and needy, like Claude Duval.&rsquo; Dora said,
      &lsquo;It is wrong to be a robber.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;you would never know a happy hour. Think of trying to
      sleep with the stolen jewels under your bed, and remembering all the
      quantities of policemen and detectives that there are in the world!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There are ways of being robbers that are not wrong,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;if you
      can rob a robber it is a right act.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;But you can&rsquo;t,&rsquo; said Dora; &lsquo;he is too clever, and besides, it&rsquo;s wrong
      anyway.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes you can, and it isn&rsquo;t; and murdering him with boiling oil is a right
      act, too, so there!&rsquo; said Noel. &lsquo;What about Ali Baba? Now then!&rsquo; And we
      felt it was a score for Noel.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What would you do if there <i>was</i> a robber?&rsquo; said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. said he would kill him with boiling oil; but Alice explained that
      she meant a real robber&mdash;now&mdash;this minute&mdash;in the house.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald and Dicky did not say; but Noel said he thought it would only be
      fair to ask the robber quite politely and quietly to go away, and then if
      he didn&rsquo;t you could deal with him.
    </p>
    <p>
      Now what I am going to tell you is a very strange and wonderful thing, and
      I hope you will be able to believe it. I should not, if a boy told me,
      unless I knew him to be a man of honour, and perhaps not then unless he
      gave his sacred word. But it is true, all the same, and it only shows that
      the days of romance and daring deeds are not yet at an end.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice was just asking Noel <i>how</i> he would deal with the robber who
      wouldn&rsquo;t go if he was asked politely and quietly, when we heard a noise
      downstairs&mdash;quite a plain noise, not the kind of noise you fancy you
      hear. It was like somebody moving a chair. We held our breath and listened
      and then came another noise, like some one poking a fire. Now, you
      remember there was no one <i>to</i> poke a fire or move a chair
      downstairs, because Eliza and Father were both out. They could not have
      come in without our hearing them, because the front door is as hard to
      shut as the back one, and whichever you go in by you have to give a slam
      that you can hear all down the street.
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. and Alice and Dora caught hold of each other&rsquo;s blankets and looked
      at Dicky and Oswald, and every one was quite pale. And Noel whispered&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s ghosts, I know it is&rsquo;&mdash;and then we listened again, but there
      was no more noise. Presently Dora said in a whisper&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Whatever shall we do? Oh, whatever shall we do&mdash;what <i>shall</i> we
      do?&rsquo; And she kept on saying it till we had to tell her to shut up.
    </p>
    <p>
      O reader, have you ever been playing Red Indians in blankets round a
      bedroom fire in a house where you thought there was no one but you&mdash;and
      then suddenly heard a noise like a chair, and a fire being poked,
      downstairs? Unless you have you will not be able to imagine at all what it
      feels like. It was not like in books; our hair did not stand on end at
      all, and we never said &lsquo;Hist!&rsquo; once, but our feet got very cold, though we
      were in blankets by the fire, and the insides of Oswald&rsquo;s hands got warm
      and wet, and his nose was cold like a dog&rsquo;s, and his ears were burning
      hot.
    </p>
    <p>
      The girls said afterwards that they shivered with terror, and their teeth
      chattered, but we did not see or hear this at the time.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Shall we open the window and call police?&rsquo; said Dora; and then Oswald
      suddenly thought of something, and he breathed more freely and he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I <i>know</i> it&rsquo;s not ghosts, and I don&rsquo;t believe it&rsquo;s robbers. I expect
      it&rsquo;s a stray cat got in when the coals came this morning, and she&rsquo;s been
      hiding in the cellar, and now she&rsquo;s moving about. Let&rsquo;s go down and see.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The girls wouldn&rsquo;t, of course; but I could see that they breathed more
      freely too. But Dicky said, &lsquo;All right; I will if you will.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      H. O. said, &lsquo;Do you think it&rsquo;s <i>really</i> a cat?&rsquo; So we said he had
      better stay with the girls. And of course after that we had to let him and
      Alice both come. Dora said if we took Noel down with his cold, she would
      scream &lsquo;Fire!&rsquo; and &lsquo;Murder!&rsquo; and she didn&rsquo;t mind if the whole street
      heard.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Noel agreed to be getting his clothes on, and the rest of us said we
      would go down and look for the cat.
    </p>
    <p>
      Now Oswald <i>said</i> that about the cat, and it made it easier to go
      down, but in his inside he did not feel at all sure that it might not be
      robbers after all. Of course, we had often talked about robbers before,
      but it is very different when you sit in a room and listen and listen and
      listen; and Oswald felt somehow that it would be easier to go down and see
      what it was, than to wait, and listen, and wait, and wait, and listen, and
      wait, and then perhaps to hear <i>it</i>, whatever it was, come creeping
      slowly up the stairs as softly as <i>it</i> could with <i>its</i> boots
      off, and the stairs creaking, towards the room where we were with the door
      open in case of Eliza coming back suddenly, and all dark on the landings.
      And then it would have been just as bad, and it would have lasted longer,
      and you would have known you were a coward besides. Dicky says he felt all
      these same things. Many people would say we were young heroes to go down
      as we did; so I have tried to explain, because no young hero wishes to
      have more credit than he deserves.
    </p>
    <p>
      The landing gas was turned down low&mdash;just a blue bead&mdash;and we
      four went out very softly, wrapped in our blankets, and we stood on the
      top of the stairs a good long time before we began to go down. And we
      listened and listened till our ears buzzed.
    </p>
    <p>
      And Oswald whispered to Dicky, and Dicky went into our room and fetched
      the large toy pistol that is a foot long, and that has the trigger broken,
      and I took it because I am the eldest; and I don&rsquo;t think either of us
      thought it was the cat now. But Alice and H. O. did. Dicky got the poker
      out of Noel&rsquo;s room, and told Dora it was to settle the cat with when we
      caught her.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Oswald whispered, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s play at burglars; Dicky and I are armed to
      the teeth, we will go first. You keep a flight behind us, and be a
      reinforcement if we are attacked. Or you can retreat and defend the women
      and children in the fortress, if you&rsquo;d rather.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But they said they would be a reinforcement.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald&rsquo;s teeth chattered a little when he spoke. It was not with anything
      else except cold.
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dicky and Oswald crept down, and when we got to the bottom of the
      stairs, we saw Father&rsquo;s study door just ajar, and the crack of light. And
      Oswald was so pleased to see the light, knowing that burglars prefer the
      dark, or at any rate the dark lantern, that he felt really sure it <i>was</i>
      the cat after all, and then he thought it would be fun to make the others
      upstairs think it was really a robber. So he cocked the pistol&mdash;you
      can cock it, but it doesn&rsquo;t go off&mdash;and he said, &lsquo;Come on, Dick!&rsquo; and
      he rushed at the study door and burst into the room, crying, &lsquo;Surrender!
      you are discovered! Surrender, or I fire! Throw up your hands!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And, as he finished saying it, he saw before him, standing on the study
      hearthrug, a Real Robber. There was no mistake about it. Oswald was sure
      it was a robber, because it had a screwdriver in its hands, and was
      standing near the cupboard door that H. O. broke the lock off; and there
      were gimlets and screws and things on the floor. There is nothing in that
      cupboard but old ledgers and magazines and the tool chest, but of course,
      a robber could not know that beforehand.
    </p>
    <p>
      When Oswald saw that there really was a robber, and that he was so heavily
      armed with the screwdriver, he did not feel comfortable. But he kept the
      pistol pointed at the robber, and&mdash;you will hardly believe it, but it
      is true&mdash;the robber threw down the screwdriver clattering on the
      other tools, and he <i>did</i> throw up his hands, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I surrender; don&rsquo;t shoot me! How many of you are there?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Dicky said, &lsquo;You are outnumbered. Are you armed?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And the robber said, &lsquo;No, not in the least.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Oswald said, still pointing the pistol, and feeling very strong and
      brave and as if he was in a book, &lsquo;Turn out your pockets.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The robber did: and while he turned them out, we looked at him. He was of
      the middle height, and clad in a black frock-coat and grey trousers. His
      boots were a little gone at the sides, and his shirt-cuffs were a bit
      frayed, but otherwise he was of gentlemanly demeanour. He had a thin,
      wrinkled face, with big, light eyes that sparkled, and then looked soft
      very queerly, and a short beard. In his youth it must have been of a fair
      golden colour, but now it was tinged with grey. Oswald was sorry for him,
      especially when he saw that one of his pockets had a large hole in it, and
      that he had nothing in his pockets but letters and string and three boxes
      of matches, and a pipe and a handkerchief and a thin tobacco pouch and two
      pennies. We made him put all the things on the table, and then he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, you&rsquo;ve caught me; what are you going to do with me? Police?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice and H. O. had come down to be reinforcements, when they heard a
      shout, and when Alice saw that it was a Real Robber, and that he had
      surrendered, she clapped her hands and said, &lsquo;Bravo, boys!&rsquo; and so did H.
      O. And now she said, &lsquo;If he gives his word of honour not to escape, I
      shouldn&rsquo;t call the police: it seems a pity. Wait till Father comes home.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The robber agreed to this, and gave his word of honour, and asked if he
      might put on a pipe, and we said &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; and he sat in Father&rsquo;s armchair
      and warmed his boots, which steamed, and I sent H. O. and Alice to put on
      some clothes and tell the others, and bring down Dicky&rsquo;s and my
      knickerbockers, and the rest of the chestnuts.
