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CHAPTER 12. THE SORRY-PRESENT AND THE EXPELLED LITTLE BOY
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‘Look here, said Cyril, sitting on the dining-table and swinging his legs; ‘I really have got it.’

‘Got what?’ was the not unnatural1 rejoinder of the others.

Cyril was making a boat with a penknife and a piece of wood, and the girls were making warm frocks for their dolls, for the weather was growing chilly2.

‘Why, don’t you see? It’s really not any good our going into the Past looking for that Amulet3. The Past’s as full of different times as—as the sea is of sand. We’re simply bound to hit upon the wrong time. We might spend our lives looking for the Amulet and never see a sight of it. Why, it’s the end of September already. It’s like looking for a needle in—’

‘A bottle of hay—I know,’ interrupted Robert; ‘but if we don’t go on doing that, what ARE we to do?’

‘That’s just it,’ said Cyril in mysterious accents. ‘Oh, BOTHER!’

Old Nurse had come in with the tray of knives, forks, and glasses, and was getting the tablecloth4 and table-napkins out of the chiffonier drawer.

‘It’s always meal-times just when you come to anything interesting.’

‘And a nice interesting handful YOU’D be, Master Cyril,’ said old Nurse, ‘if I wasn’t to bring your meals up to time. Don’t you begin grumbling5 now, fear you get something to grumble6 AT.’

‘I wasn’t grumbling,’ said Cyril quite untruly; ‘but it does always happen like that.’

‘You deserve to HAVE something happen,’ said old Nurse. ‘Slave, slave, slave for you day and night, and never a word of thanks. ...’

‘Why, you do everything beautifully,’ said Anthea.

‘It’s the first time any of you’s troubled to say so, anyhow,’ said Nurse shortly.

‘What’s the use of SAYING?’ inquired Robert. ‘We EAT our meals fast enough, and almost always two helps. THAT ought to show you!’

‘Ah!’ said old Nurse, going round the table and putting the knives and forks in their places; ‘you’re a man all over, Master Robert. There was my poor Green, all the years he lived with me I never could get more out of him than “It’s all right!” when I asked him if he’d fancied his dinner. And yet, when he lay a-dying, his last words to me was, “Maria, you was always a good cook!”’ She ended with a trembling voice.

‘And so you are,’ cried Anthea, and she and Jane instantly hugged her.

When she had gone out of the room Anthea said—

‘I know exactly how she feels. Now, look here! Let’s do a penance7 to show we’re sorry we didn’t think about telling her before what nice cooking she does, and what a dear she is.’

‘Penances are silly,’ said Robert.

‘Not if the penance is something to please someone else. I didn’t mean old peas and hair shirts and sleeping on the stones. I mean we’ll make her a sorry-present,’ explained Anthea. ‘Look here! I vote Cyril doesn’t tell us his idea until we’ve done something for old Nurse. It’s worse for us than him,’ she added hastily, ‘because he knows what it is and we don’t. Do you all agree?’

The others would have been ashamed not to agree, so they did. It was not till quite near the end of dinner—mutton fritters and blackberry and apple pie—that out of the earnest talk of the four came an idea that pleased everybody and would, they hoped, please Nurse.

Cyril and Robert went out with the taste of apple still in their mouths and the purple of blackberries on their lips—and, in the case of Robert, on the wristband as well—and bought a big sheet of cardboard at the stationers. Then at the plumber’s shop, that has tubes and pipes and taps and gas-fittings in the window, they bought a pane8 of glass the same size as the cardboard. The man cut it with a very interesting tool that had a bit of diamond at the end, and he gave them, out of his own free generousness, a large piece of putty and a small piece of glue.

While they were out the girls had floated four photographs of the four children off their cards in hot water. These were now stuck in a row along the top of the cardboard. Cyril put the glue to melt in a jampot, and put the jampot in a saucepan and saucepan on the fire, while Robert painted a wreath of poppies round the photographs. He painted rather well and very quickly, and poppies are easy to do if you’ve once been shown how. Then Anthea drew some printed letters and Jane coloured them. The words were:

   ‘With all our loves to shew
   We like the thigs to eat.’

And when the painting was dry they all signed their names at the bottom and put the glass on, and glued brown paper round the edge and over the back, and put two loops of tape to hang it up by.

Of course everyone saw when too late that there were not enough letters in ‘things’, so the missing ‘n’ was put in. It was impossible, of course, to do the whole thing over again for just one letter.

‘There!’ said Anthea, placing it carefully, face up, under the sofa. ‘It’ll be hours before the glue’s dry. Now, Squirrel, fire ahead!’

