Chapter Eight
Pod was so shocked he dropped a bag of flour. Spiller winced, but it didn't break open.
"Halberd, what are you doing here?" Pod exclaimed.
"I've been here almost a week," Halberd said sheepishly. "Mother and I had a huge fight and I just left. I made a raft and came down the river and I've been here ever since."
"You made a raft?" This stunned Spiller even more than seeing Halberd had done, and he wondered how Halberd had even managed to maneuver it downstream. He had never dreamed that Halberd had that much ingenuity and pluck. Spiller and Pod went in and the whole family came out to see what was going to happen next.
"I told him he could stay here," Daubery said sheepishly. "He's been helping me. He's a lot of help. I haven't had this much help in years, not since you were a lad, Spiller."
Pod collapsed onto a chair. "Lupy and Hendreary must be frantic!"
Halberd shrugged. "I don't think Pa will worry too much but Mother might be a bit."
Spiller sighed. "I was planning on going that way in the next couple of days. I'll tell her you're all right. Where do you want the flour, Sateen?"
Sateen and the twins took the flour, and as she went into the kitchen, Sateen called back, "Let me get a meal going. We'll all talk better if we get some food in us."
Actina went to help set the table, but Daubery, Hemiola and Halberd sat down in the parlor with Spiller and Pod. Hemiola was holding Halberd's hand and Spiller had a good idea of what was coming.
"Spiller, were you serious about me taking on part of your route on the river?" Halberd asked.
"Well, yes," Spiller said. "I could use help with it. I've really let things go while we've been getting Pod's family's new place set up."
"And what about your stove? Can I really stay there like I used to do after we left the badger's set?" Halberd asked.
"Don't see why not," Spiller answered cautiously, staring down at the rag rug, as rattling sounds came from the kitchen and a delicious smell began to waft out.
"Then I want to get started on that right away," Halberd said firmly. "I want you to help me sort it all out by winter. Hemiola and I want to get married before the snow flies."
Pod rolled his eyes at Hemiola, who was blushing furiously. "You've known the boy for a few weeks and you want to marry him?"
She swallowed hard, looked at Halberd and said, "Yes, I do. I know we haven't known each other very long but we both know what we want. We've wanted it a lot longer than we've known each other. It just all fell into place when we saw each other."
Spiller, who hadn't trimmed his hair in awhile, brushed it back out of his eyes, and looked over at Daubery. "You're all right with this?"
He squirmed. "Well, I wish they'd stay here with us but I know it's a bit crowded. When Halberd showed up we had to make another bedroom for him on the other side of the kitchen."
This made Spiller grin, since the space on the other side of the kitchen was as far from the girl's rooms as possible. He shot a sly glance at Pod, thinking about how he had put Arrietty's new room at the mill as far away from Spiller's space as possible. It must, he thought, just be something dads do to make a statement, since it certainly doesn't keep the two sexes apart and they must know that. He glanced up again at Daubery as he continued to speak.
"If your old place by the gypsy camp suits them and they can at least come back and see us now and then, I think it's all right. I like Halberd. I liked him the minute I met him, just like Hemiola here did. We won't have the wedding until it gets closer to winter so they have time to think things over."
"It's July now," Pod interjected, but then Sateen called them all to table, so he and Spiller had to go wash their hands as she put the food on the table. The so-called adults, Spiller, Pod, Sateen, Halberd, Hemiola and Daubery sat at there, and the younger ones ate in the front of the room, quieter than Spiller had ever seen them eat not willing to miss a word of what was going on.
There was mushroom soup, dandelion salad, noodles in a chicken sauce, sweet purple grapes, and cake with tea. No one spoke much at first. They couldn't talk and eat their way through all of that food. But when the meal was over, Spiller wiped his face with one of Sateen's linen napkins that she had made from the last handkerchief he'd brought her, and looked over at Halberd and Hemiola.
"Pod and I are going back to Little Fordham tomorrow. Once I get him home I'll come back and get you, Halberd. We'll check out the stove at the gypsy camp. I've been meaning to do that anyway, and we can check out the drains."
When Halberd looked puzzled, Spiller said, "You need to see my drains. You'll understand what I'm talking about when you do. My condition for teaching you though, and letting you use the stove, is that we stop at the groundskeeper's cottage and we tell your parents the truth. You want to be an adult, fine. Be one, but adults don't sneak around when it comes to the people they love and your family loves you. Don't care how hard they've been on you, they do. They have a right to know what's going on."
Halberd nodded. Hemiola was the one who spoke. "Should I come with you? Should I meet them?"
