Chapter 21
Spiller was slightly concerned about humans spotting his boat, which was overloaded and riding low in the water, but it was a midweek morning, cloudy and overcast. Not many people were out. He asked Arrietty if it would be all right to pull in somewhere in the early afternoon, have lunch, take a nap and then pull out and travel at night. She just looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Spiller, when it comes to the boat it's your decision, always. You know best about that and I know you know best about it."
"Thanks," he said. "Sure you're holding up all right?"
She sighed. "I just keep thinking about them and I'm sad. Very sad, but I'll feel better when I get to Little Fordham, I think. Little Fordham makes me happy. Aside from that bank by the river Little Fordham is the place where I was the happiest."
"They weren't happy there," he pointed out, as he maneuvered the boat with his butter knife paddle, and then cursed himself for talking about them.
Arrietty didn't seem to mind, though. "Mother wasn't," she admitted. "Papa just took it in stride as what had to be. But I was very happy. I'd wanted to be outdoors since I was a tot looking out the grating at the big house, and I was so afraid that we were the only borrowers left in the world, and meeting you proved to me I wasn't."
"Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said stoutly, as the sun began to rise higher, and the sky became less gray. "The absolute best thing, that was."
She smiled slightly at him, watching him steer the knifebox boat so that it rode smoothly in the rippling water, swinging slightly back and forth as the river twisted and turned. He was really such a dear young man. She couldn't be completely sad, not as long as she still had him, and watching him, knowing that she had him to depend on made him feel a whole lot better.
After awhile he said casually, though, almost too casually, "Did Lupy really say that about gentlemen and libraries? And why didn't you ever tell me that before?"
She looked at him as if he'd gotten even more crazy. "What would the point have been? You already knew Lupy could be a snob. Why do you think I would want to rub salt in your wounds?'
"I was just thinking," Spiller said, turning away from her.
Being on the river refreshed their spirits. Looking at now familiar sights and hearing sounds that had become less foreign than they had been in the past occupied Arrietty's mind. When they passed a cow that looked down curiously it was like meeting an old friend. They saw willows with branches like a broad green curtain and hazel trees standing like sentinels. In places the meadows came sloping right down to the stream and Arrietty could look across the vastness and see sloping fields of green, beginning to glow in a light which seemed brighter every minute.
A lot of the places where Spiller usually moored were still in high water zones, but he found a suitable place, and they stopped for bread and a shortbread biscuit, and split the remaining strawberry. He seemed subdued, and thinking he might be tired, she told him to get some rest.
Spiller stretched out under the canopy. Arrietty sat down and pulled his head into her lap. He relaxed as she stroked his hair and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. She was curved around him like one of the comfortable wing chairs in Lupy's drawing room. As she was running her fingers absentmindedly though the thick strands he closed his eyes slowly. Her fingers felt wonderful sliding over his scalp like flowing water. "Spiller?" Arrietty asked tentatively.
"Hmmm?"
"How did you stand it when your parents died in that fire and you were all alone? I mean, until you found Daubery and Sateen and they took you in."
He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Didn't think about it. Just lit out trying not to think about it. The past was past and best forgot. Every time I started to think about it, I just looked into the river and made my mind a blank. I just let it go"
She sighed. "I'm so glad I have you. I'm glad I can talk to you about them if I want to. I don't think I could do that."
"I shouldn't have," he said harshly. "If I'd dwelled on it, I might've gone back and found Lark."
"I have nothing left to find," Arrietty said tremulously.
"The rest of your life," Spiller said, reaching with one hand to catch hers.
"I wonder what that will be like," Arrietty said, sliding down and curling up at his side.
"We'll just have to see," Spiller answered, telling himself that he was doing the right thing. They just lay quietly until they fell asleep.
When they reached Burgonet and Arista's place Arrietty staggered back onto dry land since she'd been on the water for so long. It was late and Spiller suggested they just go to bed and see everyone in the morning. He got Arrietty to help him take their last chunk of bread into the hallway and down to the gate. He put it behind the gate where no mice could get at it.
He and Arrietty slept in each other's arms. Spiller wished he could do more, but didn't want to attempt anything intimate in case Arrietty, in her grief, got it into her head again that they might have been doing that when her parents died. He was just going to be as solicitous as possible for as long as necessary. When Arrietty was ready to do more Spiller felt she would let him know. That kind of intimacy made them feel closest and he thought she would eventually see that it would make her feel less alone. He'd wanted her from the moment he'd laid eyes on her and had never let anything stand in his way but herself.
When Arista came looking for them in the morning, they were still in bed sound asleep. "Spiller? Arrietty? Are you all right?" Arista asked, peeking in.
"Been better, but been worse, too," Spiller grumbled, opening his eyes slightly and looking at her through the slits. "This has been a hard trip."