‘Well, then,’ said Cyril in a great hurry, rubbing at his gluey hands with his pocket handkerchief. ‘What I mean to say is this.’

There was a long pause.

‘Well,’ said Robert at last, ‘WHAT is it that you mean to say?’

‘It’s like this,’ said Cyril, and again stopped short.

‘Like WHAT?’ asked Jane.

‘How can I tell you if you will all keep on interrupting?’ said Cyril sharply.

So no one said any more, and with wrinkled frowns he arranged his ideas.

‘Look here,’ he said, ‘what I really mean is—we can remember now what we did when we went to look for the Amulet. And if we’d found it we should remember that too.’

‘Rather!’ said Robert. ‘Only, you see we haven’t.’

‘But in the future we shall have.’

‘Shall we, though?’ said Jane.

‘Yes—unless we’ve been made fools of by the Psammead. So then, where we want to go to is where we shall remember about where we did find it.’

‘I see,’ said Robert, but he didn’t.

‘I don’t,’ said Anthea, who did, very nearly. ‘Say it again, Squirrel, and very slowly.’

‘If,’ said Cyril, very slowly indeed, ‘we go into the future—after we’ve found the Amulet—’

‘But we’ve got to find it first,’ said Jane.

‘Hush!’ said Anthea.

‘There will be a future,’ said Cyril, driven to greater clearness by the blank faces of the other three, ‘there will be a time AFTER we’ve found it. Let’s go into THAT time—and then we shall remember HOW we found it. And then we can go back and do the finding really.’

‘I see,’ said Robert, and this time he did, and I hope YOU do.

‘Yes,’ said Anthea. ‘Oh, Squirrel, how clever of you!’

‘But will the Amulet work both ways?’ inquired Robert.

‘It ought to,’ said Cyril, ‘if time’s only a thingummy of whatsitsname. Anyway we might try.’

‘Let’s put on our best things, then,’ urged Jane. ‘You know what people say about progress and the world growing better and brighter. I expect people will be awfully9 smart in the future.’

‘All right,’ said Anthea, ‘we should have to wash anyway, I’m all thick with glue.’

When everyone was clean and dressed, the charm was held up.

‘We want to go into the future and see the Amulet after we’ve found it,’ said Cyril, and Jane said the word of Power. They walked through the big arch of the charm straight into the British Museum.

They knew it at once, and there, right in front of them, under a glass case, was the Amulet—their own half of it, as well as the other half they had never been able to find—and the two were joined by a pin of red stone that formed a hinge.

‘Oh, glorious!’ cried Robert. ‘Here it is!’

‘Yes,’ said Cyril, very gloomily, ‘here it is. But we can’t get it out.’

‘No,’ said Robert, remembering how impossible the Queen of Babylon had found it to get anything out of the glass cases in the Museum—except by Psammead magic, and then she hadn’t been able to take anything away with her; ‘no—but we remember where we got it, and we can—’

‘Oh, DO we?’ interrupted Cyril bitterly, ‘do YOU remember where we got it?’

‘No,’ said Robert, ‘I don’t exactly, now I come to think of it.’

Nor did any of the others!

‘But WHY can’t we?’ said Jane.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Cyril’s tone was impatient, ‘some silly old enchanted10 rule I suppose. I wish people would teach you magic at school like they do sums—or instead of. It would be some use having an Amulet then.’

‘I wonder how far we are in the future,’ said Anthea; the Museum looks just the same, only lighter11 and brighter, somehow.’

‘Let’s go back and try the Past again,’ said Robert.

‘Perhaps the Museum people could tell us how we got it,’ said Anthea with sudden hope. There was no one in the room, but in the next gallery, where the Assyrian things are and still were, they found a kind, stout12 man in a loose, blue gown, and stockinged legs.

‘Oh, they’ve got a new uniform, how pretty!’ said Jane.

When they asked him their question he showed them a label on the case. It said, ‘From the collection of—.’ A name followed, and it was the name of the learned gentleman who, among themselves, and to his face when he had been with them at the other side of the Amulet, they had called Jimmy.

‘THAT’S not much good,’ said Cyril, ‘thank you.’

‘How is it you’re not at school?’ asked the kind man in blue. ‘Not expelled for long I hope?’

‘We’re not expelled at all,’ said Cyril rather warmly.

‘Well, I shouldn’t do it again, if I were you,’ said the man, and they could see he did not believe them. There is no company so little pleasing as that of people who do not believe you.

‘Thank you for showing us the label,’ said Cyril. And they came away.