Pod almost choked on the piece of grape he'd just put in his mouth. "Not this time," he put in hoarsely, reaching for some tea. "Give them a chance to get used to the idea. Let Spiller see how it goes. If you get things smoothed over there will be plenty of time for that."
Spiller nodded curtly, and then swallowing a last bite of noodle, remembered something. "I was meaning to ask you about my friend Burgonet. His wife is expecting in the spring and he's nervous about what to do. How hard is it to bring a baby do you think?"
"Oh, tell him there's nothing to bringing a baby," Daubery said. "The baby knows what to do and the mother does all the work. Just tell him to remember when it's out to tie the cord tight in two places with some clean thread and cut it in between the knots."
Sateen nodded. "He mustn't get too worried if it's taking a long time. Sometimes it goes fast but it's harder. You don't have time to get used to everything that's happening to you, but then at least it's over. Sometimes it takes a long time, though, and the mother gets too tired. That's what happened to me when I had Actina. Each one went faster than the one before until we got to her. I never thought that child was going to come. Then when she finally was ready I was too tired to push. Daubery was screaming at me louder than I was screaming in general, that I had to do it, and I did, and look at her now. She's probably the healthiest of them all."
Spiller grinned at the child, who was blushing, remembering how worried they had all been at the time. "Didn't want to join us after all, hey Tina?"
"I don't remember," she said solemnly, and they all laughed.
When it was bedtime they gave Spiller and Pod the back bedroom and Halberd went back to his little room off the kitchen. Pod couldn't wait until he and Spiller were alone to talk about the day's events. Spiller had barely gotten rolled up in his quilt when Pod started in.
"Do you think it will be all right?" Pod asked anxiously, in low tones.
"I do," Spiller said, stretching out. "They both want the same things and they've been raised the same way. I think they'll be fine. Neither of them picky, you know."
"I suppose," Pod said slowly, stretching out in the bed, "but I can't imagine what Lupy is going to say to him, or to you, either."
"She'll get over it," Spiller said yawning, and fell fast asleep.
The rest of July and all of August, Spiller felt like he'd gone back in time. He did more riding of the river than he used to do when he was on his own. He was hardly ever alone but he was on the go and doing something every minute.
When he and Pod got back to Little Fordham and broke the news about the upcoming wedding in the family Arrietty was delighted. Homily was beside herself. She kept asking if Halberd knew what he was doing and what in the world they thought Lupy was going to say about it all. Spiller kept telling her he thought Halberd did, but he had no idea about Lupy.
On the pretext of going borrowing at Mr. Pott's house he and Arrietty went to have tea with Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott to hear how the benefit had gone. Mr. Pott pooh-poohed the whole
thing but it was clear that he had been mighty pleased with the honor, if not the attention.
"Margaret looked like a queen, indeed," he said, smiling at her fondly.
"That's nice of you to say Abel, but I wouldn't go that far," Miss Menzies said. "Oh, and guess what? One of dear Aubrey's daughters was there! What a small world it is! Her husband works for the railroad. They told us all about his job and about their daughter. Fancy my dear cousin Aubrey being old enough to be a grandfather!"
"The daughter's fella was pretty nice," interjected Mr. Pott. "I liked him."
"Did those gloves work out for you all right, Spiller?" Miss Menzies asked, as she offered them coffee and a bit of blackberry pie.
"I haven't taken them yet. I'm going on that trip next week. Things have been busy. A friend of mine and his wife are having a baby and Arrietty and I went to see them, and her cousin is getting married this fall, and the whole family is in an uproar over that."
"Oh, the happiest days are when babies come and there are weddings," Miss Menzies said, thrilled to pieces. "You must let me make something for the baby and for your cousin, Arrietty. When is all this happening?"
"The wedding is this fall right before winter comes," Spiller said, reaching for another piece of pie, and wondering what had possessed them to make coffee. They did it occasionally, but he really did prefer tea. "The baby's not coming until January. You've got time enough but if you want to putter about they said they were looking for flannel for diapers."
"Oh, my, how small those diapers will have to be!" Miss Menzies exclaimed, "But what fun it will be! I wish I knew what it was. Then I could make pink or blue clothes, but I guess it doesn't matter. How are you parents doing at the Crown and Anchor?"
"Actually," Spiller said with a sigh, "they're almost ready to move on. We just can't find anything for Homily to use as a stove."
Pott sighed, too, and then shook his head. "Sorry that they are going; that I am, but I know how they must feel. I was just hoping if we got them into another building they'd feel more at ease."
