Five Children and It E. Nesbit (uplifting books for women TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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Jane doubtfully supposed so.
Now, the Lambâ âwhom I must try to remember to call St. Maurâ âwas examining the ladyâs bicycle and talking to her with a very grown-up manner indeed. No one could possibly have supposed, to see and hear him, that only that very morning he had been a chubby child of two years breaking other peopleâs Waterbury watches. Devereux (as he ought to be called for the future) took out a gold watch when he had mended the ladyâs bicycle, and all the onlookers behind the pig-pail said âOh!ââ âbecause it seemed so unfair that the Baby, who had only that morning destroyed two cheap but honest watches, should now, in the grownupness Cyrilâs folly had raised him to, have a real gold watchâ âwith a chain and seals!
Hilary (as I will now term him) withered his brothers and sisters with a glance, and then said to the ladyâ âwith whom he seemed to be quite friendlyâ â
âIf you will allow me, I will ride with you as far as the Cross Roads; it is getting late, and there are tramps about.â
No one will ever know what answer the young lady intended to give to this gallant offer, for, directly Anthea heard it made, she rushed out, knocking against the pig-pail, which overflowed in a turbid stream, and caught the Lamb (I suppose I ought to say Hilary) by the arm. The others followed, and in an instant the four dirty children were visible, beyond disguise.
âDonât let him,â said Anthea to the lady, and she spoke with intense earnestness; âheâs not fit to go with anyone!â
âGo away, little girl!â said St. Maur (as we will now call him) in a terrible voice. âGo home at once!â
âYouâd much better not have anything to do with him,â the now reckless Anthea went on. âHe doesnât know who he is. Heâs something very different from what you think he is.â
âWhat do you mean?â asked the lady not unnaturally, while Devereux (as I must term the grown-up Lamb) tried vainly to push Anthea away. The others backed her up, and she stood solid as a rock.
âYou just let him go with you,â said Anthea, âyouâll soon see what I mean! How would you like to suddenly see a poor little helpless baby spinning along downhill beside you with its feet up on a bicycle it had lost control of?â
The lady had turned rather pale.
âWho are these very dirty children?â she asked the grown-up Lamb (sometimes called St. Maur in these pages).
âI donât know,â he lied miserably.
âOh, Lamb! how can you?â cried Janeâ ââwhen you know perfectly well youâre our own little baby brother that weâre so fond of. Weâre his big brothers and sisters,â she explained, turning to the lady, who with trembling hands was now turning her bicycle towards the gate, âand weâve got to take care of him. And we must get him home before sunset, or I donât know whatever will become of us. You see, heâs sort of under a spellâ âenchantedâ âyou know what I mean!â
Again and again the Lamb (Devereux, I mean) had tried to stop Janeâs eloquence, but Robert and Cyril held him, one by each leg, and no proper explanation was possible. The lady rode hastily away, and electrified her relatives at dinner by telling them of her escape from a family of dangerous lunatics. âThe little girlâs eyes were simply those of a maniac. I canât think how she came to be at large,â she said.
When her bicycle had whizzed away down the road, Cyril spoke gravely.
âHilary, old chap,â he said, âyou must have had a sunstroke or something. And the things youâve been saying to that lady! Why, if we were to tell you the things youâve said when you are yourself again, say tomorrow morning, you wouldnât ever understand themâ âlet alone believe them! You trust to me, old chap, and come home now, and if youâre not yourself in the morning weâll ask the milkman to ask the doctor to come.â
The poor grown-up Lamb (St. Maur was really one of his Christian names) seemed now too bewildered to resist.
âSince you seem all to be as mad as the whole worshipful company of hatters,â he said bitterly, âI suppose I had better take you home. But youâre not to suppose I shall pass this over. I shall have something to say to you all tomorrow morning.â
âYes, you will, my Lamb,â said Anthea under her breath, âbut it wonât be at all the sort of thing you think itâs going to be.â
In her heart she could hear the pretty, soft little loving voice of the baby Lambâ âso different from the affected tones of the dreadful grown-up Lamb (one of whose names was Devereux)â âsaying, âMe love Pantyâ âwants to come to own Panty.â
âOh, letâs get home, for goodnessâ sake,â she said. âYou shall say whatever you like in the morningâ âif you can,â she added in a whisper.
It was a gloomy party that went home through the soft evening. During Antheaâs remarks Robert had again made play with the pin and the bicycle tyre, and the Lamb (whom they had to call St. Maur or Devereux or Hilary) seemed really at last to have had his fill of bicycle-mending. So the machine was wheeled.
The sun was just on the point of setting when they arrived at the White House. The four elder children would have liked to linger in the lane till the complete sunsetting turned the grown-up Lamb (whose Christian names I will not further weary you by repeating) into their own dear tiresome baby brother. But he, in his grownupness, insisted on going on, and thus he was met in the front garden by Martha.
Now you remember that, as a special favour, the Psammead had arranged that the servants in the house should never notice any change brought about by the wishes of the children. Therefore Martha merely saw the usual party, with the baby Lamb, about whom she had been desperately anxious all the afternoon, trotting
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