As they came through the doors of the Museum they blinked at the sudden glory of sunlight and blue sky. The houses opposite the Museum were gone. Instead there was a big garden, with trees and flowers and smooth green lawns, and not a single notice to tell you not to walk on the grass and not to destroy the trees and shrubs13 and not to pick the flowers. There were comfortable seats all about, and arbours covered with roses, and long, trellised walks, also rose-covered. Whispering, splashing fountains fell into full white marble basins, white statues gleamed among the leaves, and the pigeons that swept about among the branches or pecked on the smooth, soft gravel14 were not black and tumbled like the Museum pigeons are now, but bright and clean and sleek15 as birds of new silver. A good many people were sitting on the seats, and on the grass babies were rolling and kicking and playing—with very little on indeed. Men, as well as women, seemed to be in charge of the babies and were playing with them.

‘It’s like a lovely picture,’ said Anthea, and it was. For the people’s clothes were of bright, soft colours and all beautifully and very simply made. No one seemed to have any hats or bonnets16, but there were a great many Japanese-looking sunshades. And among the trees were hung lamps of coloured glass.

‘I expect they light those in the evening,’ said Jane. ‘I do wish we lived in the future!’

They walked down the path, and as they went the people on the benches looked at the four children very curiously17, but not rudely or unkindly. The children, in their turn, looked—I hope they did not stare—at the faces of these people in the beautiful soft clothes. Those faces were worth looking at. Not that they were all handsome, though even in the matter of handsomeness they had the advantage of any set of people the children had ever seen. But it was the expression of their faces that made them worth looking at. The children could not tell at first what it was.

‘I know,’ said Anthea suddenly. ‘They’re not worried; that’s what it is.’

And it was. Everybody looked calm, no one seemed to be in a hurry, no one seemed to be anxious, or fretted19, and though some did seem to be sad, not a single one looked worried.

But though the people looked kind everyone looked so interested in the children that they began to feel a little shy and turned out of the big main path into a narrow little one that wound among trees and shrubs and mossy, dripping springs.

It was here, in a deep, shadowed cleft20 between tall cypresses21, that they found the expelled little boy. He was lying face downward on the mossy turf, and the peculiar22 shaking of his shoulders was a thing they had seen, more than once, in each other. So Anthea kneeled down by him and said—

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I’m expelled from school,’ said the boy between his sobs23.

This was serious. People are not expelled for light offences.

‘Do you mind telling us what you’d done?’

‘I—I tore up a sheet of paper and threw it about in the playground,’ said the child, in the tone of one confessing an unutterable baseness. ‘You won’t talk to me any more now you know that,’ he added without looking up.

‘Was that all?’ asked Anthea.

‘It’s about enough,’ said the child; ‘and I’m expelled for the whole day!’

‘I don’t quite understand,’ said Anthea, gently. The boy lifted his face, rolled over, and sat up.

‘Why, whoever on earth are you?’ he said.

‘We’re strangers from a far country,’ said Anthea. ‘In our country it’s not a crime to leave a bit of paper about.’

‘It is here,’ said the child. ‘If grown-ups do it they’re fined. When we do it we’re expelled for the whole day.’

‘Well, but,’ said Robert, ‘that just means a day’s holiday.’

‘You MUST come from a long way off,’ said the little boy. ‘A holiday’s when you all have play and treats and jolliness, all of you together. On your expelled days no one’ll speak to you. Everyone sees you’re an Expelleder or you’d be in school.’

‘Suppose you were ill?’

‘Nobody is—hardly. If they are, of course they wear the badge, and everyone is kind to you. I know a boy that stole his sister’s illness badge and wore it when he was expelled for a day. HE got expelled for a week for that. It must be awful not to go to school for a week.’

‘Do you LIKE school, then?’ asked Robert incredulously.

‘Of course I do. It’s the loveliest place there is. I chose railways for my special subject this year, there are such splendid models and things, and now I shall be all behind because of that torn-up paper.’

‘You choose your own subject?’ asked Cyril.

‘Yes, of course. Where DID you come from? Don’t you know ANYTHING?’

‘No,’ said Jane definitely; ‘so you’d better tell us.’

‘Well, on Midsummer Day school breaks up and everything’s decorated with flowers, and you choose your special subject for next year. Of course you have to stick to it for a year at least. Then there are all your other subjects, of course, reading, and painting, and the rules of Citizenship24.’

‘Good gracious!’ said Anthea.

‘Look here,’ said the child, jumping up, ‘it’s nearly four. The expelledness only lasts till then. Come home with me. Mother will tell you all about everything.’