    </p>
    <p>
      And they all came, and we sat round the fire, and it was jolly. The robber
      was very friendly, and talked to us a great deal.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I wasn&rsquo;t always in this low way of business,&rsquo; he said, when Noel said
      something about the things he had turned out of his pockets. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s a great
      come-down to a man like me. But, if I must be caught, it&rsquo;s something to be
      caught by brave young heroes like you. My stars! How you did bolt into the
      room,&mdash;&ldquo;Surrender, and up with your hands!&rdquo; You might have been born
      and bred to the thief-catching.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald is sorry if it was mean, but he could not own up just then that he
      did not think there was any one in the study when he did that brave if
      rash act. He has told since.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And what made you think there was any one in the house?&rsquo; the robber
      asked, when he had thrown his head back, and laughed for quite half a
      minute. So we told him. And he applauded our valour, and Alice and H. O.
      explained that they would have said &lsquo;Surrender,&rsquo; too, only they were
      reinforcements. The robber ate some of the chestnuts&mdash;and we sat and
      wondered when Father would come home, and what he would say to us for our
      intrepid conduct. And the robber told us of all the things he had done
      before he began to break into houses. Dicky picked up the tools from the
      floor, and suddenly he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Why, this is Father&rsquo;s screwdriver and his gimlets, and all! Well, I do
      call it jolly cheek to pick a man&rsquo;s locks with his own tools!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;True, true,&rsquo; said the robber. &lsquo;It is cheek, of the jolliest! But you see
      I&rsquo;ve come down in the world. I was a highway robber once, but horses are
      so expensive to hire&mdash;five shillings an hour, you know&mdash;and I
      couldn&rsquo;t afford to keep them. The highwayman business isn&rsquo;t what it was.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What about a bike?&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      But the robber thought cycles were low&mdash;and besides you couldn&rsquo;t go
      across country with them when occasion arose, as you could with a trusty
      steed. And he talked of highwaymen as if he knew just how we liked hearing
      it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he told us how he had been a pirate captain&mdash;and how he had
      sailed over waves mountains high, and gained rich prizes&mdash;and how he
      <i>did</i> begin to think that here he had found a profession to his mind.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t say there are no ups and downs in it,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;especially in
      stormy weather. But what a trade! And a sword at your side, and the Jolly
      Roger flying at the peak, and a prize in sight. And all the black mouths
      of your guns pointed at the laden trader&mdash;and the wind in your
      favour, and your trusty crew ready to live and die for you! Oh&mdash;but
      it&rsquo;s a grand life!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I did feel so sorry for him. He used such nice words, and he had a
      gentleman&rsquo;s voice.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure you weren&rsquo;t brought up to be a pirate,&rsquo; said Dora. She had
      dressed even to her collar&mdash;and made Noel do it too&mdash;but the
      rest of us were in blankets with just a few odd things put on anyhow
      underneath.
    </p>
    <p>
      The robber frowned and sighed.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;I was brought up to the law. I was at Balliol, bless your
      hearts, and that&rsquo;s true anyway.&rsquo; He sighed again, and looked hard at the
      fire.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;That was my Father&rsquo;s college,&rsquo; H. O. was beginning, but Dicky said&mdash;&lsquo;Why
      did you leave off being a pirate?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A pirate?&rsquo; he said, as if he had not been thinking of such things.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, yes; why I gave it up because&mdash;because I could not get over the
      dreadful sea-sickness.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Nelson was sea-sick,&rsquo; said Oswald.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Ah,&rsquo; said the robber; &lsquo;but I hadn&rsquo;t his luck or his pluck, or something.
      He stuck to it and won Trafalgar, didn&rsquo;t he? &ldquo;Kiss me, Hardy&rdquo;&mdash;and
      all that, eh? <i>I</i> couldn&rsquo;t stick to it&mdash;I had to resign. And
      nobody kissed <i>me</i>.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I saw by his understanding about Nelson that he was really a man who had
      been to a good school as well as to Balliol.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we asked him, &lsquo;And what did you do then?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice asked if he was ever a coiner, and we told him how we had
      thought we&rsquo;d caught the desperate gang next door, and he was very much
      interested and said he was glad he had never taken to coining.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Besides, the coins are so ugly nowadays,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;no one could really
      find any pleasure in making them. And it&rsquo;s a hole-and-corner business at
      the best, isn&rsquo;t it?&mdash;and it must be a very thirsty one&mdash;with the
      hot metal and furnaces and things.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And again he looked at the fire.
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald forgot for a minute that the interesting stranger was a robber, and
      asked him if he wouldn&rsquo;t have a drink. Oswald has heard Father do this to
      his friends, so he knows it is the right thing. The robber said he didn&rsquo;t
      mind if he did. And that is right, too.
    </p>
    <p>
      And Dora went and got a bottle of Father&rsquo;s ale&mdash;the Light Sparkling
      Family&mdash;and a glass, and we gave it to the robber. Dora said she
      would be responsible.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then when he had had a drink he told us about bandits, but he said it was
      so bad in wet weather. Bandits&rsquo; caves were hardly ever properly
      weathertight. And bush-ranging was the same.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;As a matter of fact,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;I was bush-ranging this afternoon, among
      the furze-bushes on the Heath, but I had no luck. I stopped the Lord Mayor
      in his gilt coach, with all his footmen in plush and gold lace, smart as
      cockatoos. But it was no go. The Lord Mayor hadn&rsquo;t a stiver in his
      pockets. One of the footmen had six new pennies: the Lord Mayor always
      pays his servants&rsquo; wages in new pennies. I spent fourpence of that in
      bread and cheese, that on the table&rsquo;s the tuppence. Ah, it&rsquo;s a poor
      trade!&rsquo; And then he filled his pipe again.
    </p>
    <p>
      We had turned out the gas, so that Father should have a jolly good
      surprise when he did come home, and we sat and talked as pleasant as could
      be. I never liked a new man better than I liked that robber. And I felt so
      sorry for him. He told us he had been a war-correspondent and an editor,
      in happier days, as well as a horse-stealer and a colonel of dragoons.
    </p>
    <p>
      And quite suddenly, just as we were telling him about Lord Tottenham and
      our being highwaymen ourselves, he put up his hand and said &lsquo;Shish!&rsquo; and
      we were quiet and listened.
    </p>
    <p>
      There was a scrape, scrape, scraping noise; it came from downstairs.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;They&rsquo;re filing something,&rsquo; whispered the robber, &lsquo;here&mdash;shut up,
      give me that pistol, and the poker. There is a burglar now, and no
      mistake.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s only a toy one and it won&rsquo;t go off,&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;but you can cock it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we heard a snap. &lsquo;There goes the window bar,&rsquo; said the robber softly.
      &lsquo;Jove! what an adventure! You kids stay here, I&rsquo;ll tackle it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Dicky and I said we should come. So he let us go as far as the bottom
      of the kitchen stairs, and we took the tongs and shovel with us. There was
      a light in the kitchen; a very little light. It is curious we never
      thought, any of us, that this might be a plant of our robber&rsquo;s to get
      away. We never thought of doubting his word of honour. And we were right.
    </p>
    <p>
      That noble robber dashed the kitchen door open, and rushed in with the big
      toy pistol in one hand and the poker in the other, shouting out just like
      Oswald had done&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Surrender! You are discovered! Surrender, or I&rsquo;ll fire! Throw up your
      hands!&rsquo; And Dicky and I rattled the tongs and shovel so that he might know
      there were more of us, all bristling with weapons.
    </p>
    <p>
      And we heard a husky voice in the kitchen saying&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;All right, governor! Stow that scent sprinkler. I&rsquo;ll give in. Blowed if I
      ain&rsquo;t pretty well sick of the job, anyway.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we went in. Our robber was standing in the grandest manner with his
      legs very wide apart, and the pistol pointing at the cowering burglar. The
      burglar was a large man who did not mean to have a beard, I think, but he
      had got some of one, and a red comforter, and a fur cap, and his face was
      red and his voice was thick. How different from our own robber! The
      burglar had a dark lantern, and he was standing by the plate-basket. When
      we had lit the gas we all thought he was very like what a burglar ought to
      be.
    </p>
    <p>
      He did not look as if he could ever have been a pirate or a highwayman, or
      anything really dashing or noble, and he scowled and shuffled his feet and
      said: &lsquo;Well, go on: why don&rsquo;t yer fetch the pleece?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Upon my word, I don&rsquo;t know,&rsquo; said our robber, rubbing his chin. &lsquo;Oswald,
      why don&rsquo;t we fetch the police?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      It is not every robber that I would stand Christian names from, I can tell
      you but just then I didn&rsquo;t think of that. I just said&mdash;&lsquo;Do you mean
      I&rsquo;m to fetch one?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Our robber looked at the burglar and said nothing.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the burglar began to speak very fast, and to look different ways with
      his hard, shiny little eyes.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Lookee &lsquo;ere, governor,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;I was stony broke, so help me, I was.