"They are," Spiller said kindly, "and I'm sure we'll all be back often enough, but winter is coming and they think they'd be better off indoors. Pickings get slim here in the winter and we can't let them know you know that they're back."
"If we do that," Arrietty said, propping her head on her hand, "they'll never come back at all."
"I could get the blacksmith to make another stove like the one I put in Vine Cottage," Mr. Pott said.
"No good," Spiller said regretfully. "Homily would love it but Pod and I wouldn't be able to move it even if Homily and Arrietty helped. Too heavy."
"What about a little pot bellied stove like the one in the station?" Miss Menzies said suddenly. "That's much smaller but just as well made. Would you be able to manage that?"
"Could do," Spiller said thoughtfully, dumping more cream in the coffee. "Would he do that?"
"Oh, surely. He'll make whatever we ask for, but how much pipe would you need?"
Spiller took another sip and thought the cream had improved the coffee, but that more sugar would make it even better. "At least two long pieces, as tall as me, and a curved piece about half that high."
"I'll tell Henry to start right away," Mr. Pott said, "I'll ask Mr. Flood, the mason, for a small, flat piece of stone to set it on, or maybe a piece of tile would be better. It'll be safer that way."
"That will be so wonderful," Arrietty said, then jumped up as the clock chimed in Mr. Pott's parlor. "We must be going back, Spiller. Papa and Mother will wonder what we've been up to!"
"I have your bag of dried peas," Miss Menzies said, getting up herself. "Do you want anything else?"
"A small potato, if you can spare one, and maybe a carrot?" Spiller replied. "There's plenty of berries and greens this time of year, but not so much other food, other than what the visitors drop, and it's nice to have a change."
"And mother needs yeast for baking bread," Arrietty said suddenly.
Miss Menzies rigged up a sort of sling and put in the potato, a carrot, a bag full of sugar, and a cake of yeast. She carried these things and the bag of dried peas as far as she could, and waved goodbye as Arrietty dragged the bag of peas and Spiller dragged the rest on to the back door of the Crown.
Homily was pleased with all of these borrowings but she thought Spiller and Arrietty were taking too many chances and they couldn't change her mind without telling the truth which they obviously could not do.
After a good night's sleep and a good breakfast Spiller got up at dawn to go back downriver. He was taking the dried peas and the bag of sugar to the mill. Homily felt she had enough sugar to last for the time they were going to be at the Crown, and she would need it at the mill. They broke the yeast in half and wrapped one half up carefully so Spiller could take that, too.
Promising to tell them all the news of what everyone said and did while he was visiting, he kissed Arrietty goodbye, hugged Homily, and let Pod slap him on the back before he got into his boat. "I'll be gone awhile," He warned. "Could be longer than usual. Watch for me when the moon is full."
"We'll miss you, Spiller," Homily said.
"I will miss you," Arrietty said, looking at him with so much love and longing in her eyes that it made him feel warm all over, and then left him shaken with fear. After Halberd's announcement, she seemed to think that getting married sooner than later would be a good thing but Spiller was still content to let things ride. He was too busy trying to figure out how to set up Pod's new home and make his old one fit for Halberd and Hemiola to even want to think about setting up one of his own.
On the way to the mill, he thought about how in the world he was going to explain the stove when Henry, the blacksmith in Fordham finished it. He decided it might be best not to even try. If Pott and Miss Menzies could help him load it into his boat and he could get it to the mill he thought Halberd might be able to help him unload it. They could set the whole thing up and have it there when Homily arrived. She would be too surprised and delighted then to question it.
When he got to the mill and got the things into Pod's new place he couldn't help walking around. It was really shaping up. They would need more furniture of course, but they had enough things to make do with until they could get the place totally furnished.
He'd found a piece of board for a table, and some corks for stools. He worked on the table for awhile, making legs for it and fastening them securely. When he was satisfied he set the corks around it, stood back, and surveyed his work. That'll do for awhile, he thought.
He put the goods he'd brought into the storeroom. Spiller was glad he had talked Pod into keeping the storeroom closest to the entrance, so they wouldn't have to carry things in too far, and then they would have the kitchen. He examined the wall again where the stove would have to go. Might've told Pott too much pipe, he thought, but it didn't really matter. They could find another use for it if there was too long.
He walked from his room, past the living space and Pod and Homily's room, to the room that had been set aside for Arrietty. Spiller grinned. Pod had definitely put Arrietty's bedroom as far away from his as possible. Did he really think they were doing anything they shouldn't? They did quite a bit and it was wonderful but not everything they could have done. Pod was well aware of how much time Spiller and Arrietty spent in close quarters when they were on trips together. This room arrangement, Spiller decided, giving it some more thought was purely symbolic but Spiller got the point and was determined to abide by Pod's unspoken rule.