‘Will your mother like you taking home strange children?’ asked Anthea.

‘I don’t understand,’ said the child, settling his leather belt over his honey-coloured smock and stepping out with hard little bare feet. ‘Come on.’

So they went.

The streets were wide and hard and very clean. There were no horses, but a sort of motor carriage that made no noise. The Thames flowed between green banks, and there were trees at the edge, and people sat under them, fishing, for the stream was clear as crystal. Everywhere there were green trees and there was no smoke. The houses were set in what seemed like one green garden.

The little boy brought them to a house, and at the window was a good, bright mother-face. The little boy rushed in, and through the window they could see him hugging his mother, then his eager lips moving and his quick hands pointing.

A lady in soft green clothes came out, spoke25 kindly18 to them, and took them into the oddest house they had ever seen. It was very bare, there were no ornaments26, and yet every single thing was beautiful, from the dresser with its rows of bright china, to the thick squares of Eastern-looking carpet on the floors. I can’t describe that house; I haven’t the time. And I haven’t heart either, when I think how different it was from our houses. The lady took them all over it. The oddest thing of all was the big room in the middle. It had padded walls and a soft, thick carpet, and all the chairs and tables were padded. There wasn’t a single thing in it that anyone could hurt itself with.

‘What ever’s this for?—lunatics?’ asked Cyril.

The lady looked very shocked.

‘No! It’s for the children, of course,’ she said. ‘Don’t tell me that in your country there are no children’s rooms.’

‘There are nurseries,’ said Anthea doubtfully, ‘but the furniture’s all cornery and hard, like other rooms.’

‘How shocking!’ said the lady; ‘you must be VERY much behind the times in your country! Why, the children are more than half of the people; it’s not much to have one room where they can have a good time and not hurt themselves.’

‘But there’s no fireplace,’ said Anthea.

‘Hot-air pipes, of course,’ said the lady. ‘Why, how could you have a fire in a nursery? A child might get burned.’

‘In our country,’ said Robert suddenly, ‘more than 3,000 children are burned to death every year. Father told me,’ he added, as if apologizing for this piece of information, ‘once when I’d been playing with fire.’

The lady turned quite pale.

‘What a frightful27 place you must live in!’ she said. ‘What’s all the furniture padded for?’ Anthea asked, hastily turning the subject.

‘Why, you couldn’t have little tots of two or three running about in rooms where the things were hard and sharp! They might hurt themselves.’

Robert fingered the scar on his forehead where he had hit it against the nursery fender when he was little.

‘But does everyone have rooms like this, poor people and all?’ asked Anthea.

‘There’s a room like this wherever there’s a child, of course,’ said the lady. ‘How refreshingly28 ignorant you are!—no, I don’t mean ignorant, my dear. Of course, you’re awfully well up in ancient History. But I see you haven’t done your Duties of Citizenship Course yet.’

‘But beggars, and people like that?’ persisted Anthea ‘and tramps and people who haven’t any homes?’

‘People who haven’t any homes?’ repeated the lady. ‘I really DON’T understand what you’re talking about.’

‘It’s all different in our country,’ said Cyril carefully; and I have read it used to be different in London. Usedn’t people to have no homes and beg because they were hungry? And wasn’t London very black and dirty once upon a time? And the Thames all muddy and filthy29? And narrow streets, and—’

‘You must have been reading very old-fashioned books,’ said the lady. ‘Why, all that was in the dark ages! My husband can tell you more about it than I can. He took Ancient History as one of his special subjects.’

‘I haven’t seen any working people,’ said Anthea.

‘Why, we’re all working people,’ said the lady; ‘at least my husband’s a carpenter.’

‘Good gracious!’ said Anthea; ‘but you’re a lady!’

‘Ah,’ said the lady, ‘that quaint30 old word! Well, my husband WILL enjoy a talk with you. In the dark ages everyone was allowed to have a smoky chimney, and those nasty horses all over the streets, and all sorts of rubbish thrown into the Thames. And, of course, the sufferings of the people will hardly bear thinking of. It’s very learned of you to know it all. Did you make Ancient History your special subject?’

‘Not exactly,’ said Cyril, rather uneasily. ‘What is the Duties of Citizenship Course about?’

‘Don’t you REALLY know? Aren’t you pretending—just for fun? Really not? Well, that course teaches you how to be a good citizen, what you must do and what you mayn’t do, so as to do your full share of the work of making your town a beautiful and happy place for people to live in. There’s a quite simple little thing they teach the tiny children. How does it go...?