Arrietty had been leaning up against his back, but now she flipped onto her own back and groaned. "Is it morning already?"
"Yes," Arista answered, and her son, leaning against her shoulder, cooed. That sound brought Arrietty upright. She looked at him delighted.
"Oh, Arista, he's grown so much bigger!"
"That's what babies do," she answered and laughed, turning him around so that Arrietty could see him. "Burgonet's bringing that bread in. Where'd you get such a big piece? I thought we could have toast for breakfast and I'm planning on making a bread pudding for tonight."
"I'd like that," Arrietty said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and stretching. "We got it from a human."
Arista sighed. "Arrietty, you and Spiller take too many chances with humans!"
"It's all right. Truly," Arrietty told her. "We'll be dressed in a few minutes. Then I can hold the baby while you cook and we can have a long talk over breakfast."
Spiller sighed. "They've a point. I'm starting to worry about how much time we spend with humans and how much we depend on them. I don't want to wind up like my friend Martlet's family trying to live without them, but I do worry about trying to live in league with them."
Arrietty looked thoughtful, thinking of what her father had always said about humans. He'd been right and he'd been wrong, but she could see what Spiller meant, especially if they were going to get married and have a family. It was starting to worry her. The promise she'd made and broken was becoming heavier on her conscience.
Spiller got to the kitchen first to warn Burgonet and Arista about what'd happened. They were shocked. They both remembered how it had felt when they'd lost their parents, although for them it had been one at a time, not both in one tragedy. When Arrietty appeared Arista handed her the baby wordlessly. He examined the newcomer, deemed her worthy, and sticking one fist in his mouth, laid his head against Arrietty's neck and shoulder. She rested her cheek against his soft, wispy hair, marveling at his warmth.
"Spiller told us about the mill. Arrietty, I'm so sorry," Burgonet said. "Heartily sorry for you. Is there anything we can do to help?"
Arrietty stood cuddling the baby. "No, what's done is done. I want to get to Little Fordham. I can sit and think there about everything. I've been too dazed to do much yet but we wanted to stop in and see you and Benison. How long do you think it will be before he walks and talks? I can't wait to see him walking around and to hear him say my name." She looked over at Spiller. "Wouldn't that just thrill you to pieces? Perhaps you can be Uncle Spiller, if Burgonet agrees!"
Burgonet and Arista laughed at that. "Of course," he said amused. "You're just like family after all. Now how about some toast with jam and some porridge?"
"Thank goodness it's not eggs," Spiller said, pouring tea. "We've had them all the way downriver. Young Tom gave us hardboiled ones while we were searching the mill, along with this bread and some cheese. That's what we lived on, that and a few wild strawberries."
"We'll have to send you on with something else," Arista said retrieving her child from a reluctant Arrietty so that Arrietty could eat. "I'll have to give it some thought."
"We've still got egg left," Arrietty said, "and a few shortbread biscuits. Besides strawberries, there are rosehips, blackberries, sorrel and dandelions. Spiller might be able to go fishing before we get to town and once we're there we'll be fine. I'm sure the visitors are leaving plenty of food, and anything else we need we can get from Mr. Pott and Miss Menzies. I wonder if they had the wedding yet? Did you know they were marrying?"
"Doesn't surprise me," said Burgonet reaching for a piece of bread, "but while we're on the subject what are you going to do about yours? Maybe we could help you with that? We'd be pleased and proud to witness your vows if you like. You said by summer and it is June."
"I know you would be," Arrietty said, "but we haven't made up our minds yet about how we want to do that." She stopped short, and dropped her spoon and looked around the room wild eyed. "What day is it?"
Burgonet told her and Spiller put a hand on her arm. "Arrietty, what's wrong?"
"It's my birthday. We were going to have the wedding after my birthday. Papa and Mother had agreed to it. At least they knew…" and with that she buried her face in her hands.
Spiller quickly enveloped her in his arms. "Please don't cry on your birthday." He glanced at Arista and mouthed the word "help" and she leaned over and patted Arrietty on the back.
"It's your birthday? Then we must have a cake! You can watch Benison for me this afternoon and I'll bake it." Arista shifted the baby, who'd been startled by Arrietty's outburst. His lip was trembling ominously as she slipped him a bit of porridge.
"Yes, Arrietty," Burgonet said stoutly. "Whatever the date we're glad you were born and it deserves a celebration."
Arrietty wiped her eyes and looked at Spiller and her friends. She was so grateful to them all. "I think the idea of cake is what's putting these two in a celebrating mood," she said to Arista. "How about you and I do the baking and we'll let Spiller play with the baby. I do so want to see how he is with children!"