      And blessed if I&rsquo;ve nicked a haporth of your little lot. You know yourself
      there ain&rsquo;t much to tempt a bloke,&rsquo; he shook the plate-basket as if he was
      angry with it, and the yellowy spoons and forks rattled. &lsquo;I was just
      a-looking through this &lsquo;ere Bank-ollerday show, when you come. Let me off,
      sir. Come now, I&rsquo;ve got kids of my own at home, strike me if I ain&rsquo;t&mdash;same
      as yours&mdash;I&rsquo;ve got a nipper just about &lsquo;is size, and what&rsquo;ll come of
      them if I&rsquo;m lagged? I ain&rsquo;t been in it long, sir, and I ain&rsquo;t &lsquo;andy at
      it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No,&rsquo; said our robber; &lsquo;you certainly are not.&rsquo; Alice and the others had
      come down by now to see what was happening. Alice told me afterwards they
      thought it really was the cat this time.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No, I ain&rsquo;t &lsquo;andy, as you say, sir, and if you let me off this once I&rsquo;ll
      chuck the whole blooming bizz; rake my civvy, I will. Don&rsquo;t be hard on a
      cove, mister; think of the missis and the kids. I&rsquo;ve got one just the cut
      of little missy there bless &lsquo;er pretty &lsquo;eart.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Your family certainly fits your circumstances very nicely,&rsquo; said our
      robber. Then Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oh, do let him go! If he&rsquo;s got a little girl like me, whatever will she
      do? Suppose it was Father!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s got a little girl like you, my dear,&rsquo; said our robber,
      &lsquo;and I think he&rsquo;ll be safer under lock and key.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You ask yer Father to let me go, miss,&rsquo; said the burglar; &lsquo;&rsquo;e won&rsquo;t &lsquo;ave
      the &lsquo;art to refuse you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;If I do,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;will you promise never to come back?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Not me, miss,&rsquo; the burglar said very earnestly, and he looked at the
      plate-basket again, as if that alone would be enough to keep him away, our
      robber said afterwards.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And will you be good and not rob any more?&rsquo; said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll turn over a noo leaf, miss, so help me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice said&mdash;&lsquo;Oh, do let him go! I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll be good.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But our robber said no, it wouldn&rsquo;t be right; we must wait till Father
      came home. Then H. O. said, very suddenly and plainly:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s at all fair, when you&rsquo;re a robber yourself.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The minute he&rsquo;d said it the burglar said, &lsquo;Kidded, by gum!&rsquo;&mdash;and then
      our robber made a step towards him to catch hold of him, and before you
      had time to think &lsquo;Hullo!&rsquo; the burglar knocked the pistol up with one hand
      and knocked our robber down with the other, and was off out of the window
      like a shot, though Oswald and Dicky did try to stop him by holding on to
      his legs.
    </p>
    <p>
      And that burglar had the cheek to put his head in at the window and say,
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll give yer love to the kids and the missis&rsquo;&mdash;and he was off like
      winking, and there were Alice and Dora trying to pick up our robber, and
      asking him whether he was hurt, and where. He wasn&rsquo;t hurt at all, except a
      lump at the back of his head. And he got up, and we dusted the kitchen
      floor off him. Eliza is a dirty girl.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he said, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s put up the shutters. It never rains but it pours. Now
      you&rsquo;ve had two burglars I daresay you&rsquo;ll have twenty.&rsquo; So we put up the
      shutters, which Eliza has strict orders to do before she goes out, only
      she never does, and we went back to Father&rsquo;s study, and the robber said,
      &lsquo;What a night we are having!&rsquo; and put his boots back in the fender to go
      on steaming, and then we all talked at once. It was the most wonderful
      adventure we ever had, though it wasn&rsquo;t treasure-seeking&mdash;at least
      not ours. I suppose it was the burglar&rsquo;s treasure-seeking, but he didn&rsquo;t
      get much&mdash;and our robber said he didn&rsquo;t believe a word about those
      kids that were so like Alice and me.
    </p>
    <p>
      And then there was the click of the gate, and we said, &lsquo;Here&rsquo;s Father,&rsquo;
      and the robber said, &lsquo;And now for the police.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we all jumped up. We did like him so much, and it seemed so unfair
      that he should be sent to prison, and the horrid, lumping big burglar not.
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice said, &lsquo;Oh, <i>no</i>&mdash;run! Dicky will let you out at the
      back door. Oh, do go, go <i>now</i>.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we all said, &lsquo;Yes, <i>go</i>,&rsquo; and pulled him towards the door, and
      gave him his hat and stick and the things out of his pockets.
    </p>
    <p>
      But Father&rsquo;s latchkey was in the door, and it was too late.
    </p>
    <p>
      Father came in quickly, purring with the cold, and began to say, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s all
      right, Foulkes, I&rsquo;ve got&mdash;&rsquo; And then he stopped short and stared at
      us. Then he said, in the voice we all hate, &lsquo;Children, what is the meaning
      of all this?&rsquo; And for a minute nobody spoke.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then my Father said, &lsquo;Foulkes, I must really apologize for these very
      naughty&mdash;&rsquo; And then our robber rubbed his hands and laughed, and
      cried out:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;re mistaken, my dear sir, I&rsquo;m not Foulkes; I&rsquo;m a robber, captured by
      these young people in the most gallant manner. &ldquo;Hands up, surrender, or I
      fire,&rdquo; and all the rest of it. My word, Bastable, but you&rsquo;ve got some kids
      worth having! I wish my Denny had their pluck.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we began to understand, and it was like being knocked down, it was so
      sudden. And our robber told us he wasn&rsquo;t a robber after all. He was only
      an old college friend of my Father&rsquo;s, and he had come after dinner, when
      Father was just trying to mend the lock H. O. had broken, to ask Father to
      get him a letter to a doctor about his little boy Denny, who was ill. And
      Father had gone over the Heath to Vanbrugh Park to see some rich people he
      knows and get the letter. And he had left Mr Foulkes to wait till he came
      back, because it was important to know at once whether Father could get
      the letter, and if he couldn&rsquo;t Mr Foulkes would have had to try some one
      else directly.
    </p>
    <p>
      We were dumb with amazement.
    </p>
    <p>
      Our robber told my Father about the other burglar, and said he was sorry
      he&rsquo;d let him escape, but my Father said, &lsquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s all right: poor beggar;
      if he really had kids at home: you never can tell&mdash;forgive us our
      debts, don&rsquo;t you know; but tell me about the first business. It must have
      been moderately entertaining.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then our robber told my Father how I had rushed into the room with a
      pistol, crying out... but you know all about that. And he laid it on so
      thick and fat about plucky young-uns, and chips of old blocks, and things
      like that, that I felt I was purple with shame, even under the blanket. So
      I swallowed that thing that tries to prevent you speaking when you ought
      to, and I said, &lsquo;Look here, Father, I didn&rsquo;t really think there was any
      one in the study. We thought it was a cat at first, and then I thought
      there was no one there, and I was just larking. And when I said surrender
      and all that, it was just the game, don&rsquo;t you know?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then our robber said, &lsquo;Yes, old chap; but when you found there really <i>was</i>
      someone there, you dropped the pistol and bunked, didn&rsquo;t you, eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I said, &lsquo;No; I thought, &ldquo;Hullo! here&rsquo;s a robber! Well, it&rsquo;s all up, I
      suppose, but I may as well hold on and see what happens.&rdquo;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I was glad I&rsquo;d owned up, for Father slapped me on the back, and said I
      was a young brick, and our robber said I was no funk anyway, and though I
      got very hot under the blanket I liked it, and I explained that the others
      would have done the same if they had thought of it.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Father got up some more beer, and laughed about Dora&rsquo;s
      responsibility, and he got out a box of figs he had bought for us, only he
      hadn&rsquo;t given it to us because of the Water Rates, and Eliza came in and
      brought up the bread and cheese, and what there was left of the neck of
      mutton&mdash;cold wreck of mutton, Father called it&mdash;and we had a
      feast&mdash;like a picnic&mdash;all sitting anywhere, and eating with our
      fingers. It was prime. We sat up till past twelve o&rsquo;clock, and I never
      felt so pleased to think I was not born a girl. It was hard on the others;
      they would have done just the same if they&rsquo;d thought of it. But it does
      make you feel jolly when your pater says you&rsquo;re a young brick!
    </p>
    <p>
      When Mr Foulkes was going, he said to Alice, &lsquo;Good-bye, Hardy.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice understood, of course, and kissed him as hard as she could.
    </p>
    <p>
      And she said, &lsquo;I wanted to, when you said no one kissed you when you left
      off being a pirate.&rsquo; And he said, &lsquo;I know you did, my dear.&rsquo; And Dora
      kissed him too, and said, &lsquo;I suppose none of these tales were true?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And our robber just said, &lsquo;I tried to play the part properly, my dear.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And he jolly well did play it, and no mistake. We have often seen him
      since, and his boy Denny, and his girl Daisy, but that comes in another
      story.
    </p>
    <p>
      And if any of you kids who read this ever had two such adventures in one
      night you can just write and tell me. That&rsquo;s all.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0014">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 14. THE DIVINING-ROD
    </h2>
    <p>
      You have no idea how uncomfortable the house was on the day when we sought
      for gold with the divining-rod. It was like a spring-cleaning in the
      winter-time. All the carpets were up, because Father had told Eliza to
      make the place decent as there was a gentleman coming to dinner the next
      day. So she got in a charwoman, and they slopped water about, and left
      brooms and brushes on the stairs for people to tumble over. H. O. got a
      big bump on his head in that way, and when he said it was too bad, Eliza
      said he should keep in the nursery then, and not be where he&rsquo;d no
      business. We bandaged his head with a towel, and then he stopped crying
      and played at being England&rsquo;s wounded hero dying in the cockpit, while
      every man was doing his duty, as the hero had told them to, and Alice was
      Hardy, and I was the doctor, and the others were the crew. Playing at
      Hardy made us think of our own dear robber, and we wished he was there,
      and wondered if we should ever see him any more.