   ‘I must not steal and I must learn,
   Nothing is mine that I do not earn.
   I must try in work and play
   To make things beautiful every day.
   I must be kind to everyone,
   And never let cruel things be done.
   I must be brave, and I must try
   When I am hurt never to cry,
   And always laugh as much as I can,
   And be glad that I’m going to be a man
   To work for my living and help the rest
   And never do less than my very best.’

‘That’s very easy,’ said Jane. ‘I could remember that.’

‘That’s only the very beginning, of course,’ said the lady; ‘there are heaps more rhymes. There’s the one beginning—

   ‘I must not litter the beautiful street
   With bits of paper or things to eat;
   I must not pick the public flowers,
   They are not MINE, but they are OURS.’

‘And “things to eat” reminds me—are you hungry? Wells, run and get a tray of nice things.’

‘Why do you call him “Wells”?’ asked Robert, as the boy ran off.

‘It’s after the great reformer—surely you’ve heard of HIM? He lived in the dark ages, and he saw that what you ought to do is to find out what you want and then try to get it. Up to then people had always tried to tinker up what they’d got. We’ve got a great many of the things he thought of. Then “Wells” means springs of clear water. It’s a nice name, don’t you think?’

Here Wells returned with strawberries and cakes and lemonade on a tray, and everybody ate and enjoyed.

‘Now, Wells,’ said the lady, ‘run off or you’ll be late and not meet your Daddy.’

Wells kissed her, waved to the others, and went.

‘Look here,’ said Anthea suddenly, ‘would you like to come to OUR country, and see what it’s like? It wouldn’t take you a minute.’

The lady laughed. But Jane held up the charm and said the word.

‘What a splendid conjuring31 trick!’ cried the lady, enchanted with the beautiful, growing arch.

‘Go through,’ said Anthea.

The lady went, laughing. But she did not laugh when she found herself, suddenly, in the dining-room at Fitzroy Street.

‘Oh, what a HORRIBLE trick!’ she cried. ‘What a hateful, dark, ugly place!’

She ran to the window and looked out. The sky was grey, the street was foggy, a dismal32 organ-grinder was standing33 opposite the door, a beggar and a man who sold matches were quarrelling at the edge of the pavement on whose greasy34 black surface people hurried along, hastening to get to the shelter of their houses.

‘Oh, look at their faces, their horrible faces!’ she cried. ‘What’s the matter with them all?’

‘They’re poor people, that’s all,’ said Robert.

‘But it’s NOT all! They’re ill, they’re unhappy, they’re wicked! Oh, do stop it, there’s dear children. It’s very, very clever. Some sort of magic-lantern trick, I suppose, like I’ve read of. But DO stop it. Oh! their poor, tired, miserable35, wicked faces!’

The tears were in her eyes. Anthea signed to Jane. The arch grew, they spoke the words, and pushed the lady through it into her own time and place, where London is clean and beautiful, and the Thames runs clear and bright, and the green trees grow, and no one is afraid, or anxious, or in a hurry. There was a silence. Then—

‘I’m glad we went,’ said Anthea, with a deep breath.

‘I’ll never throw paper about again as long as I live,’ said Robert.

‘Mother always told us not to,’ said Jane.

‘I would like to take up the Duties of Citizenship for a special subject,’ said Cyril. ‘I wonder if Father could put me through it. I shall ask him when he comes home.’

‘If we’d found the Amulet, Father could be home NOW,’ said Anthea, ‘and Mother and The Lamb.’

‘Let’s go into the future AGAIN,’ suggested Jane brightly. ‘Perhaps we could remember if it wasn’t such an awful way off.’

So they did. This time they said, ‘The future, where the Amulet is, not so far away.’

And they went through the familiar arch into a large, light room with three windows. Facing them was the familiar mummy-case. And at a table by the window sat the learned gentleman. They knew him at once, though his hair was white. He was one of the faces that do not change with age. In his hand was the Amulet—complete and perfect.

He rubbed his other hand across his forehead in the way they were so used to.

‘Dreams, dreams!’ he said; ‘old age is full of them!’

‘You’ve been in dreams with us before now,’ said Robert, ‘don’t you remember?’

‘I do, indeed,’ said he. The room had many more books than the Fitzroy Street room, and far more curious and wonderful Assyrian and Egyptian objects. ‘The most wonderful dreams I ever had had you in them.’

‘Where,’ asked Cyril, ‘did you get that thing in your hand?’

‘If you weren’t just a dream,’ he answered, smiling, you’d remember that you gave it to me.’