Spiller groaned. "You already know that! I've been around children my whole life. First my sisters, then Daubery's lot, and then the Hendrearies. I know what to do with a baby, probably better than you do, Ari!"
"Then it's settled," Arista said mischievously. "The men are going to keep Benison busy and we're going to make a grand birthday dinner."
Burgonet leaned over and spoke to Spiller in a mock whisper, "Don't worry about it anyway. He naps all afternoon."
Spiller looked thoughtful. "Does he? Then maybe we can get some fishing in after all."
"Just don't be seen," Arista warned them.
"Spiller seen when he doesn't want to be? Preposterous!" Arrietty exclaimed.
"Spiller I'm not worried about," said Arista, scooping a bit more of her porridge into the baby's mouth. "Burgonet is another story. Clumsy, clumsy clumsy!"
Arrietty laughed. They laughed at the party, too, except for Spiller who seemed distracted. Burgonet told how the baby had fallen asleep on Spiller's shoulder and how Spiller had lowered him into the crib as slowly and carefully as a human burglar cracking a safe so that he and Burgonet could sneak out. Spiller and Burgonet hadn't caught anything for an hour and were in complete despair when the minnows finally started biting. They had wound up with such a run of luck that they'd had plenty of fish for dinner. Arista and Arrietty laughed about how they'd been working together to make the cake, and both of them accidentally added the flour, so they'd to double all the other ingredients and wound up with the biggest cake Arrietty and Spiller had seen since Halberd's wedding.
"Can't ever have too much cake, though," Spiller said, taking a second piece, trying to get into the spirit of things, "but what happened to the bread pudding you promised us?"
Arista laughed. "Enough sweets for one day! If you stay until dinner tomorrow I'll make it."
"Can do," Spiller said. "I'd rather travel the rest of the way to Little Fordham by night."
That night as they snuggled in their bed, Arrietty said, "I love you."
Spiller said, "I love you, too."
Then Arrietty said, "I really, really love you," and he figured out what was going on and was really, really pleased. Arrietty was truly his. Perhaps he'd been foolish to worry. Right before he fell asleep Arietty said softly, "Spiller, do you think Arista would like those blue blankets and that white linen we found near the mill? I don't want to use those things again ever, but she might be able to put them to some good use. I'd love to do something for her."
"That'd be a nice thing," he said, after considering it for a moment. "A very nice thing, but Ari..." He looked down and she was fast asleep, with her long hair tumbling over the pillow and her cheek against his shoulder. He smiled slightly, and went to sleep as well.
The next day everyone was in a good mood, from the baby to Arrietty, who still missed her parents, but was grateful for good friends and Spiller. When he went to get the blankets and the material she wondered what would it be like to have a family of her own with him. She'd fallen completely in love with little Benison, but if she had a baby she'd want him to be safe, and nowhere felt safe anymore.
Arista was indeed pleased to have the fabric and the blankets which convinced Arrietty that she'd done the right thing. She helped Arista wash the blankets and hang them to dry. Then they went to the kitchen and did some baking. "Spiller," Arrietty said suddenly, looking over at him and Burgonet, who were having a cup of tea and chatting, "what will we do about flour now?"
"Get it from the humans along the drain, or check out that other mill those men were talking about, I supposed," he said startled. "If we need to we can always ask Alice or Miss Menzies." He looked over at Burgonet. "Alice is my sister's tame human."
"I don't hold with messing about with humans. When are you going to see your sister next?" Burgonet asked.
"Not sure," Spiller said. "Plans have changed all the way around they have."
"Spiller, have you ever thought of marrying in a church the way Arista and I did? You might be able to do something there or maybe the church or rectory here. We could keep our ears open. I know how you feel about the church in Fordham, Spiller, but that's water under the bridge. She's not going to change her mind now, are you Arrietty?
"I don't know what you're talking about," Arietty said, looking at him confused.
"If you want to keep your ears open, that's fine," Spiller said, "but he's not talking about anything at all, Ari." He looked at Burgonet coldly. Arista quickly handed Benison to him and told Ari that they should go see if the supper was done. As they were putting the food into bowls and platters, Arietty asked her if she knew what Burgonet had been talking about.
She told Arrietty to let it go. "Burgonet talks too much sometimes," was all Arista would say.
They all ate bread pudding until they were stuffed. By then it was getting to be time for Arrietty and Spiller to go. Arista told them to come back soon and let them know if there was anything she or Burgonet could do for them. On the way to the boat, Arrietty and Spiller held hands once they got their packs onto their backs. "I had a good time," Arrietty said truthfully.
"I'm glad," Spiller said.
They traveled most of the night, stopping once for water and to eat the rest of their hardboiled egg. "I'll be glad when we get to Little Fordham," Spiller said, looking at his slice and sighing.
"I will be, too," Arrietty said. "We'll need to sleep but perhaps by lunchtime we can go see Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott.