He liked touching Arrietty and she liked touching him, and as long as she could please him without having to go beyond the bounds of propriety it was fine with Spiller. Besides, he didn't need to be worrying about a baby on the way like Burgonet. He was exhausted by then and went to take a long nap.
When he left the mill he decided to take dinner to Sateen. He stopped and did a bit of fishing. The weather was perfect for a few hours of lazing on the bank waiting for a bite. It had been a long time since he'd filled up the wire stringer he kept in his boat with a mess of fish. He had missed this, the time to himself just out of doors, catching food and enjoying the solitude, but he needed a lot of minnows if everyone was going to be able to eat at Daubery's house before he left with Halberd to face Lupy's wrath.
Each time he caught a fish he strung it up and left it hanging over the side so that it would stay cool in the water. When he thought he had enough it was afternoon and he was hungry. He picked a couple of blackberries and a few rose hips to hold him over and set out for Daubery's place. He didn't like being on the river in the afternoon, too much chance of being seen, but there didn't seem to be a lot of humans out on a cloudy weekday.
Spiller had to struggle with the fish up to the Vicar's house but he managed. When they realized he was in the hall Halberd and Daubery came to help him.
"I brought dinner," Spiller said cheerfully, "if you're up for fresh fish."
"Nothing better than fresh caught fish," Sateen said, giving him a hug in spite of his fishy hands. "I'll roll them in cornmeal and fry them in butter. Hemiola, come and help me. Spiller, dear, you can go clean up."
When he had done that and the fish was frying, making the house smell heavenly, Spiller said to Halberd, "Go pack up whatever you need for a couple of weeks away because we're moving out as soon as I finish whatever Sateen and Hemiola make for dessert."
Halberd blinked. "Tonight? We're leaving tonight?"
If we don't get to the drain before eleven or twelve tonight, we won't be able to tackle it until tomorrow night and I don't want to waste time. Some of the places we're going aren't safe to travel through during the day."
"All right," Halberd said uncertainly. "I don't have much to pack, though. I just brought the clothes I could carry with me when I left home."
"If there's anything else you want there, now's the time to decide," said Spiller. "You've made your choice and you're going to have to live with it. If your parents can't be talked into going along with it, then you're done there."
"I know," said Halberd sadly, "but I know I'm doing the right thing. I can't go back and live the way I was living before, Spiller. I just can't do it."
Over dinner, which included the fish, some sorrel salad, and strawberry cake, Spiller and Halberd discussed their upcoming trip. Spiller had decided to go through the drain first, visit with Lupy and Hendreary, and then go check out the stove and the gypsy camp. Then he wanted to take a run down to Little Fordham to see if the stove was finished. If it was, he thought he and Halberd could take it to the mill.
"It will be really nice to see Uncle Pod and Aunt Homily and Arrietty again," Halberd said.
"But they can't know about the stove," Spiller stressed. "It's a surprise," he added, not wanting to go into the whole story of Miss Menzies and Mr. Pott in front of Daubery's family, whom he was sure would not approve. "I just want you to help me load it. After it's stowed away tight, we might be able to fit in a short visit before I bring you back here."
"Whatever you say," Halberd assured him. "You're the captain."
"I'm glad you think so, because like I said, we're leaving out as soon as I finish this cake," Spiller said.
"Tonight?" Hemiola asked, shocked. "You have to leave tonight?"
Spiller told him the same thing he had told Halberd, and because she wanted them safe, she was finally resigned to it. "Do we need to pack you any provisions?"
"No," Spiller admitted, taking a huge bite of salad, "we can forage on the way. I promise, Hemiola, I won't let him starve.'
When they went to Spiller's boat, he stopped to examine Halberd's raft, which was hidden a bit farther down river. Not that anyone would take it for more than a pile of sticks if they saw it. Spiller couldn't believe Halberd had managed to ride the river in it, although when Halberd pointed out how he had laid the sticks out over a large piece of bark, it made a bit more sense.
"Very creative," Spiller told him.
"I was desperate," Halberd said with a grin.
They got into Spiller's flat bottomed boat, stowed their gear under the canopy, and untied both moorings. Then they set off down the river just as the sun began to set. They took turns punting and Spiller had to admit he was grateful for the help the way the current was running. It took several hours to reach the cluster of brambles where Spiller kept his boat while he was plying the drains. He looked sadly at the place where his kettle used to be. Then he showed Halberd where his soap box boat was.