‘But where did we get it?’ Cyril asked eagerly.

‘Ah, you never would tell me that,’ he said, ‘You always had your little mysteries. You dear children! What a difference you made to that old Bloomsbury house! I wish I could dream you oftener. Now you’re grown up you’re not like you used to be.’

‘Grown up?’ said Anthea.

The learned gentleman pointed36 to a frame with four photographs in it.

‘There you are,’ he said.

The children saw four grown-up people’s portraits—two ladies, two gentlemen—and looked on them with loathing37.

‘Shall we grow up like THAT?’ whispered Jane. ‘How perfectly38 horrid39!’

‘If we’re ever like that, we sha’n’t know it’s horrid, I expect,’ Anthea with some insight whispered back. ‘You see, you get used to yourself while you’re changing. It’s—it’s being so sudden makes it seem so frightful now.’

The learned gentleman was looking at them with wistful kindness. ‘Don’t let me undream you just yet,’ he said. There was a pause.

‘Do you remember WHEN we gave you that Amulet?’ Cyril asked suddenly.

‘You know, or you would if you weren’t a dream, that it was on the 3rd December, 1905. I shall never forget THAT day.’

‘Thank you,’ said Cyril, earnestly; ‘oh, thank you very much.’

‘You’ve got a new room,’ said Anthea, looking out of the window, ‘and what a lovely garden!’

‘Yes,’ said he, ‘I’m too old now to care even about being near the Museum. This is a beautiful place. Do you know—I can hardly believe you’re just a dream, you do look so exactly real. Do you know...’ his voice dropped, ‘I can say it to YOU, though, of course, if I said it to anyone that wasn’t a dream they’d call me mad; there was something about that Amulet you gave me—something very mysterious.’

‘There was that,’ said Robert.

‘Ah, I don’t mean your pretty little childish mysteries about where you got it. But about the thing itself. First, the wonderful dreams I used to have, after you’d shown me the first half of it! Why, my book on Atlantis, that I did, was the beginning of my fame and my fortune, too. And I got it all out of a dream! And then, “Britain at the Time of the Roman Invasion”—that was only a pamphlet, but it explained a lot of things people hadn’t understood.’

‘Yes,’ said Anthea, ‘it would.’

‘That was the beginning. But after you’d given me the whole of the Amulet—ah, it was generous of you!—then, somehow, I didn’t need to theorize, I seemed to KNOW about the old Egyptian civilization. And they can’t upset my theories’—he rubbed his thin hands and laughed triumphantly—‘they can’t, though they’ve tried. Theories, they call them, but they’re more like—I don’t know—more like memories. I KNOW I’m right about the secret rites40 of the Temple of Amen.’

‘I’m so glad you’re rich,’ said Anthea. ‘You weren’t, you know, at Fitzroy Street.’

‘Indeed I wasn’t,’ said he, ‘but I am now. This beautiful house and this lovely garden—I dig in it sometimes; you remember, you used to tell me to take more exercise? Well, I feel I owe it all to you—and the Amulet.’

‘I’m so glad,’ said Anthea, and kissed him. He started.

‘THAT didn’t feel like a dream,’ he said, and his voice trembled.

‘It isn’t exactly a dream,’ said Anthea softly, ‘it’s all part of the Amulet—it’s a sort of extra special, real dream, dear Jimmy.’

‘Ah,’ said he, ‘when you call me that, I know I’m dreaming. My little sister—I dream of her sometimes. But it’s not real like this. Do you remember the day I dreamed you brought me the Babylonish ring?’

‘We remember it all,’ said Robert. ‘Did you leave Fitzroy Street because you were too rich for it?’

‘Oh, no!’ he said reproachfully. ‘You know I should never have done such a thing as that. Of course, I left when your old Nurse died and—what’s the matter!’

‘Old Nurse DEAD?’ said Anthea. ‘Oh, NO!’

‘Yes, yes, it’s the common lot. It’s a long time ago now.’

Jane held up the Amulet in a hand that twittered.

‘Come!’ she cried, ‘oh, come home! She may be dead before we get there, and then we can’t give it to her. Oh, come!’

‘Ah, don’t let the dream end now!’ pleaded the learned gentleman.

‘It must,’ said Anthea firmly, and kissed him again.

‘When it comes to people dying,’ said Robert, ‘good-bye! I’m so glad you’re rich and famous and happy.’

‘DO come!’ cried Jane, stamping in her agony of impatience41. And they went. Old Nurse brought in tea almost as soon as they were back in Fitzroy Street. As she came in with the tray, the girls rushed at her and nearly upset her and it.