"Will you call her Mrs. Pott once they're married? Or Margaret like he does?" Spiller asked.
"Whatever she wants, I suppose," Arrietty said. "Humans seem to set more store to their last names than borrowers do. We hardly ever used ours when I was growing up. I knew all about the clock I was named for, and I was very glad when Papa took me to see it, but it wasn't something I thought about all the time."
"You'll miss him for a long time, I'm sure, Ari, but in a way he'll still be with you, as long as you remember him for nice things like that," Spiller ventured.
"I know," Arietty answered, peering into the dark river. "That's why I liked that one poem."
Poetry again, thought Spiller.
When they reached Little Fordham it was not quite dawn. They took only what they needed from the boat and wearily headed for the Crown. Arrietty breathed a sigh of relief when they were inside. Little Fordham was the closest thing she now had to a home of her own, and in a sense always had been. They cleaned up and crawled into bed and fell fast asleep all at once.
The sound of the trains woke them in the morning. Arrietty raised herself up on an elbow and wondered, "Is the village open? Or is Mr. Pott just testing something again?"
"No idea," Spiller answered, opening his eyes and listening to the familiar clatter outside. "It's bad luck if it's open. We'll be stuck here all day with no food and nothing to do."
"Oh, I can always find something to do, and I do have one last shortbread biscuit in my pack. Could you get to the house and find Miss Menzies if there aren't a lot of people?"
"Maybe," Spiller said, sitting up.
After some tea and shortbread biscuit, which made a sweet but filling breakfast, Arrietty told Spiller she was going to sort through things at the Crown and see what they needed and what they didn't. Spiller gave Arrietty a quick kiss and set off to see what was going on in the village.
Spiller found Pott at the station testing trains. Pott told him that they'd be opening soon and he had work to do. He told Spiller to get to the house. Spiller took off across the village to see Miss Menzies, stopping only for a moment to tell Arrietty to remain indoors until she heard from him again. When he got to the back of the house it was as easy as ever to get in. Miss Menzies was cleaning up the kitchen, humming tunelessly. When he called to her she dropped her dishrag into the sink and sank down on the floor beside him.
"Oh, Spiller! I'm so happy you're here! Is Arrietty here, too? This is too perfect! Abel and I are getting married a week from Saturday and I so was hoping you and Arrietty would be around. I'd love to find a way for you to see it if I can!"
"Ari could use a bit of happiness," he said bitterly. "Pod and Homily are dead."
Miss Menzies gasped and her hand flew to her throat. Spiller, slumping down onto the floor, explained. It was the most talking he had done in an age and when he was through, he put his head in his hands. "Trying to be everything to her but don't see how I can be. I wish we'd at least had the wedding. Then it might be easier. She might've reconciled herself to the fact that she wasn't theirs anymore so much as mine." Then he jumped up, his eyes suddenly bright.
"Spiller, what is it?" Miss Menzies cried, seeing that something had happened.
"Thought about a friend of mine. Something he said. Got an idea. Will you help me?"
"Always, any way I can," she said. "You know that. What is it?"
And so he told her. She was agog with the idea. "We must think. I'd take you myself but there'll be too many people there. I help at the church. Several ladies from the town do the flowers and cleaning every week. Did I ever mention that? I don't suppose I did. When I was with you I never thought about it. They're all coming to the wedding and then we'll be having sherry and cake at the vestry afterwards. And Aubrey's daughter and her husband and their little girl are coming. I'm sure you don't want me taking you around a child. Louisa is very inquisitive."
"I might know of a way to do it. It's not the way I'd like, but it might do," Spiller said, wincing.
She didn't notice. "The wedding will be that Saturday afternoon. Would you mind if I made Arrietty a dress to wear? I have some nice lace here just the right size. I know exactly how I'd like to have it."
"Sew away," Spiller said.
Eventually, though, she took him back to the Crown, so he could get Arrietty and bring her for breakfast, swearing to him not to breathe a word of the plan. She bought the market basket, still afraid of trying to pick borrowers up. "I'm so glad to see you," Arrietty told her when Miss Menzies and Spiller appeared behind the miniature Crown.
"I'm glad to see you," Miss Menzies said, "and so sorry for your troubles. Spiller told me about Pod and Homily." She whisked a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed her eyes. "But come get in the basket and let's get back to the house. We'll have a nice breakfast and talk. I have to tell you all about the wedding plans!"
Arrietty had a nice visit with Miss Menzies and chose quite a few supplies to get them started for the summer. Eventually though, Miss Menzies said she would have to take them back to the Crown. "It's Wednesday and I need to go do the flowers at the church," she said.
"Ari, you have all of these things to put away," Spiller said, putting down his teacup. "Would you mind if Miss Menzies dropped me off somewhere else for a bit?"