"Just take what you need for the night," he instructed Halberd. He left his quilt behind because it would not fit in Pod's waterproof bag, which was still safely stowed away in the soap box. Spiller was fond of that quilt and feared what condition it would wind up in if it got wet. They took what clothes Halberd felt he absolutely must have, the food they'd been given and Spiller's quiver and arrows, and guided the soap box along the edge of the river to the sandy bit of beach by the drain. They foraged around to see if anything good had come out of the drain lately, and found a couple of hairpins. Then Spiller told Halberd to keep watch while he did some hunting.
"Lupy will be in a better mood if I bring her a couple of nice, fat, corn fed field mice," Spiller pointed out.
"Yes, I see what you mean," Halberd agreed. He sat down to wait but as darkness fell and he could hear an owl hooting somewhere nearby, he climbed up into the mouth of the drain worried about Spiller, and wondering what was so special about this drain that they had to camp there. He had to crawl out quickly, when a rush of bath water came pouring through. When the rumbling sound began he was confused and as it grew louder and the vibration started, he scrambled up the same tree root where Arrietty had so long ago waved goodbye to Spiller when he had left her and her parents in the kettle.
The rush of hot water seemed endless, but it was soon over, and Halberd leaned over, sniffing the air coming out of the drain, which smelled like coal tar. Aunt Homily's favorite soap, Halberd thought, long ago memories of Firbank flitting through his mind. A few minutes later he had to scramble again as another rush of water came past him, this time smelling like lavender. Some rich woman must live somewhere along this drain, he thought. A third flood, smelling of sandalwood came through and then it got very quiet, and much darker.
When Spiller returned he had to call for Halberd's help as soon as he got close to the bank above the drain. He had shot not one but three fat field mice. As Halberd helped him bring them down the bank he scolded Spiller.
"I was worried about you, and you could have told me about the bath water. I nearly got drowned in it."
"The bathing should be done soon. It's getting awfully late for a bath. At least I hope so. It's hard to hang onto my soap box when the water comes through. I'm sorry you worried," Spiller said. "I didn't expect to be gone so long, but I had such a run of luck I thought I ought to let it ride.
"Do you want to cut these up here?" Halberd asked, examining the mice.
"No, let's leave that for your lot to do," Spiller said. "We'll have a nice leg of mouse tomorrow at your Ma's place."
"How do we get there from here?" Halberd asked, bewildered, and Spiller grabbed the rope attached to the end of the soap box.
"Pull," he said shortly.
They began to trudge through the drain pulling the soap dish full of mouse, splashing through puddles that smelled like sandalwood. It was dark, very dark, but Halberd could sense Spiller beside him and could feel his equal pull on the other side of the rope. "To the right," Spiller hissed, and Halberd found himself guiding the boat around a tangle of branches. They came to a branch drain and Spiller told Halberd to hold up.
"Holmcraft" he said, wrapping the rope around a heavy stick jammed against the opening of a shining, light colored porcelain cavern. "Follow me," said Spiller and when he did, he found himself under a floor drain, which Spiller pushed open with a section of what looked like an old brass curtain rod. "When I got this I cut it in pieces and left it by all the drains I use," He explained. "This house is easy, just an old couple. They go to bed early and are both hard of hearing and can't see a thing without their glasses. We'll come up in their scullery." He helped Halberd up and then Halberd helped him. They slipped through the scullery into the kitchen. Spiller knew where they kept their matches, so they took a box of those and set them next to the drain, and then they went back for a couple of candles.
"Whatever we get we put by the drains right away," Spiller instructed Halberd as he walked backward, holding one end of a candle, while Halberd had the other. "Then if we do hear them get up, we get away quickly with what we can. You don't want them to catch you out with things out of place."
They also checked out a sewing basket, which Spiller relieved of a thimble that reminded him a bit of the one his mother used to have, a skein of white yarn and a spool of white thread. "Bet every borrower in the countryside is sick of blue yarn," Spiller said mischievously.
When everything was down onto the soap box Spiller lowered the drain cover back into place with the slightest of clanks. Then they continued on down the drain.
The next one opened up in a kitchen. They were able to take an onion, a potato, and several dinner napkins there. They continued on to the next drain, where Spiller and Halberd managed to get two whole bars of the lavender soap out of a bathroom.
"Yardley of London," Spiller said, reading the label. "They've been around forever. Before 1851 they were known as Yardley and Staham. This soap is famous, it is. They started selling this one in 1873. I think we should try to save these for Hemiola and Arrietty. They'll like them, if we can just get out of the drain without getting them ruined. We'll have to watch our timing on that."