    </p>
    <p>
      We were rather astonished at Father&rsquo;s having anyone to dinner, because now
      he never seems to think of anything but business. Before Mother died
      people often came to dinner, and Father&rsquo;s business did not take up so much
      of his time and was not the bother it is now. And we used to see who could
      go furthest down in our nightgowns and get nice things to eat, without
      being seen, out of the dishes as they came out of the dining-room. Eliza
      can&rsquo;t cook very nice things. She told Father she was a good plain cook,
      but he says it was a fancy portrait. We stayed in the nursery till the
      charwoman came in and told us to be off&mdash;she was going to make one
      job of it, and have our carpet up as well as all the others, now the man
      was here to beat them. It came up, and it was very dusty&mdash;and under
      it we found my threepenny-bit that I lost ages ago, which shows what Eliza
      is. H. O. had got tired of being the wounded hero, and Dicky was so tired
      of doing nothing that Dora said she knew he&rsquo;d begin to tease Noel in a
      minute; then of course Dicky said he wasn&rsquo;t going to tease anybody&mdash;he
      was going out to the Heath. He said he&rsquo;d heard that nagging women drove a
      man from his home, and now he found it was quite true. Oswald always tries
      to be a peacemaker, so he told Dicky to shut up and not make an ass of
      himself. And Alice said, &lsquo;Well, Dora began&rsquo;&mdash;And Dora tossed her chin
      up and said it wasn&rsquo;t any business of Oswald&rsquo;s any way, and no one asked
      Alice&rsquo;s opinion. So we all felt very uncomfortable till Noel said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t
      let&rsquo;s quarrel about nothing. You know let dogs delight&mdash;and I made up
      another piece while you were talking&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    Quarrelling is an evil thing,
    It fills with gall life&rsquo;s cup;
    For when once you begin
    It takes such a long time to make it up.&rsquo;
</pre>
    <p>
      We all laughed then and stopped jawing at each other. Noel is very funny
      with his poetry. But that piece happened to come out quite true. You begin
      to quarrel and then you can&rsquo;t stop; often, long before the others are
      ready to cry and make it up, I see how silly it is, and I want to laugh;
      but it doesn&rsquo;t do to say so&mdash;for it only makes the others crosser
      than they were before. I wonder why that is?
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice said Noel ought to be poet laureate, and she actually went out in
      the cold and got some laurel leaves&mdash;the spotted kind&mdash;out of
      the garden, and Dora made a crown and we put it on him. He was quite
      pleased; but the leaves made a mess, and Eliza said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t.&rsquo; I believe
      that&rsquo;s a word grown-ups use more than any other. Then suddenly Alice
      thought of that old idea of hers for finding treasure, and she said&mdash;&lsquo;Do
      let&rsquo;s try the divining-rod.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Oswald said, &lsquo;Fair priestess, we do greatly desire to find gold beneath
      our land, therefore we pray thee practise with the divining-rod, and tell
      us where we can find it.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Do ye desire to fashion of it helms and hauberks?&rsquo; said Alice.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; said Noel; &lsquo;and chains and ouches.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I bet you don&rsquo;t know what an &ldquo;ouch&rdquo; is,&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes I do, so there!&rsquo; said Noel. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s a carcanet. I looked it out in the
      dicker, now then!&rsquo; We asked him what a carcanet was, but he wouldn&rsquo;t say.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And we want to make fair goblets of the gold,&rsquo; said Oswald.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes, to drink coconut milk out of,&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And we desire to build fair palaces of it,&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And to buy things,&rsquo; said Dora; &lsquo;a great many things. New Sunday frocks
      and hats and kid gloves and&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      She would have gone on for ever so long only we reminded her that we
      hadn&rsquo;t found the gold yet.
    </p>
    <p>
      By this Alice had put on the nursery tablecloth, which is green, and tied
      the old blue and yellow antimacassar over her head, and she said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;If your intentions are correct, fear nothing and follow me.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And she went down into the hall. We all followed chanting &lsquo;Heroes.&rsquo; It is
      a gloomy thing the girls learnt at the High School, and we always use it
      when we want a priestly chant.
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice stopped short by the hat-stand, and held up her hands as well as she
      could for the tablecloth, and said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Now, great altar of the golden idol, yield me the divining-rod that I may
      use it for the good of the suffering people.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The umbrella-stand was the altar of the golden idol, and it yielded her
      the old school umbrella. She carried it between her palms.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Now,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;I shall sing the magic chant. You mustn&rsquo;t say anything,
      but just follow wherever I go&mdash;like follow my leader, you know&mdash;and
      when there is gold underneath the magic rod will twist in the hand of the
      priestess like a live thing that seeks to be free. Then you will dig, and
      the golden treasure will be revealed. H. O., if you make that clatter with
      your boots they&rsquo;ll come and tell us not to. Now come on all of you.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So she went upstairs and down and into every room. We followed her on
      tiptoe, and Alice sang as she went. What she sang is not out of a book&mdash;Noel
      made it up while she was dressing up for the priestess.
    </p>
<pre>
    Ashen rod cold
    That here I hold,
    Teach me where to find the gold.
</pre>
    <p>
      When we came to where Eliza was, she said, &lsquo;Get along with you&rsquo;; but Dora
      said it was only a game, and we wouldn&rsquo;t touch anything, and our boots
      were quite clean, and Eliza might as well let us. So she did.
    </p>
    <p>
      It was all right for the priestess, but it was a little dull for the rest
      of us, because she wouldn&rsquo;t let us sing, too; so we said we&rsquo;d had enough
      of it, and if she couldn&rsquo;t find the gold we&rsquo;d leave off and play something
      else. The priestess said, &lsquo;All right, wait a minute,&rsquo; and went on singing.
      Then we all followed her back into the nursery, where the carpet was up
      and the boards smelt of soft soap. Then she said, &lsquo;It moves, it moves!
      Once more the choral hymn!&rsquo; So we sang &lsquo;Heroes&rsquo; again, and in the middle
      the umbrella dropped from her hands.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The magic rod has spoken,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;dig here, and that with courage
      and despatch.&rsquo; We didn&rsquo;t quite see how to dig, but we all began to scratch
      on the floor with our hands, but the priestess said, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be so silly!
      It&rsquo;s the place where they come to do the gas. The board&rsquo;s loose. Dig an
      you value your lives, for ere sundown the dragon who guards this spoil
      will return in his fiery fury and make you his unresisting prey.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So we dug&mdash;that is, we got the loose board up. And Alice threw up her
      arms and cried&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;See the rich treasure&mdash;the gold in thick layers, with silver and
      diamonds stuck in it!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Like currants in cake,&rsquo; said H. O.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s a lovely treasure,&rsquo; said Dicky yawning. &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s come back and carry
      it away another day.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Alice was kneeling by the hole.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let me feast my eyes on the golden splendour,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;hidden these
      long centuries from the human eye. Behold how the magic rod has led us to
      treasures more&mdash;Oswald, don&rsquo;t push so!&mdash;more bright than ever
      monarch&mdash;I say, there <i>is</i> something down there, really. I saw
      it shine!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We thought she was kidding, but when she began to try to get into the
      hole, which was much too small, we saw she meant it, so I said, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s
      have a squint,&rsquo; and I looked, but I couldn&rsquo;t see anything, even when I lay
      down on my stomach. The others lay down on their stomachs too and tried to
      see, all but Noel, who stood and looked at us and said we were the great
      serpents come down to drink at the magic pool. He wanted to be the knight
      and slay the great serpents with his good sword&mdash;he even drew the
      umbrella ready&mdash;but Alice said, &lsquo;All right, we will in a minute. But
      now&mdash;I&rsquo;m sure I saw it; do get a match, Noel, there&rsquo;s a dear.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;What did you see?&rsquo; asked Noel, beginning to go for the matches very
      slowly.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Something bright, away in the corner under the board against the beam.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Perhaps it was a rat&rsquo;s eye,&rsquo; Noel said, &lsquo;or a snake&rsquo;s,&rsquo; and we did not
      put our heads quite so close to the hole till he came back with the
      matches.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then I struck a match, and Alice cried, &lsquo;There it is!&rsquo; And there it was,
      and it was a half-sovereign, partly dusty and partly bright. We think
      perhaps a mouse, disturbed by the carpets being taken up, may have brushed
      the dust of years from part of the half-sovereign with his tail. We can&rsquo;t
      imagine how it came there, only Dora thinks she remembers once when H. O.
      was very little Mother gave him some money to hold, and he dropped it, and
      it rolled all over the floor. So we think perhaps this was part of it. We
      were very glad. H. O. wanted to go out at once and buy a mask he had seen
      for fourpence. It had been a shilling mask, but now it was going very
      cheap because Guy Fawkes&rsquo; Day was over, and it was a little cracked at the
      top. But Dora said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know that it&rsquo;s our money. Let&rsquo;s wait and ask
      Father.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But H. O. did not care about waiting, and I felt for him. Dora is rather
      like grown-ups in that way; she does not seem to understand that when you
      want a thing you do want it, and that you don&rsquo;t wish to wait, even a
      minute.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we went and asked Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle. He was pegging away at one
      of the rotten novels he has to write to make his living, but he said we
      weren&rsquo;t interrupting him at all.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;My hero&rsquo;s folly has involved him in a difficulty,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;It is his
      own fault. I will leave him to meditate on the incredible fatuity&mdash;the
      hare-brained recklessness&mdash;which have brought him to this pass. It
      will be a lesson to him. I, meantime, will give myself unreservedly to the
      pleasures of your conversation.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      That&rsquo;s one thing I like Albert&rsquo;s uncle for. He always talks like a book,
      and yet you can always understand what he means. I think he is more like
      us, inside of his mind, than most grown-up people are. He can pretend
      beautifully. I never met anyone else so good at it, except our robber, and
      we began it, with him. But it was Albert&rsquo;s uncle who first taught us how
      to make people talk like books when you&rsquo;re playing things, and he made us
      learn to tell a story straight from the beginning, not starting in the
      middle like most people do. So now Oswald remembered what he had been
      told, as he generally does, and began at the beginning, but when he came
      to where Alice said she was the priestess, Albert&rsquo;s uncle said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let the priestess herself set forth the tale in fitting speech.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So Alice said, &lsquo;O high priest of the great idol, the humblest of thy
      slaves took the school umbrella for a divining-rod, and sang the song of
      inver&mdash;what&rsquo;s-it&rsquo;s-name?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Invocation perhaps?&rsquo; said Albert&rsquo;s uncle. &lsquo;Yes; and then I went about and
      about and the others got tired, so the divining-rod fell on a certain
      spot, and I said, &ldquo;Dig&rdquo;, and we dug&mdash;it was where the loose board is
      for the gas men&mdash;and then there really and truly was a half-sovereign
      lying under the boards, and here it is.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Albert&rsquo;s uncle took it and looked at it.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The great high priest will bite it to see if it&rsquo;s good,&rsquo; he said, and he
      did. &lsquo;I congratulate you,&rsquo; he went on; &lsquo;you are indeed among those
      favoured by the Immortals. First you find half-crowns in the garden, and
      now this. The high priest advises you to tell your Father, and ask if you
      may keep it. My hero has become penitent, but impatient. I must pull him
      out of this scrape. Ye have my leave to depart.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course we know from Kipling that that means, &lsquo;You&rsquo;d better bunk, and be
      sharp about it,&rsquo; so we came away. I do like Albert&rsquo;s uncle.
