Five Children and It E. Nesbit (uplifting books for women TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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âLady Chittenden,â said Anthea; âweâve seen her. She wears a red-and-white dress, and she has no children of her own and canât abide other folksesâ.â
âThatâs her,â said Martha. âWell, sheâs put all her trust in riches, and you see how sheâs served. They say the diamonds and things was worth thousands of thousands of pounds. There was a necklace and a riverâ âwhatever that isâ âand no end of bracelets; and a tarrer and ever so many rings. But there, I mustnât stand talking and all the place to clean down afore your ma comes home.â
âI donât see why she should ever have had such lots of diamonds,â said Anthea when Martha had flounced off. âShe was rather a nasty lady, I thought. And mother hasnât any diamonds, and hardly any jewelsâ âthe topaz necklace, and the sapphire ring daddy gave her when they were engaged, and the garnet star, and the little pearl brooch with great-grandpapaâs hair in itâ âthatâs about all.â
âWhen Iâm grown up Iâll buy mother no end of diamonds,â said Robert, âif she wants them. I shall make so much money exploring in Africa I shanât know what to do with it.â
âWouldnât it be jolly,â said Jane dreamily, âif mother could find all those lovely things, necklaces and rivers of diamonds and tarrers?â
âTiâ âaras,â said Cyril.
âTiâ âaras, thenâ âand rings and everything in her room when she came home. I wish she wouldâ ââ
The others gazed at her in horror.
âWell, she will,â said Robert; âyouâve wished, my good Janeâ âand our only chance now is to find the Psammead, and if itâs in a good temper it may take back the wish and give us another. If notâ âwellâ âgoodness knows what weâre in for!â âthe police, of course, andâ âDonât cry, silly! Weâll stand by you. Father says we need never be afraid if we donât do anything wrong and always speak the truth.â
But Cyril and Anthea exchanged gloomy glances. They remembered how convincing the truth about the Psammead had been once before when told to the police.
It was a day of misfortunes. Of course the Psammead could not be found. Nor the jewels, though every one of the children searched the motherâs room again and again.
âOf course,â Robert said, âwe couldnât find them. Itâll be mother whoâll do that. Perhaps sheâll think theyâve been in the house for years and years, and never know they are the stolen ones at all.â
âOh yes!â Cyril was very scornful; âthen mother will be a receiver of stolen goods, and you know jolly well what thatâs worse than.â
Another and exhaustive search of the sandpit failed to reveal the Psammead, so the children went back to the house slowly and sadly.
âI donât care,â said Anthea stoutly, âweâll tell mother the truth, and sheâll give back the jewelsâ âand make everything all right.â
âDo you think so?â said Cyril slowly. âDo you think sheâll believe us? Could anyone believe about a Sammyadd unless theyâd seen it? Sheâll think weâre pretending. Or else sheâll think weâre raving mad, and then we shall be sent to Bedlam. How would you like it?ââ âhe turned suddenly on the miserable Janeâ ââhow would you like it, to be shut up in an iron cage with bars and padded walls, and nothing to do but stick straws in your hair all day, and listen to the howlings and ravings of the other maniacs? Make up your minds to it, all of you. Itâs no use telling mother.â
âBut itâs true,â said Jane.
âOf course it is, but itâs not true enough for grown-up people to believe it,â said Anthea. âCyrilâs right. Letâs put flowers in all the vases, and try not to think about diamonds. After all, everything has come right in the end all the other times.â
So they filled all the pots they could find with flowersâ âasters and zinnias, and loose-leaved late red roses from the wall of the stable-yard, till the house was a perfect bower.
And almost as soon as dinner was cleared away mother arrived, and was clasped in eight loving arms. It was very difficult indeed not to tell her all about the Psammead at once, because they had got into the habit of telling her everything. But they did succeed in not telling her.
Mother, on her side, had plenty to tell themâ âabout Granny, and Grannyâs pigeons, and Auntie Emmaâs lame tame donkey. She was very delighted with the flowery-boweryness of the house; and everything seemed so natural and pleasant, now that she was home again, that the children almost thought they must have dreamed the Psammead.
But, when mother moved towards the stairs to go up to her bedroom and take off her bonnet, the eight arms clung round her just as if she only had two children, one the Lamb and the other an octopus.
âDonât go up, mummy darling,â said Anthea; âlet me take your things up for you.â
âOr I will,â said Cyril.
âWe want you to come and look at the rose-tree,â said Robert.
âOh, donât go up!â said Jane helplessly.
âNonsense, dears,â said mother briskly, âIâm not such an old woman yet that I canât take my bonnet off in the proper place. Besides, I must wash these black hands of mine.â
So up she went, and the children, following her, exchanged glances of gloomy foreboding.
Mother took off her bonnetâ âit was a very pretty hat, really, with white roses in itâ âand when she had taken it off she went to the dressing-table to do her pretty hair.
On the table between the ring-stand and the pincushion lay a green leather case. Mother opened it.
âOh, how lovely!â she cried. It was a ring, a large pearl with shining many-lighted diamonds set round it. âWherever did this come from?â mother asked, trying it on her wedding finger, which it fitted beautifully. âHowever did it come here?â
âI donât know,â said each of the children truthfully.
âFather must have told Martha to put it here,â mother said. âIâll run down and ask her.â
âLet me look at it,â said Anthea, who knew
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