"Are you going to work on the boat?" Arrietty asked.
"Maybe," Spiller said. "I'll definitely get it unloaded by the time the village closes." He kissed her goodbye fiercely.
"Where do you want to go?" Miss Menzies asked him after dropping off Arrietty and the load of supplies she'd asked for.
"I want to see that church of yours. Drop me off between it and the old rectory. I don't want to be too close to your lady friends when they come. How long will you be there? I'll meet you at the drop off point when you want to go home." He looked up at her from the bottom of the basket when she asked him why, and he decided not to lie, but not to push the truth. "There may be someplace near there where Arrietty and I can stay for a few days until the wedding."
Miss Menzies was wise enough not to ask too many questions. Spiller liked that about her. Once she'd loaded the basket with food for the ladies luncheon she let him climb in. It smelled amazing and even though Spiller had stuffed himself at breakfast, he was tempted to borrow some but only took one ginger biscuit. He knew he wouldn't need anymore, but some half-forgotten code of honor glimmered in his mind, and he decided he needed a gift for his host.
He soon found himself walking over weedy gravel toward a large building with an iron studded front door. It was noontime and the sunlight slanted against the front of the house, but Spiller was not worried. He knew that no humans would see him. Once in the house he headed for the library fireplace. He crossly kicked the tile that led inside it, wondering if he was doing the right thing. It's only for a day or two, he told himself. As he pushed aside the leather door and moved over the steps, he called. "Peagreen! You home?"
A tall young man only a few years older than Spiller, standing next to a pile of books at the end of the long room turned and said, "Peregrine, you know. A pleasure to see you, Spiller."
"No one's used your real name for years," Spiller retorted. "Not going to start now. Is it a pleasure? Haven't had anyone to act stuck up around lately, have you? "Brought you this."
Peregrine pushed a hank of tow-colored hair out of his eyes, set the sheet of paper he had in his hand on a nearby table and limped toward Spiller, who held out the ginger biscuit. He thanked him graciously, and then said, "I have never had any quarrel with you, Spiller, that I'm aware of. It's you that brings forth any contentiousness between us. If you see me as stuck up, as you put it, that's your perception, based solely on your total distain for education."
His clipped voice made Spiller tighten his jaw. "Educated is it? I know things you don't even know you don't know."
Perigrine walked over to another table, set down the biscuit, got an extra cup and began to pour tea. "Come and sit, and let's settle this. What is it that you think you know that I don't?"
Spiller crossed his arms before him and stood up straight. "It takes twelve to fourteen days for tadpoles to grow legs and lose tails. Wolf spiders don't eat insects they catch. They crush them and drink the juice. House sparrows borrow from humans to make their nests. You can find all sorts of cloth and paper bits in them."
Peregrine blinked and sat in one of the chairs next to the small table. "You consider yourself a naturalist, then?"
"Don't consider myself anything. That's for the likes of you, Peagreen." Spiller looked the other young man up and down. He was wearing roomy brown trousers, a white shirt, a brocade vest, and a cravat that was as blue as a robin's egg. Spiller felt like choking him with it. He always felt like the dirt on his feet whenever he looked at Peagreen and he didn't know why.
"Come, Spiller, have some tea and we shall share this splendid repast you have provided. I assume you're here for your annual contract to hunt the mice, rats, and birds in the kitchen garden." He took a sip from his own cup.
Spiller grudgingly came and sat across from Peregrine at the table. "Can do, but not really why I came. Wanted to talk."
"That is a wide deviation from normal. I shall look forward to this discourse. Where have you been anyway? I haven't seen you in an age." Peregrine broke off a bit of biscuit and took a bite.
"I broke my leg last year, at the start of winter. It was a long time healing," Spiller said.
Peregrine shot a glance under the table. "Incredible. I would never have known. You were quite lucky, you know."
"Was. Not that bad a break. My sister splinted and bandaged it. She knew what she was doing. Nursed for me for months." Spiller softened a bit. "I thought of you while I was lying there. How you fell off the mantelpiece, how it never healed right."
Peregrine looked down and sighed. "The Wainscots did the best they could. They could have just left me there. With mine the bone came all the way through the skin. I take it yours was not a compound fracture?"
"No," Spiller replied, and looked around the room, almost losing his nerve. Arrietty would like this, perhaps too much. All of those books, and a borrower came with the library! A good looking young borrower with fancy clothes and manners. Had Lupy been flippant or had she really known? He stared at the curtains drawn back from the grating to let in the light. Yes, Ari would like this. He nervously began to munch a large piece of biscuit to keep his hands busy.