    </p>
    <p>
      I shall be like that when I&rsquo;m a man. He gave us our Jungle books, and he
      is awfully clever, though he does have to write grown-up tales.
    </p>
    <p>
      We told Father about it that night. He was very kind. He said we might
      certainly have the half-sovereign, and he hoped we should enjoy ourselves
      with our treasure-trove.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he said, &lsquo;Your dear Mother&rsquo;s Indian Uncle is coming to dinner here
      to-morrow night. So will you not drag the furniture about overhead,
      please, more than you&rsquo;re absolutely obliged; and H. O. might wear slippers
      or something. I can always distinguish the note of H. O.&lsquo;s boots.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We said we would be very quiet, and Father went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;This Indian Uncle is not used to children, and he is coming to talk
      business with me. It is really important that he should be quiet. Do you
      think, Dora, that perhaps bed at six for H. O. and Noel&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But H. O. said, &lsquo;Father, I really and truly won&rsquo;t make a noise. I&rsquo;ll stand
      on my head all the evening sooner than disturb the Indian Uncle with my
      boots.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Alice said Noel never made a row anyhow. So Father laughed and said,
      &lsquo;All right.&rsquo; And he said we might do as we liked with the half-sovereign.
      &lsquo;Only for goodness&rsquo; sake don&rsquo;t try to go in for business with it,&rsquo; he
      said. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s always a mistake to go into business with an insufficient
      capital.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We talked it over all that evening, and we decided that as we were not to
      go into business with our half-sovereign it was no use not spending it at
      once, and so we might as well have a right royal feast. The next day we
      went out and bought the things. We got figs, and almonds and raisins, and
      a real raw rabbit, and Eliza promised to cook it for us if we would wait
      till tomorrow, because of the Indian Uncle coming to dinner. She was very
      busy cooking nice things for him to eat. We got the rabbit because we are
      so tired of beef and mutton, and Father hasn&rsquo;t a bill at the poultry shop.
      And we got some flowers to go on the dinner-table for Father&rsquo;s party. And
      we got hardbake and raspberry noyau and peppermint rock and oranges and a
      coconut, with other nice things. We put it all in the top long drawer. It
      is H. O.&lsquo;s play drawer, and we made him turn his things out and put them
      in Father&rsquo;s old portmanteau. H. O. is getting old enough now to learn to
      be unselfish, and besides, his drawer wanted tidying very badly. Then we
      all vowed by the honour of the ancient House of Bastable that we would not
      touch any of the feast till Dora gave the word next day. And we gave H. O.
      some of the hardbake, to make it easier for him to keep his vow. The next
      day was the most rememorable day in all our lives, but we didn&rsquo;t know that
      then. But that is another story. I think that is such a useful way to know
      when you can&rsquo;t think how to end up a chapter. I learnt it from another
      writer named Kipling. I&rsquo;ve mentioned him before, I believe, but he
      deserves it!
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0015">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 15. &lsquo;LO, THE POOR INDIAN!&rsquo;
    </h2>
    <p>
      It was all very well for Father to ask us not to make a row because the
      Indian Uncle was coming to talk business, but my young brother&rsquo;s boots are
      not the only things that make a noise. We took his boots away and made him
      wear Dora&rsquo;s bath slippers, which are soft and woolly, and hardly any soles
      to them; and of course we wanted to see the Uncle, so we looked over the
      banisters when he came, and we were as quiet as mice&mdash;but when Eliza
      had let him in she went straight down to the kitchen and made the most
      awful row you ever heard, it sounded like the Day of judgement, or all the
      saucepans and crockery in the house being kicked about the floor, but she
      told me afterwards it was only the tea-tray and one or two cups and
      saucers, that she had knocked over in her flurry. We heard the Uncle say,
      &lsquo;God bless my soul!&rsquo; and then he went into Father&rsquo;s study and the door was
      shut&mdash;we didn&rsquo;t see him properly at all that time.
    </p>
    <p>
      I don&rsquo;t believe the dinner was very nice. Something got burned I&rsquo;m sure&mdash;for
      we smelt it. It was an extra smell, besides the mutton.
    </p>
    <p>
      I know that got burned. Eliza wouldn&rsquo;t have any of us in the kitchen
      except Dora&mdash;till dinner was over. Then we got what was left of the
      dessert, and had it on the stairs&mdash;just round the corner where they
      can&rsquo;t see you from the hall, unless the first landing gas is lighted.
      Suddenly the study door opened and the Uncle came out and went and felt in
      his greatcoat pocket. It was his cigar-case he wanted. We saw that
      afterwards. We got a much better view of him then. He didn&rsquo;t look like an
      Indian but just like a kind of brown, big Englishman, and of course he
      didn&rsquo;t see us, but we heard him mutter to himself&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Shocking bad dinner! Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      When he went back to the study he didn&rsquo;t shut the door properly. That door
      has always been a little tiresome since the day we took the lock off to
      get out the pencil sharpener H. O. had shoved into the keyhole. We didn&rsquo;t
      listen&mdash;really and truly&mdash;but the Indian Uncle has a very big
      voice, and Father was not going to be beaten by a poor Indian in talking
      or anything else&mdash;so he spoke up too, like a man, and I heard him say
      it was a very good business, and only wanted a little capital&mdash;and he
      said it as if it was an imposition he had learned, and he hated having to
      say it. The Uncle said, &lsquo;Pooh, pooh!&rsquo; to that, and then he said he was
      afraid that what that same business wanted was not capital but management.
      Then I heard my Father say, &lsquo;It is not a pleasant subject: I am sorry I
      introduced it. Suppose we change it, sir. Let me fill your glass.&rsquo; Then
      the poor Indian said something about vintage&mdash;and that a poor,
      broken-down man like he was couldn&rsquo;t be too careful. And then Father said,
      &lsquo;Well, whisky then,&rsquo; and afterwards they talked about Native Races and
      Imperial something or other and it got very dull.
    </p>
    <p>
      So then Oswald remembered that you must not hear what people do not intend
      you to hear&mdash;even if you are not listening and he said, &lsquo;We ought not
      to stay here any longer. Perhaps they would not like us to hear&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Alice said, &lsquo;Oh, do you think it could possibly matter?&rsquo; and went and shut
      the study door softly but quite tight. So it was no use staying there any
      longer, and we went to the nursery.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Noel said, &lsquo;Now I understand. Of course my Father is making a banquet
      for the Indian, because he is a poor, broken-down man. We might have known
      that from &ldquo;Lo, the poor Indian!&rdquo; you know.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We all agreed with him, and we were glad to have the thing explained,
      because we had not understood before what Father wanted to have people to
      dinner for&mdash;and not let us come in.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Poor people are very proud,&rsquo; said Alice, &lsquo;and I expect Father thought the
      Indian would be ashamed, if all of us children knew how poor he was.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dora said, &lsquo;Poverty is no disgrace. We should honour honest Poverty.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And we all agreed that that was so.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I wish his dinner had not been so nasty,&rsquo; Dora said, while Oswald put
      lumps of coal on the fire with his fingers, so as not to make a noise. He
      is a very thoughtful boy, and he did not wipe his fingers on his trouser
      leg as perhaps Noel or H. O. would have done, but he just rubbed them on
      Dora&rsquo;s handkerchief while she was talking.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am afraid the dinner was horrid.&rsquo; Dora went on. &lsquo;The table looked very
      nice with the flowers we got. I set it myself, and Eliza made me borrow
      the silver spoons and forks from Albert-next-door&rsquo;s Mother.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I hope the poor Indian is honest,&rsquo; said Dicky gloomily, &lsquo;when you are a
      poor, broken-down man silver spoons must be a great temptation.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald told him not to talk such tommy-rot because the Indian was a
      relation, so of course he couldn&rsquo;t do anything dishonourable. And Dora
      said it was all right any way, because she had washed up the spoons and
      forks herself and counted them, and they were all there, and she had put
      them into their wash-leather bag, and taken them back to
      Albert-next-door&rsquo;s Mother.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;And the brussels sprouts were all wet and swimmy,&rsquo; she went on, &lsquo;and the
      potatoes looked grey&mdash;and there were bits of black in the gravy&mdash;and
      the mutton was bluey-red and soft in the middle. I saw it when it came
      out. The apple-pie looked very nice&mdash;but it wasn&rsquo;t quite done in the
      apply part. The other thing that was burnt&mdash;you must have smelt it,
      was the soup.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It is a pity,&rsquo; said Oswald; &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t suppose he gets a good dinner every
      day.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No more do we,&rsquo; said H. O., &lsquo;but we shall to-morrow.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I thought of all the things we had bought with our half-sovereign&mdash;the
      rabbit and the sweets and the almonds and raisins and figs and the
      coconut: and I thought of the nasty mutton and things, and while I was
      thinking about it all Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s ask the poor Indian to come to dinner with <i>us</i> to-morrow.&rsquo; I
      should have said it myself if she had given me time.
