Chapter Nine
Halberd and Spiller stayed two days with Hendreary and Lupy eating mouse stew, roast mouse leg, and helping Lupy skin mice to put in the chimney to smoke, but eventually they got so sick of looking at mice and were so eager to move on that they had to go. They waited until they thought it was late enough that there would be no more bath water in the drain and then they said their goodbyes. Lupy hugged Halberd and cried. He promised her he'd come back as soon as he could.
When they got the drain open Spiller pulled out the bars of soap and let them down to Halberd, who stowed them in the small boat. Young Tom had given Spiller a banana and a hardboiled egg, and Halberd helped Spiller stow the egg in the back of the boat. It took up a lot of room but he and Halberd both agreed that taking some food along was a good idea in case they got held up anywhere.
They also took a set of dollhouse painted plates that Lupy, in a sudden burst of resignation, was sending to Hemiola as an engagement present. Spiller suspected this was just so she would look grand to Daubery and his family but he certainly had no reason to complain so he didn't. She also gave them, at Spiller's request, a section of the waterproof raincoat sleeve like the ones that had been used by Pod when his family had gone away, that Spiller managed to lash around the soap bars to protect them in case of rushing water.
"Hate to have to haul those plates around until we get back to Daubery's place," Spiller said with a sigh as he finished tying up the waterproof, "but they're smaller than this soap I told you that you could take it to her, so who am I to complain?"
"It will be all right now that it's safe from getting wet. Wet won't bother the banana or the egg either. Are we stopping in any of the drains to pick up anything else?" Halberd asked, hoisting the banana to the top of the pile, where it curved over the rest of the load.
"Don't have time if we're going to get out of here by morning and we don't have the room." Spiller checked one more time to see that everything was secure and he and Halberd started pulling the soap box. It seemed to Spiller that he and Halberd were able to move much faster down the drain than he had gone with Pod. Pod, Spiller realized, was getting old and he vowed to make things as easy for him as possible at the mill.
In spite of the weight the soapbox lid slid swiftly over the slime at the bottom of the drain. Halberd wished they had a bit more light but Spiller was used to the darkness and knew the way so well that they managed to move along at a pretty fair pace. When they got at last to the Holcomb branch off they stopped to rest.
"Not that much farther," Spiller said. "Still feel like going straight to Little Fordham or do you want to stop off anyplace else? We could pole back up to Holmcroft and drop off Hemiola's soap and the plates and tell Sateen and Daubery how things went if you want." He missed Arrietty but he thought it would be much easier to drop those things off that stow them somewhere.
Halberd brightened. "Would you mind? I know you really want to get back to Little Fordham and see Arrietty but I'll bet Hemiola's as anxious to hear what happened as Arrietty is to see you."
"Then we'll do it," Spiller decided. They started pulling again. The silt beneath their feet seemed thinner and finally at the end of the tunnel they could see the faint light that signaled a coming dawn. They were almost at the mouth of the drain.
When they finally reached it they pulled the soapbox lid onto the beach and set about unloading the cargo and transferring it to the bigger, knife box boat. That done they debated about whether to not to leave immediately or wait until nightfall, and whether or not to cut the banana and make a meal out of some of it.
Spiller preferred to wait until nightfall and didn't want to cut the banana saying it was easier to transport whole. Halberd bowed to his superior knowledge. Instead they picked some blackberries and a few leaves of sorrel to keep them from getting too hungry. After carefully hiding the soap box they climbed into Spiller's knife box boat where there was more room and had a long nap under the canopy with Spiller rolled up in his quilt and Halberd quite comfortable in the sheep's wool that Spiller always kept tucked in the hold.
When they woke it was twilight. They helped themselves to some rosehips growing nearby, picked some wild garlic to take to Sateen, and began to pole themselves back up the river. It was hard work and Spiller was grateful to take it in turns with Halberd, who was becoming quite good at it. It was totally dark when they got back. They tied the bag of the plates and the burlap bag of garlic to one of the bars of soap with a harness made out of twine and Spiller began to pull it as Halberd walked along behind him carrying the banana. Halfway to the house they switched to share the load. The banana was lighter and more awkward to maneuver but the bundle was heavier and harder to pull.
They were both glad when they were finally in the hall and Daubery could come out and help. Sateen was pleased with the garlic, Hemiola was ecstatic over the soap (she kissed Halberd more times than anyone thought was necessary) and everyone was impressed by the painted plates. Sateen warmed up some soup, made tea, and set out some bread and butter and some nice thick slices of banana, which Spiller and Halberd wolfed down as they took turns explaining how the trip had gone.