The soap box was getting full and if they hadn't been pulling it over jellied slime, they would not have been able to manage it. "No more this time," Spiller said. "We have to get back to the cottage before morning baths start."
"Our cottage?" Halberd exclaimed. When Spiller nodded, he started to laugh. "That's how you got Pod and Homily and Arrietty away, isn't it? Mother thought they tried to slip out the door and the ferret got them, but it was you, wasn't it? We knew you'd been there, too. We found the things you'd left but we never could connect it all together. Where is the drain, though?"
Spiller smiled his most v-shaped, mocking smile. "Under the mangle in the washhouse."
Halberd recoiled. "I didn't even know they had a drain under there!"
Spiller nodded as they pulled their way along. "Was for overflow from the sink. I'd appreciate it, though, if you leave this between you and me. I don't want your brothers trying to mess around with it or you father trying to get down there at his age." Halberd agreed to this quickly, completely understanding Spiller's concerns.
"Plus," he said with a huge smile, "it's fun to see Mother to try to figure out how you come and go like a ghost!"
They trudged along then for a long time without speaking. They were both getting very tired. When they reached the drain at the cottage Halberd helped Spiller raise the grating. It was much easier with two. Then Spiller went up the twine and let it back down and they used it tied around the various bits of cargo to haul everything topside. It was that hour just before dawn when everything shimmers with misty light. "We just made it," Spiller said with a sigh.
"Do you want the soap bars?" Halberd said, not eager to tie them up, but Spiller, sighing again, thought they had better have them up and slide them way back under the mangle.
"I've never seen 'em spill water down this drain in the morning," he said regretfully, "but if we don't have them up this'll be the one day."
When the bars were up Halberd came up the rope. He was taller than Spiller so he found it fairly easy. He helped Spiller hide the lavender soap, and then they began to wearily haul the mice and the borrowings into the next room and behind the log box. When everything was safely stored inside the cave like space behind the wall, Spiller said, "I don't know about you, but I'm knackered. Let's go up and have a nap in that old room where Pod and Homily used to live. We can put the mice and some of the lighter things outside your Ma's door so she gets busy with them when they all get up and we can have a good long nap. The rest of it we can bring up later if they don't find it first and do it for us."
They dragged the mice up the ladder by their tails and left them on the landing outside Lupy's door along with the napkins, gloves, yarn and matches. Then Halberd and Spiller climbed the rest of the way up to Pod and Homily's landing. "You can have the doll house bed in there," Spiller told Halberd. "I'll sleep here in the outer room." He liked the thickish piece of wadding where Arrietty used to sleep. It reminded him of her. He shook it to clear a bit of dust away, and smoothed it back down.
Halberd nodded. "If they come looking for us, it would be better if they saw you before they see me," and all but staggered to bed.
Spiller crawled under the bedcovers and pressed his face into the pillow. It still smelled slightly like Arrietty. He wished with all his heart that she was there sleeping beside him the way she had done in his knife box boat. He missed her.
The next day when Spiller woke up he realized that he had slept a long time. There was a faint light coming from the landing below but it was still daylight. He sat up and looked around. If Halberd had gone past him, Spiller was almost sure he would have heard him and woken up. He went and looked into the next room. Sure enough, Halberd was still sprawled across the doll bed, with one arm hanging down toward the floor, snoring.
Spiller went over and shook him by the shoulder. "Time to get up and see if we can convince your mother we deserve breakfast. Or maybe it's luncheon?"
Halberd rolled over and looked up at his friend. "You'll probably fair better with her than I will."
They went downstairs and to Spiller's relief, the dead mice and other items were gone and the door was open. He stuck his head in. "Morning," he said.
Lupy, who'd been dusting the toy fireplace in the ornate and totally useless drawing room, looked up and set down her dust cloth. She wiped her hands on her apron. "More like afternoon. Where have you been?"
"Was too tired to live when I got in last night. Decided to go sleep upstairs. Did you find the other things I left at the bottom of the ladder."
"Yes," Lupy said. "The boys and Hendreary went down and got them this morning. I was especially glad to see the gloves. I really was just about out of kid, you know. How did you ever manage all that on your own?"
"Well, wasn't entirely on my own," Spiller said, scratching his head and stepping into the room. He looked back at Halberd who followed him tentatively. Lupy looked at him and her face lit up.
"Halberd! You've come home! Hendreary, hurry up! Eggletina! Grego! Timmis! Come and see! Your brother is back!"