    </p>
    <p>
      We got the little ones to go to bed by promising to put a note on their
      dressing-table saying what had happened, so that they might know the first
      thing in the morning, or in the middle of the night if they happened to
      wake up, and then we elders arranged everything.
    </p>
    <p>
      I waited by the back door, and when the Uncle was beginning to go Dicky
      was to drop a marble down between the banisters for a signal, so that I
      could run round and meet the Uncle as he came out.
    </p>
    <p>
      This seems like deceit, but if you are a thoughtful and considerate boy
      you will understand that we could not go down and say to the Uncle in the
      hall under Father&rsquo;s eye, &lsquo;Father has given you a beastly, nasty dinner,
      but if you will come to dinner with us tomorrow, we will show you our idea
      of good things to eat.&rsquo; You will see, if you think it over, that this
      would not have been at all polite to Father.
    </p>
    <p>
      So when the Uncle left, Father saw him to the door and let him out, and
      then went back to the study, looking very sad, Dora says.
    </p>
    <p>
      As the poor Indian came down our steps he saw me there at the gate.
    </p>
    <p>
      I did not mind his being poor, and I said, &lsquo;Good evening, Uncle,&rsquo; just as
      politely as though he had been about to ascend into one of the gilded
      chariots of the rich and affluent, instead of having to walk to the
      station a quarter of a mile in the mud, unless he had the money for a tram
      fare.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Good evening, Uncle.&rsquo; I said it again, for he stood staring at me. I
      don&rsquo;t suppose he was used to politeness from boys&mdash;some boys are
      anything but&mdash;especially to the Aged Poor.
    </p>
    <p>
      So I said, &lsquo;Good evening, Uncle,&rsquo; yet once again. Then he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Time you were in bed, young man. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then I saw I must speak plainly with him, man to man. So I did. I said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You&rsquo;ve been dining with my Father, and we couldn&rsquo;t help hearing you say
      the dinner was shocking. So we thought as you&rsquo;re an Indian, perhaps you&rsquo;re
      very poor&rsquo;&mdash;I didn&rsquo;t like to tell him we had heard the dreadful truth
      from his own lips, so I went on, &lsquo;because of &ldquo;Lo, the poor Indian&rdquo;&mdash;you
      know&mdash;and you can&rsquo;t get a good dinner every day. And we are very
      sorry if you&rsquo;re poor; and won&rsquo;t you come and have dinner with us to-morrow&mdash;with
      us children, I mean? It&rsquo;s a very, very good dinner&mdash;rabbit, and
      hardbake, and coconut&mdash;and you needn&rsquo;t mind us knowing you&rsquo;re poor,
      because we know honourable poverty is no disgrace, and&mdash;&rsquo; I could
      have gone on much longer, but he interrupted me to say&mdash;&lsquo;Upon my
      word! And what&rsquo;s your name, eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oswald Bastable,&rsquo; I said; and I do hope you people who are reading this
      story have not guessed before that I was Oswald all the time.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Oswald Bastable, eh? Bless my soul!&rsquo; said the poor Indian. &lsquo;Yes, I&rsquo;ll
      dine with you, Mr Oswald Bastable, with all the pleasure in life. Very
      kind and cordial invitation, I&rsquo;m sure. Good night, sir. At one o&rsquo;clock, I
      presume?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Yes, at one,&rsquo; I said. &lsquo;Good night, sir.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then I went in and told the others, and we wrote a paper and put it on the
      boy&rsquo;s dressing-table, and it said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;The poor Indian is coming at one. He seemed very grateful to me for my
      kindness.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We did not tell Father that the Uncle was coming to dinner with us, for
      the polite reason that I have explained before. But we had to tell Eliza;
      so we said a friend was coming to dinner and we wanted everything very
      nice. I think she thought it was Albert-next-door, but she was in a good
      temper that day, and she agreed to cook the rabbit and to make a pudding
      with currants in it. And when one o&rsquo;clock came the Indian Uncle came too.
      I let him in and helped him off with his greatcoat, which was all furry
      inside, and took him straight to the nursery. We were to have dinner there
      as usual, for we had decided from the first that he would enjoy himself
      more if he was not made a stranger of. We agreed to treat him as one of
      ourselves, because if we were too polite, he might think it was our pride
      because he was poor.
    </p>
    <p>
      He shook hands with us all and asked our ages, and what schools we went
      to, and shook his head when we said we were having a holiday just now. I
      felt rather uncomfortable&mdash;I always do when they talk about schools&mdash;and
      I couldn&rsquo;t think of anything to say to show him we meant to treat him as
      one of ourselves. I did ask if he played cricket. He said he had not
      played lately. And then no one said anything till dinner came in. We had
      all washed our faces and hands and brushed our hair before he came in, and
      we all looked very nice, especially Oswald, who had had his hair cut that
      very morning. When Eliza had brought in the rabbit and gone out again, we
      looked at each other in silent despair, like in books. It seemed as if it
      were going to be just a dull dinner like the one the poor Indian had had
      the night before; only, of course, the things to eat would be nicer. Dicky
      kicked Oswald under the table to make him say something&mdash;and he had
      his new boots on, too!&mdash;but Oswald did not kick back; then the Uncle
      asked&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Do you carve, sir, or shall I?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Suddenly Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Would you like grown-up dinner, Uncle, or play-dinner?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He did not hesitate a moment, but said, &lsquo;Play-dinner, by all means. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
      and then we knew it was all right.
    </p>
    <p>
      So we at once showed the Uncle how to be a dauntless hunter. The rabbit
      was the deer we had slain in the green forest with our trusty yew bows,
      and we toasted the joints of it, when the Uncle had carved it, on bits of
      firewood sharpened to a point. The Uncle&rsquo;s piece got a little burnt, but
      he said it was delicious, and he said game was always nicer when you had
      killed it yourself. When Eliza had taken away the rabbit bones and brought
      in the pudding, we waited till she had gone out and shut the door, and
      then we put the dish down on the floor and slew the pudding in the dish in
      the good old-fashioned way. It was a wild boar at bay, and very hard
      indeed to kill, even with forks. The Uncle was very fierce indeed with the
      pudding, and jumped and howled when he speared it, but when it came to his
      turn to be helped, he said, &lsquo;No, thank you; think of my liver. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But he had some almonds and raisins&mdash;when we had climbed to the top
      of the chest of drawers to pluck them from the boughs of the great trees;
      and he had a fig from the cargo that the rich merchants brought in their
      ship&mdash;the long drawer was the ship&mdash;and the rest of us had the
      sweets and the coconut. It was a very glorious and beautiful feast, and
      when it was over we said we hoped it was better than the dinner last
      night. And he said:
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I never enjoyed a dinner more.&rsquo; He was too polite to say what he really
      thought about Father&rsquo;s dinner. And we saw that though he might be poor, he
      was a true gentleman.
    </p>
    <p>
      He smoked a cigar while we finished up what there was left to eat, and
      told us about tiger shooting and about elephants. We asked him about
      wigwams, and wampum, and mocassins, and beavers, but he did not seem to
      know, or else he was shy about talking of the wonders of his native land.
    </p>
    <p>
      We liked him very much indeed, and when he was going at last, Alice nudged
      me, and I said&mdash;&lsquo;There&rsquo;s one and threepence farthing left out of our
      half-sovereign. Will you take it, please, because we do like you very much
      indeed, and we don&rsquo;t want it, really; and we would rather you had it.&rsquo; And
      I put the money into his hand.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll take the threepenny-bit,&rsquo; he said, turning the money over and
      looking at it, &lsquo;but I couldn&rsquo;t rob you of the rest. By the way, where did
      you get the money for this most royal spread&mdash;half a sovereign you
      said&mdash;eh, what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We told him all about the different ways we had looked for treasure, and
      when we had been telling some time he sat down, to listen better and at
      last we told him how Alice had played at divining-rod, and how it really
      had found a half-sovereign.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he said he would like to see her do it again. But we explained that
      the rod would only show gold and silver, and that we were quite sure there
      was no more gold in the house, because we happened to have looked very
      carefully.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, silver, then,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;let&rsquo;s hide the plate-basket, and little
      Alice shall make the divining-rod find it. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;There isn&rsquo;t any silver in the plate-basket now,&rsquo; Dora said. &lsquo;Eliza asked
      me to borrow the silver spoons and forks for your dinner last night from
      Albert-next-door&rsquo;s Mother. Father never notices, but she thought it would
      be nicer for you. Our own silver went to have the dents taken out; and I
      don&rsquo;t think Father could afford to pay the man for doing it, for the
      silver hasn&rsquo;t come back.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Bless my soul!&rsquo; said the Uncle again, looking at the hole in the big
      chair that we burnt when we had Guy Fawkes&rsquo; Day indoors. &lsquo;And how much
      pocket-money do you get? Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We don&rsquo;t have any now,&rsquo; said Alice; &lsquo;but indeed we don&rsquo;t want the other
      shilling. We&rsquo;d much rather you had it, wouldn&rsquo;t we?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And the rest of us said, &lsquo;Yes.&rsquo; The Uncle wouldn&rsquo;t take it, but he asked a
      lot of questions, and at last he went away. And when he went he said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Well, youngsters, I&rsquo;ve enjoyed myself very much. I shan&rsquo;t forget your
      kind hospitality. Perhaps the poor Indian may be in a position to ask you
      all to dinner some day.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Oswald said if he ever could we should like to come very much, but he was
      not to trouble to get such a nice dinner as ours, because we could do very
      well with cold mutton and rice pudding. We do not like these things, but
      Oswald knows how to behave. Then the poor Indian went away.
    </p>
    <p>
      We had not got any treasure by this party, but we had had a very good
      time, and I am sure the Uncle enjoyed himself.