"I wish they could come for the wedding," Halberd admitted.
"It would be more proper if they did," Daubery admitted. "If Spiller could bring them back and forth I think we could manage a nice ceremony and a proper wedding dinner, couldn't we, Sateen?"
"Anything you need for it," Spiller assured her, eager to help, "let me know ahead of time and I'll get it for you."
In spite of the fact that they'd slept most of the day away he and Halberd were exhausted by their exertions and were glad to go to bed.
There was banana for breakfast along with toast and jam and everyone spent the day visiting until it was time for Spiller and Halberd to set out at nightfall for Little Fordham. Sateen packed them some buttered buns and a small corked bottle of sugared tea for the trip and there was more kissing and hugging when it was time to say goodbye.
As they paddled down the river they came to the spot where Mild Eye the gypsy had tried to catch Pod, Homily and Arrietty. Halberd examined the mound. It had passed into legend and he liked being able to see it at last. Once they got to the bridge, though, they pulled up, for the cover of night would soon be gone.
"Little Fordham is a two day trip from the drain," Spiller said. "Better get some rest while we can." He tied up in his usual spot under the brambles along the bank. They ate some of their buns, drank tea, and went to sleep under the canopy when the owls came hooting back to their homes in the trees and the sun was rising.
When Halberd woke up it was, as far as he could tell from the angle of the sun, late afternoon and Spiller was gone. He snatched up a piece of bun, and munching it, peered out from under the canopy at the river. It took a moment to find Spiller, who was on the bank under the brambles fishing. Halberd wished he knew Spiller's trick for invisibility. It was more than just being still, or the fact that Spiller had such dark hair and sun browned skin. It was a talent that had been developed over time and Halberd just didn't have the knack for it.
Spiller heard Halberd coming, looked up and pointed to his stringer, which he had firmly attached to a piece of vine dangling in the water. "Have three already. Wish we could cook them but don't want to risk a fire. Too many human beings pass by here. Someone might see the smoke. Homily can do them up for us when we get to Little Fordham. I'd like to just get a couple more so we can each have one. There's some strawberries up that bank do you want to pick a few."
Halberd did. While he was climbing the bank he saw something shiny up near the top, beside what appeared to be a human path. He crept closer being careful to listen for human footsteps on the gravel above. It was a silver cigarette case.
He went back and got Spiller, who set down his pole to come take a look. He congratulated Halberd on the find. "I should have seen that. Wonder who dropped it and if they'll come back looking for it? Let's take a closer look. Should be able to open it."
Together they pushed the button and it finally popped open. The smell of tobacco wafted up. "Hate that smell," said Spiller, closing his eyes for a moment and thinking of the humans sitting around the kitchen at his childhood home, smoking and drinking ale around the fire that soon spread to take away everything Spiller held dear.
"We can get rid of them and do something with the case, can't we?" Halberd asked. "Must be worth a lot to the humans."
"The case is probably good for something, but it's nigh unto impossible to get rid of that smell," Spiller told him. Never the less, they worked it out of the long grass and dragged it down to the boat, one pushing and one pulling.
When it was tucked safely in the cargo area Spiller went back to fishing. He and Halberd just sat companionably, listening to the lapping of the water, nibbling on some hawthorn shoots, and listening to the occasional sound of human footsteps on the path and the bits of conversation that came with them.
"I went down there yesterday and he said…yes, I have…we may need it…and then she told me…" It was like whispers on the wind.
"Humans really are funny things, aren't they?" Halberd said at last. "Not that I know much about them. I mean, Tom's all right, but I've never spoken to any other."
Spiller thought for a moment, and finally said, "Some is all right but most aren't. That being said, the ones at Little Fordham, the ones that built it, seem all right. Almost like borrowers at times. Strange, it is. Arrietty used to speak to one of them quite a bit. Pod told her to stop but she and I still go see them occasionally. Come in handy they do but you mustn't tell Pod or Homily a thing about it. These two is useful at the moment. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Halberd assured him. "I know after what Pod and Homily went through they've got a right to be distrustful but where would we have all been if Arrietty hadn't found out from Tom that his grandfather was going to hospital that time? Or if he hadn't helped you get them out of that caravan? As long as you're careful and know what you can do and what you can't with this Little Fordham lot, I won't say a word to anyone."