Peregrine leaned back in his chair, steepled his long fingers, and looked at Spiller carefully. "Something is troubling you. A woman perhaps? If I recall, that was the cause of our last few quarrels. Two winters ago you got snowed in here and fretted the entire time about how a girl you had met and her family were faring. They were residing in your old boot, were they not? I advised you not to leave because the snow was too deep, but you left anyway."
"Good thing," Spiller retorted, brushing crumbs off his hands. "Or she'd be dead now. Gypsies had spotted 'em."
Peregrine ignored this. "The next time I saw you you'd left the girl and her family at the home of an aunt. You got quite maudlin over some gooseberry wine and started talking about how much you fancied her and how she wasn't going to be happy at her aunt's house because she liked the outdoors. I told you that any female borrower worth her salt would much rather live in a nice house than traipse around like a feral cat and we had another argument. You left and tripped going back to the library. I thought if you survived the night you'd probably wake up with a gigantic headache."
"She didn't like it there. She was glad to go," Spiller said mulishly.
"Then," Peregrine continued calmly, "I barely saw you all summer in spite of our annual agreement to keep down the vermin. Every time you came you told me how you had to get back and rushed off again. Something about riding trains, resurfacing a floor, and planting a garden? I must admit I was impressed by your sudden domesticity."
"My what?" Spiller looked confused. "Peagreen, speak plain! I was just helping Arrietty and her family get settled at Little Fordham."
Peregrine sighed and reached for his teacup again. "Domesticity is a liking for or familiarity with home life. I never thought you'd ever be interested in anything that didn't crawl around in a hedgerow. You even said you wanted to marry. A wild borrower like you with a home and family and dependent on humans at that? I told you it wouldn't last and you stalked off again."
"I do want to marry her. That's why I came. There's going to be a wedding in the church next Saturday."
Peregrine set his cup down again. "So I've heard. Some spinster who arranges the flowers and cleans the church is marrying some widower." Peregrine poured more tea.
"That's Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott of Little Fordham. I want to know if you have anyplace we can stay until then. If I can get here with Ari, while the human beans say their vows we can say ours. It's what Burgonet and Arista did at Went-le-Cray."
"Humans or human beings, not beans," Peregerine corrected him. "Does your fiancée agree to this? What about her parents? I have no interest in being an accomplice to a kidnapping."
"They both died in the spring," Spiller said.
"Ah, daylight is beginning to glimmer!" exclaimed Peregrine, snapping his fingers.
"Are you barking mad? It's late afternoon," Spiller exclaimed putting his cup down.
Peregrine ignored that. "This girl has nowhere to go, so she's going to marry you so she at least is not alone, even though she'll have nowhere to go with you either, because you basically live nowhere," Peregrine explained. "Is that a fair resume of the situation?"
"You're wrong again," Spiller said. "We've got a nice house at Little Fordham and the boat to take us wherever we feel like going, whether it's to see her aunt and uncle and cousins, or to see friends. I do have friends, you know. "
"Oh, I don't doubt that, Spiller. You can be most charming when you wish, in a rustic sort of way. You're wrong if you think I dislike you. I do like you, but the fact is you're a law unto yourself and always have been, as long as I've known you. You've got to be careful at Little Fordham, though. Human beings are tromping around there from morning until night or so they say. Not how I'd expect you to want to live. Perhaps I don't know you as well as I thought. I didn't even know you had a sister until today. Does she live in the woods, wear old animal skins and never wash either?"
"No, she lives in a set house, the house I was born in. A very proper house it is and I do too wah sometimes. I have a suit for the wedding even. So can you help or not? If you do, I'll come back and do the pigeons and rats for you, and Arrietty can cook for us. She makes a mouse stew that will lay you out."
Peregrine laughed. "For the sake of seeing you attired in a suit I'd do almost anything. I'd love to meet the beauty who thinks she can tame the beast. But in return you must let me see the wedding. I'd be honored to be your witness and we can have a wedding dinner here. We can get everything from the caretaker's larder."
"All right," Spiller said, not knowing what else to say. They finished their tea and biscuit discussing the doings of the caretakers and what had been planted in the garden that year, and then Spiller got another idea. "My sister wanted to see the wedding. Could she stay here, too, if I can manage to get her?"
"I'd be delighted to have the company," Peregrine said serenely.
When Spiller got back to Miss Menzies he was subdued. She asked him if everything had gone all right. He said it had but he was lost in thought on the way back. When she took him to his boat and helped him unload, he was still quiet as he set things down for her to put in her basket, now filled only with the empty dishes from the ladies luncheon. There was one lonely sausage roll and a biscuit that Miss Menzies said she had saved for the borrower's supper.
"Arrietty won't have to cook tonight," she said firmly.
