The Story of the Amulet E. Nesbit (the best books to read .TXT) đ
- Author: E. Nesbit
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And suddenly it was good daylight and the December sun shone. The fog has passed away like a dream.
The Amulet was thereâ âlittle and complete in Janeâs hand, and there were the other children and the Psammead, and the learned gentleman. But Rekh-marÄâ âor the body of Rekh-marÄâ âwas not there any more. As for his soulâ ââ âŠ
âOh, the horrid thing!â cried Robert, and put his foot on a centipede as long as your finger, that crawled and wriggled and squirmed at the learned gentlemanâs feet.
âThat,â said the Psammead, âwas the evil in the soul of Rekh-marÄ.â
There was a deep silence.
âThen Rekh-marÄâs him now?â said Jane at last.
âAll that was good in Rekh-marÄ,â said the Psammead.
âHe ought to have his heartâs desire, too,â said Anthea, in a sort of stubborn gentleness.
âHis heartâs desire,â said the Psammead, âis the perfect Amulet you hold in your hand. Yesâ âand has been ever since he first saw the broken half of it.â
âWeâve got ours,â said Anthea softly.
âYes,â said the Psammeadâ âits voice was crosser than they had ever heard itâ ââyour parents are coming home. And whatâs to become of me? I shall be found out, and made a show of, and degraded in every possible way. I know theyâll make me go into Parliamentâ âhateful placeâ âall mud and no sand. That beautiful Baalbec temple in the desert! Plenty of good sand there, and no politics! I wish I were there, safe in the Pastâ âthat I do.â
âI wish you were,â said the learned gentleman absently, yet polite as ever.
The Psammead swelled itself up, turned its long snailâs eyes in one last lingering look at Antheaâ âa loving look, she always said, and thoughtâ âandâ âvanished.
âWell,â said Anthea, after a silence, âI suppose itâs happy. The only thing it ever did really care for was sand.â
âMy dear children,â said the learned gentleman, âI must have fallen asleep. Iâve had the most extraordinary dream.â
âI hope it was a nice one,â said Cyril with courtesy.
âYes.â ââ ⊠I feel a new man after it. Absolutely a new man.â
There was a ring at the front-door bell. The opening of a door. Voices.
âItâs them!â cried Robert, and a thrill ran through four hearts.
âHere!â cried Anthea, snatching the Amulet from Jane and pressing it into the hand of the learned gentleman. âHereâ âitâs yoursâ âyour very ownâ âa present from us, because youâre Rekh-marÄ as well asâ ââ ⊠I mean, because youâre such a dear.â
She hugged him briefly but fervently, and the four swept down the stairs to the hall, where a cabman was bringing in boxes, and where, heavily disguised in travelling cloaks and wraps, was their heartsâ desireâ âthreefoldâ âMother, Father, and The Lamb.
âBless me!â said the learned gentleman, left alone, âbless me! What a treasure! The dear children! It must be their affection that has given me these luminous aperçus. I seem to see so many things nowâ âthings I never saw before! The dear children! The dear, dear children!â
List of IllustrationsA human-shaped amulet of primitive design with a hole where the face should be.
A diagram of the sacred place. It consists of two concentric circular shapes. The outer one has a small opening at the bottom and the inner one is similarly open at the top. In the middle of the whole structure is a small, complete circle with several lines.
Letters in chain stitches spelling the words âPsams Travel Car.â Each word is on its own line in all-caps. The letters are all of different sizes and not properly aligned.
ColophonThe Story of the Amulet
was published in 1906 by
E. Nesbit.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
François Grandjean,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1997 by
Jo Churcher and David Widger
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at
Google Books.
The cover page is adapted from
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon,
a painting completed in 1890 by
Edward John Poynter.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by
The League of Moveable Type.
The first edition of this ebook was released on
April 1, 2021, 11:31 p.m.
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