"Fair enough," said Spiller, putting another minnow on the stringer. "That's enough and it's almost dark. Let's tie the stringer to the back of the boat so the fish stay cool and we'll get ready to go."
When they got to Little Fordham it was very late. Spiller was reminded of the night he had first arrived with Arrietty and her parents. He smiled, remembering that night and thinking about everything that had happened since then.
The fence, which was built to wrap around Mr. Pott's port, the shipping and custom houses, was spoiling the view a bit but other than that, the moonlight on the village, the difficulty dragging supplies through the thick rushy grasses, and Halberd's round eyes at the sight of the port, train tracks, and the village itself were very familiar to Spiller.
Halberd liked the church although the silent, immobile vicar standing on the church steps in his cassock unnerved him. He longed to examine each house and shop and kept shaking his head and muttering, almost breathless with wonder, "It's just like the stories say it is. Mother would never believe it."
"Aye, it is," Spiller agreed, tying his boat up against the dock for once, instead of hiding it in the rushes along the river. If anyone saw it they'd probably just think it was part of the scenery and if the stove was ready it would be easier to load from the dock than from the bank. He suspected, rightly enough, that Miss Menzies already knew where he hid his boat anyway, and at any rate, he didn't expect to be there for long.
Making a sled out of the soap bar, as they had done before, they rigged up a sling on top of it for the hardboiled egg. Spiller hooked his stringer of fish to the back of the waterproof around the soap, and piled his and Halberd's gear awkwardly on top of the pile. Then they started hauling. It was easy across the grass but much harder when they had to cross the tracks and then again when they got to the street.
After much huffing, puffing, swearing and grumbling, they finally reached the Crown and Anchor. "Be quiet," said Spiller. "I sleep in the back off the kitchen and the rest sleep upstairs in the front. If we're lucky we won't wake anyone."
They got the things into the kitchen. Spiller slipped into his bedroom, lit a candle, then came back to the bedroom doorway and looked at Halberd in the dim light. "If you need to wash up we can fill up the pitcher on my washstand. But don't splash about and make a lot of noise. Homily and Pod need their eight hours." He handed Halberd his pitcher and helped himself got a glass of cool water from the tap.
"A real working sink, just our size!" Halberd whispered, still awed, looking around as he filled the pitcher, "and real dishes, and pots, and glasses, and a table cloth, and look at that cunning stove!"
"Yes," Spiller whispered back. "You'll see it all in the morning. Now let's get ready for bed. You can have my bed. I can sleep on the rug on the floor in my quilt. Just let me get the fish into water so they don't go bad."
He filled up the sink, put in the fish, and pulled his and Halberd's gear off the pile. He wrinkled his nose, not wanting to think of what Homily would say about this mixture of lavender and minnow scent when she came down to get breakfast.
Halberd couldn't get over the furniture, the blankets, and Spiller's wash basin with the scrap of sandalwood soap, neatly stacked towels and wash cloths. They washed up as best as they could and Spiller finally got Halberd to lie down.
He looked at Spiller, curled up on the rag rug in his quilt, and asked, "Why do they want to leave here? Hemiola would love Little Fordham. I think I'd love it. It seems like a perfect world."
Spiller rolled onto his back and looked up. "The houses are comfortable enough but you've got all the humans that come visiting in the summer to deal with, the noise of the trains, and the dust, and then what would you do in the winter? You'd be scrambling for food and fuel after the snow falls."
"I'd think you could work it out somehow. It's not any different than having to store up for winter anywhere else," Halberd started to argue, but Spiller, who wanted to get some sleep before Homily got up and started banging pots in the kitchen, cut him off.
"You'll get a better idea of how things are in the morning." And then they both got quiet, each wrapped in their own thoughts.
Spiller was wakened, just as he had suspected he would be, by a loud shriek of, "Look at my sink! Just look at it!"
He rolled over and grinned as Halberd bolted upright looking around confused. "Homily just found the fish," Spiller said dryly, sitting up and throwing off the quilt. He stood up and stretched, just as she stuck her head around the bedroom door.
"Spiller, you're the finest fisherman I've ever seen and no mistake, and there's nothing better than fresh fried fish, but it's going to take me the rest of the morning to get that sink clean…oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"Mother? Mother, what's wrong?" Spiller heard Arrietty say, as Halberd got sheepishly to his feet and his aunt launched herself at him.