Miss Menzies picked her way across the village. She was careful on the paths and had a light tread. When they reached the Crown Arrietty was so happy to see the things off the boat that she didn't ask Spiller about where he'd been. Once they had everything pulled into the small back room Miss Menzies wished them luck with their house arranging and headed back toward Mr. Pott's cottage. It wasn't until they were settling down to supper, with water heating on the stove for a good wash and then bed afterwards, that Spiller told Arrietty what he had in mind.
"If you want to go to the human wedding, all right, but I'd rather leave a couple of days before, go by boat and stay by the church. There's going to be too much going on for us to expect Menzies and Pott to be worrying about us." Spiller took a piece of sausage roll and began to pick the sausage out.
"Stay where?" Arrietty asked, pausing as she poured herself a cup of tea.
Well," he said sheepishly, "I actually know a borrower who lives near the church. In the rectory in fact. You've never met him but I'm sure he would let us stay with him."
"There's another borrower in Fordham I haven't met? Why haven't you ever mentioned him?"
Spiller struggled for a few minutes then said sheepishly, "I never wanted you to meet him."
"Why in the world not?" Arrietty was totally confused.
"Because I knew how much he'd like you!" Spiller burst out. "He's what your Aunt Lupy would call cultured. He reads books, writes poetry, paints pictures, has a grating and lives in a library!"
Arrietty began to laugh so hard that tears ran down her face. "Are you saying you were jealous?"
Spiller's thin face set and his eyes got cold. "Maybe. Why wouldn't I be? What was I anyway? A ragamuffin! A dirty, naughty, unwashed boy! A thief! And all the while there was Peregrine Overmantle dressed in his nice suits with his library full of books using all of those big words!"
"An Overmantle? Oh, Spiller, Mother never liked Overmantles, either. She thought they were stuck up. Big words would have set her off worse than you using our nail scissor. I don't love you because of what you wear or how you talk. You're clever, Spiller, but in different ways. You don't need to read. I can do that for you." She shook her head. "The library! That's why you got so upset when I told you what Lupy said. It just made you more suspicious, didn't it? As if I'd ever want anyone else now!" She shook her head again and began to eat.
His ears got red with embarrassment and he hung his head over his sausage roll. "I hope you won't, but I do think you'd like Peagreen. That's his nickname, you see. The Wainscots took him in when he was a tot and called him that. The Overmantles had been seen and had to leave in a hurry. He fell off the mantle and broke his leg in all of the uproar. His family emigrated without realizing they had left him behind. Or maybe they knew and didn't think they could take him along since he couldn't walk."
Arrietty was outraged. "If they did they are terrible! Worse than Mother ever said they were!"
"Well, who knows now," Spiller said. "We'll never know. No one knows where they went. I tried to track them for him, but by the time I set out the trail had gone cold. He grew up in the house with the Wainscots until they decided to go. There's no rector in the house anymore. Only a man and wife human caretakers. The pickings weren't enough for a lot of borrowers, but he does all right on his own."
"And you think we could stay with him until the wedding?"
"I do," said Spiller.
"Well, that's all right, then. You're right. Miss Menzies can't take us with all she'll have to do that day and I would like to see it. When do you want to go?"
"That depends on how hung up you are about staying here," Spiller answered. "If we leave tomorrow night just for a few days we could get Lark and be back here in time for the wedding. She'd love to see it and to see the village again."
"Oh!" Arrietty exclaimed. "I'd like that, but it would be a lot of rushing around. Why don't you go get Lark? I'll stay here and get things organized so that we can have a nice long visit."
"Because I just got done promising I'd never leave you," Spiller said simply.
"Oh, Spiller," Arrietty laughed. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you have to do things sometimes that you don't need me for, and this is one of them. I'd love to see Lark, and I'm glad she wasn't with us at the mill, but I don't fancy another long trip on the river right now. You go get her and I'll be here waiting for you both when you get back. If I get bored I'll go over to the Dovecote house. Miss Menzies put a book shelf in it, full of miniature books she found when she was clearing out her house. Little Fordham sort of has its own library now."
"She had enough things to fill ten houses," Spiller said. "Too bad it can't ever be a real borrower town."
They munched along for a few moments, before Arrietty spoke again. "There is one thing that's not fine by me, though. I don't like it that after all we've been through together you didn't trust me around that other borrower."
"I just worry, Ari. My life's better with you in it but what kind of life is it for a girl? Slinking around from place to place like a feral cat!" Spiller exclaimed, remembering what Peregrine had said. "And I'm not so sure this is really the place for us, with the humans milling around on these paths and Miss Menzies is going to have that girl hanging around underfoot, just see if she's not. What little human girl wouldn't want to hang about listening to all her talk of fairies and making pretty things day and night? You made a promise to your father and we both broke it, after all. I'm uneasy in my mind about that. I think he was right, Arrietty. If we intend on getting married and having a family, depending on humans will ruin us."
"Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott love us!" Arrietty cried, even though she knew he was right.
"But they aren't going to live forever, nor are we. I love you. I want us to be a family. Do you really want our children trapped inside a house like this all day while the humans mill around on the paths? Do you want them depending on humans for everything? I know the way I live isn't good for children either, but there's got to be some middle ground."
"Borrowers are never really safe," Arrietty said slowly. "Are they?"
"Not really," Spiller sighed, "But some is safer than others. We've got to think on it."
They finished their food quietly and got ready for bed. Stung by Peregrine's remarks, Spiller even washed especially well that night. When he got to the bedroom he and Arrietty had been sharing, she was lying on her side in her nightgown with her head propped up on one hand, hair tumbling down. "Spiller," she said, "there's a lot of sense in what you say. But we don't have to worry about it now, do we? We can enjoy one more summer at Little Fordham, can't we?"
"I suppose," he said, "but I'm dead set on us starting to at least think about the future. About what kind of future we want," he amended quickly. "I promised your parents I'd always take care of you. You have to help me keep that promise."
"Do you really want a family someday?" Arrietty asked quietly as he slid into bed beside her.
"Well, yes, someday I'm hoping so," Spiller replied.
"I'm willing to do more than hope," Arrietty said simply, and proved to him in the most convincing way she could think of that she was his and his alone.
The next day Spiller managed to get to the storeroom in the village and pry the remaining golden ring from the chain. Arrietty had admired Hemiola's ring so. He intended to surprise her with one of her own, hoping to delight her. He got out his suit, and boots. He knew all the borrowers around would miss Pod's shoemaking. He'd often sat and watched him at it. Spiller wondered how hard it would be to learn. Then he and Arrietty sat around the back kitchen table and talked some more about humans, Mr. Pott and Miss Menzies in particular, and how their lives would change once they were married. They compromised. Spiller would agree to a home base as long as no humans knew about it, and would spend as much time there as possible and would let Halberd take over more of his business on the river. Arrietty promised not to speak to any more humans besides the ones they already knew.
"If we're visiting Larkspur and Alice wants to see us, that's one thing, and if we go see Lupy at the groundskeeper's cottage, we can say a few words to young Tom now and then. Neither of us has to be afraid of him. Or if we're here in the town collecting borrowings left by the visitors I do want to stop and see how the Potts are doing," she said, "but I'll keep my promise past that."
"Fair enough," Spiller agreed. He didn't really want to give up Tom either. He was a useful human and since no one believed anything he said Spiller didn't consider him a danger. "Tomorrow's Friday. I need to leave to get Lark. That gives me a week. There'll be visitors. You can stay inside and sort through our things and decide what's most important to us. I'll try to think about a new place for us once the wedding is over."
'Do I need to take a lot with us to the rectory?" Arrietty asked.
"No," Spiller answered. "Just clothes for a few days. Do the packing while I'm gone. I took out my suit and good boots to wear to the wedding. I think it would be a nice thing to do. Peagreen will have plenty of food at his place, but I promised to take my bow and arrows and do something about the mice in the kitchen garden. If I get a few for him maybe you could cook them into return for our room and board?"
"Doesn't he cook?" Arrietty asked.
"I've never seen him make more than a cup of tea in my life," Spiller said truthfully.
They left the house late in the afternoon and walked around looking for human leavings, and chatted up Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott a bit. Pott was painting a large sign to put out the next Saturday morning to announce that the model village would be closed due to the wedding. Spiller sat beside him as he did this, talking to him about marriage and how he was afraid Arrietty would someday be regretful that she had thrown her lot in with him.
"You've been through too much together. It's like me and Margaret," Pott said. Never thought it would come to this, but then one day it just seemed right, and right I'm sure it is. It's like that with you. Put a lot of time in with you she has. Ought to know what she wants by now."
"She never had a lot of choice, though," Spiller grumbled, thinking again of Peregrine and his library.
"Doesn't mean she had to choose you. No choice is a choice as well. Didn't she say she told her parents back when they got taken by those Platters that she wanted to marry you?"
"Yes," Spiller said slowly. "She did."
"Then it is what it is," Pott said, dipping his smaller brush into black paint to letter the sign. He glanced up and smiled. "Margaret's working like mad on the dress. More than she did on her own. How she works with that fine lace and tiny needle, I've no idea. Arrietty will like it."
"I hope so," said Spiller. He had the plan all formulated in his mind, and if the moment came and Arrietty said no, he didn't know what he was going to do. He thought about that when it got dark and she walked him to the boat to kiss him goodbye.
"Stay safe," she said.
"I will he said, and when I come back, we'll be together forever."
"That's what I want," Arrietty replied, and he nodded, grinning.