‘Don’t die!’ cried Jane, ‘oh, don’t!’ and Anthea cried, ‘Dear, ducky, darling old Nurse, don’t die!’

‘Lord, love you!’ said Nurse, ‘I’m not agoin’ to die yet a while, please Heaven! Whatever on earth’s the matter with the chicks?’

‘Nothing. Only don’t!’

She put the tray down and hugged the girls in turn. The boys thumped42 her on the back with heartfelt affection.

‘I’m as well as ever I was in my life,’ she said. ‘What nonsense about dying! You’ve been a sitting too long in the dusk, that’s what it is. Regular blind man’s holiday. Leave go of me, while I light the gas.’

The yellow light illuminated43 four pale faces. ‘We do love you so,’ Anthea went on, ‘and we’ve made you a picture to show you how we love you. Get it out, Squirrel.’

The glazed44 testimonial was dragged out from under the sofa and displayed.

‘The glue’s not dry yet,’ said Cyril, ‘look out!’

‘What a beauty!’ cried old Nurse. ‘Well, I never! And your pictures and the beautiful writing and all. Well, I always did say your hearts was in the right place, if a bit careless at times. Well! I never did! I don’t know as I was ever pleased better in my life.’

She hugged them all, one after the other. And the boys did not mind it, somehow, that day.

‘How is it we can remember all about the future, NOW?’ Anthea woke the Psammead with laborious45 gentleness to put the question. ‘How is it we can remember what we saw in the future, and yet, when we WERE in the future, we could not remember the bit of the future that was past then, the time of finding the Amulet?’

‘Why, what a silly question!’ said the Psammead, ‘of course you cannot remember what hasn’t happened yet.’

‘But the FUTURE hasn’t happened yet,’ Anthea persisted, ‘and we remember that all right.’

‘Oh, that isn’t what’s happened, my good child,’ said the Psammead, rather crossly, ‘that’s prophetic vision. And you remember dreams, don’t you? So why not visions? You never do seem to understand the simplest thing.’

It went to sand again at once.

Anthea crept down in her nightgown to give one last kiss to old Nurse, and one last look at the beautiful testimonial hanging, by its tapes, its glue now firmly set, in glazed glory on the wall of the kitchen.

‘Good-night, bless your loving heart,’ said old Nurse, ‘if only you don’t catch your deather-cold!’