"The dear boy! I never thought I'd see you again! Fine thing, Spiller, to bring him back here and not even give us a bit of warning!" Clean up both you and go into the pub. If I can get around these dratted fish I'll make you breakfast."
"We've got a hardboiled hen's egg, Auntie," said Halberd, returning her hug. "We can eat that. I could do with a cup of tea, though."
"That I can manage," Homily said, shaking her head at Spiller again."I can fill the kettle without moving the fish." She walked out as Arrietty came in, and launched herself at Spiller the way Homily had done to Halberd, only she gave kisses as well as hugs.
"Oh, Spiller, I didn't expect you today. I am so glad to see you! And you!" Arrietty said, turning to Halberd. "Getting married! My goodness! Yes, get ready for breakfast. I'll go get Papa. He'll be so pleased to see you, to see both of you."
Halberd got a piece of razor blade out of his kit, and went to the washstand to shave. "She really has grown up! You're a lucky man."
"I think so, too," Spiller said, rolling up his quilt, and getting his own things out. When he was as clean as he ever got, and Halberd was fully dressed and groomed, they went into the front of the Crown where Pod was putting down a platter of egg slices as Arrietty was setting the largest table.
Halberd was so amazed by the miniature pub that they had to give him a few minutes to look around and then a tour of the upstairs, in spite of a call from Homily that she was ashamed of how cluttered the master bedroom and the workroom were at the moment. Everything delighted him.
As they came back down the stairs, he ran his hand along the railing, admiring the craftsmanship, and asked, "Are all of the buildings furnished?"
"No, not all of them, not completely," Arrietty said. Pod went back to the kitchen to help Homily and Arrietty dropped her voice. "Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott did up the cottage we used to live in but then Mother and Papa didn't feel safe there after we got taken that time so then they did up this one. I don't think Papa knows yet that they made it up just for us because it would be harder to get at."
Homily and Pod came back out then with the tea, bread and butter. As they ate they talked about the drain, Lupy's resigned attitude toward Halberd's wedding, and the painted plates she had send Hemiola as a wedding gift.
"The ones from the doll house cupboard at Firbank Hall?" Homily said, her voice rising, but Pod kicked her lightly under the table. She gave him a resentful look but managed to quiet herself. Pod didn't want Halberd feeling bad about that after so much water under the bridge. Homily's resentment that Lupy had wound up with so many of the things Homily had used under the floor ran deep but there was nothing to be done about it.
"I think it's nice that Halberd and his young lady will be able to start off with something so nice," Pod said firmly, and when Spiller and Arrietty quickly agreed with this, Homily gave them a martyred look, and finally agreed, too.
Halberd began to tell them about what a good pilot Spiller was and what a good teacher. This they could all agree on. Even Homily praised him to the skies which both pleased and embarrassed him. He still remembered the day he'd met her when she'd called him a naughty, dirty, unwashed boy. What the difference was between dirty and unwashed he had never figured out.
When Halberd said he had seen the mound where they'd had their encounter with Mild Eye, Pod couldn't say enough about Spiller's quick thinking that day, and how he had never once thought to cut the fishing line. He would regret, he said, losing his head that way until the end of his days.
Spiller finally changed the subject to how well Halberd was doing on the river just so they would have something else to talk about besides him. "He's even getting better at night which is the hardest thing to get used to. I hope he's that good tonight. I want to make good time heading back down river."
"Tonight?" Arrietty cried. "You're leaving again tonight? But you've only just got back! I thought we'd be able to have a nice long visit with Halberd."
"Yes," Homily said. "We want to hear all about the wedding. I expect Sateen is just thrilled to have a wedding dinner to plan."
"I didn't expect to be back this soon," Spiller pointed out. "We made a deal, Ari. You know I've got things to do."
"But I had so hoped to show Halberd the village, and the trains," she said a bit sulkily.
Spiller frowned. This was the one thing he feared if he and Arrietty were to remain a couple. She had to understand his work and accept that he had to hunt and fish and borrow, and that she could not always come along. He had to keep up his skills and not have everything handed to him by a pair of human beings, and there were many things he could not do as well with Arrietty along. Human beings came and went, some good and some bad, but in the end borrowers had to be able to fend for themselves.
"That would be nice," Homily said, changing the direction of the conversation. "When he gets back home, he can tell Lupy…"
"We can do the rounds today," Spiller said, not wanting her to start in on Lupy in front of Halberd and thinking that would be a good excuse to go check on the stove with Mr. Pott. "Then we can take a nap in the afternoon and be off."