They all came running in from the kitchen. Eggletina hugged Halberd and Timmis clung to his hand. Hendreary slapped him on the back, but Grego, Spiller noticed, looked put out. He's probably enjoyed being his father's right hand man, Spiller thought, and thinks that's over now. He'll soon see.
"I told you he'd come back," Lupy crowed.
"Ma," Halberd started to say, but she just kept talking.
"Now you and Spiller go wash and brush up and we'll all have a nice luncheon. Eggletina, take out some more bread and cheese and jam." She looked at Spiller and shrugged. "Hendreary and I started cutting up the mouse, and I did get some of it into the stew pot with a bit of the onion and potato you brought. I had a carrot the boys got from young Tom, too, but I just now put it on the stove, and it won't be ready until supper."
She shooed them along and they tidied themselves as she'd asked. When they gathered around the table, Halberd found himself in his old spot next to the copy ink table leg. He looked around the room as Lupy continued to chatter.
"You've probably had all sorts of adventures. We've had a bit, too, while you've been gone. That boy's grandfather got ill again and went back to the hospital but they decided the boy did a better job than that lazy lout they had here the last time and are letting him stay and take charge."
"Tom Goodenough?" Spiller said, his dark eyes flashing as he looked up from the green glass decanter he had just drained. He had never been thirstier in his life. "I'll have to try and talk to him before we leave."
"He asks about you often," Grego said, helping himself to a piece of bread.
"You talk to him?" Spiller said, cocking his head, and shooting a sidelong glance at Lupy.
"He and Eggletina still insist he's tame," Lupy said with a frown. "Mind you, I don't trust him and never will, but well, Arrietty had a point when she said it's not like he doesn't know we're here anyway. How is Arrietty, Spiller? Have you made any wedding plans?"
"No, and I don't plan to until next year. I've got enough on my plate. A friend of mine's wife is having a baby in the spring, and I'm trying to find things for them that they need, then Pod and Homily want to be in their new place before winter and I've been trying to help with that. My regular route's been completely disrupted. Halberd here is helping me with that and he's also found a daughter in law for you. That wedding's planned for this fall and I think one at a time is enough. Might do it in the spring, though."
That matter of fact statement caused utter pandemonium. Eggletina shrieked and hugged Halberd, knocking his arm onto the copying pencil, and staining his sleeve with ink. Hendreary grinned and nodded, waggling his beard, and said what wonderful news it was and wishing Halberd all the best while Timmis and Grego seemed stunned. Not as stunned as Lupy was, however.
"Halberd, have you gone mad?" She asked, standing up so quickly that she hit the end of the table, making the dishes dance. "You don't even know this girl that well! What will you do? How will you live?"
"I've been staying with her family since I left here," Halberd said calmly. "I've gotten to know her better and I'll get to know her even better between now and the wedding. Spiller told you that I'm helping him and after the wedding I'm going to move with Hemiola into that old stove by the gypsy camp."
"You can't borrow from gypsies!" Lupy said, collapsing onto her chair. "You don't have the quickness for it."
"I have no experience with caravans. I'll admit that, but I can fish," Halberd said, "and gather fruit and nuts, and Spiller's teaching me some of his other places for borrowing. Hemiola and I can cook on the gas jets and we won't be that far from you. We can come see you sometimes. You'll like her when you meet her. I'm sure you will. Pa, you understand, don't you?"
"I do," Hendreary said, shooting a glance at Lupy, who was speechless for once. "You're old enough to be on your own. I'm happy for you. Do her parents want us at the wedding?"
"Not sure how we'd work that," Spiller said thoughtfully. "The whole lot of you can't go in even my bigger boat but if you and Lupy want to, I could take you, and then the rest can just meet her later after they're at the stove."
"I can run the house while you're gone," Eggletina said quickly.
"We haven't even set a date yet," Halberd said. "We just want it before the snow flies. Don't want to be trying to get settled in the winter."
"Speaking of winter," Hendreary said, "young Tom gave me a moleskin for your new winter suit. Lupy can do a final fitting on it after we're done eating and then next time you come she can have it ready. Can't you, old girl?"
"I suppose," she said, running her hand across her forehead, "but I'm feeling peaky. I have to go lie down for awhile." She left the table with as much dignity as she could muster and Eggletina served shortbread biscuits for dessert while Hendreary and the boys plied Halberd with questions about Hemiola, her family, and some of his adventures with Spiller.