    </p>
    <p>
      We were so sorry he was gone that we could none of us eat much tea; but we
      did not mind, because we had pleased the poor Indian and enjoyed ourselves
      too. Besides, as Dora said, &lsquo;A contented mind is a continual feast,&rsquo; so it
      did not matter about not wanting tea.
    </p>
    <p>
      Only H. O. did not seem to think a continual feast was a contented mind,
      and Eliza gave him a powder in what was left of the red-currant jelly
      Father had for the nasty dinner.
    </p>
    <p>
      But the rest of us were quite well, and I think it must have been the
      coconut with H. O. We hoped nothing had disagreed with the Uncle, but we
      never knew.
    </p>
    <p>
      <a id="link2HCH0016">
      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
    </p>
    <div style="height: 4em;">
      <br ><br ><br ><br >
    </div>
    <h2>
      CHAPTER 16. THE END OF THE TREASURE-SEEKING
    </h2>
    <p>
      Now it is coming near the end of our treasure-seeking, and the end was so
      wonderful that now nothing is like it used to be. It is like as if our
      fortunes had been in an earthquake, and after those, you know, everything
      comes out wrong-way up.
    </p>
    <p>
      The day after the Uncle speared the pudding with us opened in gloom and
      sadness. But you never know. It was destined to be a day when things
      happened. Yet no sign of this appeared in the early morning. Then all was
      misery and upsetness. None of us felt quite well; I don&rsquo;t know why: and
      Father had one of his awful colds, so Dora persuaded him not to go to
      London, but to stay cosy and warm in the study, and she made him some
      gruel. She makes it better than Eliza does; Eliza&rsquo;s gruel is all little
      lumps, and when you suck them it is dry oatmeal inside.
    </p>
    <p>
      We kept as quiet as we could, and I made H. O. do some lessons, like the
      G. B. had advised us to. But it was very dull. There are some days when
      you seem to have got to the end of all the things that could ever possibly
      happen to you, and you feel you will spend all the rest of your life doing
      dull things just the same way. Days like this are generally wet days. But,
      as I said, you never know.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Dicky said if things went on like this he should run away to sea, and
      Alice said she thought it would be rather nice to go into a convent. H. O.
      was a little disagreeable because of the powder Eliza had given him, so he
      tried to read two books at once, one with each eye, just because Noel
      wanted one of the books, which was very selfish of him, so it only made
      his headache worse. H. O. is getting old enough to learn by experience
      that it is wrong to be selfish, and when he complained about his head
      Oswald told him whose fault it was, because I am older than he is, and it
      is my duty to show him where he is wrong. But he began to cry, and then
      Oswald had to cheer him up because of Father wanting to be quiet. So
      Oswald said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;They&rsquo;ll eat H. O. if you don&rsquo;t look out!&rsquo; And Dora said Oswald was too
      bad.
    </p>
    <p>
      Of course Oswald was not going to interfere again, so he went to look out
      of the window and see the trams go by, and by and by H. O. came and looked
      out too, and Oswald, who knows when to be generous and forgiving, gave him
      a piece of blue pencil and two nibs, as good as new, to keep.
    </p>
    <p>
      As they were looking out at the rain splashing on the stones in the street
      they saw a four-wheeled cab come lumbering up from the way the station is.
      Oswald called out&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Here comes the coach of the Fairy Godmother. It&rsquo;ll stop here, you see if
      it doesn&rsquo;t!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So they all came to the window to look. Oswald had only said that about
      stopping and he was stricken with wonder and amaze when the cab really did
      stop. It had boxes on the top and knobby parcels sticking out of the
      window, and it was something like going away to the seaside and something
      like the gentleman who takes things about in a carriage with the wooden
      shutters up, to sell to the drapers&rsquo; shops. The cabman got down, and some
      one inside handed out ever so many parcels of different shapes and sizes,
      and the cabman stood holding them in his arms and grinning over them.
    </p>
    <p>
      Dora said, &lsquo;It is a pity some one doesn&rsquo;t tell him this isn&rsquo;t the house.&rsquo;
      And then from inside the cab some one put out a foot feeling for the step,
      like a tortoise&rsquo;s foot coming out from under his shell when you are
      holding him off the ground, and then a leg came and more parcels, and then
      Noel cried&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;It&rsquo;s the poor Indian!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And it was.
    </p>
    <p>
      Eliza opened the door, and we were all leaning over the banisters. Father
      heard the noise of parcels and boxes in the hall, and he came out without
      remembering how bad his cold was. If you do that yourself when you have a
      cold they call you careless and naughty. Then we heard the poor Indian say
      to Father&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I say, Dick, I dined with your kids yesterday&mdash;as I daresay they&rsquo;ve
      told you. Jolliest little cubs I ever saw! Why didn&rsquo;t you let me see them
      the other night? The eldest is the image of poor Janey&mdash;and as to
      young Oswald, he&rsquo;s a man! If he&rsquo;s not a man, I&rsquo;m a nigger! Eh!&mdash;what?
      And Dick, I say, I shouldn&rsquo;t wonder if I could find a friend to put a bit
      into that business of yours&mdash;eh?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he and Father went into the study and the door was shut&mdash;and we
      went down and looked at the parcels. Some were done up in old, dirty
      newspapers, and tied with bits of rag, and some were in brown paper and
      string from the shops, and there were boxes. We wondered if the Uncle had
      come to stay and this was his luggage, or whether it was to sell. Some of
      it smelt of spices, like merchandise&mdash;and one bundle Alice felt
      certain was a bale. We heard a hand on the knob of the study door after a
      bit, and Alice said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Fly!&rsquo; and we all got away but H. O., and the Uncle caught him by the leg
      as he was trying to get upstairs after us.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Peeping at the baggage, eh?&rsquo; said the Uncle, and the rest of us came down
      because it would have been dishonourable to leave H. O. alone in a scrape,
      and we wanted to see what was in the parcels.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I didn&rsquo;t touch,&rsquo; said H. O. &lsquo;Are you coming to stay? I hope you are.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;No harm done if you did touch,&rsquo; said the good, kind, Indian man to all of
      us. &lsquo;For all these parcels are <i>for you</i>.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I have several times told you about our being dumb with amazement and
      terror and joy, and things like that, but I never remember us being dumber
      than we were when he said this.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Indian Uncle went on: &lsquo;I told an old friend of mine what a pleasant
      dinner I had with you, and about the threepenny-bit, and the divining-rod,
      and all that, and he sent all these odds and ends as presents for you.
      Some of the things came from India.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Have you come from India, Uncle?&rsquo; Noel asked; and when he said &lsquo;Yes&rsquo; we
      were all very much surprised, for we never thought of his being that sort
      of Indian. We thought he was the Red kind, and of course his not being
      accounted for his ignorance of beavers and things.
    </p>
    <p>
      He got Eliza to help, and we took all the parcels into the nursery and he
      undid them and undid them and undid them, till the papers lay thick on the
      floor. Father came too and sat in the Guy Fawkes chair. I cannot begin to
      tell you all the things that kind friend of Uncle&rsquo;s had sent us. He must
      be a very agreeable person.
    </p>
    <p>
      There were toys for the kids and model engines for Dick and me, and a lot
      of books, and Japanese china tea-sets for the girls, red and white and
      gold&mdash;there were sweets by the pound and by the box&mdash;and long
      yards and yards of soft silk from India, to make frocks for the girls&mdash;and
      a real Indian sword for Oswald and a book of Japanese pictures for Noel,
      and some ivory chess men for Dicky: the castles of the chessmen are
      elephant-and-castles. There is a railway station called that; I never knew
      what it meant before. The brown paper and string parcels had boxes of
      games in them&mdash;and big cases of preserved fruits and things. And the
      shabby old newspaper parcels and the boxes had the Indian things in. I
      never saw so many beautiful things before. There were carved fans and
      silver bangles and strings of amber beads, and necklaces of uncut gems&mdash;turquoises
      and garnets, the Uncle said they were&mdash;and shawls and scarves of
      silk, and cabinets of brown and gold, and ivory boxes and silver trays,
      and brass things. The Uncle kept saying, &lsquo;This is for you, young man,&rsquo; or
      &lsquo;Little Alice will like this fan,&rsquo; or &lsquo;Miss Dora would look well in this
      green silk, I think. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And Father looked on as if it was a dream, till the Uncle suddenly gave
      him an ivory paper-knife and a box of cigars, and said, &lsquo;My old friend
      sent you these, Dick; he&rsquo;s an old friend of yours too, he says.&rsquo; And he
      winked at my Father, for H. O. and I saw him. And my Father winked back,
      though he has always told us not to.
    </p>
    <p>
      That was a wonderful day. It was a treasure, and no mistake! I never saw
      such heaps and heaps of presents, like things out of a fairy-tale&mdash;and
      even Eliza had a shawl. Perhaps she deserved it, for she did cook the
      rabbit and the pudding; and Oswald says it is not her fault if her nose
      turns up and she does not brush her hair. I do not think Eliza likes
      brushing things. It is the same with the carpets. But Oswald tries to make
      allowances even for people who do not wash their ears.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Indian Uncle came to see us often after that, and his friend always
      sent us something. Once he tipped us a sovereign each&mdash;the Uncle
      brought it; and once he sent us money to go to the Crystal Palace, and the
      Uncle took us; and another time to a circus; and when Christmas was near
      the Uncle said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;You remember when I dined with you, some time ago, you promised to dine
      with me some day, if I could ever afford to give a dinner-party. Well, I&rsquo;m
      going to have one&mdash;a Christmas party. Not on Christmas Day, because
      every one goes home then&mdash;but on the day after. Cold mutton and rice
      pudding. You&rsquo;ll come? Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We said we should be delighted, if Father had no objection, because that
      is the proper thing to say, and the poor Indian, I mean the Uncle, said,
      &lsquo;No, your Father won&rsquo;t object&mdash;he&rsquo;s coming too, bless your soul!&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      We all got Christmas presents for the Uncle. The girls made him a
      handkerchief case and a comb bag, out of some of the pieces of silk he had
      given them. I got him a knife with three blades; H. O. got a siren
      whistle, a very strong one, and Dicky joined with me in the knife, and
      Noel would give the Indian ivory box that Uncle&rsquo;s friend had sent on the
      wonderful Fairy Cab day. He said it was the very nicest thing he had, and
      he was sure Uncle wouldn&rsquo;t mind his not having bought it with his own
      money.