"I don't like it when you're out in the daylight," Pod warned, but Spiller pointed out that Mr. Pott worked on weekdays and only had visitors on weekends now. "With that wooden leg, we can hear him coming a long way off anyway."
Pod, grumbling, finally agreed.
"We will all keep watch, Papa," Arrietty said. "We'll be careful. If Spiller thinks it's safe, it's safe. No human sees him unless he wants them to."
"Wants them to?" Pod exclaimed.
"If he hadn't of gone and gotten young Tom the gypsies would have us in a birdcage," Arrietty said.
"That's no way to speak to your father," Homily said, moving the egg, "and I still think it would be nice for Halberd to see what it's like here. Like I said, when he gets home and is speaking to Lupy…"
"I give up!" Pod shouted, throwing up his hands. "Just don't start that again!"
"Come on, then," Spiller said quickly, nodding to Halberd and taking Arrietty by the hand. "Let's go scout things out." He pulled her through the hall past the kitchen and out the back door as Halberd followed them.
"Now, " Arrietty said, when they were all outside of the Crown and the door was shut. "What are we really going to do today?"
"Show Halberd the town," Spiller said nonchalantly, as Arrietty stared at him, "and all right then, I have to talk to Mr. Pott and Miss Menzies about something. Know where he is?"
"Haven't seen him all day so he's either doing something at his house or away," Arrietty answered.
"Village first then," Spiller decided. He and Arrietty walked through the village carefully with Halberd, watching for any sign of human beings, but there were none. They took Halberd to see the station and the signal box, and explained to him how Mr. Pott had lost his leg when the badger had bitten it and he had fallen in the path of the train.
"Does he really look like that?" Halberd asked doubtfully, looking at the effigy in the signal box with the matchstick leg.
"Quite a bit," said Spiller, nodding.
Halberd was surprised by details of the station. "I thought you said not all the buildings were done up."
"This one was the first," Arrietty explained, "and I think he just did it to see how close he could get to the original one he knew so well."
She told him all about Miss Menzies and how she helped Mr. Pott. Arrietty also told Halberd how she had been startled by the beetle the first night Spiller had brought her there, and how they had found toadstools in the ticket office. "My mother keeps it clean for him now, even though she thinks he doesn't know it. It's quite touching really. She loved it here so much until that other lot took us. I should never have told my parents that Mr. Pott and Miss Menzies knew about us."
'Yes, you should," Spiller said. "Secrets like that would have been hard to keep."
"Miss Menzies sounds like she's all right, Halberd said slowly. "This lot sounds useful like Tom."
"She thought we were fairies at first. Can you imagine anyone mistaking Papa or Spiller for a fairy?" Arrietty laughed. "She makes a living designing Christmas cards and writing children's books, and she half believed in fairies until she met us. Now she thinks fairies are just glimpses people get of borrowers. It turned out all right, though, because now she's gotten all sorts of ideas and is writing books about fairies. They're making her a lot of money. She buys things for us sometimes with that money."
"That's why I want to see them today," Spiller said. "Don't tell Pod or Homily but Pott's having the blacksmith make me a pot bellied stove like that one in the station to take to the mill. Homily will have her stove after all. Just won't be as big as the one at the Crown. Halberd's going to help me take it to the mill and set it up. Can't carry it by meself. Then when you all get there it will be ready to use."
Arrietty just glowed at that. "Mother will love that! Oh, thank you, Spiller, and you too, Halberd." She kissed Spiller and they stood there for awhile holding each other and continuing the kiss until Halberd cleared his throat.
"Now I know what that feels like to watch," he said ruefully. "Not sure if I like it. What else is there to see?"
They went past the church, which was much more impressive in the day light, with the neat little graveyard set with tiny headstones. They went into the village shop and all agreed how wonderful it would be if everything in it was real.
"I don't know what we'd use for money, though," Arrietty mused.
Spiller reached out to her fine hairdo and pulled one curl down and out of the neat pile on her head to tease her. "Don't need money. Be the end of borrowers if we ever had any. Barter will always be the best way for us."
"For you," she answered, stealing another kiss but keeping this one short. "Let's show him Vine Cottage." They walked over to it and as they went up the High Street she explained how Spiller had helped her plant the garden and how Miss Menzies had dropped the lock for the door by the thistle to make the borrowing easy, but how in the end the lock had not helped. They went in through the back and she pointed out the battery shed. They looked around the kitchen and tried the electric light, which Halberd didn't like anymore than Arrietty did, and he glanced around the bedrooms.