Eventually Lupy joined them with an injured air of "No one understands me, no one respects me, and you are all cruel" but they pretty much ignored her. When she finally got around to checking Spiller's measurements she said he had grown taller, and that he had gotten much stockier, too. "I'm glad I didn't start the jacket," she grumbled when he slipped off his vest and let her measure around his chest and across his back. "Your shoulders are much broader than they were last year. Do you want the same thing as always, or something different?"
"The same, except I think the bottom of the trousers should be a little wider. Pod made me a pair of boots for autumn and I think he's going to make me a pair for winter, too, so you won't have to worry about that. Can I have some of the moleskin for the lining?"
"I don't see why not," she said shortly, putting away her marked measuring strings.
He watched her for a moment as she sighed and looked out toward the drawing room, where everyone had gone to hear some more of Halberd's stories. "Lupy," he said softly. "Don't be so hard on Halberd. He's grown up now. He wants to act like it. Can't help it."
She sighed again. "I just didn't expect this. I want him to be happy but this is all so sudden. I look up and don't see the man. I see the little boy I knew. I just remember him as a little boy sometimes. Where did the time go?"
"That's the thing about time. It goes," Spiller said, slipping his vest back on.
Lupy looked at him. "Are you really going to marry Arrietty? That's another one. I think of her and I see a little girl in a pinafore peeking out from her nursery while we were having parties under the floor. She loved the musical snuffbox they had. It played three songs and we used to take them in turns and dance."
"She still likes music boxes, and dancing," said Spiller. '"Never had much occasion to dance but I've tried it with her. She makes me feel as if I could do anything."
"I thought this might happen someday," Lupy said, dropping down onto the red velvet upholstered chair that she kept in her sewing room. "Not at first, because she was such a child to me, but there was something different about her when she came here. She wasn't the same child but she wasn't a woman either. She'd gotten very deep, though, and I think it had to do with you. She'd say over and over, 'Where is Spiller? When will he come?' and would creep upstairs in tears when we'd tell her you only came for your suits, unless Tom sent you for something special. There was just something there. I can't explain it but it was always there."
"I think so, too," he said, "from the moment I laid eyes on her." There was a loud thump then that came from downstairs. "That will be young Tom. I think I'll go down and see him now."
Lupy looked alarmed. "Be careful."
"I can handle Tom," Spiller assured her.
He slipped down the ladder and toward the hole in the wainscot. When he poked his head around the log box there was Tom. It couldn't be anyone else, Spiller thought with a start, but he looked so different. He was no longer a boy, but a young man, much taller, and like Spiller, he had gotten much stockier. His face was thinner and his hair was a bit darker. He was sitting in the chair, flopped back, looking sad, with his legs extended straight out, drumming on the table with one hand.
"Hallo," Spiller said, and was rewarded with a smile.
"Spiller? It's you aint' it? Where you been?"
"Yes, it's me. Here and there," Spiller said, walking across the floor toward him. Tom got off the chair and knelt down on one knee, letting one hand lie across the other. "You've certainly grown up."
"Had to," said Tom bitterly. "Grandpa is getting worse and worse, and my uncle couldn't keep me, but we talked it out with Sir Montagueand I got a chance at the gamekeeper's job. I have to make good. There's no other way." He swiped at his eyes. "Grandpa will never be back able to work no more." He took a deep breath to steady himself and asked, "What are you up to? Still riding the river?"
"Some of the time. I spend a lot of time with Pod and Homily and Arrietty. She and I have an understanding. Probably will be getting married next year."
"Married!" Tom cried. "You, married? What do you want to go and do that for? I like Arrietty. Don't mean to say I don't, but girls aren't any use."
Spiller grinned. "Some day you'll feel different. I used to think the same as you. That I didn't need anything or anybody, least of all a girl. But someday you'll meet a girl and decide they're pretty nice."
Tom rocked back on his heels. "I doubt it."
"But do me a favor," Spiller said seriously. "It's important."
Tom sat down on the chair again and leaned forward, his hands on his knees. "What is it?"
"Do you promise?" Spiller asked, arms akimbo, thinking of Pod and how he felt about human beings.
"Yes, I do."
"I don't care if you live to be a hundred. When Arrietty and I marry and have our own place, our own family, I never want you to mention it to anyone. Not a soul, ever. Do you promise?"
Tom blinked. "I promise. Don't know why it matters, though."
"You know a lot about borrowers, about me, and Arrietty, and the rest of them," Spiller said, gesturing toward the log box. "That's fine, but me and Arrietty together, that's different. Never say a word about us together. Promise me that."
"I promise," said young Tom, and he kept that promise for the rest of his days. He never even told young Kate, when the story finally had an end, anything about Spiller and Arrietty's marriage.