Five Children and It E. Nesbit (uplifting books for women TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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âGrow up some day!â said Cyril bitterly, plumping the Lamb down on the grass. âI daresay he willâ âwhen nobody wants him to. I wish to goodness he wouldâ ââ
âOh, take care!â cried Anthea in an agony of apprehension. But it was too lateâ âlike music to a song her words and Cyrilâs came out togetherâ â
Antheaâ ââOh, take care!â
Cyrilâ ââGrow up now!â
The faithful Psammead was true to its promise, and there, before the horrified eyes of its brothers and sisters, the Lamb suddenly and violently grew up. It was the most terrible moment. The change was not so sudden as the wish-changes usually were. The Babyâs face changed first. It grew thinner and larger, lines came in the forehead, the eyes grew more deep-set and darker in colour, the mouth grew longer and thinner; most terrible of all, a little dark moustache appeared on the lip of one who was stillâ âexcept as to the faceâ âa two-year-old baby in a linen smock and white openwork socks.
âOh, I wish it wouldnât! Oh, I wish it wouldnât! You boys might wish as well!â They all wished hard, for the sight was enough to dismay the most heartless. They all wished so hard, indeed, that they felt quite giddy and almost lost consciousness; but the wishing was quite vain, for, when the wood ceased to whirl round, their dazzled eyes were riveted at once by the spectacle of a very proper-looking young man in flannels and a straw hatâ âa young man who wore the same little black moustache which just before they had actually seen growing upon the Babyâs lip. This, then, was the Lambâ âgrown up! Their own Lamb! It was a terrible moment. The grown-up Lamb moved gracefully across the moss and settled himself against the trunk of the sweet chestnut. He tilted the straw hat over his eyes. He was evidently weary. He was going to sleep. The Lambâ âthe original little tiresome beloved Lamb often went to sleep at odd times and in unexpected places. Was this new Lamb in the grey flannel suit and the pale green necktie like the other Lamb? or had his mind grown up together with his body?
That was the question which the others, in a hurried council held among the yellowing bracken a few yards from the sleeper, debated eagerly.
âWhichever it is, itâll be just as awful,â said Anthea. âIf his inside senses are grown up too, he wonât stand our looking after him; and if heâs still a baby inside of him how on earth are we to get him to do anything? And itâll be getting on for dinnertime in a minuteâ ââ
âAnd we havenât got any nuts,â said Jane.
âOh, bother nuts!â said Robert; âbut dinnerâs differentâ âI didnât have half enough dinner yesterday. Couldnât we tie him to the tree and go home to our dinners and come back afterwards?â
âA fat lot of dinner we should get if we went back without the Lamb!â said Cyril in scornful misery. âAnd itâll be just the same if we go back with him in the state he is now. Yes, I know itâs my doing; donât rub it in! I know Iâm a beast, and not fit to live; you can take that for settled, and say no more about it. The question is, what are we going to do?â
âLetâs wake him up, and take him into Rochester or Maidstone and get some grub at a pastrycookâs,â said Robert hopefully.
âTake him?â repeated Cyril. âYesâ âdo! Itâs all my faultâ âI donât deny thatâ âbut youâll find youâve got your work cut out for you if you try to take that young man anywhere. The Lamb always was spoilt, but now heâs grown up heâs a demonâ âsimply. I can see it. Look at his mouth.â
âWell then,â said Robert, âletâs wake him up and see what heâll do. Perhaps heâll take us to Maidstone and stand Sam. He ought to have a lot of money in the pockets of those extra-special bags. We must have dinner, anyway.â
They drew lots with little bits of bracken. It fell to Janeâs lot to waken the grown-up Lamb.
She did it gently by tickling his nose with a twig of wild honeysuckle. He said âBother the flies!â twice, and then opened his eyes.
âHullo, kiddies!â he said in a languid tone, âstill here? Whatâs the giddy hour? Youâll be late for your grub!â
âI know we shall,â said Robert bitterly.
âThen cut along home,â said the grown-up Lamb.
âWhat about your grub, though?â asked Jane.
âOh, how far is it to the station, do you think? Iâve a sort of notion that Iâll run up to town and have some lunch at the club.â
Blank misery fell like a pall on the four others. The Lambâ âaloneâ âunattendedâ âwould go to town and have lunch at a club! Perhaps he would also have tea there. Perhaps sunset would come upon him amid the dazzling luxury of club-land, and a helpless cross sleepy baby would find itself alone amid unsympathetic waiters, and would wail miserably for âPantyâ from the depths of a club armchair! The picture moved Anthea almost to tears.
âOh no, Lamb ducky, you mustnât do that!â she cried incautiously.
The grown-up Lamb frowned. âMy dear Anthea,â he said, âhow often am I to tell you that my name is Hilary or St. Maur or Devereux?â âany of my baptismal names are free to my little brothers and sisters, but not âLambââ âa relic of foolish and far-off childhood.â
This was awful. He was their elder brother now, was he? Well, of course he was, if he was grown upâ âsince they werenât. Thus, in whispers, Anthea and Robert.
But the almost daily adventures resulting from the Psammead wishes were making the children wise beyond their years.
âDear Hilary,â said Anthea, and the others choked at the name, âyou know father didnât wish you to go to London. He wouldnât like us to be left alone without you to
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