"Hemiola would like this," he said with a sigh.
"Well, maybe sometimes in the summer you two can come and visit," Arrietty suggested. "I don't know if you'll always want to live in the stove. Won't it get awfully hot in the summer being iron and having the gas burners lit and all? Summer is the best time here. You have to stay indoors in the daytime on the weekends, but the borrowings after the visitors leave are practically endless."
Spiller looked around thoughtfully. "She has a point."
Then they walked over to Mr. Pott's house. There was no one in the scullery, but Spiller and Arrietty showed Halberd around there and the kitchen anyway, since the kitchen door was ajar. There was a huge bowl of fruit on the kitchen table and with the help of a pin and a piece of hem tape borrowed from Miss Menzies' sewing basket, Spiller got up and pushed down the smallest apple he could find and a paring knife. "Watch out below," he called as the latter came down. It stuck ominously between two floorboards and stood quivering.
When Spiller got down they cut the apple and began to eat on the mat by the kitchen sink. "I like apples," he said. "Good for your teeth, they are."
"You do have lovely white teeth," Arrietty assured him. She liked the way they flashed when he grinned, so bright against his sun tanned skin. As Halberd handed Arrietty a thick slice of apple she said ruefully, "I really do owe you an apology."
"What for?" Halberd asked, startled.
"I never knew you were nice!" Arrietty exclaimed. "I didn't remember you from under the floor and when we went to live at the gamekeeper's cottage I never tried to get to know you. I thought you didn't like me. You and Grego never said anything to me, only Timmis. We used to go up to our room and sit and wonder why we couldn't do anything right."
"I never knew you were, either! That wasn't your fault, though" Halberd said. "I guess I owe you an apology, too. I still thought of you as a little kid. I didn't try to get to know you because everything was so hard when you and your parents came. I wasn't very happy then. My mother and father were giving me such a hard time and my mother really didn't want to live with your parents. My father was glad to see you but even he was worried when you came. There weren't a lot of borrowings in the cottage to begin with and we didn't know how we were going to handle things. Then there was the furniture, of course. My mother knew all along that your lot were the last borrowers in the big house and thought your mother would resent them getting everything even if they didn't ask for it."
"She did," Arrietty said, taking another piece of apple. "She and your mother never liked each other anyway. They're both nice enough alone. Your mother is a wonderful cook and keeps the house really well, and Mother can be very sweet, but they just aren't any good together."
"They both get on me nerves at times," Spiller interjected, and both Halberd and Arrietty burst out laughing.
"But Spiller, we do have to give you credit for making us both happier people," Halberd said with a grin. "Right, Ari? I like that…when he calls you Ari. I think it's cute."
"Right," she said, laughing even harder. "Spiller the hero always saves the day."
Spiller shook his head. "Ridiculous you are the both of you!"
Arrietty sobered then. "No, we're not. You always came along just when we needed you and you still do. You are my hero. Thank you, Spiller," and with that she kissed him again.
They heard noise coming from the front of the house then, Miss Menzies laughing and Mr. Pott's odd thumping tread. Halberd looked up, startled, and asked Arrietty what they should do. He was a bit puzzled when the answer turned out to be nothing.
"I'll go put the kettle on," they heard Miss Menzies say, and when she stepped into the kitchen, Spiller said as loudly as he could, "Hallo. Borrowed an apple, I did. All right that?"
Miss Menzies hand flew to her throat, "Oh, Spiller! You startled me! Of course it is, dear, but how in the world did you get at that knife? You're lucky you didn't kill yourself. Hello, Arrietty."
Her soft violet eyes settled on Halberd and looking up into them he stopped being afraid. Her lips curved into a smile, and in spite of her graying hair, this tall, thin woman seemed almost childlike, and borrowers always fared fairly well with children. "Why, who is your friend?" She asked, and her voice seemed high and filled with mirth. She was obviously glad to see them, very glad indeed.
"This is Arrietty's cousin, Halberd," Spiller said.