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 unnatural 5f2zAc     
adj.不自然的;反常的
参考例句:
  • Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗?
  • She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。
2 chilly pOfzl     
adj.凉快的,寒冷的
参考例句:
  • I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
  • I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后,寒气逼人。
3 amulet 0LyyK     
n.护身符
参考例句:
  • We're down here investigating a stolen amulet.我们来到这里调查一个失窃的护身符。
  • This amulet is exclusively made by Father Sum Lee.这个护身符是沙姆.李长老特制的。
4 tablecloth lqSwh     
n.桌布,台布
参考例句:
  • He sat there ruminating and picking at the tablecloth.他坐在那儿沉思,轻轻地抚弄着桌布。
  • She smoothed down a wrinkled tablecloth.她把起皱的桌布熨平了。
5 grumbling grumbling     
adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的
参考例句:
  • She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
  • We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。
6 grumble 6emzH     
vi.抱怨;咕哝;n.抱怨,牢骚;咕哝,隆隆声
参考例句:
  • I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
  • He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。
7 penance Uulyx     
n.(赎罪的)惩罪
参考例句:
  • They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
  • She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。
8 pane OKKxJ     
n.窗格玻璃,长方块
参考例句:
  • He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
  • Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气,在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。
9 awfully MPkym     
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地
参考例句:
  • Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
  • I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。
10 enchanted enchanted     
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
  • He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。
11 lighter 5pPzPR     
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
参考例句:
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
13 shrubs b480276f8eea44e011d42320b17c3619     
灌木( shrub的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
  • These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。
14 gravel s6hyT     
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石
参考例句:
  • We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
  • More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。
15 sleek zESzJ     
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢
参考例句:
  • Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
  • The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。
16 bonnets 8e4529b6df6e389494d272b2f3ae0ead     
n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 );(烟囱等的)覆盖物;(苏格兰男子的)无边呢帽;(女子戴的)任何一种帽子
参考例句:
  • All the best bonnets of the city were there. 城里戴最漂亮的无边女帽的妇女全都到场了。 来自辞典例句
  • I am tempting you with bonnets and bangles and leading you into a pit. 我是在用帽子和镯子引诱你,引你上钩。 来自飘(部分)
17 curiously 3v0zIc     
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地
参考例句:
  • He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
  • He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。
18 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
19 fretted 82ebd7663e04782d30d15d67e7c45965     
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的
参考例句:
  • The wind whistled through the twigs and fretted the occasional, dirty-looking crocuses. 寒风穿过枯枝,有时把发脏的藏红花吹刮跑了。 来自英汉文学
  • The lady's fame for hitting the mark fretted him. 这位太太看问题深刻的名声在折磨着他。
20 cleft awEzGG     
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的
参考例句:
  • I hid the message in a cleft in the rock.我把情报藏在石块的裂缝里。
  • He was cleft from his brother during the war.在战争期间,他与他的哥哥分离。
21 cypresses f4f41610ddee2e20669feb12f29bcb7c     
n.柏属植物,柏树( cypress的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Green and luxuriant are the pines and cypresses. 苍松翠柏郁郁葱葱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Before them stood a grove of tall cypresses. 前面是一个大坝子,种了许多株高大的松树。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
22 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
23 sobs d4349f86cad43cb1a5579b1ef269d0cb     
啜泣(声),呜咽(声)( sob的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
  • She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。
24 citizenship AV3yA     
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份)
参考例句:
  • He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生,但没有瑞典公民身分。
  • Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后,她选择了澳大利亚国籍。
25 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
26 ornaments 2bf24c2bab75a8ff45e650a1e4388dec     
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
  • Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》
27 frightful Ghmxw     
adj.可怕的;讨厌的
参考例句:
  • How frightful to have a husband who snores!有一个发鼾声的丈夫多讨厌啊!
  • We're having frightful weather these days.这几天天气坏极了。
28 refreshingly df69f8cd2bc8144ddfdcf9e10562fee3     
adv.清爽地,有精神地
参考例句:
  • Hers is less workmanlike than the other books and refreshingly unideological. 她的书不像其它书那般精巧,并且不涉及意识形态也让人耳目一新。 来自互联网
  • Skin is left refreshingly clean with no pore-clogging residue. 皮肤留下清爽干净,没有孔隙堵塞残留。 来自互联网
29 filthy ZgOzj     
adj.卑劣的;恶劣的,肮脏的
参考例句:
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
  • You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发,然后再去买张新的。
30 quaint 7tqy2     
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的
参考例句:
  • There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里,有很多小巷。
  • They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。
31 conjuring IYdyC     
n.魔术
参考例句:
  • Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
  • The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。
32 dismal wtwxa     
adj.阴沉的,凄凉的,令人忧郁的,差劲的
参考例句:
  • That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
  • My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。
33 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
34 greasy a64yV     
adj. 多脂的,油脂的
参考例句:
  • He bought a heavy-duty cleanser to clean his greasy oven.昨天他买了强力清洁剂来清洗油污的炉子。
  • You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时,你会厌恶油腻的气味。
35 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
36 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
37 loathing loathing     
n.厌恶,憎恨v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的现在分词);极不喜欢
参考例句:
  • She looked at her attacker with fear and loathing . 她盯着襲擊她的歹徒,既害怕又憎恨。
  • They looked upon the creature with a loathing undisguised. 他们流露出明显的厌恶看那动物。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
38 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
39 horrid arozZj     
adj.可怕的;令人惊恐的;恐怖的;极讨厌的
参考例句:
  • I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
  • The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃,她咽不下去。
40 rites 5026f3cfef698ee535d713fec44bcf27     
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • to administer the last rites to sb 给某人举行临终圣事
  • He is interested in mystic rites and ceremonies. 他对神秘的仪式感兴趣。
41 impatience OaOxC     
n.不耐烦,急躁
参考例句:
  • He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢,他显得不耐烦。
  • He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。
42 thumped 0a7f1b69ec9ae1663cb5ed15c0a62795     
v.重击, (指心脏)急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Dave thumped the table in frustration . 戴夫懊恼得捶打桌子。
  • He thumped the table angrily. 他愤怒地用拳捶击桌子。
43 illuminated 98b351e9bc282af85e83e767e5ec76b8     
adj.被照明的;受启迪的
参考例句:
  • Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
  • the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市
44 glazed 3sLzT8     
adj.光滑的,像玻璃的;上过釉的;呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式);上釉于,上光;(目光)变得呆滞无神
参考例句:
  • eyes glazed with boredom 厌倦无神的眼睛
  • His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她时,他的目光就变得呆滞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
45 laborious VxoyD     
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅
参考例句:
  • They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
  • Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。


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