    </p>
    <p>
      I think Father&rsquo;s business must have got better&mdash;perhaps Uncle&rsquo;s
      friend put money in it and that did it good, like feeding the starving.
      Anyway we all had new suits, and the girls had the green silk from India
      made into frocks, and on Boxing Day we went in two cabs&mdash;Father and
      the girls in one, and us boys in the other.
    </p>
    <p>
      We wondered very much where the Indian Uncle lived, because we had not
      been told. And we thought when the cab began to go up the hill towards the
      Heath that perhaps the Uncle lived in one of the poky little houses up at
      the top of Greenwich. But the cab went right over the Heath and in at some
      big gates, and through a shrubbery all white with frost like a fairy
      forest, because it was Christmas time. And at last we stopped before one
      of those jolly, big, ugly red houses with a lot of windows, that are so
      comfortable inside, and on the steps was the Indian Uncle, looking very
      big and grand, in a blue cloth coat and yellow sealskin waistcoat, with a
      bunch of seals hanging from it.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I wonder whether he has taken a place as butler here?&rsquo; said Dicky.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;A poor, broken-down man&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Noel thought it was very likely, because he knew that in these big houses
      there were always thousands of stately butlers.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Uncle came down the steps and opened the cab door himself, which I
      don&rsquo;t think butlers would expect to have to do. And he took us in. It was
      a lovely hall, with bear and tiger skins on the floor, and a big clock
      with the faces of the sun and moon dodging out when it was day or night,
      and Father Time with a scythe coming out at the hours, and the name on it
      was &lsquo;Flint. Ashford. 1776&rsquo;; and there was a fox eating a stuffed duck in a
      glass case, and horns of stags and other animals over the doors.
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll just come into my study first,&rsquo; said the Uncle, &lsquo;and wish each
      other a Merry Christmas.&rsquo; So then we knew he wasn&rsquo;t the butler, but it
      must be his own house, for only the master of the house has a study.
    </p>
    <p>
      His study was not much like Father&rsquo;s. It had hardly any books, but swords
      and guns and newspapers and a great many boots, and boxes half unpacked,
      with more Indian things bulging out of them.
    </p>
    <p>
      We gave him our presents and he was awfully pleased. Then he gave us his
      Christmas presents. You must be tired of hearing about presents, but I
      must remark that all the Uncle&rsquo;s presents were watches; there was a watch
      for each of us, with our names engraved inside, all silver except H. O.&lsquo;s,
      and that was a Waterbury, &lsquo;To match his boots,&rsquo; the Uncle said. I don&rsquo;t
      know what he meant.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then the Uncle looked at Father, and Father said, &lsquo;You tell them, sir.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      So the Uncle coughed and stood up and made a speech. He said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Ladies and gentlemen, we are met together to discuss an important subject
      which has for some weeks engrossed the attention of the honourable member
      opposite and myself.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I said, &lsquo;Hear, hear,&rsquo; and Alice whispered, &lsquo;What happened to the
      guinea-pig?&rsquo; Of course you know the answer to that.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Uncle went on&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;I am going to live in this house, and as it&rsquo;s rather big for me, your
      Father has agreed that he and you shall come and live with me. And so, if
      you&rsquo;re agreeable, we&rsquo;re all going to live here together, and, please God,
      it&rsquo;ll be a happy home for us all. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      He blew his nose and kissed us all round. As it was Christmas I did not
      mind, though I am much too old for it on other dates. Then he said, &lsquo;Thank
      you all very much for your presents; but I&rsquo;ve got a present here I value
      more than anything else I have.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      I thought it was not quite polite of him to say so, till I saw that what
      he valued so much was a threepenny-bit on his watch-chain, and, of course,
      I saw it must be the one we had given him.
    </p>
    <p>
      He said, &lsquo;You children gave me that when you thought I was the poor
      Indian, and I&rsquo;ll keep it as long as I live. And I&rsquo;ve asked some friends to
      help us to be jolly, for this is our house-warming. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then he shook Father by the hand, and they blew their noses; and then
      Father said, &lsquo;Your Uncle has been most kind&mdash;most&mdash;&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But Uncle interrupted by saying, &lsquo;Now, Dick, no nonsense!&rsquo; Then H. O.
      said, &lsquo;Then you&rsquo;re not poor at all?&rsquo; as if he were very disappointed. The
      Uncle replied, &lsquo;I have enough for my simple wants, thank you, H. O.; and
      your Father&rsquo;s business will provide him with enough for yours. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      Then we all went down and looked at the fox thoroughly, and made the Uncle
      take the glass off so that we could see it all round and then the Uncle
      took us all over the house, which is the most comfortable one I have ever
      been in. There is a beautiful portrait of Mother in Father&rsquo;s sitting-room.
      The Uncle must be very rich indeed. This ending is like what happens in
      Dickens&rsquo;s books; but I think it was much jollier to happen like a book,
      and it shows what a nice man the Uncle is, the way he did it all.
    </p>
    <p>
      Think how flat it would have been if the Uncle had said, when we first
      offered him the one and threepence farthing, &lsquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t want your dirty
      one and three-pence! I&rsquo;m very rich indeed.&rsquo; Instead of which he saved up
      the news of his wealth till Christmas, and then told us all in one
      glorious burst. Besides, I can&rsquo;t help it if it is like Dickens, because it
      happens this way. Real life is often something like books.
    </p>
    <p>
      Presently, when we had seen the house, we were taken into the
      drawing-room, and there was Mrs Leslie, who gave us the shillings and
      wished us good hunting, and Lord Tottenham, and Albert-next-door&rsquo;s Uncle&mdash;and
      Albert-next-door, and his Mother (I&rsquo;m not very fond of her), and best of
      all our own Robber and his two kids, and our Robber had a new suit on. The
      Uncle told us he had asked the people who had been kind to us, and Noel
      said, &lsquo;Where is my noble editor that I wrote the poetry to?&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      The Uncle said he had not had the courage to ask a strange editor to
      dinner; but Lord Tottenham was an old friend of Uncle&rsquo;s, and he had
      introduced Uncle to Mrs Leslie, and that was how he had the pride and
      pleasure of welcoming her to our house-warming. And he made her a bow like
      you see on a Christmas card.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then Alice asked, &lsquo;What about Mr Rosenbaum? He was kind; it would have
      been a pleasant surprise for him.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      But everybody laughed, and Uncle said&mdash;
    </p>
    <p>
      &lsquo;Your father has paid him the sovereign he lent you. I don&rsquo;t think he
      could have borne another pleasant surprise.&rsquo;
    </p>
    <p>
      And I said there was the butcher, and he was really kind; but they only
      laughed, and Father said you could not ask all your business friends to a
      private dinner.
    </p>
    <p>
      Then it was dinner-time, and we thought of Uncle&rsquo;s talk about cold mutton
      and rice. But it was a beautiful dinner, and I never saw such a dessert!
      We had ours on plates to take away into another sitting-room, which was
      much jollier than sitting round the table with the grown-ups. But the
      Robber&rsquo;s kids stayed with their Father. They were very shy and frightened,
      and said hardly anything, but looked all about with very bright eyes. H.
      O. thought they were like white mice; but afterwards we got to know them
      very well, and in the end they were not so mousy. And there is a good deal
      of interesting stuff to tell about them; but I shall put all that in
      another book, for there is no room for it in this one. We played desert
      islands all the afternoon and drank Uncle&rsquo;s health in ginger wine. It was
      H. O. that upset his over Alice&rsquo;s green silk dress, and she never even
      rowed him. Brothers ought not to have favourites, and Oswald would never
      be so mean as to have a favourite sister, or, if he had, wild horses
      should not make him tell who it was.
    </p>
    <p>
      And now we are to go on living in the big house on the Heath, and it is
      very jolly.
    </p>
    <p>
      Mrs Leslie often comes to see us, and our own Robber and
      Albert-next-door&rsquo;s uncle. The Indian Uncle likes him because he has been
      in India too and is brown; but our Uncle does not like Albert-next-door.
      He says he is a muff. And I am to go to Rugby, and so are Noel and H. O.,
      and perhaps to Balliol afterwards. Balliol is my Father&rsquo;s college. It has
      two separate coats of arms, which many other colleges are not allowed.
      Noel is going to be a poet and Dicky wants to go into Father&rsquo;s business.
    </p>
    <p>
      The Uncle is a real good old sort; and just think, we should never have
      found him if we hadn&rsquo;t made up our minds to be Treasure Seekers! Noel made
      a poem about it&mdash;
    </p>
<pre>
    Lo! the poor Indian from lands afar,
    Comes where the treasure seekers are;
    We looked for treasure, but we find
    The best treasure of all is the Uncle good and kind.
</pre>
    <p>
      I thought it was rather rot, but Alice would show it to the Uncle, and he
      liked it very much. He kissed Alice and he smacked Noel on the back, and
      he said, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve done so badly either, if you come to that,
      though I was never a regular professional treasure seeker. Eh!&mdash;what?&rsquo;
    </p>
<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 770 ***</div>
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