"My goodness," she said. "We had a halberd at dear Gladstone. The axe, of course, not a person. What a powerful name. A battle axe, you know. Sixteenth Century, I think or perhaps fifteenth? Anyway, welcome to Little Fordham. You must stay for tea. We're having sandwiches and scones and I made the most wonderful ginger biscuits. They aren't exactly my favorite but Abel likes them and they really did come out well." She turned and called into the hall, "Abel dear, please come. Arrietty and Spiller have brought someone to meet us." Coming back into the room she picked up the knife and shook her head. "You really must be careful. We don't want you to get hurt."
"Know what I can do and what I can't," Spiller said. "I'll have a bit of tea and a biscuit, but I'm not sure if I can finish a sandwich or a scone, after all this apple. Should've waited for you. Sorry."
"That's all right," Miss Menzies assured him. "If you were hungry, you were hungry. I'm sure I speak for Abel when I say that anything you want here is yours to have. Perhaps you can take some back to Pod and Homily. We have curried egg salad, and a roast beef with horseradish on rye. I brought a set of my dollhouse china down here for when you come to visit. Let me wash it up. It might have gotten a bit dusty" She took a small box from the cupboard, wiped everything off with quick strokes and then put the kettle on as Mr. Pott stumped into the room.
"There he is," Pott said, spotting Spiller. "Just came from the blacksmith we did. Got the stove. Glad to see you, boy. You can see if it's what you want. Think it'll do."
Miss Menzies spoke quickly. "Arrietty brought her cousin, Halberd, to meet us. I invited them to stay for tea. We can take care of the stove after that. What are you going to want us to do with it, Spiller?"
"Tied me boat up at the shipping dock," he said. "Could you help us get it back there?"
"Not a problem," Pott said, dropping down into a chair, and extending his wooden leg. "I take it the others don't know you're here?"
"No," Spiller said, "but Halberd won't tell 'em. He knows how it is. He's the one I told you was getting married."
"I made you something special," Miss Menzies said, putting water in the kettle and leaving the tea to steep. "I hope you like it." She went and crouched down next to her sewing basket behind the door and pulled out a rolled up something that looked very familiar to Spiller. Sure enough, when she slipped off the yarn holding it, a quilt rolled out. She set it very carefully in front of Halberd. It was a lovely pattern of hexagons in bright pastel prints that looked like flowers.
"Oh, Ma'am that's lovely," Halberd said, struck by the beauty of it.
"That pattern is called honeycomb," Miss Menzies said. "It's the most intricate one I've ever done this size. You take it with you and give it to your young lady." She very gently handed him the pieces of yarn to tie it back up with, and while Spiller rolled it expertly and held it still while Halberd tied it, she rose in a fluid motion and went to fetch the sandwiches and scones. She put two of each kind of sandwich, a scone cut into thirds with some blackberry jam, and a couple of ginger biscuits on a saucer.
"Now that I have that quilt made, I'm going to start on something for that friend of yours who is expecting," Miss Menzies said, as the borrowers, divided up the food on their saucer.
Arrietty had a cup of tea, a piece of ginger biscuit, and part of an egg salad sandwich, but she wasn't that fond of curry, or horseradish, either. She slipped Spiller the rest of her sandwich when Miss Menzies was pouring more tea. He took a bite and thought he'd died and gone to the human's heaven.
"Right good this curry is!" he exclaimed. "I could eat this again for sure. If you wouldn't mind packing us a bag I think Pod would like it, too."
"He'd like the beef, I think," said Halberd. "Wish my dad could try this."
"I have a bag I can pack some in for you. Arrietty," said Miss Menzies, "you'll never guess what I heard. Ballyhoggin is closing. Mabel Platter passed away and Mr. Platter is moving away. I don't know where he's going and I don't care. After what he did! I'll never forgive him for that! A man from somewhere on the coast bought the land."
"Brighton," Mr. Pott said, reaching for another roast beef sandwich. "Heard he's from Brighton and the man has no end of money. Made it all in shipping."
Halberd looked at Arrietty. "Is that the same Mabel that locked you in the attic?"
"Yes, and I heard he's tearing down a whole lot of Mr. Platter's villas and making an estate out of the place. The Platter's house is going to be where his groundskeeper is going to live. I don't know what will become of the model railway," Miss Menzies said.
"Them villas weren't that nice anyway," Pott said, swallowing a beef sandwich in one bite, "and after we had the trouble I asked around. They say when he did funerals, he always padded the bill. Always knew he was as crooked as a snake. Wonder how much he spent burying her."
Miss Menzies shuddered, and leaned down to pour the borrowers some more tea. "I never do like funeral directors. I know someone has to bury the dead but it seems like such an unseemly business." She took her napkin and brushed some crumbs from her scone off her hands. "Spiller, that stove is rather heavy, especially when you consider the weight of the tile we got to set it on. Are you sure your boat can manage it?"
"If it's loaded right," he answered, breaking the last ginger biscuit into thirds and sharing it out.
Miss Menzies sat back down, and she and Mr. Pott explained to Halberd how Little Fordam had developed and grown. When he said he'd like to bring Hemiola to see it they both assured him she would be welcome.
"I would so like to meet her," Miss Menzies said, "if she wouldn't be too afraid of us."
When they were done eating Miss Menzies packed a bag for them, with several ginger biscuits, two of each kind of sandwich, and a whole scone. Then after lining the market basket with a kitchen towel she put in the bag, and the borrowers climbed in and sat beside it. Mr. Pott got the package with the stove and pipes in it, and the tile that was supposed to go under it.
"Do you want me to open this so you can see 'em?" Pott asked. "It's just as I said it would be."
"Don't have to do that," Spiller assured him, pausing to look back as he scaled the side of the basket.
Pott went out the back door, with Miss Menzies following him, carrying the basket. "Let me know if I jostle you too much," she said.
"We're fine," Arrietty assured her.
With some skillful maneuvering on Spiller's part they got the piece of tile in the bottom of the barge, and the pieces of pipe and the stove in, too. To make room Spiller slid out the silver cigarette case and offered it to Mr. Pott. "Found this on the riverbank," Spiller told him. "Someone must've dropped it. You take it. It must be worth a lot." When Mr. Pott tried to refuse it, Spiller pointed out that they didn't need the extra weight in the boat and Pott finally agreed to hold onto it for Spiller.
Then Mr. Pott let Halberd, Spiller and Arrietty take a ride on the train. They went all the way around twice, and Halberd was bug-eyed with wonder. Finally Mr. Pott shut the train down, and the borrowers got out.
Then Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott went back to the house, and the borrowers, all working together to carry the bag of food, went back to the Crown and Anchor where Pod and Homily fussed over the borrowings.
"We were worried about you," Homily said. "We heard the train and we never hear the train this late in the day during the week. We thought you'd be seen."
"We're fine. That Pott was just working on something down by the station," Spiller said hastily, and he and Halberd and Spiller went to take a nap before setting off down the river. Pod, Homily and Arrietty went upstairs to the workroom so their guests could sleep. Homily and Arrietty were making dresses from a fine silk scarf that one of the visitors had dropped, and Pod was making himself new shoes. He had made them for everyone else and neglected his own, and he wanted to make a new pair and get them broken in before the family moved into the mill.
As they all worked they chatted about Halberd's upcoming wedding, the lovely smell of Arrietty's new soap, which was being stored in the spare bedroom, to keep the smell away from the food, and Homily talked quite a bit about how she was going to fry the fish for a nice meal before the young men went on their trip.
"Wish we could eat the sandwiches," she said, "because I don't want that egg salad to spoil, but speaking of smells, that fish is enough to drive me out of the kitchen. The scone and the biscuits will keep, but not the sandwiches, especially that egg salad."
"Cook the fish then, and let Halberd and Spiller take the egg salad with them," suggested Arrietty. "The roast beef is enough for us for tomorrow. They can eat the egg salad while they're traveling." When her mother agreed that Arrietty had made a very good suggestion, Arrietty put down her needle and sighed. "I wish I could go with them. I love traveling with Spiller."
"You need to get your wardrobe in tip top shape," Homily told her. "When we get to the mill we won't have the pickings we have here to sew with. Once we get the dresses done, we need to make some new vests and petticoats. There's a nice handkerchief we can use for that, and if we have enough left, and I think we will, your father needs a new shirt."
"But what will we do all day there?" Arrietty asked, crossly, picking up the needle again and starting to set the sleeves in her dress.
"There will be lots to do, young lady," Pod said firmly. "There will be unpacking to do, and things to get sorted and set up. We have a long way to go on that. And we've taken a lot of yarn to the mill. You and your mother can spend the winter knitting."
Arrietty sighed. That was not how she wanted to spend the next few months of her life. Under the floor to her meant back in prison, and she was not looking forward to it. She had no problem helping Pod and Homily get set up, but once that was done, she had every intention of either pressing Spiller to make wedding plans for the two of them, or at least take her visiting. Oh, well, she had at least two or three months left before they had to be out of Little Fordham.
